Norhayati Ahmad

National University of Malaysia | ukm · Dept. Biological Sciences & Biotechnology

Roads exert negative impacts on worldwide animal populations through animal-vehicle collisions. On Pulau Langkawi, which is a UNESCO Global Geopark, incidence of road-kills may offend tourists and even pose risks to tourist drivers, especially when Langkawi is highly regarded as nature tourist hotspot. Since there has never been any previous work d...

We use data sets from the Cyrtodactylus brevipalmatus group with limited genetic and morphological sampling to demonstrate that not accounting for sampling error may adversely influence decisions regarding species delimitation and diagnosis. Lack of geographic sampling between the endpoints of a species’ range may recover notable interpopulational...

Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) pose threats to wildlife as road and traffic density increases across the landscapes. Although the biophysical factors of road-kills have been extensively studied, studies on the psychosocial factors that focus on the drivers remain understudied. A survey questionnaire was conducted to examine the drivers' percepti...

The aims of this study were to determine the diversity of anurans and the distribution of their helminth parasites at Fraser’s Hill and Sungai Jeriau, Pahang. Anurans were captured at night, and their organs (i.e., lungs, liver, heart and digestive tract) were collected for parasite isolation. Parasite identification was performed using iodine stai...

We identified hypotheses for the cause and consequences of the loss of complexity in animal signals and tested these using a genus of visually communicating lizards, the South-east Asian Draco lizards. Males of some species have lost the headbob component from their display, which is otherwise central to the communication of this genus. These males...

The Lenggong Valley is uniquely significant in national and international geological heritage and was declared a UNESCO Archaeological Heritage Site in 2012. The Lenggong Valley was formed 550 million years ago. It is one of the oldest in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to the rock formations in Langkawi and Jerai. The geological evolution in the L...

Populasi anura (katak) di sesuatu ekosistem boleh menjadi penunjuk biologi bagi tahap kebersihan. Populasi yang rendah atau kadar kematian anura yang tinggi di sesuatu persekitaran menunjukkan ekosistem kawasan tersebut adalah tidak stabil, contohnya akibat pencemaran air atau kadar jangkitan parasit yang tinggi. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk me...

We review the status, patterns, and progress of Malaysia's amphibian research in the 21 st century (2000-2021) with the main goal of identifying areas for improvement that can help focus and prioritise future research initiatives. Between the period of January 2000-September 2021, we found 280 publications that can be broadly grouped into five cate...

A geopark should develop continuous efforts towards the management and development of geoproducts based on integrated heritage resources in order to preserve them for future generations, provide geotourism activities and serve as a socio-economic catalyst for the local community. This paper describes the development of a geoproduct for tourism deve...

Around the world, efforts to facilitate, promote and strengthen heritage conservation initiatives in an island-based tourism development have been widely carried out. Still, more works need to be conducted to truly achieve its goals. One of the main issues facing heritage conservation is the lack of holistic and integration to ensure participation...

Convergence in communication appears rare compared with other forms of adaptation. This is puzzling, given communication is acutely dependent on the environment and expected to converge in form when animals communicate in similar habitats. We uncover deep‐time convergence in territorial communication between two groups of tropical lizards separated...

An assessment study was conducted for reptile assemblages at Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric Project (HTHEP) and Sg. Deka. The HTHEP represented the disturbed secondary forest, a recently logged forest for the hydro-dam project, whereas Sg. Deka represented the undisturbed regenerating forest logged about 30 years ago, which is also a wildlife reserv...

The district of Mersing is bestowed with many national and international geological heritage sites dated since 350 million years ago. The high biodiversity and uniqueness of the local culture complements the geoheritage of the area. Thus, the National Geopark Committee has chosen Mersing as a territory to be developed as a geopark. Mersing Geopark...

We review the status, patterns, and progress of Peninsular Malaysia’s amphibian research in the 21st century with the main goal of identifying areas for improvement that can help focus and prioritize future research initiatives. Between 2000–2020 we found 130 publications that can be broadly categorized into four groups: 1) checklists and biodivers...

Idanre area which is situated within the Nigerian shield is affected by orogenic activities accompanied by emplacement of Pan-African granitoids. This paper presents a new information on geochemical behaviour of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and High Field Strength Elements (HFSEs) Zr-Hf and Y-Ho that can explain post magmatic processes relating to th...

