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Fauzi NA, Munian K, Shah AKMK, Norazlimi NA. 2023. Species composition and diversity of waterbird communities in Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of South West Johor Coast, Malaysia. Biodiversitas 24: 3471-3480. Mangroves play a crucial role in supporting intertidal flats and providing habitats that enrich benthic communities, which in turn serve as feeding grounds for coastal waterbirds. However, the degradation of mangrove habitats caused by coastal reclamation activities indirectly impacts prey availability and, consequently, the populations of waterbirds. The coastline habitat along the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of the South West Johor Coast is currently under threat due to new and ongoing development projects involving large-scale reclamation activities. Therefore, this research was conducted to study the diversity and abundance of waterbirds and their relationship with prey availability. The study was conducted in three coastal mudflat sites along the South West Johor Coast, namely Tanjung Piai, Pontian Kechil, and Muar, from November 2020 to May 2021. The direct observation technique was used to determine the abundance of waterbirds, while the benthic core sampling method was employed to assess prey availability in all study sites. In total, 3,717 individual waterbirds, comprising 17 species, were counted across the three study sites. The study confirmed a significant positive relationship between the abundance of waterbirds and prey availability (R2=0.501). The results of this study serve as important baseline data and references for the conservation of waterbirds along the South West Johor Coast. Through the study, we believe that the relevant authorities are able to formulate sound conservation strategies to preserve the habitat for a vast diversity of waterbirds.

West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic mosquito-borne flavivirus that is harbored and amplified by wild birds via the enzootic transmission cycle. Wide range of hosts are found to be susceptible to WNV infection including mammals, amphibians and reptiles across the world. Several studies have demonstrated that WNV was present in the Malaysian Orang Asli and captive birds. However, no data are available on the WNV prevalence in wild birds found in Malaysia. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the serological and molecular prevalence of WNV in wild birds in selected areas in the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Two types of wild birds were screened, namely migratory and resident birds in order to explore any possibility of WNV transmission from the migratory birds to the resident birds. Thus, a cross-sectional study was conducted at the migratory birds sanctuary located in Kuala Gula, Perak and Kapar, Selangor by catching 163 migratory birds, and 97 resident birds from Kuala Gula and Parit Buntar, Perak at different time between 2016 and 2017 (Total, n = 260). Blood and oropharyngeal swabs were collected for serological and molecular analysis, respectively. Serum were screened for WNV antibodies using a commercial competitive ELISA (c-ELISA) (ID Screen® West Nile Competition Multi-species ELISA, ID VET, Montpellier, France) and cross-reactivity towards Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) was also carried out using the JEV-double antigen sandwich (DAS) ELISA. Oropharyngeal swabs were subjected to one-step RT-PCR to detect WNV RNA, in which positive reactions were subsequently sequenced. WNV seropositive rate of 18.71% (29/155) at 95% CI (0.131 to 0.260) and molecular prevalence of 15.2% (16/105) at 95% CI (0.092 to 0.239) were demonstrated in migratory and resident wild birds found in West Coast Malaysia. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16 WNV isolates found in this study revealed that the local strains have 99% similarity to the strains from South Africa and wer

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is vector-borne zoonotic disease which causes encephalitis in humans and horses. Clinical signs for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection are not clearly evident in the majority of affected animals. In Malaysia, information on the prevalence of JEV infection has not been established. Thus, a cross-sectional study was conducted during two periods, December 2015 to January 2016 and March to August in 2016, to determine the prevalence and risk factors in JEV infections among animals and birds in Peninsular Malaysia. Serum samples were harvested from the 416 samples which were collected from the dogs, cats, water birds, village chicken, jungle fowls, long-tailed macaques, domestic pigs, and cattle in the states of Selangor, Perak, Perlis, Kelantan, and Pahang. The serum samples were screened for JEV antibodies by commercial IgG ELISA kits. A questionnaire was also distributed to obtain information on the animals, birds, and the environmental factors of sampling areas. The results showed that dogs had the highest seropositive rate of 80% (95% CI: ± 11.69) followed by pigs at 44.4% (95% CI: ± 1.715), cattle at 32.2% (95% CI: ± 1.058), birds at 28.9% (95% CI: ± 5.757), cats at 15.6% (95% CI: ± 7.38), and monkeys at 14.3% (95% CI: ± 1.882). The study also showed that JEV seropositivity was high in young animals and in areas where mosquito vectors and migrating birds were prevalent.