The Role of Ficus crassiramea (Miq.) Miq. for Hornbill Conservation in Borneo Fragmented Tropical Rainforest

Abstract

Fig plants (Ficus spp.) are considered as a key candidate to wildlife conservation in tropical rainforest for its potency on their microhabitat and food supply throughout the years. In this research, we focused only on the Ficus crassiramea (Miq.) Miq. To shows its role for hornbill conservation, we observed the different species of hornbill which visiting the trees and also we observed time, duration, frequency and activity of visits of the hornbill. For the purpose, four trees of F. crassiramea had been observed continuously for 6 d from 06.00 am to 05.00 pm in two fragmented tropical rainforest located in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, Borneo, Indonesia. The result showed, there were three species of hornbill which are visiting the plants in fruiting phase, namely Anthrococeros malayanus (Raffles, 1822), Anthrococeros albirostris (Shaw & Nodder, 1807), and Buceros rhinoceros (Linnaeus 1758) while fig tree in non-fruiting phase is only visiting by A. malayanus and A. albirostris. There is difference between A. malayanus, A. albirostris and B. rhinoceros in time, duration and frequency of visits on F. crassiramea. The most dominant activity of the third hornbill on F. crassiramea in fruiting phase are foraging rather than perched like on non-fruting phase tree. The result convinced the important of F. crassiramea as food source for hornbill conservation.