Population and Occupancy Estimates of Avian Species in Payaindah and Putrajaya Wetlands, Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract Context; In Malaysia, multiple land uses by humans have opened the way to substantial loss of wetland ecosystem, and shrinkage of the populations, habitat and food bases of avian species. However, the study of the avian population and occupancy estimate becomes eminent to understand the complexity of wetlands ecosystem structure, and also develop appropriate management with robust monitoring tools to ensure their ecological sustainability. Aims; We aimed to determine and compare the population and occupancy estimates of water and terrestrial dependent avian species in Paya Indah and Putrajaya wetlands, Peninsular Malaysia. Methods; We employed the distance sampling point count technique to survey the avian species from November 2016 to July 2018. We systematically placed 82 count stations at 300 m interval apart with each point count station surveyed for 10min. Using the Distance and Presence software, we computed the avian species’ population and occupancy estimates respectively. Key results; A total of 124,032 and 125,643 bird’s individuals were identified in Paya Indah and Putrajaya wetlands from November 2016 to December 2018. The result showed that the terrestrial birds in Paya Indah had higher observed individuals (n = 104,872), species diversity (N = 7.25), richness (R1 = 132.50), evenness (E = 0.92) as compared to the terrestrial birds in Putrajaya wetland (n =97340) (N = 7.84; R1 = 239.60, E = 0.93). All the observed birds individual and estimated indices were significantly different except for the Pielou’s J evenness index. However, Putrajaya had the highest observed individual (n=28303) species diversity (N = 7.60), richness (R1 = 132.50), evenness (E = 267.3) as compared to the terrestrial birds in Putrajaya wetland (n =19160) (N = 7.10; R1 = 156.00, E = 0.79). Conclusions; Our study revealed the potentials of the Paya Indah and Putrajaya wetlands to harbour diverse avian species