ESTIMATING INSECT PEST CONSUMPTION BY THE ORIENTAL MAGPIE-ROBIN AND YELLOW-VENTED BULBUL IN OIL PALM PLANTATIONS FROM A FEEDING EXPERIMENT
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2025.0017
Received: 10 May 2024 Accepted: 22 November 2024 Published Online: 19 March 2025
Insectivorous birds contribute to the provision of ecosystem services to humans in both human-dominated and natural ecosystems around the world. Natural predation of invertebrate populations is a prime example of one of the key ecosystem services provided by farmland birds in agricultural landscapes. Yet, it is unknown how many invertebrates are consumed by common farmland bird species such as Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) and Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier), which are abundant in oil palm plantations of Southeast Asia. Therefore, this study estimated the amount of insects consumed by these birds through a feeding experiment. From an assessment of 50 captured birds (25 individuals for each species), the average daily insect consumption of Oriental Magpie-Robin was estimated at 15.03 g/bird, which is slightly higher than Yellow-vented Bulbul (11.67 g/bird). These findings indicate that the potential of the two focal species to suppress insect populations might be limited by body weight and prey preferences. This study demonstrates the advantages of maintaining biodiversity, particularly farmland birds as biological control agents. Future estimates of pest insect consumption in oil palm plantations could potentially be based on the daily insect consumption by both bird species.
KEYWORDS:1 Department of Forest Science and Biodiversity,
Faculty of Forestry and Environment,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
2 Crop Protection & Bio-Solution,
FGV R&D Sdn. Bhd.,
Tun Razak Agricultural Research Centre,
27000 Jerantut, Pahang, Malaysia.
3 Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
International University of Malaya-Wales,
50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
4 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
5 Department of Plant Protection Faculty of Agriculture,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
6 Urban Transformations Hub, Monash University Indonesia,
Green Office Park 9, The Breeze, BSD City,
Tangerang Selatan, Banten 15345, Indonesia.
7 Biodiversity Unit, Institute of Bioscience,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
8 School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences,
University of Nottingham Malaysia,
43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
* Corresponding author e-mail: b_azhar@upm.edu.my