Population Estimates and Site Occupancy of Purple Swamphen and White-Breasted Waterhen in the Natural and Artificial Urban Wetlands of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

| The study aimed at estimating the population and modelling the site occupancy of the Porphyrio porphyrio indicus (PPI) and Amaurornis phoenicurus (AP) populations in the Paya Indah (PIW) and Putrajaya (PW) wetlands, Peninsular Malaysia. The distance sampling point count technique using stratified random design was employed to survey (from November 2016 to December 2018) and choose 57 and 54 point stations around 14 and 24 lakes of PIW and PW respectively. Significant differences (p<0.05) existed in the encounter rate and effective detection radius of PPI and AP between PIW and PW. Both wetlands had low site occupancy, an unevenly distributed and non-significantly relative abundance (p>0.05) of PPI and AP . PW recorded the higher estimates of site occupancy, naïve occupancy and detection probability by PPI and AP. The findings implied that PW is more abundant in PPI and AP as compared to PIW. Also, it ascertained that the homogenous sites due to proximity (10km) with different wetland types (natural and artificial) could convey varied population estimates and site occupancy of the two species. Novelty Statement | This is the first study that estimated the population and model the site occupancy of Porphyrio porphyrio indicus (PPI) and Amaurornis phoenicurus (AP) in the urban