Zakaria, Mohamed

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

UPM Research Report 1997-2000, Section 2 Extended AbstractsUnderstorey Bird Species Composition in Primary and 10-Year-Old Logged Forest atSungai Lalang Forest Reserve, Semenyih, SelangorMohamed ZakariaFaculty of ForestryUniversiti Putra Malaysia43400 UPM, Serdang, SelangorMalaysiaE-mail ofCorrespondingAuthor:rnzakaria@forr.upm.edu.myKey words: primary forest, logged forest, understorey birds, species composition, diversity indices.IntroductionLogging activity will alter the distribu-tion and abundance of food sources(Zakaria et al. and Nordin et aI2000a)and thus influence the behaviour ofmany species of birds and other ani-mals (Zakaria and Nordin et al.1998,Leighton et aI.1982). One of the sig-nificant impacts of primary forest de-struction on bird populations is a de-crease in species number and change ofbird community (Nordin et al. andZakaria et al. 1997, Zakaria and Fran-cis, in press, Blankespoor et al. 1991).Understorey species have been sug-gested to be affected the most when theforest structure was altered (Nordin etal.and Zakaria et aI.1997). This is be-cause understorey species are highlysensitive to high temperature or lightintensity. A number of large bird spe-cies such as hombills has also beenshown to decline in logged forest(Johns et al. 1988). This was probablydue to the decrease in their preferredbig trees that supply them with foodand nesting sites. In the process oftimber felling and extracting manymature fruit bearing trees were cutdown or likely to be damaged.However, certain groups of bird areable to tolerate disturbance such as thatcaused by logging. These groups werenormally belonged to small size birdsof insectivore/frugivore (e.g. bulbuls)and nectarivore (e.g. spiderhunters;Zakaria et al.and Nordin et al. 2000b).These species are referred to as secon-dary or colonising species since theywere more common in logged than inprimary forest. They are able to toleratehigh temperature or light intensity bet-ter than the primary species such asbabblers, bluebirds and broadbills.Moreover, the colonising species couldsurvive well in logged forest becauseof their ability to move through thethick regenerating vegetation and con-sume the small fruits.226The main objectives of this study wereto determine the composition of under-storey bird species in old logged forest(i.e.lu-year-old logged forest). Thecomposition would then be comparedwith that in primary forest (VJR) todetermine factors that affecting thedifferences.Materials and MethodsThe study was conducted at Sg. LalangForest Reserve, situated in Semenyih,Selangor. Two study sites were chosennamely Compartment 24 (82 ha.) thatis primary forest and Compartment 33(387 ha.), which was about IO-year-oldlogged forest when the study started.The technique used in obtaining infor-mation on understorey bird speciescomposition was by mist-nettingmethod. Thirty standard 4.0m x 10.Ommist-nets with mesh sizes of 2.0, 2.5and 3.Ocmwere used in both studysites. Nets placement was based onFogden (1972), Karr et al. (1980) andWong et al. (1986) where the nets wereplaced at or near the ground in linearsequences or scattered at right angles toa rootpath and follow the grid (to makesure the area was covered) between therange, which has been determined inthe study site.Nets were opened just before sunrise(around 07:00hr) and closed one hourbefore sunset (around 18:00hr). Thenets were checked about every two-hour interval. Birds that were caughtwere carefully removed from the nets,placed in small sacks and then broughtto the base camp for the purpose ofidentification and measurement. Afterthe identification and measurement wascompleted, the birds were tagged andreleased. Netting was carried out for 57days in each study site for a total ofapproximately 10,000 net-hours. Theunit net-hour was used as a standardmeasure of capture effort, whereby onenet hour is equivalent to one standardmist net of 10 meters long opened forone hour.Microclimate data measurement suchas temperature, light intensity