Sikundur
As anthropogenic disturbance removes available habitat for rainforest species and degrades remaining forests, a multitude of primate species are facing changes to climatic conditions, food supply, and structural composition of their forests.
To understand how different species will cope with these changes, we first need new methods to rapidly assess tropical forest structure and relate this to habitat quality for keystone species, like the Indonesian apes. The Sikundur project investigated the effects of forest degradation on vegetation structure, within-canopy microclimates and ape behavior within a section of historically logged forest in North Sumatra.
By linking differences in forest structure to microclimate to primate behavior and density in a forest with variation in degradation, we identified possible synergistic effects of forest degradation and climate change on primate species at a landscape scale.
Recent logging events are challenging to assess, as the uneven distribution of clearance makes areas of forest degradation difficult to assess using satellite imagery. Due to the subsequent regrowth of understory tree species, logged forest cannot easily be classified as logged and logging events go unidentified by satellite imagery. Here the 3D model produced by drone surveys allows the identification of recently logged patch of forest.
3D canopy models also allow the assessment of anthropogenic impacts on canopy connectivity, of prime importance to arboreal apes
3D canopy models also allow the modelling of incoming solar radiation, aiding in the creation of microclimate models of the site.