We examined the spatiotemporal variation of herpetofauna roadkills on roadways in Langkawi Island. A total of 131 roadkills were recorded. The species that exhibited greater mortality was Varanus nebulosus (n=72). There was a significant difference in herpetofauna mortality between dry and wet seasons (t(11) =-2.330, p=0.04, <0.05). The spatial pat...

Human population growth and rapid development in Malaysia have created a rising demand for power. In order to meet this demand, hydropower has been identified as an alternative energy source due to the suitability of the climate and topography. The development of a hydroelectric dam, however, could impact natural habitats and their components, incl...

Amphibian communities were assessed in streams of primary and secondary forests in Taman Rimba Kenong, Pahang, between 16 and 22nd August 2004. The objective of this study was to record the species richness and diversity of amphibians. The aim of this study was to build a database to assist in the management of the park, especially for the Forestry...

A survey on birds of the Imbak Canyon Study Centre was conducted from 16th to 26th August 2017, in every direction along the roads, forest trails through the understorey, i.e. whenever fine weather permitted. A total of 92 species of birds from 33 families were recorded. A total of 27 species are Near Threatened, one species is Vulnerable (Blue-hea...

Amphibians and reptiles of Imbak Canyon Study Centre and Batu Timbang Camp have never been studied and this expedition was organised to produce an inventory of the species. The herpetofaunal animals were searched actively using the visual encounter survey method. A total of 84 specimens of amphibians and reptiles were obtained, comprising 75 amphib...

An updated checklist of the herpetofauna on Pulau Pangkor from surveys conducted between 16-21 July 2017 includes 66 species of herpetofauna, comprising 16 species of amphibians and 50 species of reptiles. Eight species are new records for Pulau Pangkor, namely Microhyla fissipes, Hylarana erythraea, and Polypedates discantus, Calotes emma, Gekko G...

An updated checklist of the herpetofauna on Pulau Pangkor from surveys conducted between 16-21 July 2017 includes 66 species of herpetofauna, comprising 16 species of amphibians and 50 species of reptiles. Eight species are new records for Pulau Pangkor, namely Microhyla fissipes, Hylarana erythraea, and Polypedates discantus, Calotes emma, Gekko G...

A study on amphibian community at Gunung Raya, Pulau Langkawi was conducted in order to identify amphibian species richness and species distribution pattern along an elevation gradient. Species richness and distribution pattern of amphibians along an elevational gradient could explain factors that determine ecological processes in a particular high...

An integrative taxonomic analysis reveals a remarkable degree of cryptic speciation between sympatric, specialized, leaf-litter species in an upland clade of the scincid genus Tytthoscincus across the sky-island archipelago of Peninsular Malaysia. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood phylogenies based on the mitochondrial gene ND2 indicate tha...

A species checklist of the herpetofauna in Tembat Forest Reserve (TFR), Hulu Terengganu is presented. This checklist includes 25 amphibians and 30 reptile species. An additional two amphibians and 11 reptile species were observed for which there are no voucher specimens. This provides a total list of 67 amphibian and 107 reptile species in Terengga...

Communicating geopark among the undergraduate students poses a challenge to simplify a progressive knowledge. This article elaborates on the processes involved in communicating geopark effectively among the undergraduate students. This case study is based on an intensive three-week summer course programme called, `Sustainability of Tropical Heritag...

There are many factors that affect signal design, including the need for rapid signal detection and the ability to identify the signal as conspecific. Understanding these different sources of selection on signal design is essential to explain the evolution of both signal complexity and signal diversity. We assessed the relative importance of detect...

Phylogenetic relationships within the genus Leptolalax have been insuiciently resolved, while the relationships of a related genus Leptobrachella with other genera are totally unknown. In order to improve these situations, we assessed the phylogenetic relationships among 19 species of Leptolalax and four species of Leptobrachella based on 2067-2527...

Microhabitats play an important role as resources that are partitioned between phylogenetically related or ecologically similar species (i.e., a guild). This hypothesis was tested by first elucidating phylogenetically closed Sarawak frog species via DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial DNA gene, and later determining their microhabitat guil...

