DNA-Based Occupancy Modeling: Human activity did not significantly influence common palm civet's occupancy

Abstract

The common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) may support natural forest restoration. They are long-distance dispersers of large seeds. Previous studies subtly indicated the influence of human activities on the occurrence of the civet. Here we reported the influence of human activities simultaneously with the availability of vegetative cover on the civet occurrence. We employed an occupancy modeling framework with covariates. We used DNA-based species identification to justify occupancy of a site. DNA was isolated from feces collected during fieldwork in a 600 ha secondary forest in Java during May-June 2015. We did not find any significant contribution of human activities on civet's occurrence. This finding supports previous study reporting that the civet is a disturbance tolerance species.