Malays. Appl. Biol. (2018) 47(1): 121–129
ELEVATIONAL DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF UNDERSTOREY
FOREST BIRD IN WESTERN SARAWAK, MALAYSIAN BORNEO
HANIS DAMIA ELYNA LIT1* and JAYASILAN MOHD-AZLAN1
1Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak,
94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
*E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accepted 30 January 2018, Published online 31 March 2018
ABSTRACT
The elevational distribution pattern of understorey avian communities of mountainous region in western Sarawak was studied between March 2016 and April 2017 using mist-nets with total effort of 2,800 net-days. This has resulted in 1,039 individuals from 28 families and 112 species, which includes four Bornean endemic and two montane endemic species. Species accumulation curve shows that there is no additional species recorded which suggest sampling saturation. Number of bird species recorded at the four elevations ranges were 82 (<300 m), 78 (300 – 599 m), 40 (600 – 899 m), 30 (900 – 1200 m), of which 17 species were recorded exclusively at elevation <300 m, 11 at 300 – 599 m, five at 600 – 899 m, and seven at 900 – 1200 m. The highest bird species diversity and richness occurred between of 300 – 599 m asl. Of the 112 species recorded, two (1.8%) of the species are listed as Vulnerable, 30 (26.8%) species as Near Threatened and 80 (71.4%) species as Least Concern by IUCN (2017). A total of 15 species (13.4%) are protected under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998. This study also revealed some differences in terms of species composition between elevations.
Key words: Altitude, assemblage, distribution, diversity
