From June, 2007, to February, 2009, the Waria Valley Community Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods Project (WVCP) completed an inventory survey of the birds of the lower Waria Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Four land use types --agricultural, secondary forest edge, primary forest edge and primary forest --were surveyed using Mackinnon list surveys. In total, 125 species representing 43 families were identified, of which 54 (43.2%) are endemic to the islands of New Guinea and the Bismark Archipelago. The avifauna of primary forest edge and primary forest was more species rich and diverse than that of agricultural habitats. Agricultural habitats also differed significantly in both overall community composition and some aspects of guild composition compared to all three forested habitats. Nectarivores and insectivore-frugivores formed a significantly larger proportion of species in agricultural habitats, whereas obligate frugivores formed a significantly greater proportion in forested habitats. We propose further survey and management initiatives that could help contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the area's important biological resources.

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Materials and methods 2.1. Study area, sampling, and ethical clearance Fifty-six live slender lorises were captured from 7 different forest regions to represent the 7 nominal groups suggested by Gamage et al. (2017). The loris species found in Sri Abstract: There are 2 species of slender lorises found in Sri Lanka: the red slender loris, Loris tardigradus (Linnaeus, 1758), endemic to the wet zone and montane areas, and the grey slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus (Cabrera, 1908), which is widespread. In addition, currently there are 2 subspecies recognized for each of these 2 slender loris species of Sri Lanka. Yet their taxonomy, evolutionary history, and biogeography are still poorly understood, and there are some preliminary data suggesting the presence of other subspecies. In this study, we have analysed the partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequence of 21 Loris specimens collected from 7 different regions in Sri Lanka. The phylogenetic tree reconstructed based on the neighbour joining method and Bayesian approach revealed 2 clades with high branch supports (>60%), consistent with the 2 slender loris species. Moreover, the samples within the Loris lydekkerianus clade were divided into 3 taxa and the samples within the Loris tardigradus clade were divided into 4 taxa, all consistent with the 7 sampling zones. The results of the study have provided the first DNA barcoding analysis on slender lorises in Sri Lanka to resolve phylogenetic relationships. Further studies on Loris are necessary for decoding their taxonomic issues in Sri Lanka.

From June 2007 to February 2009 the Waria Valley Community Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods Project completed a mist net survey of bats in the lower Waria Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The Waria Valley is located on the north coast of the Morobe Province ~190 km south-east of Lae, and still has large tracts of intact lowland hill and plain rainforest. Four broad habitats (agricultural, secondary forest edge, primary forest edge and primary forest) were surveyed using mist nets. A total of 596 individuals representing 11 species were caught, measured and identified over 8824 net-m h–1 across 99 nights. Within the limitations of this method, primary forest edge sites in general showed the highest degree of species richness and diversity and along with secondary forest edge sites were more even in species composition. Primary forest and agricultural sites were each dominated by a single species, Syconycteris australis and Macroglossus minimus respectively. Most captures were megachiropterans and microchiropterans were underrepresented, presumably in part because of the survey method employed.