PHENOLOGY OF TROPICAL BIRDS IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: EFFECTS OF SELECTIVE LOGGING AND FOOD RESOURCES

AbstractThe increasing prevalence of selective logging in Southeast Asian tropical rainforests compels much-needed studies to examine its effects on the vital life-cycle events of their resident understory birds, which are particularly sensitive to such degradation. Food abundance, which can be an important factor in avian phenology, may be affected by selective logging. Therefore, studies that compare food abundance and breeding and molting occurrence simultaneously at the same sites are important for the ecological monitoring of such logging regimes. Using bimonthly mist netting in two rainforest areas in Peninsular Malaysia, we assessed the breeding and molting occurrence and diets of understory birds and compared the abundance of food resources in unlogged forests and forests that had been selectively logged 30 years before. Our study revealed no differences between forest types in overall understory-resident bird abundance; comparative species richness; feeding-guild composition; breeding and molting occurrence and temporal variation; or arthropod, fruit, and flower abundance. The similarity in food resources could account for the similarity in avian phenological characteristics between forest types. Increased breeding corresponded with increased food abundance at the feeding-guild level, and dietary data supported these findings. Breeding cycles of sensitive indicator groups such as understory resident birds are likely to depend on food abundance and forest structure and, thus, on selective logging. Our observation of undiminished avian breeding and molting occurrence in selectively logged forests is an encouraging indication of their conservation potential. However, we emphasize that differences in selective logging practices could affect the forest structure and avifauna differently. Setting thresholds for extraction and regeneration time and subscribing to minimum-impact methods that reduce collateral damage are essential if selectively logged areas are to maintain most of their initial biodiversity.Fenología de Aves Tropicales en Malasia Peninsular: Efectos de la Tala Selectiva y los Recursos Alimenticios

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Vertebrate responses to selective logging: implications for the design of logging systems

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1992.0035 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 335 (1275) ◽

pp. 437-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Keyword(s):

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Selective Logging ◽

Ecological Studies ◽

Simple Analysis ◽

Forest Reserves ◽

Tropical Timber ◽

Animal Populations ◽

Timber Trade ◽

Term Monitoring

The adoption of tropical rain forest management systems that conserve both timber stocks and the environment is increasingly viewed as a necessary development to maintain both the tropical timber trade and the forests themselves. There are no theoretical reasons why such systems should not be achievable. Ecological studies of vertebrate animal populations, and of wider ecosystem processes, can assist foresters in designing more appropriate forestry systems and in their long-term monitoring. Data are presented from two Forest Reserves in South-east Asia, Tekam in Peninsular Malaysia and Ulu Segama in Sabah, to show how simple analysis of ecological parameters may be used to quantify the extent to which logging affects the forest ecosystem and the extent to which it recovers over time.

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Pollination implications of the diverse diet of tropical nectar-feeding bats roosting in an urban cave

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.4572 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e4572 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Voon-Ching Lim ◽

