"Forest (and) primates. Conservation and ecology of the endemic primates of Java and Borneo" by Nijman, V. (2001)

Kalimantan Series 5. Publisher: Tropenbos International, The Netherlands. 232pp. ISBN: 90-5113-052-X. Price: EUR 20 (S18 US). Order online at http://tb.nieuwland.nl/ or write to Tropenbos International. PO Box 232. NL 6700. AE Wageningen. The Netherlands. E-mail: tropenbos@tropenbos.agro.nl

FOREST (AND) PRIMATES. CONSERVATION AND ECOLOGY OF THE ENDEMIC PRIMATES OF JAVA AND BORNEO.
The Sundaic region, identified as one of the biodiversity hotspots on earth, ranks highly in endemism of its flora and fauna in comparison to other regions. It also harbours a disproportionately large number of primate species and endemics, some 28 in all. Unlike the Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), an urban survivor, most primates are confined or linked to natural forests. Unfortunately, the Sundaic region also ranks highly for loss of primary forest cover. Thus most, if not all, Sundaic primate endemics are threatened with extinction.

Adapted from Tropenbos International on 28th Jun 2007.

The focal area of this study, Java and Borneo, comprise more than half of the land surface of the Sundaic region. Java has a history of human pressure dating several centuries; little forest remains now and the people are no longer largely dependent on the forest. Contrastingly, the largely forest-covered Borneo is undergoing rapid changes in land-use and human attitudes, which alter the pressures on wildlife populations.

It is surprising to read the claim that " there is a lack of base line knowledge concerning the ecology of most, if not all, endemic primates in Indonesia", considering that easily more than 200 papers have been published on Indonesian primates. Furthermore, amongst the endemics of Java and Borneo, only one is listed as "Data Deficient". Certainly primates have attracted much more attention than the secretive carnivore family groups!

However, Nijman suggests that most long-term primatological studies in Southeast Asia have been concentrated at a limited number of field stations. These are located mainly in relatively pristine habitats, in areas with limited or no hunting pressure, almost entirely in the lowlands and where populations of the study species are present in relatively high densities. Furthermore, while the effect of disturbances (e.g. selective logging, hunting and fire) on primate populations have been studied in isolation, in reality, they appear to be tightly linked.

It is thus now necessary to build on these foundation studies to provide for practical conservation measures. This thesis is an example of such a step. Between 1994 and 2001, various field studies were conducted in Java, Borneo and in museum. This thesis integrates the contents of papers published earlier in scientific journals with other authors. It presents the reader with several objectives: (i) to assess the geographical distribution of individual species on Java and Borneo; (ii) to develop, test and evaluate census methods by which primate populations can be assessed and monitored: (iii) to determine the type and magnitude of the threats facing the individual species and habitats on the islands: (iv) using data collected under (i), (ii) and (iii), to re-assess the conservation status of the endemic primates of Java and Borneo using the IUCN threat criteria; and subsequently (v) to identify key areas for conservation based on densities of particular primate species, the co-existence of a disproportional large subset of primate species and management feasibility.

The chapters in this book are:
1. Forest and primates, a general introduction to the conservation of endemic primates in the Sundaic region.

SECTION I. Background and Survey Methodology: 2. Density and biomass estimates of gibbons (Hylobates maelleri) in Bornean rainforest: a comparison of techniques (with Steph B. J. Menken). 3. Effects of behavioural changes due to habitat disturbance on density estimation of rain forest vertebrates, as illustrated by gibbons (Primates: Hylobatidae). 4. Calling behaviour of wild Javan gibbons Hylobates moloch in Java, Indonesia (with Thomas Geissmann). 5. Geographical variation in pelage characteristics in grizzled leaf monkey Presbytis comata (Desmarest, 1822) (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae).

