Hasan, Mohd Nordin

Hussin, Mohamed Zakaria

Sajap, Ahmad Said

Samat, Abdullah

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

UPM Research Report 1998: Volume 2FAUNA CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY INLOGGED FORESTMohamedZakaria Hussin, Mohd Nordin HasanAhmad Said Sajap and Abdullah Samat 'Faculty of ForestryUniversiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor,MalaysiaKeywords: fauna, conservation, recovery, logged for-est, primary forest.IntroductionStudies have been conducted on the effects of logging onbirds (Zakaria and Nordin 1998; Zakaria and Nordin 1997'Zakaria, 1994) and on mammals (Zainuddin, 1996). Some ofthe effects include a decrease in abundance and diversity ofmany species of wildlife. With time, species number returnto pre-logging levels but species composition changes.Common species of birds invaded logged forests while rareprimary forest birds disappeared (Zakaria and Francis InPress). A similar response has been observed with certainmammals (Zainuddin 1996). This study will examine in moredetail the effects of logging on fauna and conduct post-logging surveys to determine the extent of recovery of thefauna. Each component of the study will focus on a particulargroup of fauna. Together with past research findings, the in-formation on the recovery of these animals in logged forestcan be obtained, and suitable reduced impact logging guide-lines and conservation strategies can be formulated in thisstudy.Materials and MethodsThe study area is located at Sg. Lalang Forest Reserve inSemenyih, Selangor. Three compartments were selected forcomparison namely primary forest, 4 year-old logged forestand 9 year-old logged forest. The study will be divided intotwo main components of fauna: Birds - the composition,relative abundance and distribution will be determined usingdistance sampling method and mist-netting. Surveys will beconducted on a monthly cycle. During each survey cycle, noless than 14 days will be spent at each study site surveyingfor the presence of bird species. In addition, at least 10 daysof mist-netting activities will be conducted in each month.Mammals - the composition, relative abundance and distri-bution will be determined using distance sampling methods,live trapping (rodents and squirrels) and spot observations.Surveys will be conducted on a monthly cycle. During eachsurvey cycle, no less than 14 days will be spent at each studysite surveying for the presence of mammalian species.Results and DiscussionThe study is still in progress and will continue for at least an-other 12 months. Therefore, results presented here were onlypreliminary results. The estimation of species and certaingroups of species densities were calculated using the latesttechnology of animal density estimation called DISTANCE2.2 software (Zakaria and Francis 1998). Results showed thatmost of the large mammal species such as Tapir, Deer andprimates were significantly decreased in logged forests com-pared to primary forest. However, the mammal species com-position remained the same between the two forest types. Re-sults on birds also indicated that most of the species that pre-sent in primary forests were also present in logged forests.However, their individual numbers were significantly re-234duced in logged than in primary forests. Exceptions werespecies that belong to the family Pycnonotidae (bulbuls),~ese species were significantly abundant in logged than inpnmary forests. These results indicated that logged forestscould still maintain most of the forest mammals and birds(depending on logging intensity). However, the forests havebecome unattractive to most species. The main reasons forthese phenomena might be that: (1) the animals' habitatshave been damaged or altered in logged forests. Most of theanimals preferred areas of low light intensity and cool condi-tion '.During logging, all the big trees particularly dipterocarpspecies were harvested. This would open the forest and cre-ate a lot of gaps. As a result, higher level of light intensitypenetrated the forest floor and thus, increased the forest tem-perat~re. This was the reason why bulbul species were abun-dant ID logged forests. They were colonising species and ableto tolerate high temperature (Zakaria and Nordin 1998). (2)the food sources were also decreased in logged forest. Even~ough only the dipterocarp species were harvested, the non-dIp.te~~carp species were also destroyed during the loggingactivities (Zakaria 1997, Zakaria 1994). Most of this non-dipterocarp species were fruit trees important to fruit-eatingmammals and birds. Therefore, many wildlife species wouldprefer to !orage in primary than in logged forests. Theywould easily locate fruiting trees there. Furthermore, the in-sect's abundance has also been shown to decrease in loggedforest.:. Th~s would result in insectivorous animals to foragemore ID pnmary than in logged forests. This was the mainreason why the insectivores were detected more in primarythan in logged forests.ConclusionsMost of the mammal and bird species could still survive inlogged forests but their numbers were lower than in primaryforests. This might depend on the logging intensity. Thehigher the intensity, the bigger the damage to the forest. Thiswould affect the habitats and the food sources of the animals.Further study will reveal whether the animals in logged for-ests can recover to the same original condition as in primaryforests. The information obtains will assist us towards betterunderstanding of the responses of fauna to habitat changethat result from logging and in formulating strategies forfauna conservation and management in tropical forest.ReferencesZainud~in J?ahaban. 1996. Effects of selective logging on wildlife ina hill dipterocarp forest of Sarawak. Ph.D. thesis, UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia.Zakaria, ~. 1994. Ecological effects of selective logging in a low-land dipterocarp forest on avifauna, with special reference to fru-givorous birds. Ph.D. thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.Zakaria, M. 1997. Effects of selective logging on frugivorous birdsin lowland dipterocarp forests in Sabah, Malaysia. Proceedings ofthe XI World Forestry Congress, Antalya, Turkey, 13-22 Octo-ber. 3: 349.Zakaria, M. and Francis, C.M. Effects of logging on birds in tropicalforests of IndO-Australia. In Effects of logging on wildlife in thetropics.Alejandro Grajal, Robert Fimbell,John Robinson (Eds.),Columbia University Press. Chapter 9. (in press).Zak~a, M. and .Francis, C.M. 1998. Estimating densities of Malay-sian Forest BIrds. African Ornithology. 69: 132.ZaI<:aria,.M. and Nordin, M. 1998. Comparison of frugivory by birdsID P?mary and logged lowland dipterocarp forests in Sabah, Ma-laysia, Tropical Biodiversity. 5(1): 1-9.Supported by IRPA Grant 08-02-04-0051

Fauna conservation and recovery in logged forest

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Fauna conservation and recovery in logged forest

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