Perception of visitors towards the role of zoos: a Malaysian perspective

Zoos have multiple roles in recreation, conservation, education and research. There is a lack of information on the motivation and expectation of local visitors who visit zoos in developing countries. A social survey was carried out to identify the perception of visitors towards the roles of three Malaysian zoos. The results indicate that visitors who go to the zoo mainly do so for recreation and they prefer to see attractive and active animals, rather than threatened and healthy animals, although the variation in the mean scores of these perceptions was minimal. The majority of respondents perceived that animals were kept mainly to attract visitors. However, most respondents were knowledgeable on issues related to conservation, education and research in zoos, and would like to see zoos move towards achieving these goals. The respondents perceived the zoos, in priority order, as places for conservation, education, research and recreation. These results may provide some guidance for local zoos in future planning, in particular in designing and improving the facilities and exhibits in order to fulfil their roles effectively

Efficiency of Fixed-Width Transect and Line-Transect-based Distance Sampling to Survey Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) in Peninsular Malaysia

Reliable survey method is very important to estimate wildlife population. In this study, fixed-width strip- and line-transect samplings were simultaneously used to yield population estimates on oil palm plantation. The latter was found to be more accurate but less precise than the former based on the Per cent Relative Bias (hereafter PRB). Using the strip-transect, an overall density and abundance were estimated at 0.3237 birds/ha and 3 018 ± 273 birds (CV = 9.05%), respectively. An unbiased overall density generated by line-transect, D ± S.E. = 0.500 ± 0.069 birds/ha (95% CI: 0.38137 - 0.65521) and estimated total abundance, N ± S.E. was 4 661 ± 644 birds (95% CI: 3 556 - 6 109; CV = 13.81%) for the entire 9 323.53 ha study area. The former and latter method gave relative and absolute estimates, respectively

The feasibility of using line-transect-based distance sampling to survey Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus Bonnaterre) in Peninsular Malaysia

Population management of exploited species requires information on absolute density and abundance through reliable survey methods available. The baseline information is further needed for population dynamics studies and to determine conservation status. In the case of gamebird management in Peninsular Malaysia, the current population size of Red Junglefowl (RJF) is totally unknown because no official attempt to estimate it has been made in previous years. In this study, line transect based Distance Sampling was used to yield population estimates in palm oil plantation. Data from aural and visual counts were combined to calculate overall estimates. Results indicated that an unbiased overall density and abundance of RJF generated by this method for the entire 9,323.53 ha study area., was estimated at, D±S.E.=0.500±0.069 birds/ha (95% CI: 0.381-0.655) and, N±S.E.=4,661±644 birds (95% CI: 3,556-6,109; CV=13.81%), respectively. The cluster size of the species was estimated at, E(s)±S.E.=2.471±0.144 birds/flock (95% CI: 2.202-2.772; CV=5.82%)

Discovering 100 birds of Universiti Putra Malaysia

Birds are the most widely studied group of vertebrates. They come in various colours, shapes and sizes filling up different levels of a trophic pyramid and occupying many niches of an ecosystem. This includes the top predators such as raptors and small prey species such as sparrows. Birds play significant ecological roles with respect to pollination, seed dispersal, pest control, natural carcass removal, and ecosystem engineering. Collectively, they help maintain the balance of ecosystems. The ability of migratory birds to travel long distances has made them one of the most magnificent taxa in the world. Some species such as hornbills, woodpeckers, owls and waders have been recognized as environmental indicators. In many places, birds have generated significant income locally or nationally through birdwatching tourism. In the Serdang campus of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), a total of 116 bird species of 47 families have been recorded including 23 migrants. The largest family groups are Ardeidae and Sturnidae (each has 9 species), followed by Accipitridae and Pycnonotidae (each has 7 species), and Columbidae (6 species). It is worth to mention that UPM has long been carrying out research on birds ranging from species diversity, species abundance, community assemblages, physiology, systematics, population genetics, ecotoxicology, biological control, behaviour, parasites, diseases to economic values. The Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, as well as Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences (Bintulu Campus) are among the faculties in UPM that are conducting research on birds

Effects of monoculture and polyculture practices in oil palm smallholdings on tropical farmland birds

