Shah Alam Community Forest Under Threat

Posted 29 September 2021

Butterfly Photographic Survey of the Proposed Shah Alam Community Forest,

23 November – 16 December 2020 & 7 April – 9 May 2021

Rosli Omar

rosliomar@fastmail.fm

This article is dedicated in memory of the late Mr Balu Perumal, Head of Conservation, Malaysian Nature Society who succumbed to Covid-19.

The proposed Shah Alam Community Forest (SACF, proposed by SACF Society and others) is a forest sandwiched between Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam (TBNSA) in the south and Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve (BCFR) in the north, as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1. Map showing the location of SACF and various proposed infrastructure projects in the three forest sections – Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve in the north, SACF in the middle, and Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam in the south –  by Shah Alam City Council (MBSA). (Map by Dr Lim Teckwyn of SACF Society)

The SACF forest is a mix of mainly mature forest with big tall trees and a smaller area of secondary growth. As the name conveys it is a forest used by the surrounding community and beyond for recreation especially hiking, mountain biking or for enjoying nature in general.  It is also a corridor for wildlife between BCFR and TBNSA.

Figure 2 shows SACF and its hiking trails and Figure 3 shows SACF in relation to other forests of Selangor.

Figure 2. SACF, sandwiched between Setia Alam on the left, Bandar NusaRhu on the right, Alam Budiman to the north, and Duta 2 Setia Ecopark and TBNSA to the south (not shown in the map), and its walking trails. (Map by SACF Society)

The Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA, City Council of Shah Alam) in its Draft Local Plan 2035 (MBSA2035) proposed a road to be built across SACF connecting Setia Alam on the left to Bandar NusaRhu on the right. Also, the MRT extension is proposed to cut across the forest just south of SACF. See Figure 1 above. The proposed road and MRT would cut the SACF forest, impacting it, and separating BCFR and TBNSA.

Figure 3. BCFR-SACF-TBNSA forest complex in relation to other forests of Selangor. It is the last forest reserve complex in Shah Alam. (Map by SACF Society)

Thus, wildlife cannot move between the three forest sections leading to inbreeding and likely demise of the populations. It will also jeopardise the ecological viability of the forests. Furthermore, there is already road B49, the Pesiaran Mokhtar Dahari, just north of SACF that already cuts across the forest and thus prevent wildlife movement. The proposed road and MRT extension would worsen the situation. For the three forest sections to support a viable wildlife population there needs to be a wildlife corridor connection for the three sections, as underpass or overpass across any infrastructure. According to an internal SACF Society document, the total area of the three forest segments is 2880 Hectares (Ha) with BCFR, 1620 Ha, TBNSA, 640 Ha, and SACF, 160 Ha (there are small forest areas parcelled out for housing making up the total area). As can be seen here, each segment is not big enough on its own to support a healthy wildlife population and for providing ecological services. Thus, the need to prevent infrastructures in these forests.

But MBSA also proposed the DUKE 2A Highway to cut across the north section of BCFR and LRT 2 Circle line to cut across the north of TBNSA as shown in Figure 1.

Butterflies, and other insects in general, are important to the ecosystem for the services they provide as pollinators and decomposers, for example, of fallen fruits and carrion which would otherwise make for a smelly and diseased world. Given that insects in general are losing body mass at 2.5% per year from habitat destruction (especially from modern agriculture) and synthetic pesticides it is of utmost importance to protect them including butterflies as noted by Sanchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys (2019). They warn: “The conclusion is clear: unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades… The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least, as insects are at the structural and functional base of many of the world’s ecosystems…”

To see the possible impacts of all these infrastructure projects on the wildlife of SACF, biodiversity surveys were done on behalf of SACF Society. It would have been better to do too for BCFR and TBNSA, but funding and time were limited and TBNSA too was closed to the public because of the COVID-19 Movement Control Order (MCO). We did try to go in but the guards there asked us out. And there seemed to be timber logging going on. We were told they were fallen trees from a storm, but they looked to be a lot of very good logs.

Our team did butterfly and bird surveys. But we took photos of dragonflies and damselflies too to be identified by an expert. Also, we reported the animals we heard and saw to SACF Society.

The results of the other biodiversity surveys (which may include BCFR and TBNSA and may include data before MCO) are: birds 133 species, amphibians 21 species, mammals 25 species (including Malayan Tapir, Sunda Pangolin, and Sambar Deer), and reptiles 31 species. These indicate that the forest complex is a good healthy forest.

