Book review: Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist and Bibliography. Sheldon, F.H., R.G. Moyle & J. Kennard, 2001. Ornithological Monographs 52, American Ornithologistsí Union, Washington, D.C. vi + 285 pp PDF
Preview Book review: Ornithology of Sabah: History, Gazetteer, Annotated Checklist and Bibliography. Sheldon, F.H., R.G. Moyle & J. Kennard, 2001. Ornithological Monographs 52, American Ornithologistsí Union, Washington, D.C. vi + 285 pp
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 200250(2): 511-515 @ National University of Singapore BOOK REVIEW Ornithology of Sabah: guides that I was mentioning earlier. As mentioned, all these History, Gazetteer, chapters are critically written. In addition to succinctly Annotated Checklist summarizing the current state of knowledge, they point the and Bibliography. readers towards the areas that potential researchersc an home Sheldon, F. H., R. G. in. Probably because of lack of information, ecology and Moyle & J. Kennard, behaviour section dwell on Bornean birds than specifically 2001. Ornithological on Sabahan birds. Monographs 52, American The authors point out the biological benefits of strategically Ornithologists' Union, placing agricultural plantations. Such examples show that Washington,D .C. vi + both conservation and exploitation can be and should be 285 pp. USD 25.00. effectively balanced. All survey sites in Sabah are mapped Without ISBN number. with geographic coordinates given for most of them. This I admit is a mammoth task in its own particularly because Occupyingt he northp art the sites have Malay names and would have been difficult of the island of Borneo to map. In my mind, the most valuable part of this book is is Malaysian state of the speciesd escriptions. When available, data on the species' Sabah. Due to its unique geographic location, Borneo is biology are presented. Such information will be particularly one of the nerve centres of biodiversity. However, sadly, useful for future studies such as those comparing guild biodiversityo f Sabaha, s of SoutheasAt sia,i s poorly studied. compositions among sites. This sad reality remains despite the fact that habitat destruction in SoutheastA sia has been unprecedentedi n Anybody interested in SoutheastA sian birds should own this recentt imes. Sound biological knowledge,i n my mind, is monograph. With this work, the stage is set for more neededf or effective conservation. Any monographo n the quantitative ornithological research in Sabah. I have a birds of Sabahs hould thereforeb e good news. However, number of wishes. First, I hope that similar monographs are when I received a copy of this monographst,w o thoughts published for other regions such as Sarawak and Java. came to my mind. First, I thought -not anotherb ook on Second, I hope that ornithological research in SoutheastA sia birds of SoutheasAt sia! There are numerousb ooks (field takes a leap from traditional survey work. Last, governments guides) on the birds of SoutheasAt sia -most of them are in the region provide conducive environment for scientific scientificallyu selessa s they often lack adequatein formation research -unknown biodiversity c~nnot be protected on the bird biology. Second,I thought that anybodyc ould compile the available information. As I show below, both adequately. of my thoughts were wrong. This monograph is divided into five parts: introduction, Navjot S. Sodhi history, gazetteer,a nnotated checklist and bibliography. Departmento f Biological Sciences Included in introduction are physical, geographical and National University of Singapore habitatf eatureso f Sabah.A lso includeda rec ritical analyses Blk S2. 14 ScienceD rive 4 on evolution, ecology, behavioura nd conservation. These Singapore1 17543 four parts make this monographa part from traditional field Republic of Singapore 511
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