Pheasants: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan ... - IUCN

• Review the effectiveness of the protected areas system,
following surveys, for conserving populations and
advocate establishment of new or gazette-proposed
protected areas, accordingly.
• Clarify its taxonomic relationship with the Sumatran
pheasant using DNA sequencing techniques.
• Advocate full protection under Indonesian law.
Crestless fireback
(Lophura erythrophthalma)
Vulnerable A1c,d; A2c,d
The continuing rapid reduction in extent and quality of this
pheasant’s lowland rainforest habitat across most of its
known range implies a similar reduction in the population
and justifies its classification as Vulnerable.
Range and population: The crestless fireback occurs in
Peninsular and east Malaysia, Sumatra and Kalimantan,
Indonesia, and Brunei. There are few recent records from
Borneo, where it appears to be scarce and localised, mainly
in the south and west (Holmes 1989, Wilkinson et al.
1991a, 1991b). There are just a handful of recent records
from Sumatra, all from Riau and Jambi Provinces
(Danielsen and Heegaard 1995). However, it has been
described as the commonest Lophura pheasant in Malaysia,
with densities of up to six birds per km 2 (Davison and
Scriven 1987). Continuing forest clearance throughout
the Indonesian lowlands must be causing a rapid decline,
which is also likely to be the case outside well-protected
areas in Peninsular Malaysia (Holmes 1989).
Ecology: It is an extreme lowland specialist, inhabiting
primary and well-regenerated, closed-canopy evergreen
forest (Wells 1999). Birds in Malaysia are tolerant of
logged forest, and it has been recorded in lightly logged
forest on Sumatra (Danielsen and Heegaard 1995).
However, precise details of its habitat preferences and
ecological interactions with its congener, the crested
fireback Lophura ignita, are lacking. Where the crested
fireback is present, the crestless fireback appears to avoid
valley-bottom habitats (Wells 1999).
Threats: The overriding threats are habitat loss,
degradation, and fragmentation as a result of large-scale
commercial logging (even within protected areas) and
widespread clearance for plantations of rubber and oil
palm (D.A. Holmes in litt.). In Indonesia, the impact of the
major fires of 1997–98 has still to be fully assessed, but
drought fires appear to be increasing in frequency and
severity on Sumatra and Borneo. At current rates of
habitat loss, given no change in forest management policy,
dryland lowland rainforest could disappear completely by
2005 on Sumatra, and 2010 in Kalimantan (D.A. Holmes
in litt.). Hunting for food may pose an additional, more
localised threat (O’Brien et al. 1998).
Conservation: It occurs in several protected areas, including
Taman Negara National Park and Krau Wildlife Reserve
(Malaysia), Gunung Mulu National Park (Sarawak) and
Tanjung Puting National Park (Kalimantan).
Targets:
• Conduct field surveys to establish its distribution and
population status.
• Conduct research into its ecological requirements,
including its relationship with the crested fireback.
• Review whether key populations are adequately
represented within the existing protected area network
following surveys, and advocate protection of further
areas if necessary.
• Promote the concept of Forest Management Units in
Sabah (99-year concessions of great size).
• Assist forest managers in habitat identification and
zoning of concession areas.
• Advocate full protection under Indonesian and Malaysian
law.
Bulwer’s pheasant
(Lophura bulweri)
Vulnerable A1c,d; A2c,d; C1; C2a
This pheasant is classified as Vulnerable because it is inferred
to be declining rapidly, owing to extensive ongoing habitat
loss compounded by hunting. It is also assumed to have a
small population, which is likely to be experiencing
increasingly severe fragmentation, particularly as it may be
dependent on nomadic visits to lowland areas.
Range and population: Bulwer’s pheasant is endemic to
Borneo, where it is known from Sabah and Sarawak, east
Malaysia, Kalimantan, Indonesia and Brunei (Smythies
1981, Mann 1987, Dutson 1990, Davison 1997). It was
once described as very common in undisturbed parts of
interior Borneo (Smythies 1981), but appears to be rather
patchily distributed. In 1995, it was estimated to number
fewer than 10,000 individuals (McGowan and Garson
1995). Despite there being no reason to believe that the
species was threatened a decade ago (Holmes 1989), the
paucity of recent records, combined with anecdotal
information regarding its habits (R. Sözer in litt.) and
alarming current rates of habitat loss (D.A. Holmes in
litt.), indicate that it could now be declining significantly.
Ecology: It inhabits primary hill and lower montane forest
from about 300m up to at least 1,500m (Smythies 1981,
31