SECTION II: Studies on Endemic Primates of Java: 6. Occurrence and distribution of grizzled leaf monkey Presbytis comata (Desmarest, 1822) (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) on Java, Indonesia. 7. Geographical distribution of ebony leaf monkey Trachypithecus auratus (Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, 1812) (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae). 8. A faunal survey of the Dieng mountains, Central Java, Indonesia: status and distribution of endemic primate taxa (with S. (Bas) van Balen).

SECTION III: Studies on Endemic Primates of Borneo. 9. Distribution and conservation of the proboscis monkey Naasalis larvatus in Kalimantan, Indonesia (with Erik Meijoard). 10. The local extinction of the proboscis monkey Nasalis larvatus in Pulau Kaget Nature Reserve, Indonesia (with Erik Meijaard). 11. Patterns of primate diversity on Borneo and selection of priority areas for conservation (with Erik Meijoard).

SECTION IV: Synthesis: 12. Re-assessment of IUCN conservation status of the endemic primates of Java and Borneo. 13. General discussion.

Forests and primates face tough times. Indonesia's recent policy of decentralization had provided opportunities for illegal logging (Kearney, 2001; Richardson, 2001). However, in October 2001, Indonesia instituted an indefinite ban on the export of logs in line with a recommendation made by an International Timber Trade Organisation (ITTO) Mission in the country, which had found illegal logging to be rampant there (ITTO, 2001).

It is likely thought that Java's history of deforestation will repeat itself on the other Sundaic islands and possibly other parts of Southeast Asia with growing human populations, all of which are host to much higher numbers of primate species. The findings and conclusions of the present study are thus applicable to the conservation of Southeast Asian primates and should be read by workers in tropical forest conservation and management, primate rehabilitation, captive breeding and ecology.

This fifth book in the Tropenbos-Kalimantan series is also the first zoological title. The publisher, Tropenbos International, is a Dutch non-governmental organization, facilitating research and development programes in Asian and Africa. In Southeast Asia, it is also developing research in Vietnam.

LITERATURE CITED

Richardson. M. 2001. Indonesia's Forests: Gone in 10 Years?
International Herald Tribune, 24 April 2001.

Kearney. M. 2001. Illegal logging in national parks shocks minister.
The Straits Times, 24 April 2001.

ITTO. 2001. ITTO Mission recommended Indonesian Log Export
Ban. ITTO press release, 30 October 2001.

N. Sivasothi
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
Department of Biological Sciences
The National University of Singapore
Blk S6, Science Drive 2
Singapore 117600, Republic of Singapore

First published in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Vol. 49(2): 383-384 on 31 Dec 2001.

"A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Indonesia" by Strange. M. (2001)

Periplus, Singapore, 416 pp. ISBN 962-593-402-2.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF INDONESIA.
At last, the Indonesian birds can be compiled in one field guide gathering field guides on the Birds of Sumatra. Java, Bali and Kalimantan, Birds of Wallacea and Birds of New Guinea. This is another book dedicated to the geographical region. It may also be used as a complement to Birding Indonesia edited by Paul Jepson and Rosie Ounsted and produced by the same publisher in 1997. Despite its size and weight, it is suitable for being carried away to the field.

Morten Strange has had close association with Indonesia over 20 years. He travelled all over the country to obtain the photographs of many bird species that had never been photographed especially those distributed only in Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya/West Irian. He showed his master in photography by illustrating most of the species taken by him though he was assisted by other 35 photographers to complete the book. The author has written the Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore (1993) and the Photographic Guide to the Birds of South East Asia including Phillippines and Borneo (2000).

The book basically contains three main sections: introduction, how to use this book and systematic section. This introduction is very comprehensive and detailed. Terminology and names used in the book are clearly explained. However there is an inconsistency in the explanation of some terminology, e.g. the term of Sunda in the "How to use this Book" section is different from the Glossary. One spelling mistake of the scientific name of the Blue Nuthatch, should be Sitta azurea not Sitta azyea.

