Application Of Automatic Recorder And Sound Analysis In Surveying The Presence And Distribution Of Targeted Bird Species In Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve Quang Nam Province

1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to Assoc., Prof., Dr.Vu Tien Thinh, my research

supervisor, without his supports, encouragements and patient guidance, I would not have been

able to complete my thesis on time for graduation. I am so grateful to Prof., Lee Macdonald

for his enthusiastic guidance to help us acquire initial knowledge about how to write a thesis

proposal.

I would like to extend my thanks to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa and Mr. Tran Van Dung,

members of the Department of Wildlife in Vietnam National University of Forestry for

guiding me to apply RAVEN software on process of analyzing data. There are no words to

show my appreciation to them for assisting and helping me during the period of two months

when I did my research in the office of the Department of Wildlife.

I desire to show how grateful I am to our teacher, Ph.D., Stephen J. Leisz, a teacher

from Colorado State University for helping me to improve my writing skills. Last but not

least, there are no words to show my appreciation to my friends and family for always getting

ready to help me during the entire process of doing research and going field works.

2

ABSTRACT

For monitoring and protecting endangered species, it is necessary to figure out

accurate information on their presence and the habitats where they live. While traditional

survey method faces a number of difficulties during surveying, using automatic recorders in

researching offer significant promise for detecting bird species. In this study I examined the

utility of automatic recorders and the associated classification software (RAVEN software) as

a way to survey for wildlife, using 21 targeted bird species, divided into 5 orders and 9

families as examples. The survey was conducted at 11 study sites which belong to three

communes in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Quang Nam province from 4th to 23th of June, 2016.

After data analyzing process, there are 9 bird species, divided into 4 orders and 5 families in

total of 21 targeted bird species in four different habitat types in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve,

Quang Nam. However, the frequency of presence among them is not the same. While some

birds appear many times in a recording and various recordings, the others only appear a few

times in all recordings. There are differences among the active time during surveying time

(3.00-9.00 AM) of detected bird species. Some species often sing or call in the morning. The

other detected birds usually vocalize at dawn. After surveying, almost detected birds live in

Tra Tap commune and a small number of them live in Tra Linh and Tra Leng commune. In

addition, Medium to High Montane Broadleaf Evergreen Forest contributes the highest

percentage of detected birds in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve. By contrast, Secondary Vegetation

makes up the smallest proportion of those.

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 2. STUDY GOAL AND OBJECTIVE ................................................................. 4

2.1. Goal ................................................................................................................................ 4

2.2. Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 3. STUDY SITES AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................ 5

3.1. Selection of study site...................................................................................................... 5

3.1.1. Ngoc Linh Natural Reserve .......................................................................................... 5

3.1.2. The division of habitat types in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve to place automatic recorders

in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve ............................................................................................... 10

3.2. Research methodology .................................................................................................. 17

3.2.1. Field survey................................................................................................................ 17

3.2.2. Extracting data from recorders .................................................................................... 20

3.3. Data analysis method .................................................................................................... 25

3.3.1. Determining the composition of detected bird species................................................. 25

3.3.2. Determining the distribution of detected bird species. ................................................. 25

CHAPTER 4. RESULT ....................................................................................................... 27

4.1. Sounds of targeted bird species...................................................................................... 27

4.2. Presence of targeted bird species in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve. .................................... 29

4.3. The distribution of detected bird species ........................................................................ 31

4

4.3.1. Spatial distribution ..................................................................................................... 31

4.3.2. Distribution in relation to habitat ................................................................................ 32

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................... 34

5.1. The presence of birds in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Quang Nam province and the

detection from automated recorder. ...................................................................................... 34

5.2. Factors affect the distribution of targeted bird species in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve,

Quang Nam Province. .......................................................................................................... 35

5.2.1. Factors affect spatial distribution of targeted bird species. .......................................... 35

5.2.2. Factors affect the distribution of targeted bird species in four different habitats. ......... 35

CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 39

REFERENCES

APENDIX

5

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Meteorological data from weather station in Tra My district .................................. 7

Table 3.2. Plants found in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Quang Nam ........................................ 8

Table 3.3. Vertebrate species recorded in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve ..................................... 9

Table 3.4. Composition of saplings in High Montane Broadleaf Evergreen Forest................ 11

Table 3.6. List of targeted bird species in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve ................................... 21

Table 3.7. Data sheet is used to collect information in each study site .................................. 25

Table 3.8. The list of detected bird species by using automatic recorders.............................. 25

Table 3.9. Bird distribution in different habitats in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve ..................... 26

Table 4.1. The comparison between the sonogram of detected birds and the sonogram of

sample targeted birds. .......................................................................................................... 27

Table 4.2. The active time during surveying time (3.00-9.00 AM) of each detected bird

species. ................................................................................................................................ 29

Table 4.3. List of detected bird species in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve .................................. 30

Table 4.4. Distribution of detected birds in different communes in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve ... 31

Table 4.4.The distribution of detected bird species in different habitats in Ngoc Linh Nature

Reserve ................................................................................................................................ 33