From the first set of surveys (23 November – 16 December 2020), 58 species were identified and a further 20 from the second set of surveys (7 April – 9 May 2021). That is, in all, 78 species are identified to the species level. Unidentified to the species level (for lack of views, for example, dorsal or ventral, unclear photos, and some that can only be identified by dissection of the genitalia) are 16 species. Thus, the total number of species from all the six families found in SACF is 94. See Table 1 below for the full results.

The best trails with the most species are forest trails. It is a fact that forests have more species than other habitats as noted by Corbet and Pendlebury (2020) and Kirton (2020) even though, possibly, with fewer individuals than other species-poor habitats but with more individuals. It was in a forest trail that the White Palm Bob, Suastus everyx everyx, was spotted, a very rare species according to Corbet and Pendlebury.

The list is a good one given that the surveys were done only in the mornings since it rained on most afternoons. One trip was done in late evening to gauge those butterflies that were active in late afternoon to dusk (6 – 7.30pm). But given the short duration and it was after rain when butterflies were less active, it did not produce many species. If more trips were done in the afternoon to dusk more species could be had.

The list produces many forest species: 78 are forest and other habitat species with 45 found only in forests such as the White Imperial, Neomyrina nivea periculosa, Purple-streaked Catseye, Coelites euptychioides humilis, Plush. Sithon nedymond nedymond, and Banded Yeoman, Cirrochroa orissa orissa.

.23 species are uncommon or even rare and 6 are locally common. (Note that the terms used here – uncommon, rare etc – are from Corbet and Pendlebury (2020) and Kirton (2020) and are not defined by them. The relative “commonness” is:  Common, Fairly Common, Locally Common, Uncommon, and Rare. Locally Common means it is common in certain localities but not in its general habitat where the species can occur.) This shows that SACF is a healthy forest. But if it is allowed to regenerate to a primary forest no doubt with its layered profile the list will be even better. In eight years of photographing butterflies, in SACF I encountered 16 species new to me, again indicating the quality of the forest and its butterfly diversity.

The results of the other biodiversity surveys too indicate the health of the SACF-BCFR-TBNSA forest complex: birds 133 species, amphibians 21 species, mammals 25 species, and reptiles 31 species.

If however the proposed road and MRT extension cutting across SACF were implemented then much of the forest would be destroyed including its biodiversity. The proposed road and MRT would fragment Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve (BCFR), SACF, and Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam (TBNSA) into three separate forests, preventing wildlife movement among the three segments, resulting in inbreeding and thus, likely demise. Wildlife crossings must be provided across B49 that already cuts across the forest. And if the DUKE 2A Highway in BCFR and LRT 2 Circle Line in TBNSA were also implemented they would impact these forests and indirectly SACF too. These infrastructure projects must not be implemented if wildlife populations are to be conserved and forest ecological services are to be had.

Additional photos of the more uncommon Forest-only Habitat Butterflies of the Proposed Shah Alam Community Forest:

                                                            ***************************

Full Results. For SACF, the results for both surveys are as tabulated in Table 1 below arranged following Corbet and Pendlebury (2020).  Names, common and scientific, also follow the same. If common names are not available, Kirton (2020), Ek-Amnuay (2012), Khew (2015) or websites are used such as the ButterflyCircle of Singapore.

Table 1: List of butterflies surveyed for the proposed Shah Alam Community Forest on 10 trips between 23 November to 16 December 2020 and 14 trips between 7 April to 9 May 2021. Rarity and Habitat of the species (including elevation), are for the general Peninsular Malaysian case following Corbet and Pendlebury (2020) and/or Kirton (2020). Number of sightings is for each species. Some are not stated since the sightings, via photographs, were from others, not this author.