and hu-midity were also recorded at each lo-cation of the. These measurementswere taken in the early morning(06:00hr), noon (12:00hr) and evening(17:30hr) before the nets were closed.To analyze bird species compositionbetween IO-year-old logged and pri-mary forests, diversity indices wereemployed. The most common diversityindices used are the species richnessindices, species diversity indices, andspecies evenness indices.Results and DiscussionThe study had captured a total of 737birds with 348 individuals in primaryand 389 individuals in IO-year-oldlogged forests (Table I). The studyindicated that primary forest containedhigher diversity of understorey species(66 species) than in logged forest (55species; Table 2). This means that bothforest types contained slightly differentspecies composition. Results haveclearly showed that secondary or colo-nising species such as bulbuls, bee-eaters and spiderhunters have increasedin number significantly in logged for-est. On the other hand, primary forestspecies such as babblers and flycatch-ers decreased in logged forest.Although the number of species foundin primary forest was higher, the totalnumber of birds captured in IO-year-old logged forest was almost doublethan the number of birds captured inprimary forest. This was most probablydue to the increased in the number offorest edges and number of dominantcolonising species. The edge effect washigher in logged forest due mainly tofragmentation of forest habitats pro-duced during logging activities. Forestedges have been shown to attracthigher number of birds due to increaseBiological Sciencesvariability of microhabitats and foodresources (Zakaria et a!. and Nordin etaI.2000b). It was expected that an in-creased in the edge (ecotone) effectswould increase the number of rapidgrowth secondary plants that frequentlyproduced flower nectar and fruits.Thus, this in tum might attract the in-sectivore/frugivore (e.g. bulbuls) andnectarivore birds (e.g. spiderhunters) orother colonising species.Species composition analysis showedthat the bulbuls (Pycnonotidae) andspiderhunters (Nectariniidae) were thetwo most common and abundantgroups captured in logged forest. Alto-gether 113 individuals from II speciesof bulbuls were recorded in lO-year-oldlogged forest compared to only 53individuals from seven species in pri-mary forest. The four species namelyPycnonotus goiavier, P. finlaysoni, P.atriceps and Criniger pallidus werefound only in the lO-year-old loggedforest (Table 3). The bulbuls were thelargest groups found in the forest edgedescribed earlier and have been knownto be able to tolerate changes in micro-climate condition (Zakaria et al. andNordin et al. 1998). They are alsonoted as generalists that capable ofexploiting both insects and fruits.The spiderhunter abundance was alsosignificantly higher in the logged forestwith 119 individuals compared to only38 in primary forest. Even though therewere only two species of spiderhunterscaptured, each species was representedby high number of individuals particu-larly in the logged forest. The mostcommon species was Arachnotheralongirostra and it seemed to dominatethe logged area. The logged forest wasovergrown with secondary plants suchas wild banana. The flowers of wildbanana might have attracted the nee-tari vore spiderhunters.Previous study has found that the un-derstorey babblers were common inprimary forest and fewer in 2-year-oldand 5-year-old logged forest (Nordin etal. and Zakaria 1997, Zakaria et al.1999). This study clearly showed thateven in 10 year-old logged forest thebabblers were still significantly re-duced. There were only 45 individualsfrom 12 species captured in loggedforest compared to 117 individualsfrom 19 species in primary forest.Seven of the species namely Pellor-neum capistratum, Malacopteron cine-reum, Alcippe brunneicauda, Pomato-rhinus schisticeps, Trichastoma ros-tratum, Stachyris leucotis and S. rufi-frons were captured only in primaryforest (Table 3). The babblers areknown to be highly sensitive to hightemperature or high light intensitysince they were