The effect of oil palm-dominated landscapes on the home range and distribution of a generalist species, the Asian water monitor.

ABSTRACT: The Asian water monitor lizard, Varanus salvator, is one of the largest predators in Southeast Asia which persists in human-dominated landscapes and, as such, is a suitable model to understand the behavioral plasticity of generalists in anthropogenic landscapes. We used Local Convex Hull with adaptive algorithm to estimate the home range size of 14 GPS-tagged individuals, followed by a MAXENT approach and community prey composition to understand the habitat preferences within the landscape. We estimated larger home ranges in forest than in oil palm plantations, as well as a larger diversity and abundance of mammals. Core home ranges were always linked to water bodies. However, the use of underproductive oil palm, freshwater swamp forest, and degraded forest by monitor lizards were h

SUBMITTER: Guerrero-Sanchez S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8794710 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature