Taxonomic Diversity and Functional Ecology of Birds during Seasonal Paddy Farming Practices in Southwestern Sarawak
The ecosystem of the paddy fields may be impacted by seasonal paddy farming, which is also expected to impact the birds inhabiting it. Relatively little research has been done worldwide on how paddy stages affect birds, and there is currently a dearth of research on the taxonomic diversity of birds...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/49640/ |
| Abstract | Abstract here |
| Summary: | The ecosystem of the paddy fields may be impacted by seasonal paddy farming, which is also expected to impact the birds inhabiting it. Relatively little research has been done worldwide on how paddy stages affect birds, and there is currently a dearth of research on the taxonomic diversity of birds in paddy fields caused by habitat heterogeneity on a landscape scale in Malaysia. Likewise, functional traits and groups of birds have been the subject of most research, but these studies were rarely carried out in paddy fields. This research investigated the taxonomic and functional groups of birds as well as the effects of habitat modification during three different paddy stages (planting, harvest and land preparation) in paddy fields of southwestern Sarawak and the objectives are as follows: (i) to compare the taxonomic diversity of birds; (ii) to classify and compare functional groups of birds; and (iii) to evaluate the effects of landscape-scale habitat modifications on bird taxonomic groups. Paddy fields of Kampung Skuduk, Kampung Baru and Kampung PuehSiru Dayak were sampled thrice during each paddy stage for 12 months from December 2021 to November 2022, with a cumulative effort for line transects and mist netting of 90 hours and 10,800 net hours. This study demonstrated the response of birds to continuous habitat modification in a paddy field ecosystem. Wholly, seasonal variations caused by paddy farming did not necessarily affect the bird community. There was no significant difference in bird taxonomic diversity, where paddy stages shared high numbers of bird species. Additionally, the functional groups of birds vary, indicating evolving feeding and foraging strategies in response to changing landscapes. Lastly, bird taxonomic groups had clustered distribution with weak associations of changing microhabitats and stages. This research contributes to developing management plans for birds in paddy fields and provides a method for assessing the ecosystem. |
|---|