Dietary study provides understanding in predator-prey relationships, yet diet of tropical forest birds is poorly understood.
In this study, a non-invasive method, next-generation sequencing (Illumina MiSeq platform) was used to identify prey in
the faecal samples of the Rufous-winged Philentoma (Philentoma pyrhoptera). Dietary samples were collected in lowland
tropical forest of central Peninsular Malaysia. A general invertebrate primer pair was used for the first time to assess
diet of tropical birds. The USEARCH was used to cluster the COI mtDNA sequences into Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU).
OTU sequences were aligned and queried through the GenBank or Biodiversity of Life Database (BOLD). We identified
26 distinct arthropod taxa from 31 OTUs. Of all OTUs, there was three that could be identified up to species level, 20 to
genus level, three to family level and five could not assigned to any taxa (the BLAST hits were poor). All sequences were
identified to class Insecta belonging to 18 families from four orders, where Lepidoptera representing major insect order
consumed by study bird species. This non-invasive molecular approach provides a practical and rapid technique to
understand of how energy flows across ecosystems. This technique could be very useful to screen for possible particular
pest insects consumed by insectivores (e.g. birds and bats) in crop plantation. A comprehensive arthropod studies and
local reference sequences need to be added to the database to improve the proportion of sequences that can be identified.
Kajian lakuan maternal Landak Raya (Hystrix brachyura) di dalam kurungan telah dijalankan selama dua bulan dengan enam sesi pemerhatian, iaitu Sesi Pemerhatian 1-6 (SP 1 –SP 6). Kaedah pemerhatian yang digunakan adalah kaedah fokal berterusan dan sampel menggunakan seekor ibu dan anak Landak Raya. Lakuan yang telah dikenalpasti ialah rehat, menyusu, gerak, jilat anak dan makan. Terdapat perbezaan yang bererti (p<0.05) untuk aktiviti rehat dan menyusu bagi peratus masa yang diperuntukkan bagi SP 1 hingga SP 6. Manakala untuk aktiviti lain (gerak, jilat anak dan makan) didapati tiada perbezaan bererti (p>0.05) untuk peratus masa yang diperuntukkan untuk SP 1 hingga SP 6. Lakuan utama pada bulan pertama (SP 1 - SP 3) adalah rehat dan diikuti oleh menyusu, tetapi sebaliknya pada bulan kedua (SP 4 - SP 6) yang menunjukkan lakuan menyusu lebih tinggi dan diikuti oleh rehat. Ibu Landak Raya mempunyai enam puting susu yang terletak pada bahagian sisi lateral kiri. Anak Landak Raya lebih cenderung memilih puting susu di bahagian hadapan (T1 dan T2) semasa aktiviti menyusu berlangsung. Dalam kajin ini tidak dapat dikenalpasti waktu penceraian susu bagi anak Landak Raya kerana sehingga SP 6 berlangsung, lakuan menyusu masih berterusan, malahan kadar tempoh menyusu semakin meningkat.
Despite the increasing numbers of hydrodam worldwide, only a handful of studies evaluated their impacts on biodiversity.
Compared to terrestrial animals, birds were thought to be less affected by inundation process, following impoundment. At
the Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric Dam in Peninsular Malaysia, our study compared species assemblages and diversity
of birds within the dam area (i.e. the dam reservoir and catchment area) after recent logging and inundation in relation
to a nearby forest logged 30 years ago. Using point count and mist-netting techniques, we recorded a total of 64 species
(Shannon Index (H’) = 3.827) in the dam area and 91 species (H’=3.99) in historically-logged forests. Insectivore species
richness was significantly higher in the historically-logged forests (Mann-Whitney: Z=4.339, N=205, p<0.005). These
results indicated that richness and diversity of bird species assemblages appear to decline following recent inundation
phase. Nevertheless, the forests in the dam area still harbour charismatic species such as eagles (Family: Accipitridae)
and hornbills (Family: Bucerotidae) which suggests that this habitat is relatively important for birds.
Scales are calcium carbonate and collagen-contained structures embedded within the fish epidermis and useful for
species identification. This study aimed to describe morphological characteristics of scales and use the differences to
prepare keys to species. Fishes were sampled from selected rivers of Tembat Forest Reserve, Hulu Terengganu. Specimens
caught were from 3 families (Cyprinidae, Channidae, Nandidae) and 17 species. Each species was represented by ten
individuals (size ranges 2.5 - 50 cm TL). The scales were removed, soaked in H2
O2
(0.5%), NH3 (0.3%), DH2
O and
mounted between a pair of glass slides for digital photographing. The morphological descriptions were based on types
of scales, distinctiveness of radii arrangement at the anterior field, radii cover, radii distribution, overall shape, focus
position and focus pattern. Keys to species were constructed based on these scale morphological characters described.
Measurements of scale total length (L), total width (W), rostral field length (L1) and caudal field length (L2) of the scales
were taken using Image J software. The inter-specific variation among scales was indicated by L1/L, L2/L, L1/L2 and
W/L indices through multiple comparison tests (ANOVA). It was found that all 17 species showed significant differences
with at least one other species in all four indices. Pristolepis grootii (Bleeker 1852) was the only one that significantly
different (p<0.05) from other 16 species in the first three indices. Species that showed the least significant differences
among species was Probarbus jullieni (Sauvage 1880). The differences among the scales were primarily due to the
different types of scale that was either ctenoid or cycloid.