Impacts of Deforestation on the Conservation Status of Endemic Birds in the North Maluku Endemic Bird Area from 1990-2003
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Impacts of Deforestation on the Conservation Status of Endemic Birds in the North Maluku Endemic Bird Area from 1990-2003 John Vetter Dr. Jennifer Swenson, Advisor May 2009 Master's Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University May 2009 Abstract Satellite imagery has become a powerful tool to analyze land-use trends across large portions of the globe, including remote areas where access is logistically or political impossible. Due to the rapid pace of deforestation, the high biodiversity contained within, and the difficulty of access and standardized field surveys, the tropics are a key front for using remote sensing to identify target areas for conservation action and, more recently, to inform species-level trends. This study focuses on deforestation in eastern Indonesia, which has some of the highest rates of forest clearing in the world from mining, plantation expansion, timber extraction, and shifting agriculture. Forest loss on the highly biodiverse islands of the North Maluku district in eastern Indonesia was examined from 1990 to 2003 and the conservation status of 39 restricted-range avian species found in the area was re-assessed from these trends. Of the land area available for analysis, forests declined from 86% to just under 70% in these thirteen years, with much of this occurring in the lowlands (below 400m). Consequently, those species with large amounts of their range at low elevations were disproportionately affected, with 10 out of 25 endemic species being under more threat than currently listed by the IUCN Red List and only 3 being considered safer than currently listed. ii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 6 DATA AND PREPROCESSING ....................................................................................................... 6 LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................................. 7 RANGE -RESTRICTED AVIAN SPECIES ANALYSIS ....................................................................... 9 RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 10 LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION ............................................................................................... 10 RANGE -RESTRICTED AVIAN SPECIES ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 11 DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................................. 13 SPATIAL PATTERNS OF DEFORESTATION ................................................................................ 13 DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION IN NORTH MALUKU ................................................................ 15 SPECIES -LEVEL ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................... 19 SPECIES CURRENTLY LISTED AS NEAR THREATENED , VULNERABLE , OR ENDANGERED ..... 20 Moluccan Megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) – Current Status: Vulnerable;............................. 20 Moluccan Woodcock (Scolopax rochussenii) – Current Status: Endangered...................... 21 Chattering Lory (Lorius garrulus) - Current Status: Endangered ....................................... 21 Moluccan Cuckoo (Cacomantis heinrichi) - Current Status: Near Threatened................... 22 Purple Dollarbird (Eurystomus azureus) - Current Status: Near Threatened..................... 23 Blue-capped Fruit-dove (Ptilinopus monacha) - Current Status: Near Threatened ............ 23 Carunculated Fruit-dove (Ptilinopus granulifrons) - Current Status: Vulnerable .............. 24 Pink-headed Imperial-pigeon (Ducula rosacea) - Current Status: Near Threatened.......... 24 White Cockatoo (Cacatua alba) - Current Status: Vulnerable............................................. 25 Sombre Kingfisher (Todiramphus funebris) - Current Status: Vulnerable .......................... 26 Dusky Friarbird (Philemon fuscicapillus) - Current Status: Vulnerable ............................. 27 OTHER SPECIES OF INTEREST .................................................................................................. 28 APPLICABILITY OF REMOTE SENSING TO SPECIES -LEVEL ANALYSIS .................................... 29 LITERATURE CITED .............................................................................................................. 33 FIGURES AND TABLES .......................................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX I – REFERENCE TABLES.................................................................................. 50 APPENDIX II – SPECIES RANGE MAPS ............................................................................. 51 iii Introduction The remote islands of the northern Moluccas are some of the most biodiverse in the world in terms of species’ endemism. However, the crush of deforestation which is running throughout the tropics has recently begun to move into these islands, threatening the unique species found only here. Using remote sensing techniques, it is possible to determine the extent and speed at which this deforestation, driven by logging, mining, biofuel development, among other threats, is moving. The extent of habitat remaining and the spatial patterns of deforestation can be used as surrogates for determining population trends of key taxa, as surveys are extremely difficult to conduct in these far-flung locations. In this paper, we use remote sensing to examine deforestation from 1990 to 2003 in the northern Moluccas and determine the extent of habitat available for the many range-restricted avian species found in this area. We can then re-assess the IUCN Red List status of many of these species as well as make predictions given annual deforestation rates, about the future prospects for these species. The hotspot concept, first developed by Norman Myers in 1988 (Myers 1988) and updated through the years since then (Myers 1990, Myers et al. 2000), was intended to draw attention to those areas of the world “featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species and experiencing exceptional loss of habitat” (Myers et al. 2000). Initial work led to the recognition of 25 hotspots that were concentrated on terrestrial flora and fauna, including the islands of Wallacea in eastern Indonesia (Myers et al. 2000). More recent work has expanded this concept to include 34 terrestrial hotspots (Mittermeier et al. 2005). The Wallacea hotspot encompasses the entire land area between Java and Borneo to the west and the island of New Guinea to the east. This includes the large island of Sulawesi, the islands of the Moluccas to the east, and the islands of the Lesser Sundas and Timor Leste to the 1 south (Mittermeier et al. 2005, Figure 1). Politically, the area is mostly Indonesian, although Timor Leste (the eastern half of the island of Timor) has recently gained independence. All of these islands are extremely diverse in size, topography, and climate, as well as geologic history. These islands are unique in the South-East Asian region in their oceanic origins and lack of historical connection to either the Asian mainland or to Australia and New Guinea. Thus, they lie between these two major biogeographical realms; the Oriental realm to the west and the Australasian realm to the east, and Wallacea represents a transition zone between the two (Stattersfield et al. 1998). Due to the unique origins and geography, the area is a bastion of endemism, with an estimated 1,500 plants, 126 mammals, 265 birds, and 99 reptiles endemic to the islands (Whitten et al. 2005). This high degree of endemism leads to a diverse suite of important conservation targets across the region. BirdLife International has recognized 10 Endemic Bird Areas (EBA) within Wallacea, including the area of concentration for this study, the North Maluku EBA (Stattersfield et al. 1998). The North Maluku EBA consists of the northernmost islands in the Moluccas (Maluku in Indonesian), centered around the island of Halmahera (18,000 km 2) (Stattersfield et al. 1998, Figure 1). Other key islands in this EBA include Morotai, Bacan, and Obi, as well as a number of smaller islands to the West of Halmahera (including Ternate, the capital of the Indonesian territory of North Maluku) (Stattersfield et al. 1998). Many of these islands are volcanic in origin, and are thus fairly mountainous. Compared to many other islands in Wallacea, however, Halmahera is relatively low, reaching a maximum elevation of 1,635m, with very little habitat at the upper elevations. Because of this geography, few endemic montane species have developed on Halmahera, unlike the neighboring islands of Buru and Seram, which are much smaller, but 2 contain much more habitat at higher elevations and a corresponding number of endemic montane species (Stattersfield et al. 1998). The land cover of these islands is dominated by tropical lowland evergreen and semi- evergreen rainforest, with smaller areas of limestone forest and tropical montane rain forest above 700 m (Stattersfield et al. 1998). Overall, the North Maluku EBA contains 43 restricted-