Preliminary Herpetofaunal Inventory of a Logging Concession in the Upper Baram, Sarawak, Borneo

摘要

The island of Borneo is the largest of the Sundaic subregion (which comprises the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Bali, and smaller associated islands), and is the second largest tropical island in the world. Previously covered in mixed dipterocarp forest, it contains some of the last remaining continuous tracts of tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia and is recognized as one of the most biodiverse areas of the Indo- Malayan region (MacKinnon et al. 1996). However, Borneo experiences one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, with 1.7% of its forests converted annually primarily through commercial timber harvesting and conversion of forests to monoculture plantations (Koh 2007; Langer et al. 2007). While about 9% of the land area is afforded some level of protection, such protected areas are isolated and dwarfed by the vast areas designated for timber extraction and monoculture plantations (Brodie and Giordano 2011). The viability of such protected areas for the conservation of Borneo's biodiversity is thus questionable (Meijaard et al. 2005).