Effects of intensive rice production practices on avian biodiversity in Southeast Asian managed wetlands

Rice fields are common throughout the agricultural landscape of Southeast Asia and sustain various bird species. These birds can provide ecosystem services, such as pest control, that improve agricultural yields whilst minimising the use of agrochemicals. This study quantified avian biodiversity in rice production landscapes during three farming stages in Peninsular Malaysia. In Malaysia, rice fields can be an important habitat for migrating birds due to Malaysia’s position on the East-Asian–Australasian Flyway. We determined bird abundance, species richness, and composition in rice field landscapes and compared these during different stages of rice growing. Wetland and terrestrial birds were counted in rice fields using the point-count method. Sixty sampling points were randomly established in three locations, from which 3447 individual birds of 46 species and 26 families were recorded. There was a significant difference in total bird abundance and species richness between the three different stages of rice growing. The growing stage supported greater bird abundance and species richness compared to the pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. Rice-growing provides temporary habitats to different bird species in this managed aquatic landscape. This implies the presence of abundant food, such as small fish and amphibians. The evidence from this study suggests that biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices should be implemented to improve habitat quality for birds in rice production landscapes

Export performance of tropical timber products certified by the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme

A study on the export performance of timber products certified under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) was conducted from 2003 to 2015. The objectives were to analyse the trend and growth of certified timber products (CTP) and to determine the factors that influenced their export using Generalised Linear Models (GLM). The annual growth of CTP export had a fluctuating trend. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) within the study period was estimated at 31%. The average annual growth rate (AAGR) estimated using log-linear regression analysis was 22%. The primary markets for CTP export were European countries, accounting for nearly 83% of exports over the study period. The Netherlands seemed to be the main destination for almost half (40%) of the CTP. The major product was sawn timber (59%), followed by plywood (31%). GLM revealed that the export trend of CTPunder the MTCS increased with the number of Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certificate holders. More active involvement in the MTCS CoC certification scheme by industry players could promote the growth of Malaysia’s sustainable timber trade

Estimating wildlife occurrence in Peninsular Malaysia using GWR4

The Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) is an example of spatial analysis that used spatial non-stationarity as variables and explains it in details in terms of location. In a two different forest areas; undisturbed and disturbed forest in Peninsular Malaysia, we studied the relationship between wildlife richness with landscape factors as explanatory variables. A total of 120 camera traps were installed at both forest areas from May 2015 to March 2016. We found that undisturbed forest was high in wildlife richness compared to disturbed forest with two from 16 mammals species were listed under endangered species in the IUCN red list. We concluded that wildlife is more abundant in the undisturbed forest due to the richness of biodiversity from plants and animals. The GWR gives a good model between the relationship of wildlife occurrence and landscape features. In addition, information obtained from the AICc value could help stakeholders and responsible authorities to maintain the diversity of wildlife species as attributed by the landscape factor importance

Logged peat swamp forest supports greater macrofungal biodiversity than large-scale oil palm plantations and smallholdings

Intensive land expansion of commercial oil palm agricultural lands results in reducing the size of peat swamp forests, particularly in Southeast Asia. The effect of this land conversion on macrofungal biodiversity is, however, understudied. We quantified macrofungal biodiversity by identifying mushroom sporocarps throughout four different habitats; logged peat swamp forest, large-scale oil palm plantation, monoculture, and polyculture smallholdings. We recorded a total of 757 clusters of macrofungi belonging to 127 morphospecies and found that substrates for growing macrofungi were abundant in peat swamp forest; hence, morphospecies richness and macrofungal clusters were significantly greater in logged peat swamp forest than converted oil palm agriculture lands. Environmental factors that influence macrofungi in logged peat swamp forests such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed, soil pH, and soil moisture were different from those in oil palm plantations and smallholdings. We conclude that peat swamp forests are irreplaceable with respect to macrofungal biodiversity. They host much greater macrofungal biodiversity than any of the oil palm agricultural lands. It is imperative that further expansion of oil palm plantation into remaining peat swamp forests should be prohibited in palm oil producing countries. These results imply that macrofungal distribution reflects changes in microclimate between habitats and reduced macrofungal biodiversity may adversely affect decomposition in human-modified landscapes

Home range and activity patterns of Sunda scops owl in Peninsular Malaysia

The Sunda scops owl Otus lempiji is commonly found in many wooded habitat types in Malaysia. However, as with other owl species in Southeast Asia, there is a lack of published ecological studies. We examined the home range and activity patterns of six adult Sunda scops owls based on radio-telemetry in an isolated forest, namely Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia from December 2012 to June 2013. Mean minimum convex polygon and harmonic mean home range areas of the owls were 2.40 ± 0.28 SD ha and 4.00 ± 0.78 SD ha, respectively. The birds exhibited territorial behaviour with little overlapping of home ranges. Movements (the means of inter-fix speed) were not associated with lunar illumination nor with time. This study provided baseline information on the spatial requirements of the Sunda scops owl in a lowland forest

