Abundance and physical factors affecting the appearance of selected terrestrial birds in Khao Yai National Park using camera trapping

Abstract

Abstract. Kanka P, Sukmasuang R, Duengkae P, Siripattaranugul K. 2023. Abundance and physical factors affecting the appearance of selected terrestrial birds in Khao Yai National Park using camera trapping. Biodiversitas 24: 222 232. This study used results from camera traps set for Dhole (Cuon alpinus) and their prey during 2017-2020 in Khao Yai National Park to assess the species richness of ground-dwelling birds and identify abundance and also temporal appearance of the species in the area. We selected only the Pheasant species that typically forage on the ground to investigate the physical factors affecting the appearance in Khao Yai National Park. Based on camera trapping data with a total of 4139 trap days, 115 camera locations showed 36 species of birds belonging to 21 families, and 13 orders of ground-dwelling bird species were recorded. Siamese Fireback (Lophura diardi), Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus), and Silver Pheasant (Lophura nycthemera) were detected with an abundance index of 10.65%, 7.27%, and 1.84%, respectively. The ground-dwelling bird abundance index from the camera traps accounted for 26.85% of the total fauna. Although the Phasianidae were found to be diurnal species, this study also shows a statistically significant difference in the average time between Red Junglefowl and Siamese Fireback. Meanwhile, there was no statistically significant difference between Red Junglefowl and Silver Pheasant during their active time. The water sources showed a significant effect on the presence of the Siamese Fireback in data analysis; however, no physical environmental factors significantly affected the distribution of Red Junglefowl and Silver Pheasant. This study found that surrounding creeks and streams significantly impacted the appearance of the Siamese Fireback. As a result, area management needs to prevent and reduce disturbances along a creek in order to effectively manage the habitat of the Siamese Fireback and other wildlife.

Abundance and factors affecting the appearance of Siamese fireback and Red junglefowl in the lowland forest of Thailand

“…Interestingly, this study's results align with those of Chhetri et al (2021), who concluded that the most critical parameter affecting the occurrence of three Himalayan pheasant species was climate, followed by physical or topographic and biophysical factors respectively. The study also found that the type of forest influencing the occurrence of both species is the dry evergreen forest, which is consistent with research conducted on pheasants in the KYNP area (Kanka et al 2023). Chhetri et al (2018Chhetri et al ( , 2021 also noted that temperature is crucial in the Himalayas, and as a result, many species may experience changes in their range, expansion, or contraction.…”

“…In the case of ground-dwelling bird species photographed in the study area, 10 such species were observed, including 2 pheasant species. This number is lower than the diversity of grounddwelling bird species recorded using camera traps in Khao Yai National Park (KYNP) and Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (HKKWS), as reported by Kanka et al (2023) and Charaspet et al (2021), respectively. Specifically, in KYNP, 36 ground-dwelling species, including 4 pheasant species, were recorded, while HKKWS documented 23 ground-dwelling species, including 5 pheasant species.…”

“…The pheasant family (Family Phasianidae) comprises a group of ground-dwelling forest birds that primarily forage on the ground (Wang et al 2020;Kanka et al 2023). These birds consume a variety of plant matter, especially seeds (Furqan and Ali 2022), as well as small ground-dwelling animals (Hussain and Sultana 2013;Fan et al 2020), which may include reptiles, rodents (Mason et al 2020), and insects.…”

Motion detection or time lapse? A comparison of camera trap triggers in the monitoring of elusive ground dwelling birds

“…This approach has traditionally been used to gather information on various aspects of large terrestrial mammals such as occurrence (Salvatori et al 2023), abundance (Taylor et al 2022, Santini et al 2022) and behaviour patterns (Li et al 2020, Gracanin andMikac 2022), but nowadays it is used increasingly also for birds (Caravaggi et al 2017). It is especially useful in the study of ground dwelling birds, where game cameras have been recently used to describe, for example, activity patterns (Nykänen et al 2021), foraging (Sperry et al 2021), habitat use (Firth et al 2020, Puffer et al 2021, abundance (Kanka et al 2023) and predation pressure (Laux et al 2022).…”