Project 1: Variations on Mosquito Composition Relative to Time, Weather and Insect Repellent
"The blood donors to the blood suckers"-Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak.
Team member: Ben, Greg and Wan
One late night, at chalet 7;
Wan: Hey Ben. Do I wake you up?
Ben: Oh, no. Don't worry. Mmm, about the project, why don't we do
something about mosquito?
Wan: Err, you wake up this late just to tell me that? Sure. Why not? It will
be an interesting project.
Ben: Yeah, I've been bitten by the mosquitoes all this time. Why don't we
do a project about it right? They can be easily collected.
That's the story behind our project... The end.
Abstract
A study was conducted on the generic composition of mosquitoes
at dawn and dusk in a riparian forest at Lambir Hills National
Park, Malaysia Borneo. Mosquitoes were collected using the bare
leg technique, with three human attractors from 0530 to 0830 hours and 1730 to 2030 hours. Each
human attractor had one leg covered with 30% DEET insect repellent and
one leg with no insect repellent. Temperature and humidity were
also recorded during each mosquito collection. R analysis shows a
strong linear correlation between time of day
and net mosquito abundance in the evening, but not in the
morning. Wilcoxon product sum tests also give evidence for
temporal partitioning of mosquito genera in both the morning and the
evening. Wilcoxon tests show a statistically significant
difference in mosquito composition between DEET and non-DEET legs, but
the number of mosquito collected on DEET legs is so small that these
results are questionable.
Full paper >Mosquito project.pdf
Project 2: Random distribution pattern of goby fish (Family Gobiidae) in Maloham Bay, Gaya Island, Sabah
"Stalkers of the gobies"-Gaya Island, Sabah.
Team member: Dwi, Katherine, Kwek, Wan and Wulan
Abstract
Spatial distribution pattern of an organism can reveal ecological
underpinnings such as availability of resources, preferred habitats, or
hint at territorial behavior. The spatial distribution of goby's
holes on large, relatively homogenous stretches of sandy substrate in
the littoral zone is an ideal case study to look on this matter.
Two belt transects of one meter width by 25 meters in length were
laid out on the sandy littoral zone of Maloham Bay (N 06 1.187, E 116
2.865), on an island of the coast of Sabah, Malaysia. The number
of goby's holes within each one meter by one meter square plot along
the transects were counted and a mean-variance index of the data was
computed. The score of 1.11 suggests that the spatial
distribution can largely be explained by random chance of occurrence
(~1.0). An overlay of the count histogram on a Poisson
distribution curve (lambda=mean number of holes) showed a good fit.
Although these data are insufficient to conclude that gobies are either
territorial or gregarious, it was observed on several occasions the
presence of multiple gobies occupying a single hole, indicating a
willingness to share a common space. Whether this is a normal
occurrence or due to some unknown factors (group territorial behavior,
breeding season, particular different species etc.) it does show that
for the species of gobies we observed, they are not perpetually
solitary within each hole.
Project 3: The Effect of Bark
Type, Canopy Architecture and Leaf Characteristics on Epiphyte
Abundance and Diversity in Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Sabah,
Malaysia.
"The epiphyte lovers"-Maliau Basin, Sabah.
Team member: Anna, Greg and Wan
At Maliau Basin Study Center Cafeteria;
Wan: Anna, I would like to do the project, using the canopy walkway in any way.
Anna: We do something about diversity and abundance or organism. But what?
Greg: We do the EPIPHYTE. Diversity and abundance of epiphyte. How is that?
Anna, Greg and Wan: Great!
That's how Team Epiphyte was formed back then, after the brain-storming
during breakfast session. Ben keeps on sulking as if Greg and
I replace him with Anna. Hey, Greg and I just need a woman's
touch here. He he (Just kidding Ben. You just love the
rattan right?)
Abstract
As plant specially adapted to a non-soil substrate, epiphytes
face unique challenges to successful growth and propagation.
These challenges include balancing light, water, and mechanical
stability needs, all of which are intimately associated with the
characteristics of the epiphyte's host tree. Therefore, we
hypothesized that tree leaf type, leaf size, leaf arrangement, bark
texture and canopy branch density would have a non-random association
with the abundance and diversity of epiphyte associated with a given
tree. We surveyed a 300m transect of canopy walkway in Maliau
Basin Conservation Area recorded epiphyte counts and identification for
21 trees, and recorded the aforementioned characteristics of each tree.
Using ANOVA analysis, we found a significant association between
bark type and epiphyte abundance (Pr(>F)=0.024) and epiphyte
diversity (Pr(>F)=0.036), with smooth bark hosting the greatest
abundance and diversity of epiphyte. Furthermore, using
generalized linear models, we obtained a significant negative
association between canopy branching density and epiphyte abundance
(Pr(>|z|)=2e-16) and diversity (Pr(>|t|)=0.000465).
Additional research based upon these highly significant results
may indicate precise light, water and mechanical support demands of
epiphyte and may have the potential to further elucidate the effect on
epiphyte abundance and diversity due to climate change and
deforestation.
Full paper >Epiphyte project.pdf
Last updated March 2009. Contact Wan at muhdikhwan_idris[AT]yahoo.com.my
