Avian biodiversity parameters in rice fields in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia
Rice is one of the main staple food for most of Southeast Asian countries and it is one of the traditional crops in Malaysia and its neighbouring countries. Not only that, rice fields are common agricultural landscape of Southeast Asia that inhabited by various species of birds. This is becaus...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68478/1/fh%202018%203%20ir.pdf |
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| Summary: | Rice is one of the main staple food for most of Southeast Asian countries and it is
one of the traditional crops in Malaysia and its neighbouring countries. Not only that,
rice fields are common agricultural landscape of Southeast Asia that inhabited by
various species of birds. This is because flooded rice fields provide similar
environmental conditions to certain natural wetland habitats in terms of flooding
condition, water depth and landscape features. Declination of wetland areas also one
of the reasons birds are attracted to rice fields. These birds would provide ecosystem
services that improve agricultural yields with minimum use of agrochemicals such as
pesticides.
Until now, there are quite a number of scientific studies that have investigated the
status and ecology of birds in the rice fields of Malaysia. Thus, this study is the first
to quantify avian biodiversity in rice production landscapes during three farming
stages in Peninsular Malaysia. More specific, it determined bird abundance, species
richness, and composition in rice field landscapes, and compared these during
different stages of rice growing.
This study was conducted at the rice fields in Kuala Selangor district. A total of 60
sampling points were randomly established in three locations, from which 3,447
individual birds of 46 species and 26 families were recorded. Water and land birds
were counted in rice fields using the point-count method. There was a significant
difference in bird abundance between the three different stages of rice growing. In
bird species richness, the results showed significant difference during the various
stages of rice growing.The growing stage supported greater bird abundance and more diverse species
composition compared to the pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. Rice-growing
provides temporary habitats to different bird species in the managed aquatic
landscape. This implies the presence of abundant food, such as small fish and
amphibians. In conclusion, the evidence from this study suggests that biodiversity friendly
agricultural practices should be implemented to improve habitat quality for
birds in rice production landscapes. Apart from being agricultural landscapes, rice
fields also can be managed more as an off-reserve strategy in order to protect the
waterbird diversity. |
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