Living on polluted habitat: A preliminary study of marine debris impact to foraging waterbirds in Muara Angke Mangrove Ecosystem, Jakarta

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems are vulnerable to pollution such as marine debris. The presence of marine debris can affect the waterbird community. The present study aims to determine and analyze the effect of marine debris on waterbirds in the Muara Angke Mangrove Area. The research was undertaken from October to November 2020 at three research areas: Angke-Kapuk Protection Forest, Angke-Kapuk Nature Tourism Park, and Muara Angke Arboretum. Observations of waterbirds were carried out using the point count method and observations of marine debris density were conducted with the shoreline survey method developed by NOAA. To find out the pattern of marine debris distribution and its effect on waterbirds, we implemented Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Spearman Correlation. In total, there were 13 species of waterbirds from 7 different orders in the three research areas. PCA analysis showed 6 variables in PC1 namely herbivorous duck, tactical surface, visual surface, habitat generalist, moderate specialist, and large. Further, PC2 produces 6 variables, namely pursuit diving, stalking, habitat generalist, aquatic generalist, and large. The results of the Spearman correlation indicated that three bird species were significantly negatively correlated with trash, those species are Anhinga melanogaster, Egretta garzetta, and Mycteria cinerea.