Nutritional Evaluation Of Untreated And Ureatreated Rice Straw For Improved Utilization By Goats

Rice straw is seldom used as goat feed despite reports of higher intake and digestibility of poor quality roughage by this species . Studies were conducted to evaluate local rice straw , define its limitation and investigate means to improve its utilization by goats. Compositional and degradability studies showed that untreated rice straw is deficient in N and several minerals and is poorly degraded . Calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide treatment increased degradability but the treated material was less acceptable to goats compared to rice straw treated with urea or ammonium hydroxide which has relatively lower degradability. Treatment with nitric acid removed all the hemicellulose and was totally unacceptable to goats. The ad libitum intake and in vivo digestibility of urea-treated straw was higher than that of urea supplemented straw and untreated straw

Scientific Journey Through Borneo: Loagan Bunut: a Scientific Expedition on the Physical, Chemical, Biological, and Sociological Aspects

This book reports the findings of the Loagan Bunut Scientific Expedition 2004. The aim of the expedition is to study and document the physical, biological and socio-economic aspects of the Loagan Bunut National Park as well as the ecological processes. It contains twenty seven papers presented during a seminar in Kuching on 2-3 August 2004 during which the findings of the expedition were presented were presented and discussed in detail

A Small Mammal Survey Within The Planted Forest Zone, Bintulu, Sarawak

A small mammal survey was conducted in areas of planted forest and secondary growth forest in the Forest Department Sarawak's Planted Forest Zone (PFZ) in the Bintulu Division. Two comprehensive small mammal trapping surveys were conducted within the period 4 July until 29 July 2006 in order to study the small mammal assemblages in acacia plantation blocks and forest remnants of the PFZ. The two sites were Samarakan Planted Forest Zone (SPFZ) and Sg. Mina Wildlife Corridor (SMWC). For both sites the traps were paired within acacia plantings and in adjacent natural secondary forest. From a total effort of 1400 trap-nights, 13 species of small mammals comprising 33 individuals from the family Tupaiidae (4 species), Sciuridae (3 species) and Muridae (6 species) were captured, giving an overall capture rate of 2.3%. Ten species were trapped within the acacia blocks and six species in secondary forest (lowland forest and riparian forest) within the PFZ. This preliminary result suggests that species richness was not influenced by forest types (acacia blocks versus forest remnants) but rather by location of the sampling plot within the PFZ. When different acacia blocks were compared, it was found that more species of small mammals were recorded in older acacia compared to younger acacia blocks, e.g. eight versus two species. Between the two forest remnants, riparian forest of SMWC was the poorest while the lowland forest remnant of Samarakan was relatively rich in small mammals. In comparison with other plantations, e.g., Sabah Softwoods and Bukit Tarek Plantation Forest, the number of species was higher even though the number of individuals was much lower. The underlying ecological causes for the pattern of small mammal distributions in the PFZ remain unclear. Further studies within other areas of PFZ are planned in order to better understand the patterns seen so far

Phylogenetic relationships of Waders (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) in Sarawak inferred from Cytochrome Oxidase I and Recombinant Activating Gene 1

Family Scolopacidae includes the sandpipers, shanks, snipes, godwits and curlews. Systematic classifications of shorebirds at the higher level have been successfully resolved. Nevertheless, the phylogeny of shorebirds in the familial level is still poorly understood. Thus, this phylogenetic study on Scolopacidae was conducted upon the framework provided by the first sequence-based species-level phylogeny within the shorebirds to determine the phylogenetic relationships among family members of Scolopacidae in West Borneo, Sarawak using combined gene markers, mtDNA Cytochrome Oxidise I (COI) and nucDNA Recombinant Activating Gene 1 (RAG1). A total of 1,342 base pair (bp) were inferred from both COI and RAG1 gene from 45 sequences constituted of 15 species Scolopacidae sampled from Sarawak namely Xenus cinereus, Actitis hypoleucos, Tringa totanus, Tringa glareola, Tringa stagnatilis, Heteroscelus brevipes, Calidris alba, Calidris ruficollis, Calidris ferruginea, Calidris tenuirostris, Calidris alpina, Gallinago stenura, Gallinago megala, Numenius arquata, and Numenius phaeopus. The phylogenetic tree was constructed with Charadrius mongulus derived as an outgroup. The Bayesian Inference (BI) tree constructed supported grouping of species into several lineages of Numeniinae, Calidrinae, Scolopacinae and Tringinae. The groupings of species into several lineages correlate with morphological features that contribute to their adaptation and ability of the species to fit to their ecosystems

