Flying Fox Surveys in Malaysia

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Flying Fox Surveys in Malaysia

• Justin Westrum
• Department of Ecology, Evolution, and
  Environmental Biology
• Columbia University

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Introduction Nipah Virus

• 1998-99 outbreak in Peninsular Malaysia
• Caused respiratory disease in pigs, encephalitis
  in humans
• 105 human fatalities, 40 mortality rate
• Over 1.1 million pigs culled

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Causes of NiV outbreak

• Pteropus spp. thought to be natural reservoir,
  pigs the amplifying host
• Farming practices
• Changing migration patterns due to habitat
  destruction, hunting, climate change?

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Malaysian Pteropus
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Internship Goals

• Survey distribution/population of Pteropus spp.
  in Peninsular Malaysia
• Virus sampling
• Lay groundwork for multi-year project to
  understand ecology behind NiV outbreak

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Methods

• Hunter interviews
• Visiting and GPSing roost and forage sites
• Observations on distribution and phenology of
  food plants

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Results Hunter Interviews

• Pteropus increasingly harder to find
• Hunting regulated, but laws difficult to enforce
• Hunters mostly ethnic Chinese hunt for sport,
  food, medicine
• Typically hunt in durian, langsat, rambutan
  orchards

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Results Distribution
?
?
?
?
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Results Habitat
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Results foraging
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Discussion

• Sites for future mist-netting
• New roosts, El Niño link?
• Conservation status

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Virus Sampling
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Future projects

• Netting and sampling Pteropus for longitudinal
  studies of virus prevalence and secretion
• Satellite tracking
• Genetic sampling
• Studying relation of climate, food availability,
  hunting on migration