Survey of birds in mangrove, river mouth and coastal habitats in Sarawak. Assessment of their role in monitoring the health of mangrove and coastal ecosystems and a search for the critically endangered silvery pigeon

Abstract

Mangrove forests are an important feature of tropical coasts and play a crucial role in influencing the ecological health of the inshore marine ecosystem. Like their terrestrial counterparts, mangrove forests are under threat through a variety of destructive human practices. Mangroves in particular, and river mouth habitats in general are strongly influenced by land management practices in the catchments of the rivers they drain. Many fish and other marine species, including some important to commercial and subsistence fishermen are dependent on mangroves or other river mouth habitats for at least part of their life cycle. Management decisions about these ecosystems are often made without adequate knowledge of their ecology, nor are changes in the health of the catchments adequately monitored resulting in an insidious decline in fish stocks and ecosystem health.