Effects of forest patch isolation on bird diversity

• Main Author: Mohd Yasin, Nurul Azirah
• Format: Project Paper Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/91343/1/FH%202018%2038%20IR.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/91343/

Forest fragmentation is known as forest patch, which is the breaking of large, contiguous, forested areas into smaller pieces. It is separated by roads, agriculture, man-made corridors, subdivisions, or other human development. Isolated populations in fragmented forest landscapes depend on immigrant individuals that travel from the contiguous forest. This study examined the relationship between birds and habitat in isolated forest at four sites, which are Sungai Lalang Forest Reserve (SLFR), Bangi Forest Reserve (BFR), Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve (AHFR) and Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve (BCFR). The SLFR will serve as the main point or baseline acting as the “source” for the other three sites. From this study, a total species of birds recorded was 117, and the total abundance of bird for the first cycle was 385 individuals while for the second cycle, it was 392 individuals. This study revealed that bird abundance and species richness influenced by relative humidity, air temperature, season, location also dead tree abundance (standing and fallen). Overall, these significant parameters play an important role as the key habitat quality that influences bird abundance and species richness in an isolated forest.