Impacts of 2 species of predatory Reduviidae on bagworms in oil palm plantations

Integrated pest management (IPM) is widely practiced in commercial oil palm agriculture. This management system is intended to minimize the number of attacks by pest insects such as bagworms on crops, as well as curb economic loss with less dependency on chemical pesticides. One practice in IPM is the use of biological control agents such as predatory insects. In this study, we assessed the response of predatory natural enemies to pest outbreak and water stress, and document the habitat associations of potential pest predators. The abundances of 2 predatory insect species, namely Sycanus dichotomus and Cosmolestes picticeps (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), were compared bagworm outbreak sites and nonoutbreak sites within oil palm plantations. We also examined habitat characteristics that influence the abundances of both predatory species. We found that the abundance of C. picticeps was significantly higher in bagworm outbreak sites than in nonoutbreak sites. There were no significant differences in the abundance of S. dichotomus among outbreak and non-outbreak sites. Both species responded negatively to water stress in oil palm plantations. Concerning the relationship between predatory insect abundance and in situ habitat quality characteristics, our models explained 46.36% of variation for C. picticeps and 23.17% of variation for S. dichotomus. Both species of predatory insects thrived from the planting of multiple beneficial plants in oil palm plantations. The results suggest that C. picticeps can be used as a biological agent to control bagworm populations in oil palm plantations, but S. dichotomus has no or little potential for such ecosystem service

Glowing mushrooms

Have you ever ventured into the forest at night and saw glowing mushrooms on top of some wood surfaces? The glow or greenish lights from bioluminescent mushrooms come from a light-emitting substance called luciferin

Man-made maternity roost selection by Scotophilus kuhlii (Lesser Asiatic yellow bat) in two anthropogenically altered habitats

Scotophilus kuhlii is a highly gregarious bat that thrives in anthropogenically altered habitats readily roosting in man-made structures. Although widespread, information on the ecology of S. kuhlii is very scarce in Southeast Asia. We conducted this study to determine if the females used the same day roost as a maternity roost in buildings in an agricultural and suburban habitat from July 2013 to April 2015. The females were found to use the same day roost as a maternity roost as the buildings provided a higher temperature and more stable thermal conditions as compared to the ambient temperature. We found that there was a significant positive relationship between roost microclimate and ambient microclimate. Based on the observation of the external body condition, females were found to be seasonally monoestrous. Our findings are useful for conservation and management of these synantrophic bats where natural roost sites are lacking and in managing human-bat conflicts

Sunda scops-owl density estimation via distance sampling and call playback

Nocturnal birds in the tropics remain little studied primarily due to the logistical difficulties of surveying these birds at night. While call playback has been widely employed in the temperate regions, its practicality has not been adequately demonstrated on tropical owl species. This study aimed to test the feasibility of estimating the density of the Sunda scops-owl (Otus lempiji) in a lowland forest in Peninsular Malaysia based on call playback and distance sampling. From a total of 58 detections of the owl species from October 2012 to May 2013, 72.41% (42 detections) were made when the birds were breeding. The densities of the owl were estimated at 1.6 individuals and 2.6 individuals per 10 ha based on spontaneous and provoked calls (i.e. before and after call playback), respectively. Broadcasting of the calls significantly increased the numbers of detections (χ2 = 16.038, p<0.001) during both breeding and non-breeding seasons of the birds. The combination of call playback and distance sampling improved the detectability as well as precision of the owl’s density estimation and can be potentially applied on other little known owl species in Southeast Asia

Density and diversity of nocturnal birds in oil palm smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia

Over the past half century, oil palm cultivation has been expanding rapidly throughout many developing countries. Due to its economic importance, large tracts of natural land have been converted into oil palm cultivations and where increasing sightings of nocturnal birds have been made. A survey of nocturnal birds was conducted to assess their density and diversity in the oil palm smallholdings in the Selangor state, Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 90 sampling points were established within three oil palm smallholdings. A total of 1408 individuals of 11 nocturnal bird species were recorded. Based on distance sampling techniques, the density of Spotted Wood-owl (Strix seloputo) was estimated at 7 individuals 100 ha-1, followed by 15 individuals for Sunda Scops-owl (Otus lempiji), five for Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) and 79 for Large-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) per every 100 ha. The presence of a high density of some nocturnal birds in oil palm smallholdings may be associated with the availability of food source and roosting structure that are linked to habitat heterogeneity in the oil palm smallholdings. Our study highlighted the potential of nocturnal bird species, other than the Barn Owl, as biological control agents in the agricultural areas