Invasive urban birds in Western Sarawak

Hii, Frances Dai Sze and Nurul Ashikeen, Ab Razak and Mohd. Azlan, Jayasilan (2019) Invasive urban birds in Western Sarawak. Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, 15 (2). p. 5. ISSN 1675-5820

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Abstract

Invasive species or non-native species have been a threat to the biodiversity globaly. Avian communities are widely spread from the forest to the urban areas with a reducing diversity gradient. Impacts of invasive avian communities on native birds in the urban areas have been little explored in Sarawak. This study attempts to investigate the distribution of invasive birds within the urban avian community by estimating the relative density of exotic species in urban bird assemblage. The birds were surveyed using transects from October 2015 until September 2016 (12 months) in selected areas of Western Sarawak. Bird surveys totalling 288 hours of observations along a total of 576km of transects provided 31,229 birds observations which have resulted in 24 families and 51 species during the study period. The invasive species observed consist of the Eurasian tree sparrow, Rock pigeon, Zebra dove and Common myna. The native species such as Cinnamon-headed Green pigeon, Chestnut munia and also Paddyfield pipit were in the low-density category if compared to the invasive species such as Common myna and Eurasian tree sparrow. Competition for food and aggressive behaviour may have displaced the native species. The preliminary data suggest that these invasive species may affect the native species in Western Sarawak due to the niche overlap. This includes competition for nesting sites and food source. Proper and prudent management of this invasive species is needed in order to prevent the native species being displaced or eliminated from the urban bird communities.

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