Conservation ecology of Irrawaddy dolphins in estuarine waters of Kuching

Cetaceans in the nearshore waters of Sarawak have ecological functions and economic importance to the state. Being the keystone species of the ocean, they are valuable as indicators of the health of the environment as they sit on top of the ocean’s food chain. The presence of marine mammals in an area indicate that the fishing stock of the particular area is still present. In addition to that, the Irrawaddy dolphins also serve as important attraction for the eco-tourism industry within Kuching Bay. However, populations of the Irrawaddy dolphins throughout South East Asia are facing risk of local extinction due to anthropogenic factors such as bycatch in fisheries, habitat loss and degradations, decreased fitness from pollutions or contaminants

Preliminary Survey of Mammals at Crocker Range Park (Park Headquarters), Sabah, Malaysia

Based on fieldwork in conjunction with the Crocker Range Expedition during October 1999 eight species of bats were recorded. Examination of Sabah Park mammals collection from Trus Madi, Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Spring as well as search of the available literature revealed an additional 33 species of bats, giving an overall record of 41 species. These include 11 species of megachiropteran and 30 species of microchiropteran. Fifteen of the bats listed are known to roost in caves. None of the hats are endemic to Crocker Range Park but the naked bat, Cheiromeles torquatus, may be threatened

Searching for the Haplorrhine Heterotherm : Field and Laboratory Data of Free-Ranging Tarsiers

The observation of heterothermy in a single suborder (Strepsirrhini) only within the primates is puzzling. Given that the placental-mammal ancestor was likely a heterotherm, we explored the potential for heterothermy in a primate closely related to the Strepsirrhini. Based upon phylogeny, body size and habitat stability since the Late Eocene, we selected western tarsiers (Cephalopachus bancanus) from the island of Borneo. Being the sister clade to Strepsirrhini and basal in Haplorrhini (monkeys and apes), we hypothesized that C. bancanus might have retained the heterothermic capacity observed in several small strepsirrhines. We measured resting metabolic rate, subcutaneous temperature, evaporative water loss and the percentage of heat dissipated through evaporation, at ambient temperatures between 22 and 35◦C in fresh-caught wild animals (126.1±2.4 g). We also measured core body temperatures in free-ranging animals. The thermoneutral zone was 25–30◦C and the basalmetabolic rate was 3.52 ±0.06W.kg−1 (0.65±0.01ml O2.g−1.h−1). There was no evidence of adaptive heterothermy in either the laboratory data or the free-ranging data. Instead, animals appeared to be cold sensitive (Tb ∼ 31◦C) at the lowest temperatures. We discuss possible reasons for the apparent lack of heterothermy in tarsiers, and identify putative heterotherms within Platyrrhini. We also document our concern for the vulnerability of C. bancanus to future temperature increases associated with global warming

Bird Diversity Of The Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia

A study of bird fauna was conducted at Park Headquarters of Crocker Range Park and its vicinity from 16-22 October 1999. Crocker Range Park Headquarters is located about 8 km from Keningau town. Mist-net and transect study were conducted in secondary and primaryforest. A total of 840 net/hr were deployed with total capture of 32 birds of 17 species from seven families. Of 17 species, seven species were caught in secondary forest and 13 species in primary forest. Three species were caught in both secondary and ..