KOTA KINABALU: The hardy monitor lizards, popularly known to Malaysians as biawak, though found in abundance across Borneo, are in need of a stable forest environment for them to harness their full biological functions.

       Scientists studying the iguanas living within the Kinabatangan floodplains and those around the oil palm plantations found that biological functions of the monitor lizard's were fully fulfilled when they were within natural forest habitats.

       The four-year study done by researcher Dr Sergio Guerrero-Sanchez and published on PloS One journal recently found that although oil palm plantations offer a large amount of food for the water monitor, the environmental conditions, such as the lack of low vegetation, large areas of open sky and trees, did not help these large lizards achieve their full ecological functions.

       The study also observed that monitor lizards were unable to climb trees in the oil palm setting and against their natural forest settings.

       "These places were inconvenient to fulfil all their biological functions. Hence, the surrounding forest plays a fundamental role in the dynamics of the water monitor population ecology," the research revealed.

       “During more than four years, my team and I spent time catching, sampling and GPS-tagging monitor lizards to respond to several fundamental ecological questions.

       “It showed that the number of lizards inhabiting the forests of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary is much larger than the number of individuals living in the oil palm plantations.

       "Our study also suggests that the forest surrounding the oil palm estates offers the necessary protection to avoid antagonist encounters, as well as to mate and breed,” added Sanchez, a former PhD student at Cardiff University and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC). He is currently a research fellow at University College Sabah Foundation.

       DGFC director Professor Benoit Goossens said that the study reinforces the necessity of protecting the natural forest around the plantations and also highlights the urgency of creating forest corridors within the estates to establish a balanced dynamic of the animal’s community in the floodplain.

       “We believe that our results could be an example of what is occurring with other species with similar preferences, but also that it may have some implications over the prey community,” said Goossens, who co-authored the paper.

       Sabah Wildlife Department senior officer Silvester Saiman said that monitor lizards were protected under Schedule 2 of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, and hunting and collection require a permit.

       “Hunting of monitor lizards is not common in Sabah and the species is abundant all over the state. It happens that the department has to intervene for minor conflicts especially in urban areas, and need to move animals in safer (forested) areas,” added Saimin.

       A large monitor lizard captured on one of the camera traps at the edge of an oil palm estate. - Photo courtesy of Danau Girang Field Centre