Composition of non-volant small mammals in different ages of rehabilitated forest
2011
Mohamed Zakaria | Norfahiah Musa | Marina Mohd. Top
A study on the composition of non-volant small mammals was conducted in a rehabilitated forest at Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia. The main objective of the study was to determine the mammal species that present in the different age of planted forest. They were: Plot A - Trees planted in 1991 (19 years), Plot B - Trees planted in 1996 (14 years), Plot C - Trees planted in 2001 (9 years), Plot D - Trees planted in 2007 (3 years), and Plot N - natural forest which was logged 25 years ago. Two 50 m x 50 m plots were established in each forest area. Five 5 m x 5m trapping grids were established within each plot. The non-volant small mammals were captured using different sizes of live traps depending on the target mammal species. Abundance, richness, and diversity of mammals were determined for each forest area by using Simpson's diversity indices. A total of 81 individuals that belong to 15 species from six families were recorded. Species richness and diversity were quite similar among Plot A (8 species, H'=1.69), C (7 species, H'=1.82) and N (8 species, H'=1.75) but higher compared to Plot B (5 species, H'=0.98) and D (3 species, H'=0.96). This were mainly contributed by the presence of rare or totally protected species in Plots A, C and N which were absent in Plot Band D. Assemblages of Muridae and Scuiridae suggested that species from both families were tolerant to habitat modification and that the presence of these taxa may be partially determined by similar environmental characteristics.
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