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Introduction
Tasek Bera is an extensive
inland freshwater lake system located in the lowlands of south-western Pahang state,
Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 1). The catchment derives from parts of southwestern Pahang and
adjacent parts of Negeri Sembilan state. Natural freshwater lake systems cover only 10,000
hectares in the peninsula and are represented by on1y 2 sites (DWNP, 1987), the other
being Tasik Chini. Tasek Bera covers 6150 hectares (61% of the total area) and therefore
is Malaysia’s largest unique freshwater and lake system (Lim et al., 1982).
The wetland system and the
surrounding forest support a very rich biological community and also play an important
role in environmental services. The local community, the Semelai people, harvests some
natural resources from it (Benstead et al., 1993). Given its importance, the
wetland is now protected under an international treaty, the Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance Especially As Waterfowl Habitat (1971), or RAMSAR Convention,
making it Malaysia’s first RAMSAR site. The area protected under this Convention
includes a core zone of c.26,000 hectares and a buffer zone of 27,500 hectares. As a
contracting party to the Convention, Malaysia has undertaken the responsibility to maintain the ecological character of
Tasek Bera and make wise use of its wetland resources.
Yet for all its importance
and potential, there is little information on peat swamp forest avifauna. To date, there
are no comprehensive records of peat swamp birds with the exception of ad hoc and
short-term surveys. Previous studies on the fauna of Tasek Bera have focused mainly
on zooplankton, benthos, insects and fish (Furtado and Mori, 1982; Benstead et al., 1993).
As an initial step to rectify this gap in knowledge, a baseline survey of the peat
swamp bird community was undertaken at Pos Iskandar, Tasek Bera.
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