Sediment and nutrient balance of Bukit Merah Reservoir, Perak (Malaysia)

Abstract

The Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island (OUI) Foundation has been conducting behavioral and veterinary research on orangutans as an attempt at ex situ conservation. Since 2010, the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University has been collaborating with OUI to promote environmental enrichment and infant rearing by biological mothers in addition to the continuous efforts of refining the veterinary management of the endangered species. In 2011, three Bornean orangutans (Pongo pyg-maeus pygmaeus) were released on an island, called BJ Island, adjacent to OUI. This island is approximately 5.6 ha in size, and 635 trees belonging to 102 plant species were identified prior to their release. Behavioral monitoring of the released individuals has been conducted to evaluate their behavioral adaptation to the new environment. Two of the three released orangutans were born in the wild, whereas the youngest individual was born on OUI and expected to learn forest survival strategies from the two older individuals. One of the orangutans was pregnant at the time of release and subsequently gave birth to two male infants on BJ Island. The behavioral monitoring indicated that these orangutans traveled more and spent more time on trees following their release onto BJ Island. However, resting was longer for two females both on OUI and BJ Island when compared to other populations. The orangutans consumed some natural food resources on BJ Island. The release into a more naturalistic environment may help the orangutans to develop more naturalistic behavioral patterns that resemble their wild counterparts.

Lakes of Malaysia: Water quality, eutrophication and management

“…The Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI; Carlson ) and the Malaysian Department of Environment Water Quality Index (DOE‐WQI, DOE ) have been widely used to assess trophic state and water quality status in Malaysian lakes and reservoirs (Shuhaimi‐Othman et al . ; Akademi Sains Malaysia ; Ismail & Najib ). Accordingly, the TSI and WQI were used in the present study.…”

An annotated checklist of fish fauna of Bukit Merah Reservoir and its catchment area, Perak, Malaysia

“…Water from the reservoir is channeled out through two outlet canals, i.e. Besar and Selinsing canals (Ismail and Najib 2011;DID 2012). According to Department of Irrigation and Drainage of Kerian (DID 2012), the main function of BMR is to provide irrigation water for double cropping to 24,000 Ha of paddy fields under the KerianManik River Project.…”

Application of Nitrate Stable Isotopes, δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3-, in Bukit Merah Reservoir, Malaysia

“…It was built to provide irrigation water for double cropping of 24,000 ha of paddy land in the district of Kerian, Perak and to provide domestic and industrial water supply of the populace in the Kerian and Larut Matang districts. 6 It is also used as a tool for flood and drought control. In 2015, 40.87% of land use around BMR was categorised as reserved forest by state and 28.88% as permanent reserved forest area.…”