Effects of logging and recovery process on avian richness and diversity in hill dipterocarp tropical rainforest-Malaysia

The effects of logging and recovery process on avian richness and diversity was compared in recently logged and thirty year post-harvested hill dipterocarp tropical rainforest, using mist-netting method. A total of 803 bird individuals representing 86 bird species and 29 families (i.e. 37.90% from recently logged forest and 62.10% from thirty year post-harvested forest) were captured from October 2010 to September, 2012. Twenty one bird species were commonly captured from both types of forests, 37 bird species were caught only in thirty year post-harvested forest and 28 bird species were caught only from recently logged forest. Arachnothera longirostra - Little Spiderhunter, Malacopteron magnum Rufous-crowned Babbler, Alophoixus phaeocephalus - Yellow-bellied Bulbul and Meiglyptes tukki Buff-necked Woodpecker were the most abundant four bird species in the thirty year post-harvested forest. On the contrary, seven bird species i.e., Trichastoma rostratum - White-chested Babbler, Lacedo pulchella Banded Kingfisher, Picus miniaceus Banded Woodpecker, Enicurus ruficapillus Chestnut-naped Forktail, Anthreptes simplex Plain Sunbird, Muscicapella hodgsoni Pygmy Blue Flycatcher and Otus rufescens Reddish Scope Owl were considered as the rarest (i.e. each represented only 0.12%). Likewise, A. longirostra, Pycnonotus eiythropthalmos Spectacled Bulbul, P. simplex Cream-vented Bulbul and Merops viridis Blue-throated Bee-eater were the most dominant and Copsychus malaharicus White-rumped Shama Eutylaimus javanicus Banded Broadbill Ixos malaccensis Streaked Bulbul and Harpactes Diard's Trogon (each 0.12%) were the rarest bird species in recently logged forest. CAP analysis indicated that avian species in thirty year post-haniested forest were more diverse and evenly distributed than recently logged forest. However, recently logged forest was rich in bird species than thirty year poStharvested forest. The results revealed that logging and retrieval process affect bird species richness and diversity. However, bird species may respond differently from habitat to habitat i.e., forest logging causes disturbance of some avian species while recovery process may replace the loss of vegetation and harbour a wide array of avian species richness and diversity.