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Species composition and richness of amphibians in logged forests at Hulu

Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia

Conference Paper · November 2016

DOI: 10.1063/1.4966872

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 Species composition and richness of amphibians in logged forests at Hulu
Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia
Nur Amalina Mohd Izam, Amirrudin Ahmad, L. Lee Grismer, Ahmad Nazri Saidin, Shukor Md. Nor, and
Norhayati Ahmad

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1784, 060034 (2016); doi: 10.1063/1.4966872

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4966872
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/proceeding/aipcp/1784?ver=pdfcov
Published by the AIP Publishing

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 Species Composition and Richness of Amphibians in Logged
Forests at Hulu Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia

Nur Amalina Mohd Izam¹a), Amirrudin Ahmad², L.Lee Grismer³, Ahmad Nazri Saidin⁴, Shukor
b)
Md. Nor¹ & Norhayati Ahmad¹

¹Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Science and Technology, School of Environmental and Natural
Resource Sciences, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
²Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, School of Marine and Enviromental Sciences, 21030 Kuala Terengganu,
Terengganu, Malaysia
³La Sierra University, Department of Biology, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California, 92515-8247 USA
⁴Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research Sdn. Bhd., Environmental Unit, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
a)
Corresponding author: amalinanurizam@gmail.com, b)norhayatiahmad@ukm.edu.my

Abstract. A study was done to compare amphibian species composition and richness between a disturbed forest due to
logging/dam construction and a 30-year old logged forest at Hulu Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. This study was conducted
from August to October 2014, using drift fenced-pitfall traps. The upstream (UP) and downstream riverine area (DP) of a dam
called Puah Dam (PD) represented the disturbed forest habitat, while Sg. Deka Wildlife Reserve (SDWR) represented a 30-year
old regenerating logged forest. There were six amphibian species found at SDWR, while four species were recorded at UP and
DP.

Keywords: forest management, hydroelectric dam, frogs, secondary forest

INTRODUCTION

Amphibians are important prey and predator of forest and aquatic food webs [1] and are considered as a good
biological indicator of ecosystem health [1,2]. There are many factors that influence populations, such as availability
of food prey, rainfall, and natural population fluctuations, among others [3]. Species composition, relative
abundances, species diversity are the basic parameters that are essential in understanding conservation and
management implications. Compounded by various human activities that are taking over many wildlife habitats,
these basic population studies are much needed now. Logging is among the most frequent disturbance to the natural
rainforests in Southeast Asia [4]. Since Malaysia is rapidly progressing towards achieving a developed nation by
2020, demand in energy has never been more urgent. Vast forested areas have been converted for construction of
hydroelectric dams [5], which tend to affect wildlife populations [6]. Additionally, presence of roads and built areas
in newly opened forest areas could affect species composition, population sizes and hydrogeomorphic processes that
determine aquatic and riparian systems [7]. Thus, the objective of this study was to quantify amphibian species
diversity by measuring species richness or species evenness. Although, diversity is a complex parameter [8],
comparable measures of diversity from different habitats, nevertheless, can elucidate the best methods for
conservation and management implications.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was conducted in Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric Project area (HTHEP) and the adjacent Sg.
Deka Wildlife Reserve (SDWR). SDWR represented an old, regenerating secondary forest, selectively logged 30
years ago. Both areas are located in Tembat Forest Reserve (TFR), which is the largest forest reserve in the state of
Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, with a total area of 133,576.45 ha [9], and both areas also serve as water

The 2016 UKM FST Postgraduate Colloquium

AIP Conf. Proc. 1784, 060034-1–060034-5; doi: 10.1063/1.4966872
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1446-4/$30.00