the inhabitants of theforest understorey. Although the areawas considered old logged forest whenthe study began, the microclimate con-dition was still different than in pri-mary forest (Table 4). In addition, thevegetation had not fully recovered asthat in primary forest. Bare soils andold logging roads could still be seen.Even though secondary trees (e.g.Macaranga sp.) and thick shrubs hadgrown, patches of large gaps were stillpresence.There might be other unknown factorsthat could also influence the bird spe-cies composition in either forest site. Itis interesting to note that even in pri-mary forest the colonising species suchas bulbuls and spiderhunters were alsocommon. It is difficult to assess whythere were many colonising birds in theprimary forest. One of the possibilitiesmight be due the primary forest beingsurrounded by logged over forests. It isobvious that more indepth study isneeded in order to understand clearlythe effects of logging and the recoveryof bird species in logged forest.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the study has shown thatthe species diversity was lower inlogged than in primary forest. Thespecies distribution (in terms of thenumber of individuals per species) wasmore even for most species in primarythan in IO-year-old logged forest. Thepresence of very dominant colonisingspecies such as bulbuls and spider-hunters indicated that the forest habitathas been altered and thus, affectingmany primary forest bird species par-ticularly the understorey babblers. Tenyears might not be sufficient for theforest birds to recover and return tocondition as that in the primary forest.However, the study suggested thatlogged forest could play importantroles in bird conservation. The forestmight still contain many understoreybirds provided that the damaged doneby logging was not extensive. Primaryforest patches left untouched within thelogged forest could act as crucial rem-nant habitats for primary forest birds.Birds survived in the remnant patcheswill be the source for recolonisation.Therefore, it is important to carefullyplan the logging activities so that largepatches of primary forest will be leftintact within the logged forest. It isimportant for the logged forest to beprotected from further disturbance.Continuous monitoring of the area isalso crucial in order to give us moreinsight of the recovery patterns andprocesses of understorey birds in tropi-cal forest.Benefits from the studyThe study provides information on thebird species composition in our tropicalrain forest. It provides also detail in-formation on the effects of habitat dis-turbance such as logging activities onthe avifauna. The findings will be usedin the preparation of guideline manualon methods of forest extraction in orderto reduce the adverse effects of loggingon avifauna populations. The manualwill be useful for the Ministry of Pri-mary Industry that acts as an agency toensure the country practices sustainableforestry. The study has also producedat least nine well-trained graduate and10 undergraduate students.Literature cited in the textBlankespoor,G.W. 1991.Slash-and-Bushshiftingagricultureand bird communitiesin Liberia,West Africa.BioI.Conserv.57: 41-71.Johns,A.D. 1988.Effectsof "selective"timberextractionon rain forest structureand compositionand someconsequencesfor frugivoresand folivores.Biotropica.20(1):31-37.Karr,J.R. 1980.Geographicalvariationsinthe avifaunaof tropical forestundergrowth.Auk. 97: 283-247.Leighton.M. 1982.Fruit resourcesandpatternsof feeding.spacingand groupingamongsympatricBomeanhornbill[Bucerotidae]. UnpublishedPh.D.dissertation.CaliforniaUniversity,Davis.Nordin,M. andZakaria,M. 1997.Someeffectsof logginginmixedLowlandDipterocarpforeston Birds. InOngBengGaik (Ed).Stateof the EnvironmentinMalaysia.Consumers'AssociationofPenangPress,Malaysia.pp.161-166.Wong,M. 1986.Trophicorganizationofunderstoreybirds in a MalaysianDipterocarpforest.Auk 103:100-116.Zakaria,M. and Francis,C.M. In press.Birds in Asian loggedforests. InAlejandroGrajal,RobertFimbeland JohnRobinson(Eds). Effectsof loggingon227UPM Research Report 1997-2000, Section 2-Extended Abstractswildlife in the tropics. Univ. of BritishColumbia Press. USA.Zakaria, M. and Nordin. M. 1998.Comparison of visitation rates offrugivorous birds in primary and loggedforest in Sabah lowland dipterocarpforest. Tropical Biodiversity. 