The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

Some 62 bird species from 11 families that use inland orsub-­‐coastal wetlands may reasonably be expected tooccur in the vicinity of Lake Sembuluh as regular migrantsor aseasonal non-­‐breeding visitors (vagrants excluded).Species include 31 ‘shorebirds’ or ‘waders’ (Charadriidae,Scolopacidae, Glareolidae), 10 herons, egrets, andbitterns (Ardeidae), six ducks (Anatidae), six rails andcrakes (Rallidae), three gulls and terns (Laridae), twokingfishers (Alcedinidae, Halcyonidae), and four migratorypasserines (Sylviidae, Passeridae). Twenty species areprotected under Indonesian law, including all gulls andterns and most egrets and herons. Four species are listedby the IUCN as Near Threatened – the Band-­‐bellied Crake(Porzana paykullii) and three Palearctic waders: Black-­tailedGodwit (Limosa limosa), Eurasian Curlew (Numeniusarquata), and Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromussemipalmatus). None are listed as globally threatened.Sixteen have been recorded previously at nearby TanjungPuting (see Annex 8).While some of these species are ‘migrants’ in the truestsense, travelling annually along the EAAF, many othersmove about in a more nomadic pattern between islandsor throughout the wider Sundaic region. Some of thesespecies are considered likely to arrive and breed in thearea.Grassy banks along slow-­‐moving riversGrassy banks along slow-­‐moving rivers or standing waterbodies can be important breeding habitat for birds andreptiles (especially crocodiles, see Section G1.8.1.cabove), as well as feeding grounds for a number ofvertebrates. Such areas are likely to be widely distributedthroughout the Project Zone, along the Seruyan River andits tributaries, in as-­‐yet undiscovered wetland areaswithin intact areas of the freshwater/peat swamp mosaicof habitats throughout the Project Zone, and along theshores of Lake Sembuluh.Ecotones across which animals move to track seasonalavailability of fruitThe revised Toolkit draws attention to zones of transitionbetween ecosystem types as areas of special importancefor maintaining habitat connectivity to ensure that themigratory movements of locally nomadic frugivorousspecies remain intact. This is because broadly differentecosystem types often show asynchronous phenologicalpatterns of fruiting, and therefore enable frugivorousvertebrates to maintain a positive energy balance bymoving among different habitat types. Examples of suchtaxa include orangutans, gibbons, and bearded pigs,among others. Ecosystem transitions identified asimportant in the Toolkit, and which are present in theProject Zone, include transitions between:Swamp and non-­‐swamp forestKerangas and non-­‐kerangasWetland and non-­‐wetland areasAn indicative map of transitions between theseecosystem types can be inferred from the distribution ofvegetation types (see Figure 7 in Section G 1.2, above).This map will be revised once a refined version ofecosystem types in the Project Zone is available.65