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 catchments that drain mainly into the Kenyir Lake, the largest human-made lake in Southeast Asia. The highest peak
in HTHEP is Gunung Tembat (965 m a.s.l.) and the main river is Sg. Terengganu.
SDWR is located about 30 km from HTHEP (Figure 1). It is now a protected forest reserve under the
Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), Peninsular Malaysia. It also serves as a border between the
states of Terengganu and Kelantan and the northeast corridor to the Taman Negara National Park, the biggest
national park in Peninsular Malaysia. Wildlife rescued from other areas are usually sent to SDWR for release
operation to other pristine forests nearby.
HTHEP is a disturbed area caused by hydroelectric dam development. It was logged since 2006 and dam
construction started in 2010. The project area covers an inundated area of 6979 ha at Puah and 218 ha at Tembat
reservoirs, both of which are feeder dams to the larger Kenyir Dam. However, in this study only the upper (UP) and
downstream Puah Dam (DP) was analysed together with SDWR. The Puah Dam is located at upper ranches of Sg.
Terengganu Mati, which is just downstream of its confluence with Sg. Puah, within the Tembat Forest Reserve.
Puah Dam is 78 m high with an expected total reservoir area of 60 km². It was inundated up to 299 m in elevation.
To compare amphibian species richness between three habitat types, fenced-pitfall traps were used. There
were 10 sets of traps set up randomly in each of the three habitats. Each set consisted of four 18-L plastic buckets
buried into the ground up to its lid and assembled in a “Y-shape” arrangement using orchid net fences, measuring
0.5 m high and 5 m long. Each trap was punched with holes ~4 cm from the bottom to allow excess water flow.
These fences were attached firmly to the ground using metal wires. All traps were placed, opened and checked
regularly before noon for 10 consecutive days each month starting from August till October 2014. The accumulation
curves of amphibian and reptile were generated by using Ecosim700 software. EstimateS was used to calculate
several estimators of species richness. Meanwhile, diversity measures were calculated in PAST software.

FIGURE 1 Location of study sites at the Upstream of Puah Dam (UP), Downstream of Puah Dam (DP) and Sg. Deka Wildlife
Reserve (SDWR)

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A total of 62 individuals were caught, representing nine observed species (Sobs; Table 1). A total of 31, 10
and 21 amphibians were obtained at UP, DP and SDWR, respectively. The highest number of species was from
SDWR (Sobs= 6), while both UP and DP had the same number of species (Sobs= 4). Based on the Shannon Diversity
Index (H’), Dominance Index (D) and Evenness Index (E) in Table (2), SDWR had the highest value (H’= 1.57; D=
0.24; E=0.8), followed by DP (H’= 1.09; D= 0.42; E= 0.74) and UP (H’= 0.42; D= 0.82; E= 0.38). Relative
abundances within habitats ranged from 1 to 7 individuals in SDWR, 1 to 6 in DP and 1 to 28 in UP. All three
habitats shared a common dominant species, which was the Spotted Litter Frog, Leptobrachium hendricksoni.

TABLE 1 Abundance and diversity measures of anurans recorded (numbers in brackets are relative density in percentage)
according to species at UP and DP and SDWR

No. Family/ Species UP DP SDWR Total

Bufonidae
1 Ingerophrynus parvus (Boulenger, 1887) 1 (3.2) 0 (0.0) 2 (9.5) 3 (4.8)
2 Ingerophrynus quadrivirgatus (Boulenger, 1887) 0 (0.0) 1 (10.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.61)
3 Phrynoidis aspera (Gravenhorst, 1829) 0 (0.0) 2 (20.0) 4 (19.0) 6 (9.7)
Dicroglossidae
4 Fejervarya limnocharis (Gravenhorst, 1829) 1 (3.2) 0 (0.0) 1 (4.8) 2 (3.2)
5 Limnonectes blythii (Boulenger, 1920) 1 (3.2) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.6)
Megophryidae
28 41
6 Leptobrachium hendricksoni (Taylor, 1962) (90.3) 6 (60.0) 7 (33.3) (66.1)
Ranidae
7 Odorrana hosii (Boulenger, 1891) 0 (0.0) 1 (10.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.6)
Microhylidae
8 Kalophrynus pleurostigma (Tschudi, 1838) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 5 (23.8) 5 (8.1)
9 Microhyla heymonsii (Vogt, 1911) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (4.8) 1 (1.6)
No. species (Sobs) 4 4 6 9
No. individuals 31 10 21 62
Shannon Index, H’ 0.42 1.09 1.57 -
Dominance Index, D 0.82 0.42 0.24 -
Evenness Index, E 0.38 0.74 0.80 -

