We used a standardised transect method to compare lowland forest termite assemblages in Buton Island, Sulawesi, with transects in Sundaland. The four Buton transects were extremely depauperate with species density ranging from 1 to 6 species, which is around 10% of the species density in 11 described Sundaland transects. Soil-feeding species were absent from the Buton transects but represent some 43% of species in the Sundaland transects. The Buton transects have relatively high soil pH (6.7–7.9), which may be associated with depauperate termite assemblages. Most termite genera recorded in Sulawesi are wood nesters that can raft in floating wood, which is probably how they arrived in Sulawesi. The Macrotermitinae (fungus-growers) do not raft and probably flew across serendipitously. Geographic isolation, both on Buton and in Sulawesi more generally, and Buton’s underlying geology causing high soil pH, may account for the near-absence of soil-nesters and soil-feeders, none of which are known to raft.

The prime-mover for the arrival of the Neolithic in Island Southeast Asia is thought to be the expansion of rice farmers speaking an Austronesian language and coming from the north (see Spriggs, above). Much less is known of the indigenous hunter-gatherers and their interaction with the new farming communities. The mutually occupied area, in the definition of Peter Bellwood, was a ‘Friction Zone’, where two radically different cultures met. This paper emphasises how much land, and information, was lost when the rising sea drowned Sundaland, an area the size of India, and brings to bear archaeological and DNA evidence to emphasise the continuing role of hunter-gatherers in the later prehistory of Southeast Asia.

The taxonomic history of Porterandia (Rubiaceae) is reviewed. Its plant architecture and other morphological characteristics are compared with those of the related Atractocarpus and Bungarimba. Porterandia species are typically gynodioecious (and sometimes gynomonoecious), with sexual dimorphism in inflorescence form and flowers. Secondary pollen presentation in bisexual flowers is present. In a cladistic analysis using 34 morphological characters, Porterandia, Atractocarpus heterophyllus (type species of Atractocarpus) and Bungarimba were neatly polarised from Aidia, the outgroup. The 20 species of Porterandia in the analysis formed a well-supported monophyletic group, clearly delimited by primary and lower-order branches with terminal cymes in forks, stipules fused into a tube and with hairy inner surfaces, anisophyllous leaf pairs, corollas with stiff bristle-like hairs over the tube outer surface and adaxially hairy lobes. A revision enumerated 22 species of Porterandia, including a new species, P. dinghoui Zahid & K.M.Wong. Borneo, with 19 species, is the centre of diversity; outlying taxa appear to diverge from Bornean taxa in some characters; for example, Porterandia anisophylla and P. scortechinii (Sumatra, Malaya) are the only species with downward-pointing hairs on the corolla tubes (the rest have upward-pointing hairs), and P. celebica (Sulawesi) has atypical hood-like, fused (instead of free) inflorescence bracts. The northwest Borneo region has a significant species diversity and congregation. Extinction of Porterandia populations from heavily disturbed or open sites indicates that habitat conservation and the integrity of large forest patches and tree stands are critical.

Previous studies in Sundaland (Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Peninsular Malaysia) have shown that termite assemblages in natural forests have a characteristic structure. These typical forest assemblages contain many soil-feeding species. However, this study investigated four natural forest sites in Borneo with depauperate termite assemblages, and compared their soils with soils from four other sites that have typical termite assemblages. In contrast to the typical assemblages, the four depauperate assemblages all have low species density (<35%), low relative abundance (<30%), a virtual absence of soil-feeders, significantly fewer wood-feeders, and a near-absence of species of Rhinotermitidae, Amitermes-group, Termes-group, Pericapritermes-group and Oriensubulitermes-group. The depauperate sites are on ultramafic-derived soils and have significantly higher concentrations of calcium, magnesium, nickel, chromium, cobalt, copper and zinc compared with the non-ultramafic soils at sites with typical assemblages. In addition, soil pH at the depauperate sites is significantly higher (>pH 5.4) compared with soils at the typical sites (which are all below pH 4.7). Possible mechanisms to explain the depauperate termite assemblages on ultramafic soils include metal toxicity, high pH disrupting gut physiology, and microbial interactions with metals.

We present the first record of Holocene and Pleistocene environmental change derived from the chemical and stable-isotope composition of a tropical cave guano sequence from Makangit Cave in northern Palawan (Philippines). The 180 cm sequence of guano, derived predominantly from insectivorous bats and birds, consists of two distinct units. An upper section of reddish-brown oxidised guano to 110 cm was deposited since the mid-Holocene while a lower section of black, reduced guano was deposited through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to >30 000 BP. Carbon-isotope (δ13C) values in guano deposited during the LGM are as high as −13·5‰ indicating that a C4-dominated grassland existed in the area around the cave at this time. Guano δ13C values of − 25‰ to − 28‰ suggest that this open vegetation was replaced by C3-dominated closed tropical forest, similar to that of the present, by the mid-Holocene. The results suggest that the climate of northern Palawan was substantially drier at the LGM than is currently the case.

The lowland rain-forest ecosystem in Sundaland (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula south of 10°N, and associated islands) has been recognized as a biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al. 2000). However, it is suffering from huge amounts of disturbance, and it is predicted that South-East Asia will lose three-quarters of its rain forest by the turn of next century (Sodhi et al. 2004).

There are more taxa of wild pig in South-east Asia (SEA) than in any other comparable area in the world, but the number of species and subspecies is still uncertain. The taxonomy of some wild pig populations distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, was investigated using molecular and morphometric techniques. Our results suggest the existence of two main evolutionary clades that are likely to have diverged during the Pliocene in SEA: one including wild pig populations distributed in the Philippines (Sus cebifrons) and Sulawesi (S. celebensis); the other including the Indonesian and Malaysian bearded pigs (S. barbatus), and the widespread Eurasian wild boar (S. scrofa). A possible scenario for pig speciation in SEA is developed, and the need for a taxonomic revision of bearded pigs suggested, particularly concerning the taxonomic status of S. b. ahoenobarbus from Palawan Island, and the existence a new species distributed in the Tawi Tawi Islands (Philippines). Unexpectedly, bearded pigs in the Malay Peninsula are closely related to the Bornean population, but distinct from Sumatran S. barbatus, and they should be considered as belonging to a different subspecies.