The Comparison of Birds Population in Two Years and Eight Years Old Acacia mangium Plantation at Sabah Forest Industries (SFI), Sipitang
Jephte Sompud, Woon-Jah Lee, Sze-Lue Kee & Cynthia Boon Sompud
Download pdf
Keywords: Birds population; Acacia mangium; forest plantation; Borneo; vegetation
A b s t r a c t
Forest plantation and plantation plays an important role to provide secondary habitat for wildlife, including birds. One of the factors that might influence the avian population is different age or vegetation structure. The purpose of this research is to compare the bird population density and diversity in 2-year and 8-year mangium plantation. The study was conducted from 1st - 21st August 2015 at SFI in Mendulong and Lakutan Estate. Two types of surveys were conducted, i.e., bird surveys and A. mangium vegetation surveys. Bird survey and vegetation survey were conducted using point count method. For A. mangium surveys, five plots of 10 x 100 metres were established at each age class. Shannon-Weiner (H’) and Simpson diversity index (1-D) were used to calculate the bird species diversity. The Population density of bird was estimated by using software Distance 6.2. The results shows that there was a very significant difference between the bird species diversity between the population at 2-year (H’= 3.24) and 8-year (H’= 2.93) mangium plantation (T-test, p=0.001). Bird population density in 8-year mangium plantation (40.37 indv/ha) has a prominently higher density compared to 2-year mangium plantation (17.71 indv/ha). The stem density, basal area and average tree height in 8-year mangium plantation was higher as compared to the 2-year mangium. Avian population density at older age class mangium plantation was significantly higher as compared to the younger age class due to the more complex vegetation in older age class mangium plantation. The avian species diversity at 2-year was higher than the 8-year due to the higher ground elevation, wider range of habitat variability and the closer proximity to the conservation SFI area. A further study is recommended to investigate the ecological interactions, between the conservation areas with the forest plantation areas.

© Transactions on Science and Technology 2016

References

[1]       Food and Agriculture Organization (2002). Case Study of The Tropical Forest Plantations in Malaysia by D.B.A. Krishnapillay. Forest Plantations Working Papers 23. June 2002. Forest Resources Development Service, Forest Resources Division. FAO, Rome (unpublished).

[2]       Fujita, M. S., Prawiradilaga, D. M. & Toshimura, T. (2014). Roles of fragmented and logged forests for bird communities in industrial Acacia mangium plantations in Indonesia. Ecological Research, 29(4), 741-755.

[3]       International Tropical Timber Organization (2007). Field manual on ground truthing and tree inventory. International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama.

[4]       Kerle, J. A. (2005). Collation and review of stem density data and thinning prescriptions for the vegetation communities of New South Wales. Department of Environment and Conservation, North South Wales, Sydney.

[5]       Lindenmayer, D. B. & Hobbs, R. J. (2007). Fauna conservation in Australian plantation forests. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australia.

[6]       Magurran, A. E. (2004). Measuring Biological Diversity. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

[7]       Mansor, M. S., Mohd Sah, S. A., Lim, C. K. & Abdul Rahman, M. (2011). Bird species diversity in the Padawan Limestone Area, Sarawak. Tropical Life Sciences Research, 22 (2), 65-80.

[8]       Mojiol, A. R., Affendy, H., Maluda, J. & Immit, S. (2008). Rapid assesement on the abundance of bird species utilising the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre mangroves. Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation, 4 (1), 99-107.

[9]       Newton, A. C. (2007). Forest Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques. Oxford University Press, New York.

[10]   Pérez, D. & Kanninen, M. (2005). Stand growth scenarios for Tectona grandis plantations in Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and management, 210(1), 425-441.

[11]   Phillipps, Q. & Phillipps, K. (2014). Phillipps’ Field Guide to The Birds of Borneo. John Beaufoy Publishing, United Kingdoms.

[12]   Ross, C. & Reeve, N. (2003). Survey and census methods: population distribution and density. In: Setchell, J. M. & Curtis, D. J. (eds.) Field and laboratory methods in primatology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 90-109.

[13]   Sheldon, F. H., Styring, A. & Hosner, P. A. (2010). Bird species richness in a Bornean exotic tree plantation: A long-term perspective. Biological Conservation, 143, 399-407.

[14]   Sheldon, F. H. & Styring, A. R. (2011). Bird diversity differs between industrial tree plantations on Borneo: Implications for conservation planning. The Raffles Bulletin of Zooogly, 59(2), 295-309.

[15]   Sodhi, N. S., Castelleta, M., Loh, W. Z., Lee, B. P. Y. & Subaraj, R. (2004). Tropical lowland rainforest birds on a highly urbanized island: monitoring, losses and lessons. In: Shaw, W. W.,Harris, L.K. & VanDruff, L. (eds.) Proceedings of the 4th International Urban Wildlife Symposium. University of Arizona, Tucson, pp. 78-86.

[16]   Styring, A. R., Ragai, R., Unggang, J. Stuebing, R. , Hosner, P. A. & Sheldon, F. H. (2011). Bird community assembly in Bornean industrial tree plantations: Effects of forest age and structure. Forest Ecology and Management, 261, 531-544.

[17]   Thomas, L., Buckland, S. T., Rexstad, E. A., Laake, J. L., Strindberg, S., Hedley, S. L., Bishop, J. R. B., Marques, T. A. & Burnham, K. P. (2010). Distance software: design and analysis of distance sampling surveys for estimating population size. Journal of Applied Ecology, 47, 5-14. 

[18]   Torres, A. B. & Lovett, J. C. (2012). Using basal area to estimate aboveground carbon stocks in forests: La Primavera Biosphere’s Reserve, Mexico. Forestry, 86:267-281.

[19]   Wong, T. S. (2012). Birds of Borneo. John Beaufoy Publishing Limited, United Kingdom.

[20]   Zakaria, M., Leong, P. C., & Yusuf, M. E. (2005). Comparison of species composition in three forest types: Towards using bird as indicator of forest ecosystem health. Journal of Biological Sciences, 5(6), 734-737.

[21]   Zakaria, M., Rajpar, M. N. & Sajap, A. S. 2009. Species diversity and feeding guilds of birds in Paya Indah Wetland Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia. International Journal of Zoological Research, 5(3), 86-100.