The potential of particular starlings Sturnidae

Authors: Walter A Sontag Michel Louette

Publish Date: 2007/07/17

Volume: 148, Issue: 2, Pages: 261-267

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Abstract

The starlings Sturnidae represent a highly successful and adaptable passerine family Several sturnids predominantly open country species have been introduced into new geographic areas through human agency and some have become pests in the new range In this context we investigated habitat use in a typical open habitat sturnid the Common Mynah Acridotheres tristis and a forest sturnid the Common Hill Mynah Gracula religiosa in primary and secondary habitats in the Comoro Islands where the Common Mynah was introduced and in Thailand where both species are native The landscape of the four Comoro Islands has been affected by man to a variable extent The Common Mynah is very abundant on Mayotte moderately so on Grand Comoro and Anjouan and least so on Mohéli It clearly prefers nonforest habitat including degraded mosaic habitats and tree plantations Although also found in isolated and undisturbed forests on the Comoros it was never recorded in any forest habitats surveyed in eastern Thailand In contrast Hill Mynahs were found in intact primary forest with and without gaps and in severely disturbed forest patches Their distribution varied between the two study sites and Hill Mynahs were recorded at higher frequencies in primary forest with gaps than in forest without gaps Supplementary observations including other open country starlings suggest that this bird family shows marked plasticity in habitat use by particular species which can serve as good indicators of rapid habitat changeWe thank Jan Stevens for commenting on a first version of the manuscript ML is especially grateful to Luc Bijnens Marc Herremans Frederic Neri and Jan Stevens for fieldwork and Garin Cael all from Tervuren for technical support to Hugh Doulton and Charles Marsh Oxford for sharing their Anjouan field data and to Yahaya Ibrahim Comoros for logistical help WS is especially grateful to Pilai Poonswad and Schwann Tunhikorn both Bangkok for their consistent and selfless support for his studies in Thailand Fieldwork there was most effectively supported by Boonma Khao Yai National Park Songkrot Poothong Bang Pra NonHunting Area and Sawai Wanghongsa and his assistants Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary Special thanks also go to Erwin Nemeth for fruitful discussions and Alexander Seidel for advice in statistical and software matters Phil Round provided important information on literature Finally we thank an anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions improving our manuscript

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