Abstract:

The Transboundary Animal Diversity Monitoring Platform of Southern Yunnan, China and Southeast Asia is jointly administered by the Animal Behaviour and Changing Environments Research Group of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Animal Diversity and Conservation Research Group of Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The platform was established in June 2012 with the aim of monitoring animal diversity in China’s Southern Yunnan and Southeast Asia. The monitoring objectives are to strengthen biodiversity inventory in Southern Yunnan and Southeast Asia, understand the distribution, population size, and protection status of key threatened animals, provide protection recommendations to policy makers, and develop conservation plans. To date, 22 monitoring sites containing 1,493 camera stations have been deployed. Until September 2019, we have obtained 718,995 photographs from 289 camera stations with 97,444 trapping days in nature reserves and sub-reserves in Southern Yunnan, i.e., Naban River (2012-2016), Mengla (2014-2019), Menglun (2015-2019), and Shangyong (2018-2019). In these photographs, we have identified 48 species of mammals and 80 species of birds. Species identification for Southeast Asia is still in progress. We have gained important achievements, reported the population ecology of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Southwest China, found the spatiotemporal niche differentiation of northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina) and rhesus monkey (M. mulatta) in Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve, revised the classification of muntjacs (Muntiacus), gorals (Naemorhedus) and the genus of Biswamoyopterus by using molecular biology techniques. In the future, we plan to cooperate with more protected areas in southern Yunnan, and extend our monitoring to other regions of Southeast Asia for more comprehensive biodiversity monitoring.

Key words: southern Yunnan, Southeast Asia, transboundary, infrared camera trap, animal diversity