Title
Monitoring Mondulkiri’s elephants—the use of non-invasive genetic sampling for conservation
Author(s)
Crouthers, R.;Prum, S.;Nut, M.
Published
2015
Publisher
Cambodian Journal of Natural History
Abstract
There has been a dramatic increase in the application of population genetics and use of genetic tools in conservation biology over the last decade, predominately due to improved methods and reduced costs. Extracting DNA from faecal samples has proved invaluable, particularly for cryptic species, those occurring in low densities, and those with large home ranges or areas of distribution. This makes it the most suitable approach for monitoring Endangered Asian elephants Elephas maximus, in particular Southeast Asian elephants, which meet all of the criteria and predominately occur in dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and WWF Cambodia work in three protected areas that form the majority of the Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL)—a contiguous network of protected areas covering over 1,000,000 ha. WWF and WCS conducted three independent non-invasive faecal DNA surveys of Asian elephants over the last nine years, in collaboration with government partners. Results from capture–recapture models estimate populations of 136±18 (SE) in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and 116±9.79 (SE) in Seima Protection Forest. Unfortunately no elephants were recaptured in MPF, thus the 21 individuals identified are used for minimum population estimates. These results suggest that the EPL is likely to have the largest meta-population of elephants in Cambodia, thus supporting that this landscape is regionally important for elephant conservation. Based on the success of this approach, WWF and WCS will conduct a joint survey that will produce the fi rst simultaneous robust estimate of elephants across the majority of this landscape.

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PUB15461