ID :
202039
Thu, 08/18/2011 - 07:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/202039
The shortlink copeid
STUDY ON AUSSIE MANGROVE BIRDS APPLICABLE TO SARAWAK
KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), Aug 18 (Bernama) -- A study on Australian mangrove birds in 13 mangrove patches around Darwin can be applied to East Malaysia state of Sarawak, which is rich in mangrove species, according to a local researcher.
Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan Abdul Gulam Azad, a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) conservation biology lecturer with a PhD from Charles Darwin University in Australia, said Malaysian mangroves are comparable to those in Darwin in terms of species richness, but the unrelenting development could spell an end to the mangrove birds if left unmonitored.
“The size of the mangrove patches is also important in maintaining a high number of mangrove-dependent bird species and various other species from nearby forests, which frequently use mangroves for breeding and foraging,” he said in a statement here on Thursday.
The study, published in the June 2011 issue of 'Biological Conservation', found that urban development that had reached all the way up to the mangrove edges was having an adverse effect on mangrove bird populations.
The researcher concluded that the habitats surrounding the mangrove patches are important in maintaining a maximum number of birds in the mangroves of Darwin, home to many scarce or range-restricted birds, including the chestnut rail, white-breasted whistler and mangrove robin.
His research tries to answer the fundamental ecological questions relating to bird species composition in the mangroves.
Conservation planning for mangrove birds, he points out, must include mosaics of habitats surrounding the mangroves, and bird assemblages, including the mangrove-dependent species, would be adversely affected when urban development encroaches all the way up to the mangrove edges.
Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan Abdul Gulam Azad, a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) conservation biology lecturer with a PhD from Charles Darwin University in Australia, said Malaysian mangroves are comparable to those in Darwin in terms of species richness, but the unrelenting development could spell an end to the mangrove birds if left unmonitored.
“The size of the mangrove patches is also important in maintaining a high number of mangrove-dependent bird species and various other species from nearby forests, which frequently use mangroves for breeding and foraging,” he said in a statement here on Thursday.
The study, published in the June 2011 issue of 'Biological Conservation', found that urban development that had reached all the way up to the mangrove edges was having an adverse effect on mangrove bird populations.
The researcher concluded that the habitats surrounding the mangrove patches are important in maintaining a maximum number of birds in the mangroves of Darwin, home to many scarce or range-restricted birds, including the chestnut rail, white-breasted whistler and mangrove robin.
His research tries to answer the fundamental ecological questions relating to bird species composition in the mangroves.
Conservation planning for mangrove birds, he points out, must include mosaics of habitats surrounding the mangroves, and bird assemblages, including the mangrove-dependent species, would be adversely affected when urban development encroaches all the way up to the mangrove edges.