Rosli Ramli ◽

Subha Bhassu ◽

John-James Wilson

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Plant Material ◽

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Food Resources ◽

The Body ◽

Future Research ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

Native Plant ◽

Nectar Feeding

Background Intense landscaping often alters the plant composition in urban areas. Knowing which plant species that pollinators are visiting in urban areas is necessary for understanding how landscaping impacts biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The cave nectar bat, Eonycteris spelaea, is an important pollinator for many plants and is often recorded in human-dominated habitats. Previous studies of the diet of E. spelaea relied on morphological identification of pollen grains found in faeces and on the body of bats and by necessity disregarded other forms of digested plant material present in the faeces (i.e., plant juice and remnants). The main objective of this study was to examine the diet of the nectarivorous bat, E. spelaea, roosting in an urban cave at Batu Caves, Peninsular Malaysia by identifying the plant material present in the faeces of bats using DNA metabarcoding. Methods Faeces were collected under the roost of E. spelaea once a week from December 2015 to March 2016. Plant DNA was extracted from the faeces, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified at ITS2 and rbcL regions and mass sequenced. The resultant plant operational taxonomic units were searched against NCBI GenBank for identification. Results A total of 55 species of plants were detected from faeces of E. spelaea including Artocarpus heterophyllus, Duabanga grandiflora and Musa spp. which are likely to be important food resources for the cave nectar bat. Discussion Many native plant species that had not been reported in previous dietary studies of E. spelaea were detected in this study including Bauhinia strychnoidea and Urophyllum leucophlaeum, suggesting that E. spelaea remains a crucial pollinator for these plants even in highly disturbed habitats. The detection of many introduced plant species in the bat faeces indicates that E. spelaea are exploiting them, particularly Xanthostemon chrysanthus, as food resources in urban area. Commercial food crops were detected from all of the faecal samples, suggesting that E. spelaea feed predominantly on the crops particularly jackfruit and banana and play a significant role in pollination of economically important plants. Ferns and figs were also detected in the faeces of E. spelaea suggesting future research avenues to determine whether the ‘specialised nectarivorous’ E. spelaea feed opportunistically on other parts of plants.

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Pollination implications of the diverse diet of tropical nectar-feeding bats roosting in an urban cave

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26470v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Voon-Ching Lim ◽

Rosli Ramli ◽

Subha Bhassu ◽

John James Wilson

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Plant Material ◽

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Food Resources ◽

The Body ◽

Future Research ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

Native Plant ◽

Nectar Feeding

Background. Intense landscaping often alters the plant composition in urban areas. Knowing which plant species that pollinators are visiting in urban areas is necessary for understanding how landscaping impacts biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The cave nectar bat, Eonycteris spelaea, is an important pollinator for many plants and is often recorded in human-dominated habitats. Previous studies of the diet of E. spelaea relied on morphological identification of pollen grains found in faeces and on the body of bats and by necessity disregarded other forms of digested plant material present in the faeces (i.e., plant juice and remnants). The main objective of this study was to examine the diet of the nectarivorous bat, E. spelaea, roosting in an urban cave at Batu Caves, Peninsular Malaysia by identifying the plant material present in the faeces of bats using DNA metabarcoding. Methods. Faeces were collected under the roost of E. spelaea once a week from December 2015 to March 2016. Plant DNA was extracted from the faeces, PCR amplified at ITS2 and rbcL regions and mass sequenced. The resultant plant OTU were searched against NCBI GenBank for identification. Results. A total of 55 species of plants were detected from faeces of E. spelaea including Artocarpus heterophyllus, Duabanga grandiflora and Musa spp. which are likely to be important food resources for the cave nectar bat. Discussion. Many native plant species that had not been reported in previous dietary studies of E. spelaea were detected in this study including Bauhinia strychnoidea and Urophyllum leucophlaeum, suggesting that E. spelaea remains a crucial pollinator for these plants even in highly disturbed habitats. The detection of many introduced plant species in the bat faeces indicates that E. spelaea are exploiting them, particularly Xanthostemon chrysanthus, as food resources in urban area. Commercial food crops were detected from all of the faecal samples, suggesting that E. spelaea feed predominantly on the crops particularly jackfruit and banana and play a significant role in pollination of economically important plants. Ferns and figs were also detected in the faeces of E. spelaea suggesting future research avenues to determine whether the “specialised nectarivorous” E. spelaea feed opportunistically on other parts of plants.