5( I):1-9.Zakaria, M. and Nordin, M. 2000b.Importance of bird species in forestreproduction. Proceedings of the XXIIUFRO World Congress. 2: 349-350.Zakaria, M. and Nordin. M. 2000a.Comparison of tree composition inprimary and logged forest. Proceedings ofthe XXIIUFRO World Congress. 3: 437-438.Zakaria, M. and Phirasack, S.• Rosli, Z. andRahim. A. 1999. Composition ofunderstorey birds at Sungai Lalang ForestReserve. Selangor. Proceedings of the1999 Langat Basin Research Symposium.pp.245-250.Project Publications inRefereed JournalsArshad, I. And Zakaria, M. 1999. Breedingecology of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallusspadiceus) in agricultural areas. MalayanNature Journal. 53 (4): 355-365.Arshad, M.1. and Zakaria, M. 2000. Callingbehaviour of Red Junglefowl (Gallusgallus spadiceusi in oil palm plantation.Pakistan Journal of Zoology 32(2): Ill-115.Arshad, M.I.. Zakaria, M. Sajap. A.S. andIsmail. A. 2000. Food and Feeding Habitsof Red Junglefowl in oil palm plantation.228Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences.3(6): 1024-1026.Arshad, M.I.. Zakaria, M. Sajap, A.S. andIsmail. A. In press. Roosting ecology ofRed Junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus)in oil palm plantation. Pakistan Journal ofScientific and Industrial Research.Azlan, J.M .• Sharma, RS.K. and andZakaria, M. 2000. Species Diversity andRelative Abundance of Understorey Batsat Air Hitam Forest Reserve. Puchong,Selangor, Malaysia. Malayan NatureJournal. 54: 69-75.Fodgen, M.P.L. 1972. The seasonality andpopulation dynamic of equatorial forestbirds in Sarawak. Ibis. 114: 307-343Marsden. S.J .• Fielding. A.H .•Mead. C. andZakaria, M.H. 2001. A technique formeasuring a density and complexity ofunderstorey vegetation in tropical forest.J. of Forest Ecology and Management.57:1-7.Zakaria, M. and Arnri, K. and Nasir. J. Inpress. Comparison of understorey birdspecies composition in primary andlogged mixed hill dipterocarp forest inPeninsular Malaysia. Malayan NatureJournal.Zakaria, M. and Francis. CM. 1998.Estimating densities of Malaysian ForestBirds. J. of African Ornithology. 69: 132.Zakaria, M. and Nordin. M. 1998.Comparison of visitation rates offrugivorous birds in primary and loggedforest in Sabah lowland dipterocarpforest. Tropical Biodiversity. 5(1): 1-9.Zakaria, M. and Rahim. A. 1999. Avifaunaof Air Hitam Forest Reserve. Pertanika J.of Tropical Agricultural Sci. 22(2):95-104.Zakaria, M. and Topani, R 1999. Density ofprimates at Air Hitam Forest Reserve.Pertanika J. of Tropical Agricultural Sci.22(2); 105-110.Zakaria, M .• Silang. S. and Mudirn, R Inpress. Species composition of smallmammals at the Ayer Hitam ForestReserve. Puchong, Selangor. Pertanika J.of Tropical Agricultural Science.Project Publications inConference ProceedingsNone.Graduate ResearchMoutassim Gamar Eldin Ismail Mohamed2001. Wildlife Management [M.Sc.J.Universiti Putra Malaysia.Sengrath Phirasack. 200 1. WildlifeManagement [M.Sc.J. Universiti PutraMalaysia.Sundai ak Silang. 200I.WildlifeManagement[ M.Sc.J. Universiti PutraMalaysia.Syamsul Herman Mohammad Afendi. 2001.Wildlife Management [M.Sc.J. UniversitiPutra Malaysia.Ibrahim Ahmed Eshkab. 1999. WildlifeManagement [M.ScJ. Universiti PutraMalaysia.Muhamad Irshad Arshad. 1999. WildlifeManagement [Ph.DJ. Universiti PutraMalaysia.Salak Maling. 1999. Wildlife Management[M.Sc.J. Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Understorey bird species composition in primary and 10-year-old logged forest at Sungai Lalang Forest Reserve, Semenyih, Selangor

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Understorey bird species composition in primary and 10-year-old logged forest at Sungai Lalang Forest Reserve, Semenyih, Selangor

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