Scrubfowl

Abstract: The occurrence of Orange-footed Scrubfowl nests within monsoon rainforest patches was recorded during a comprehensive survey of this vegetation type in the Northern Territory. The occurrence of active and extinct nests in nearby surrounding habitats was also noted. Of the 1223 rainforest patches sampled, 25% contained scrubfowl nests. No active nests were recorded in savanna habitats. Nests typically occur in large (mean = 64 ha) coastal monsoon rainforests on siliceous substrates. The occurrence of extinct nests in savanna surrounding rainforest patches that contained active nests was infrequent (7% of the sample) but may indicate a contraction of the habitat of Orangefooted Scrubfowl in the Northern Territory. Localised extinction of Scrubfowl populations may have occurred at two rainforest patches which did not contain nests but had extinct nests in the surrounding savanna. The cause of this apparent habitat contraction remains unclear.

Abstract: The late Holocene history of monsoon rainforest retreat in northern Australia was explored by radiocarbon dating abandoned Orange-footed Scrubfowl ( Megapodius reinwardt ) nests. Scrubfowl can only build ‘nests’ (large heaps of soil and leaf litter) in coastal rainforests in northern Australia. A detailed study from a site with a known history of rainforest contraction demonstrated that it is impossible to accurately determine the date of rainforest boundary retreat by radiocarbon dating abandoned Scrubfowl nests. Nonetheless radiocarbon dates from abandoned nests at three sites on the coast of the Northern Territory suggested that the rainforests contracted sometime within the late Holocene. It is argued that the cause of such localised rainforest contraction is the combined effect of tropical cyclone damage and subsequent severe fires occurring in the storm debris, and not regional climatic change, a cause shown to be inconsistent with existing ecological and geomorphological data. The observed maintenance of rainforest boundaries under a regime of Aboriginal burning and the geographically patchy occurrence of abandoned Scrubfowl nests does not support the idea that Aborigines have been the primary cause of widespread rainforest retreat in the late Holocene.

Abstract: Seventeen site characteristics associated with the location of incubation mounds of the Orange-footed Scrubfowl Megapodius reinwardt were measured for three habitat types: monsoon forest, regenerat...

Abstract: . Simanjuntak R, Yusniar M, Samalukang YM, Boleu FI, Mardiastuti A, Widyasari V, Udin JS. 2020. Short Communication: Egg harvesting and local conservation of Moluccan Scrubfowl (Eulipoa wallacei) in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 3018-3024. This study was conducted at four locations in Central Maluku and North Halmahera, which have been used as nesting ground habitats of the Moluccan Scrubfowl (Eulipoa wallacei), an endemic bird of the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. The objective of this study was to record and analyze the egg harvesting and local conservation of Moluccan Scrubfowl in four locations in the Maluku Islands: Simau, Kao, Haruku, and Kailolo. The results showed that a relatively large number of harvested eggs were found in Simau (Halmahera Island) and Kailolo. In Kailolo, the total number of eggs harvested was 21,707 per year. The local community has the initiative to conserve this bird by establishing local regulations, called sasi. The Haruku community gave a portion of the eggs to Kewang, a customary institution authorized to manage the natural resources, to be hatched semi-naturally around the Kewang House. Likewise, the Salabia youth organization in Simau, together with landowners, developed a semi-natural hatchery for the Moluccan Scrubfowl eggs.