The Star 17 Aug 11;
KUCHING: Urban development reaching the edges of mangrove areas in Australia has an adverse effect on mangrove bird populations, a study by a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer has found.
Conservation biology lecturer Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan Abdul Gulam Azad investigated 13 mangrove patches around Darwin, Australia, in his doctorate research.
He concluded that the habitats surrounding the mangrove patches were important in maintaining the number of birds in mangroves.
“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.
Dr Azlan, who received his PhD from Australia’s Charles Darwin University, said the mangroves in Darwin were home to many scarce and range-restricted birds, including the chestnut rail, white-breasted whistler and mangrove robin.
His research tried to answer fundamental ecological questions relating to the composition of bird species in mangroves.
“When urban development encroaches all the way to the mangrove edges, it has adverse effects on bird populations, including the mangrove-dependent species,” he said.
Dr Azlan, whose study was published in the June issue of Biological Conservation, added that conservation planning for mangrove birds must include the mosaic of habitats surrounding the mangroves.
His research can be applied in Sarawak, which also has wide areas of mangrove patches and where development, if left unmonitored, could spell an end to mangrove bird species here.
Research Findings On Australian Mangrove Birds Applicable To Sarawak
Bernama 18 Aug 11;
KUCHING, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- A research on Australian mangrove birds conducted on 13 mangrove patches around Darwin can be applied to Sarawak, which is rich in mangrove species, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Resource Science and Technolgy Faculty conservation biology lecturer Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan Abdul Gulam Azad said today.
Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan, who was conferred a PhD from Charles Darwin University in Australia, said Malaysian mangroves were comparable to those in Darwin, in terms of species richness, but the unrelenting development that was going on could spell an end to the mangrove bird's species 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.
Based on his study, published recently in Biological Conservation (June 2011), he found that urban development that had reached all the way up to the mangrove edges was having an adverse effect on mangrove bird populations.
He concluded that the habitats surrounding the mangrove patches were 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.
Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan's research tries to answer the fundamental ecological questions relating to the driving factor of bird species composition in the mangroves.
He said that conservation planning for mangrove birds must include mosaics of habitats surrounding the mangroves.
Bird assemblages, including the mangrove-dependent species, would be adversely affected when urban development encroached all the way up to the mangrove edges, he said.
-- BERNAMA