	English Name	Scientific Name	Rarity	Habitat	No. of Sightings
	Family: Papilionidae
1	Lime Butterfly	Papilio demoleus malayanus	Common	Gardens, parks with citrus	1
2	Banded Swallowtail	Papilio demolion demolion	Fairly Common	Forests, forest edge, to the highlands	1
3	Common Mormon	Papilio polytes romulus	Common	Gardens	1
4	Fivebar Swordtail	Graphium antipates itamputi	Fairly Common	Forests, forest edge, lowland.	1
	Family: Pieridae
5	Striped Albatross	Appias olferna olferna	Common	Gardens, forest edge	2
6	Psyche	Leptosia nina malayana	Common	Forest edge, open country	>10
7	Common Grass Yellow	Eurema hecabe	Common	All habitats all elevations
8	Chocolate Grass Yellow	Eurema sari sodalis	Common	Forest, to moderate elevations	1
9	Tree Yellow	Gandaca harina distanti	Common	Forests, to mid-elevations	1
	Family: Nymphalidae
10	Plain Tiger	Danaus chrysippus chrysippus	Locally common	Forest edge	1
11	White Tiger	Danaus melanippus hegesippus	Common	Disturbed forest, Forest edge	3
12	Dark Glassy Tiger	Parantica agleoides agleoides	Common	Forests	1
13	Blue Glassy Tiger	Ideopsis vulgaris macrina	Common	Forest, Forest edge	4
14	Striped Blue Crow	Euploea mulciber mulciber	Common	Forests, forest edge, at all elevations	2
15	Common Palmfly	Elymnias hypermnestra agina	Common	Forest edge, gardens	1
16	Pointed Palmfly	Elymnias penanga penanga	Fairly common	Forests	2
17	Purple Bush-Brown	Mycalesis orseis nautilius	Uncommon	Forests (primary)	1
18	Malayan Bush-brown	Mycalesis fusca fusca	Uncommon and local	Forests, to submontane	1
19	Common Bush-Brown	Telinga janardana sagittigera	Common	Forest edge	1
20	Dark Grass-Brown	Orsotriaena medus cinerea	Common	Grassy areas	2
21	Blue Catseye	Coelites epiminthia epiminthia	Uncommon	Forests, lowland	1
22	Purple-streaked Catseye	Coelites euptychioides humilis	Uncommon	Forest	3
23	Striped Ringlet	Ragadia makuta siponta	Fairly common	Forests, lowland	2
24	Common Five-Ring	Ypthima baldus newboldi	Common	Wayside vegetation, lowland	6
25	Common Faun	Faunis canens arcesilas	Common	Forests, to submontane	1
26	Dark Jungle Glory	Thaumantis noureddin noureddin	Fairly common	Forests	5
27	Tawny Coster	Acraea terpsicore	Fairly common	Open spaces (recent migrant)	1
28	Malay Lacewing	Cethosia hypsea hypsina	Fairly ccommon	Forests, forest edge, all elevations	1
29	Julia Heliconian	Dryas iulia	Locally common	Forest edge (recent migrant)	2
30	Banded Yeoman	Cirrochroa orissa orissa	Fairly common	Forests	1
31	Royal Assyrian	Terinos terpander robertsia	Fairly Common	Forests, Forest edge, all elevations	1
32	Chocolate Pansy	Junonia hedonia ida	Common	Forest edge, open country, lowland	2
33	Grey Pansy	Junonia atlites atlites	Common	Open country	2
34	Peacock Pansy	Junonia almana javana	Common	Open country	2
35	Blue Pansy	Junonia orithya wallacei	Common	Open country	1
36	Great Eggfly	Hypolimnas bolina	Common	Open country, villages	1
37	Common Sailor	Neptis hylas papaja	Common	Forest edge	6
38	Burmese Sailor	Neptis leucoporus cresina	Common	Lowland Forests	2
39	Short Banded Sailor	Phaedyma columella singa	Common	Plains habitat	1
40	Perak Lascar	Pantoporia paraka paraka	Fairly common	Secondary growth	2
41	Knight	Lebadea martha malayana	Fairly common	Forests	1
42	Lance Sergeant	Athyma pravara helma	Common	Forests, forest edge, to 1200m	2
43	Common Sergeant	Athyma perius perius	Erratic in occurence	Open forests	2
44	Malay Staff Sergeant	Athyma reta moorei	Fairly common	Forested plains	1
45	Colour Sergeant	Athyma nefte subrata	Common, on the plains; rare on the hills	Male, forests; Female, often open country	2
46	Colonel	Athyma sinope sinope	Uncommon	Forest edge, secondary growth, lowland	2
47	Malay Count	Tanaecia godartii asoka	Uncommon	Primary forests	1
48	Horsfield’s Baron	Tanaecia iapis puseda	Common	Forests, to mid-elevations	2
49	Malay Baron	Euthalia monina monina	Fairly common	Forests	3
50	Red-spot Duke	Dophla evelina compta	Fairly common	Forests	1
51	Elegant Emperor	Eulacera osteria kumana	Rare but males locally common	Forests	2
52	Blue Begum	Prothoe franck uniformis	Uncommon	Forests, low to mid-elevations	1
	Family: Riodinidae
53	Malay Punchinello	Zemeros emesoides emesoides	Locally common	Forests	4
54	Spotted Plum Judy	Abisara geza niya	Locally common	Forests	2
55	Harlequin	Taxila haquinus haquinus	Locally common	Forests	2
	Family: Lycaenidae
56	Lesser Darkwing	Allotinus unicolor unicolor	Common	Forests	4
57	Broad-branded Darkwing	Allotinus leogoron leogoron	Rare	Forests	1
58	Elbowed Pierrot	Caleta elna elvira	Common	Forests	1
59	Quaker	Neopithecops zalmora zalmora	Fairly common	Forests	1
60	Common Hedge Blue	Acytolepis puspa lambi	Common	Forests	1
61	Ciliate Blue	Anthene emolus goberus	Common	Villages, forests	1
62	Club Silverline	Spindasis syama terana	Fairly common	Forests, forest edge	1
63	Yellow-disc Tailless Oakblue	Arhopala perimuta regina	Unknown	Forest	1
64	Yamfly	Loxura atymnus focunius	Common	Forests, forest edge	2
65	White Imperial	Neomyrina nivea periculosa	Uncommon	Forests, to 1000m	1
66	Common Imperial	Cheritra freja frigga	Common	Forests, park, villages	2
67	Common Posy	Drupadia ravindra moorei	Common	Forests	1
68	Dark Posy	Drupadia theda thesmia	Common, to montane	Forests	1
69	Plush	Sithon nedymond nedymond	Uncommon	Forests	2
	Family: Hesperiidae
70	Plain Banded Awl	Hasora vitta vitta	Fairly common	Forests, forest edge, to highlands	1
71	Common Snow Flat	Tagiades japetus atticus	Common	Forests	1
72	Chestnut Angle	Odontoptilum angulatum angulatum	Uncommon	Forests, forest edge	1
73	Bush Hopper	Ampittia dioscorides camertes	Locally common	Forest clearings	1
74	Grass Demon	Udaspes folus	Fairly common	Villages, forest edge	1
75	Chestnut Bob	Iambrix salsala salsala	Common, lowland	Forest, parks, villages	1
76	Small Red Bob	Idmons obliquans obliquans	Common	Forest, Forest clearings	1
77	White Palm Bob	Suastus everyx everyx	Very rare	Forests	1
78	Lesser Dart	Potanthus omaha omaha	Common	Forest edge	1

The 16 unidentified butterflies are: 1 Eurema sp, 1 Elymnias sp, 1 Euploea sp, 2 Mycalesis  sp, 2 Tanaecia sp, 1 Jamides sp, 1 Arhopala sp, 1 Melanitis sp, 1 Cirrochroa sp, and 5 Hesperiidae sp.

References

Colbert, A.S., and Pendlebury, H.M., 5^th edition edited by G.M. van der Poorten and N.E. van der Poorten (2020). The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

Ek-Amnuay, P., (2012). Butterflies of Thailand. Amarin Printing and Publishing. Bangkok

Kirton, L.G., (2020). A Naturalist Guide to the Butterflies of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford.

Khew, S.K., (2015). A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore. 2^nd edition. Ink on Paper Communications Pte Ltd, Singapore.

MBSA2035 http://rtmbsa2035.mbsa.gov.my/

Sánchez-Bayo, F. and Wyckhuys, K.A.G. (2019). Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: a review of its drivers. Biological Conservation, 232: 8-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.01.020

Websites

https://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/

https://nlliew66butterflies.blogspot.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://yutaka.it-n.jp/

https://www.nss.org.sg

https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org

https://thaibutterflies.com

Acknowledgements. Thank you to team leader Mike H.N. Chong for leading the surveys for birds and butterflies as well as along the way, animals, dragonflies and damselflies. Several butterflies identified were from his photos. Other team members were Tan Beng Hui and Susanna George. Hin Lee and Irene Poh of SACF Society very kindly showed us the trails and along the way took photos of butterflies for me. And thank you very much to SACF Society especially Secretary Alicia Teoh, Treasurer Dr Lim Teckwyn, and Divyaa Venugopal for funding this survey.Thank you very much to Dr Phon Chooi Khim of Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) for her time and expertise in the photo verification and identification of the butterflies. And thank you too to FRIM. Dr Phon too read an early draft of the article with many useful comments and tips. But any shortcomings here are my responsibility.