The variation of bird diversity in different land cover at oil palm plantation: case study at Asm Oil Palm Estate in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

¹ Ecology and Wildlife Management Division, Department of Forest Resource Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University. Jl. Raya Dramaga, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia.
² Department of Forest Resource Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University. Jl. Raya Dramaga, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia.
³ Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Bengkulu. Jl. W.R. Supratman, Kota Bengkulu 38371A, Bengkulu, Indonesia. Tel.: +62-73621170.

^* Corresponding author: yantohaurjaya@yahoo.co.id

Abstract

The expansion of oil palm plantation has been claimed as a major driver of biodiversity loss in the tropics, including birds. To date, only a few studies have been conducted to document the variation of bird diversity in different land cover within oil palm plantation. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the research to investigate the variation of bird diversity. The objective of this study to identify the diversity of bird in different land cover within oil palm plantation. The observation of bird diversity was done in young stand of oil palm, old stand of oil palm, smallholder oil palm and in secondary forest as high stock carbon as natural reference before converting in to oil palm. The survey was done in August 2017 in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data of bird species were recorded by direct observation using transect method. To calculate the diversity value of birds at different land cover, we used Margalef Index (Dmg) and Comunity similarity (IS). The result showed that the number of species and species diversity was highest at high carbon stock area which the number of species was 25 species and Margalef Index was 5.99. The young stand of oil palm have the highest evenness index (0.93), while the highest similarity index was observed in old stand of oil palm and in smallholder oil palm. Our study concludes that the existence of high carbon stock areas within oil palm plantation had a positive influence in increasing bird diversity. From a conservation perspective, retaining of natural habitat such as high carbon stock within oil palm plantation is one strategy to conserve biodiversity.