Figure 2 shows the linkages among all three locations based on Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity. The
comparison between DP and SDWR/UP habitats yielded a much lower index (JSI= 0.2 or 20%), while SDWR and
UP shared 43% similarity. In addition, Figure 3 shows the species-rank abundance curves for amphibians obtained
in UP, DP and SDWR. The UP curve was steepest, indicating that it was dominated by one species (L.
hendricksoni), while SDWR had the smoothest curve, due to a more even species distribution. Besides, there were 3
singleton species at UP and 2 singletons each at DP and SDWR. These singletons represented the rare species in the
study area.

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 FIGURE 2 UPGMA Jaccard’s coefficient cluster analysis of amphibians in UP, DP and SDWR

30

25
Upstream

Downstream
20
Species rank

SDWR

15

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Abundance

FIGURE 3 Species-rank abundance curves for amphibian communities in UP, DP and SDWR

Observed values of species richness revealed the study area to be low in diversity. UP and SDWR, however,
were relatively higher than that of DP, because the latter was more open and the river outflow was controlled after
the Puah dam was constructed. Amphibians are known to be very sensitive, especially to habitat disturbance,
whereby a small change in their microhabitat could affect diversity, abundance and distribution [10]. In this study,
the landscape of DP was the most disturbed due to a more open space and lesser flow of water. Area that have low
soil moisture could cause great desiccation risks in amphibians [11]. Canopy openings could affect the amphibians
physiologically, especially the arboreal species [12]. As a result, in disturbed and changed environments, which
could no longer retain natural humidity, desiccation rates would increase during dispersal [7]. Species replacement
will occur in which a more tolerant or resilient species would be more likely to survive the new environment. In this
study, Microhyla heymonsi and Kalophrynus pleurostigma were only found in SDWR showing that they prefer
canopy area, Odorrana hosii and Ingerophrynus quadrivirgatus were only found in DP indicating that they can
withstand high disturbance, while Fejervarya limnocharis and I. parvus were found in both UP and SDWR
suggesting that they can live in a wide range of habitat. More importantly, management implications would require
strict enforcement by the authority to any encroachment, illegal logging, and poaching, as a result of the extensive
road networks created. Some of the amphibian species are near threatened according to the IUCN Red List Data,
such as Limnonectes blythii [13], which is known to be harvested in high numbers, especially for the meat.

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 CONCLUSION

Based on the results obtained, species richness of amphibians in the old logged forest (SDWR) was high
compared to other sites, while the DP had the lowest. In conclusion, the diversity analyses demonstrated that the
SDWR and UP contained similar species assemblages of amphibian community, although the similarity was less
than 50%, compared to that of DP (20%). Forest harvesting influences the relative abundances, species richness, and
species composition of amphibians in Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric Project area, mainly by altering river flows,
forest cover, and microhabitat of the amphibians. This study only addressed temporary effects. Additional factors
must be measured, such as replacement species or comebacks, and more habitat parameters, such as litter depth and
soil compaction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Environmental Unit Group from Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research (TNBR) Sdn.
Bhd, for funding this study, and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) for the logistics and field
assistance. Our special thanks go to Mr. Zulkifli Khalid from Kampung Pasir Dula for his assistance throughout the
sampling period. This research was fully funded by Research Grant TNBR BG-R-STAP001-00-0000000-B21101.

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