It provides some tips on birding techniques, photographing birds, documentation, information on habitats, birding time, interesting places for birding and conservation concerns. The section how to use this book explains the area covered, the nomenclature, taxonomy and sequence applied including some important references and guidance for the systematic section. The systematics section illustrates the species with coloured photograph, short description, information on voice and habitats as well as a map of distribution. For some dimorphic species, photographs of both sexes are shown.

There are 1534 bird species recorded in Indonesian region. This book presents 686 species or less 50% of total species. Each species is well described with brief information on voice and sufficient behaviour notes for field observation. Since the book is heavily relied on coloured photographs for species identification, we were a bit disappointed with their uneven quality. Some photographs (such as on pages 68, 70, 77, 145, 175, 176, 191, 283, 289, 296, 305, 322, 359 and 375) have poor quality and are less detailed, they could not be used properly for identification as the book intended to be.

Although it was mentioned that most photographs were taken on location in Indonesia or South East Asia, the photograph of Grey teal Anas gibberifrons was taken in Australian region because it is less accurate. The Indonesian (Sunda) grey teal has a prominent forehead which is distinctive from the Australian Grey Teal.

The book covers 87 out of 93 families and 130 out of 381 endemic species.

The inclusion of map of distribution is very useful. Because Indonesian region has the highest number of endemic species, the map really helps to find specific locations for interesting species. We were a bit surprised when seeing the map of the Brahminy Kite (Haliastar indus). The author eliminates the presence of the species on Java island. Actually, last year we found an active nest of this species with two chicks in the mangrove of North Coast of Banten.

After all, we recommend the book to be used by beginners or professional bird watchers for observing the Indonesian birds. The concise text provides vital information that will ensure identification of some species in one of the world's most diverse avifauna regions. We appreciate all efforts of the author to produce such comprehensive photographs of the birds such as the Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot (Micropsitta brnijnii), the Wallace's Hanging-parrot (Loriculus flosculus) and the Moluccan Hanging-parrot (L. amabilis).

Dewi M. Prawiradilaga and Darjono
Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense.
Research Centre for Biology-LIPI
Jalan Raya Bogor Km 46, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia

First published in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Vol. 49(2): 381-382 on 31 Dec 2001.

“Fishes of Bitung, Northen Tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia,” edited by Seishi Kimura and Keiichi Matsuura (2003)

Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, iv + 244 pages.

Fishes of Bitung.
This is a richly illustrated medium sized volume covering 78 families and 584 species. It provides a good coverage of the shallow coastal water marine fish, obtained by field collection and market purchases in 2000. This is the second bilingual book in English and Bahasa Indonesian edited by the second author (the first being “Field Guide to Lombok Island” – Matsuura et al., 2000).



This guide does not cover all the fishes known from Bitung. The emphasis of this guide is on the less colourful non coral reef fishes. This is to promote a better understanding of the true diversity of tropical fishes. The intention of the authors is for this guide to be used for study, research and education by not only ichthyologists and fisheries scientists but also by university students and local government administrators.

Each family of fish has a short introduction, followed by a section on similar families occurring in the area (ala FAO species identification guide for fishery purpose style). Each species is listed alphabetically and followed by the common English and Indonesian names. A diagnosis of the species providing fin ray counts and lateral scale count is provided, with a short write-up. This is accompanied with a well taken picture of a freshly preserved specimen.

Although this guide illustrates mainly freshly preserved fish, it would also provide a good guide for recreational divers to the region, especially at Lembeh Straits, which is a world class muck diving site.

All in all, this publication is a good guide for every local and foreign fisheries biologist, ichthyologist and diver to have on their book shelf.

Reference
Matsuura, K., O. K. Sumadhiharga & K. Tsukamoto (eds.) 2000. Field guide to Lombok Island. Identification guide to marine organisms in seagrass beds of Lombok Island, Indonesia. Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, viii + 449.

Tan Heok Hui
Department of Biological Sciences
National University of Singapore
Kent Ridge 119260, Republic of Singapore

First Published in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Vol. 53(2): 289 on 31 Dec 2005.