Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia

In Malaysia, nests of Aerodramus fuciphagus (white-nest swiftlet) and Aerodramus maximus (black-nest swiftlet) are harvested for commercial purposes, as one of the most valuable animal products. The taxonomy of a species is crucial, as delineating species boundaries is fundamental to discover li...

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Main Authors: Looi, Qi Hao, Aini Ideris, Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria, Abdul Rahman Omar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8626/1/03_Looi_Qi_Hao.pdf
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author Looi, Qi Hao
Aini Ideris,
Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria,
Abdul Rahman Omar,
author_facet Looi, Qi Hao
Aini Ideris,
Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria,
Abdul Rahman Omar,
author_sort Looi, Qi Hao
collection UKM
description In Malaysia, nests of Aerodramus fuciphagus (white-nest swiftlet) and Aerodramus maximus (black-nest swiftlet) are harvested for commercial purposes, as one of the most valuable animal products. The taxonomy of a species is crucial, as delineating species boundaries is fundamental to discover life’s diversity. However, swiftlet taxonomy has been controversial, due to numerous undefined parameters. Although there are these limitations, morphological taxonomy cannot be the unique approach for species identification and it is a valuable component in taxonomy studies. We have undertaken a morphological approach to analyse community relationships among species of swiftlets. In this study, we selected three different swiftlet species to generate two sets of comparisons: Within species and among different habitats. This study found that A. fuciphagus from man-made habitats is generally larger in size compared to the natural habitat and A. maximus is larger compared with A. fuciphagus. We postulate the difference in body size is due to dietary behaviour and genetic variations of the swiftlets.
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spelling ukm.eprints-86262016-12-14T06:47:43Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8626/ Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia Looi, Qi Hao Aini Ideris, Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria, Abdul Rahman Omar, In Malaysia, nests of Aerodramus fuciphagus (white-nest swiftlet) and Aerodramus maximus (black-nest swiftlet) are harvested for commercial purposes, as one of the most valuable animal products. The taxonomy of a species is crucial, as delineating species boundaries is fundamental to discover life’s diversity. However, swiftlet taxonomy has been controversial, due to numerous undefined parameters. Although there are these limitations, morphological taxonomy cannot be the unique approach for species identification and it is a valuable component in taxonomy studies. We have undertaken a morphological approach to analyse community relationships among species of swiftlets. In this study, we selected three different swiftlet species to generate two sets of comparisons: Within species and among different habitats. This study found that A. fuciphagus from man-made habitats is generally larger in size compared to the natural habitat and A. maximus is larger compared with A. fuciphagus. We postulate the difference in body size is due to dietary behaviour and genetic variations of the swiftlets. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015-04 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8626/1/03_Looi_Qi_Hao.pdf Looi, Qi Hao and Aini Ideris, and Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria, and Abdul Rahman Omar, (2015) Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia. Sains Malaysiana, 44 (4). pp. 497-502. ISSN 0126-6039 http://www.ukm.my/jsm/malay_journals/jilid44bil4_2015/KandunganJilid44Bil4_2015.html
spellingShingle Looi, Qi Hao
Aini Ideris,
Md Zuki Abu Bakar @ Zakaria,
Abdul Rahman Omar,
Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title_full Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title_fullStr Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title_short Morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man-made habitats in Malaysia
title_sort morphology comparison of swiftlet species from natural and man made habitats in malaysia
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8626/1/03_Looi_Qi_Hao.pdf
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AT abdulrahmanomar morphologycomparisonofswiftletspeciesfromnaturalandmanmadehabitatsinmalaysia