Thesis (BS Biology) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2004

A survey of birds in Mt. Talomo watershed, Davao City was conducted in April and July 2003. Using mist nets placed at different vertical strata namely, understory (0-5 m), midstory (5-10 m) and subcopy (10-15 m), various habitats were sampled (disturbed montane forest, undisturbed montane forest and reforestation site). The effect of habitat disturbance on species richness and endemicity were tested using one-way analysis of variance. A total of 35 species under 18 families were captured from the three sites: 21 are endemic to the Philippines of which nine are Mindanao endemics and six of these are globally threatened. The disturbed habitat and relatively high species richness, which may be attributed to the area being an ecotone and might be experiencing an extirpation lag plus an increase in fruiting and flowering trees. Based on Jaccard?s coefficient there are more uncommon bird species for all sites. This supports the hypothesis that species composition of each site is different and that there is a loss of interior species and an abundance of edge species. Habitat disturbance did not have a significant effect on bird species richness and endemicity, as well as the vertical stratification on avian diversity. This is because species richness might not be adequate in correlating disturbance with diversity; comparison of species composition of the sites is also needed. It is suspected that these results are more of an effect of insufficient effort to survey other birds, especially the rare and secretive ones