By Irene Margareth Romaria Pinondang, School of Anthropology & Conservation
My PhD project will investigate the conservation strategies used in protecting terrestrial mammals in Sumatra and Java, Indonesia. Conservation strategy involves a wide range of approaches and my project will focus on protected areas and an integrated peatland forest landscape. I will use existing data from previous surveys and will repeat the field survey in one study area. This project is a collaborative work between governments, the private sector, and their partners.
“This advanced analysis takes time, but I am satisfied with my progress”
My ongoing first PhD chapter aims to estimate the proportion of the area used by Malay tapir (Tapirus indicus) in 13 protected areas in Sumatra and the result will be employed to predict their distribution across the island known to be occupied by the species. The study is a continuing work from my previous postgraduate diploma project from the University of Oxford, 2019, with advanced analysis using the hierarchy Bayesian approach. The analysis is carried out with various schemes to find the best model to meet the objectives. Although it is back-and-forth work and requires time to run the model, I am satisfied with my progress and I have obtained valuable experiences from the process.
During this unprecedented time, I am optimistic to carry out my field survey in Kampar Peninsula, Riau, Sumatra, in the upcoming October 2021. This field survey is a collaborative project with Restorasi Ekosistem Riau. I will resample the area that was surveyed in 2015 and across various forest types. The objectives of this study are to understand mammals’ community changes, their communities in different habitats, and habitat corridors. I will also integrate GPS collar data from a female tiger that we monitored from December 2020 – May 2021 to validate the corridor model.
Female tiger in a habituation cage. Image: Areth Romaria Pinondang
Last but not least, I plan to examine mammal communities in protected areas in Java using the existing data and elucidate local community activities in the national parks. I will collect camera-trapping data from each national park from the most recent survey and conduct local interviews to gain information on their beliefs, and on mammal species that are harvested from the national parks.