Industrial oil palm expansion has led to dramatic landscape changes that have negatively affected forest biodiversity in the tropics. In contrast to large-scale plantations, oil palm smallholdings may support greater levels of biodiversity through the implementation of multi-cropping system or polyculture. We examined bird species richness, together with community structure, conservation status, and feeding guild of existing smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia. Based on point transect sampling, we sampled birds in 100 smallholdings that practiced either monoculture or polyculture farming. Our results revealed that bird species richness was significantly greater in monoculture smallholdings than in polyculture smallholdings, but the opposite was true for bird abundance. Non-forest birds constituted the major species of bird communities in oil palm smallholdings. However, we found that the abundances of insectivores and frugivores were greater in polyculture smallholdings than in monoculture smallholdings. In the monoculture models, predictor variables explained 11.31–19.98% of the variation in bird species richness. When polyculture was being practiced, bird species richness increased significantly with the height of ground vegetation cover, distance to major roads, and distance to rice fields. In the polyculture models, predictor variables accounted for 11.71–24.85% of the variation in bird species richness. We also found that bird species richness increased significantly with height of ground vegetation, but it decreased with ground vegetation cover and distance to rivers. The evidence from this study suggests that monoculture and polyculture farming were able to maintain farmland biodiversity in smallholdings, at least for birds, but differed in richness, population, and feeding guild

Nocturnal bird composition in relation to habitat heterogeneity in small scale oil palm agriculture in Malaysia

The expansion of oil palm cultivation is recognised as a major cause of tropical biodiversity loss. In contrast to large-scale plantations, oil palm smallholdings being more heterogeneous may support greater biodiversity. This study examined the effects of local and landscape level variables on the composition of nocturnal bird species in Malaysian oil palm smallholdings. Using visual and aural point sampling, we made 1408 encounters with nine owl and two nightjar species. The Biota-Environment-Stepwise matching analyses (BEST) indicated four predictor variables (three local variables; number of crop species, widths of roads and trenches, and one landscape variable; distance to the nearest main road) significantly influenced the community assemblages of nocturnal bird species in the smallholdings. Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) further indicated seven predictor variables (numbers of palms and houses, widths of roads and trenches, distances to the nearest forest and house, as well as palm height) significantly influenced the abundances of certain nocturnal species. These findings not only improve our understanding on habitat preference of nocturnal birds in the Sunda region but also support the argument that habitat complexity in cultivated areas may aid in biodiversity conservation, at least for nocturnal birds

Morphometric sexing of little spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra) in Peninsular Malaysia

Sexual dimorphism is often directly linked to sexual selection, mating systems and resource partitioning, which are crucial in species conservation and management. Many avian species, including pollinator birds, are sexually dimorphic with respect to size and colour, yet, such differences may be subtle for some species. In this study, molecular sexing was performed in addition to determining morphological parameters that can aid in future sex determination of a common forest pollinator, the little spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra), in Peninsular Malaysia. Based on 23 captures made in four forests, two out of seven body measurements (i.e. wing and tail lengths) were useful in predicting the sexes of the bird with 100% accuracy. In addition, significant differences were found in the head, bill, and total body lengths. Such findings will facilitate more effective sex identification in future field studies, particularly in the case of juveniles

Territorial and duet calls of three Malaysian owl species

Vocalisations of tropical birds are still largely unexplored particularly the nocturnal species. This study examined and quantitatively described the territorial calls and duets of the Sunda Scops-Owl (Otus lempiji), Brown Boobook (Ninox scutulata) and Spotted Wood-Owl (Strix seloputo) based on 105 territorial call and four duetting recordings collected from one forest reserve and oil palm smallholdings in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests found significant differences (p<0.05) for almost all vocal parameters measured from the spectrograms derived from the duets with one higher-pitched than the other. Being the first study to describe the vocal structure of the duetting calls of the three Malaysian strigids, this study serves as a baseline for future behavioural study of nocturnal birds particularly pertaining to conspecific interactions in the Sunda region

Vocal response of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis) to urban environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia

Anthropogenic noise and changes in environmental gradients resulted from urbanisation have been shown to alter vocalisation of urban birds in previous studies. This study examined the vocalisation of the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis; locally known as Murai Kampung) in relation to anthropogenic noise and environmental factors in the urban, suburban and rural areas in Peninsular Malaysia. We measured four ambient factors (i.e. ambient noise, temperature, relative humidity and light intensity) and two landscape factors (i.e. distance to building and distance to major roads) between January and June 2017 from six locations. A total of 147 recordings comprising territorial songs of the bird were obtained and transcribed into spectrograms. Six parameters, namely low frequency, high frequency, frequency ranges, length of strophe, number of elements per strophe, and time interval between strophes were derived from spectrograms for each recording. In urban areas, low frequency of the songs was found to have increased significantly as compared to those recorded in suburban and rural areas. The difference in noise, temperature and relative humidity in urban and suburban environment had led to both single and interaction effects towards the Oriental Magpie Robin’s song parameters, i.e. low frequency, length of strophe, time interval between strophes and number of elements per strophe. The results evidenced the ability of the Oriental Magpie Robin in regulating and altering their song structure according to its surrounding environment. This implies its vocal plasticity which is important in ensuring the efficiency in transmission of songs and is likely to explain why the bird is less susceptible to urbanisation

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