Impact of Forest Fragment on Bird Community at the Bukit Kuantan Rubber Forest Plantation

Abstract

Realizing the potential of expanding rubber forest plantations in Malaysia and the increasing awareness of biodiversity, the Bukit Kuantan rubber forest plantation portrays its ecofriendly nature through several initiatives such as conservation of natural forest fragment within the plantation landscape. By using birds as an indicator, this work aims for a favourable outcome from conservation of the forest fragment and investigate bird diversity in relation to distance from the forest fragment into the rubber forest plantation area. The number of bird species recorded is high in the forest fragment i.e., 45 species, however, the number steadily declined with distance. Likewise, species diversity is high in the forest fragment, H’ = 3.404 but declined with distance. Fourteen (14) species are exclusively found in the forest fragment. Through the findings, it can be deduced that the presence of forest fragment helps to increase bird diversity in the rubber forest plantation, although continuous research is still required to understand how the presence of forest fragment sustains the biodiversity within a plantation landscape.