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Habitat and food resources of otters (Mustelidae) in Peninsular Malaysia

10.1063/1.4895286 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. Abdul-Patah ◽

N. Nur-Syuhada ◽

S. Md-Nor ◽

H. Sasaki ◽

B. M. Md-Zain

Keyword(s):

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Food Resources

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Pollination implications of the diverse diet of tropical nectar-feeding bats roosting in an urban cave

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26470 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Voon-Ching Lim ◽

Rosli Ramli ◽

Subha Bhassu ◽

John James Wilson

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Plant Material ◽

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Food Resources ◽

The Body ◽

Future Research ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

Native Plant ◽

Nectar Feeding

Background. Intense landscaping often alters the plant composition in urban areas. Knowing which plant species that pollinators are visiting in urban areas is necessary for understanding how landscaping impacts biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The cave nectar bat, Eonycteris spelaea, is an important pollinator for many plants and is often recorded in human-dominated habitats. Previous studies of the diet of E. spelaea relied on morphological identification of pollen grains found in faeces and on the body of bats and by necessity disregarded other forms of digested plant material present in the faeces (i.e., plant juice and remnants). The main objective of this study was to examine the diet of the nectarivorous bat, E. spelaea, roosting in an urban cave at Batu Caves, Peninsular Malaysia by identifying the plant material present in the faeces of bats using DNA metabarcoding. Methods. Faeces were collected under the roost of E. spelaea once a week from December 2015 to March 2016. Plant DNA was extracted from the faeces, PCR amplified at ITS2 and rbcL regions and mass sequenced. The resultant plant OTU were searched against NCBI GenBank for identification. Results. A total of 55 species of plants were detected from faeces of E. spelaea including Artocarpus heterophyllus, Duabanga grandiflora and Musa spp. which are likely to be important food resources for the cave nectar bat. Discussion. Many native plant species that had not been reported in previous dietary studies of E. spelaea were detected in this study including Bauhinia strychnoidea and Urophyllum leucophlaeum, suggesting that E. spelaea remains a crucial pollinator for these plants even in highly disturbed habitats. The detection of many introduced plant species in the bat faeces indicates that E. spelaea are exploiting them, particularly Xanthostemon chrysanthus, as food resources in urban area. Commercial food crops were detected from all of the faecal samples, suggesting that E. spelaea feed predominantly on the crops particularly jackfruit and banana and play a significant role in pollination of economically important plants. Ferns and figs were also detected in the faeces of E. spelaea suggesting future research avenues to determine whether the “specialised nectarivorous” E. spelaea feed opportunistically on other parts of plants.

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Impacts of selective logging on haemosporidian infection and physiological correlates in tropical birds

International Journal for Parasitology ◽

10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.07.003 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Simone Messina ◽

David Paul Edwards ◽

Natalie Van Houtte ◽

Suzanne Tomassi ◽

Suzan Benedick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Selective Logging ◽

Tropical Birds

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Habitats suitable for the establishment of Shorea curtisii seedlings in a hill forest in Peninsular Malaysia

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s026646741000026x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 551-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tsutomu Yagihashi ◽

Tatsuya Otani ◽

Naoki Tani ◽

Tomoki Nakaya ◽

Kassim Abd Rahman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Selective Logging ◽

Suitable Habitat ◽

South East Asia ◽

Rain Forests ◽

Dipterocarp Forests ◽

Key Species ◽

The Family ◽

The Hill ◽

Common Tree

Trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae dominate the emergent canopy of most lowland rain forests in Asia (Ashton et al. 1988). The family is, therefore, one of the most ecologically important in South-East Asia. Shorea curtisii Dyer ex King is the most common tree species in the hill dipterocarp forests of Peninsular Malaysia (Burgess 1975, Symington 2004), and is considered a key species for the dynamics of such forests. Currently, most Malaysian hill forests are selectively logged. Trees over 50 cm dbh are harvested, and any subsequent harvests depend on the remaining smaller trees. Such selective logging takes no account of seedling regeneration. Hence, subsequent timber harvests rely on trees derived from the seedlings that are already present and future seeds produced by the residual trees (Appanah & Mohd. Rasol 1994). Existing seedlings of S. curtisii in the forest, therefore, play a significant role in the dynamics of the hill forest. However, the conditions that constitute a suitable habitat for S. curtisii seedling establishment and survival remain unknown.

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