Bird Abundances in Primary and Secondary Growths in Papua New Guinea: A Preliminary Assessment

Abstract

Papua New Guinea is the third largest remaining area of tropical forest after the Amazon and Congo basins. However, the growing intensity of large-scale slash-and-burn agriculture and logging call for conservation research to assess how local people's traditional land-use practices result in conservation of local biodiversity, of which a species-rich and diverse component is the avian community. With this in mind, I conducted a preliminary survey of birds in small-scale secondary plots and in adjacent primary forest in Wanang Conservation Area in Papua New Guinea. I used mist-netting, point counts, and transect walks to compare the bird communities of 7-year-old secondary growth, and neighboring primary forest. The preliminary survey lasted 10 days and was conducted during the dry season (July) of 2008. I found no significant differences in summed bird abundances between forest types. However, species richness was higher in primary forest (98 species) than in secondary (78 species). The response of individual feeding guilds was also variable. Two habitats differed mainly in presence of canopy frugivores, which were more abundant (more than 80%) in primary than in secondary forests. A large difference (70%) was found also in understory and mid-story insectivores. Species occurring mainly in secondary forest were Hooded Butcherbird ( Cracticus cassicus), Brown Oriole ( Oriolus szalayi), and Helmeted Friarbird ( Philemon buceroides). Examples of primary forest species were Red-bellied Pitta ( Pitta erythrogaster), Little Kingfisher ( Alcedo pusilla), and Zoe's Imperial Pigeon ( Ducula zoeae). My results suggest that changes in bird assemblages occur even in relatively undisturbed landscapes in response to small-scale shifting agriculture that is crucial for local people's livelihood; it also seems that traditional land use by local people favors the persistence of a rich bird species pool in the forested and traditionally managed landscape.