Identification of the natural habitat of moluccan endemic megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) on Haruku Island, Indonesia, and its vegetation composition

Abstract

The activity of the Moluccan endemic megapodes (Eulipoa wallacei) on Haruku Island must be supported by the characteristics of the vegetation on the islands.  Therefore, it is essential to identify the specific location of the habitat utilized by individual birds for their daily activities on Haruku Island as well as to analyze the composition of the vegetation and the variety of plant species.  Bird habitat locations were identified using radio-tracking for four newly hatched chicks and four adult birds.  A total of 330 individual tracking points were recorded during the study period.  The vegetation sample used a total of 420 plots for seedlings, saplings, poles, and trees which were then analyzed for importance value index (IVI), diversity, evenness, and similarity. We found that the Tanjung Maleo forest was their nesting habitat, while the Marunimei and Lalean forests were their daily habitats. There were a total of 91 plant species and 60 plant families discovered with the vegetation diversity value of the three habitats was moderate (H’mean = 3.07) and tended to be dominated by air plant, sword fern, cogongrass, coco-grass, Indian camphorweed, and lanzone (Emean = 0.88), and have a relatively low level of species similarity between habitats (SImean = 38.30%). We found that the daily habitat of birds on Haruku Island was around their nesting sites and has a complex structure because it was composed of four vegetation strata. For conservation purposes, habitat management needs to be prioritized in conserving forest habitats around bird nesting sites.