A study was done to compare amphibian species composition and richness between a disturbed forest due to logging/dam construction and a 30-year old logged forest at Hulu Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. This study was conducted from August to October 2014, using drift fenced-pitfall traps. The upstream (UP) and downstream riverine area (DP) of a da...

An inventory of herpetofauna was conducted on Gunung Raya, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia from February 2014 to January 2015 to evaluate species diversity in order to: 1) determine the diversity of herpetofauna, 2) determine conservation status of rare or new species, and 3) provide preliminary data that may be used for future conservat...

Anurans on Langkawi Island, Peninsular Malaysia exhibit variation in their habits and forms, ranging from small (SVL < 25 mm) to large (SVL > 150 mm), and occupy a range of habitats, such as riverine forests, agricultural fields, peat swamps, and lowland and upland dipterocarp forests. These variations provide a platform to explore species diversit...

Recently discovered populations of skinks of the genus Sphenomorphus from central Peninsular Malaysia represent a new species, S. sungaicolus sp. nov., and the first riparian skink known from Peninsular Malaysia. Morphological analyses of an earlier specimen reported as S. tersus from the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), Selangor indic...

Bird species assessment has been carried out in the Bangi Forest Reserve from 1980s to 1990s. This forest has undergone a series of fragmentation and shrinkage from 1970 until today. This study is aimed to determine the species richness and turnover rate of bird population in this fragmented forest for the last 30 years. Mist netting method was use...

Sexual ornamentation needs to be conspicuous to be effective in attracting potential mates and defending territories and indeed, a multitude of ways exist to achieve this. Two principal mechanisms for increasing conspicuousness are to increase the ornament's colour or brightness contrast against the background and to increase the size of the orname...

There are many factors that affect signal design, including the need for rapid signal detection and the ability to identify the signal as conspecific. Understanding these different sources of selection on signal design is essential to explain the evolution of both signal complexity and signal diversity. We assessed the relative importance of detect...

A new, diminutive species of Rock Gecko Cnemaspis mahsuriae sp. nov. of the affinis group, is described from Gunung Raya on Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia and is differentiated from all other species in the affinis group by having a unique combination of characters including a maximum SVL of 36.6 mm; keeled subtibials and ventrals; 21-2...

On the Ground • Information on seasonal trends in quantity and quality of available forage for the goitered gazelle may be useful to wildlife managers in developing management practices to maintain healthy populations and reduce the consumption of toxic plants by protected wildlife. • Goitered gazelles in Golestan National Park in Iran relied on a...

This article presents an overview of the identity and biology of the venomous terrestrial snakes of Malaysia, from Peninsular Malaysia and the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak. Two families account for a majority of venomous snakes that are of medical significance – the Elapidae (cobras, kraits, and coral snakes) and Viperidae (vipers and pit vi...

Recent global amphibian declines have emphasized the need for long-term, large scale monitoring programmes. Many factors have to be considered, including robust spatial sampling, duration and detectability when designing for such monitoring programmes. In this study, both active and passive sampling methods were used to increase detectability of an...

Taxonomic status of fanged frogs from the Peninsular Malaysia, previously assigned to Limnonectes kuhlii, is assessed using genetic and morphological approaches. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from sequences of the mitochondrial and nuclear genes revealed that the fanged frogs from the Peninsula form a monophyletic group and are clearly diverg...

A well-supported and well-resolved phylogeny based on a concatenated data set from one mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, six morphological characters, and nine color pattern characters for 44 of the 50 species of the Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) is consistent with the previous taxonomy of Cnemaspis based solely on...

We describe a new species of ranid frog from the Hylarana signata complex in Peninsular Malaysia based on morphological and genetic differentiation. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) adult males reaching 37.4–37.6 mm snout–vent length; (2) nuptial pads absent in males; (3) humera...

Effective management and conservation of wildlife populations and their habitats depend on understanding and predicting species-habitat interaction. The distribution of Persian gazelles, which is related to habitat structure and dispersal of food resources, has been studied by clearance transect pellet group counts during different seasons. This st...

The large scale expansion of oil palm plantations nowadays bring huge negative impact on habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, especially at Pasoh, Negeri Sembilan, Peninsular Malaysia. The monoculture system that was developed since the 1970s has suppressed biodiversity levels because of the lack of suitable microhabitats. In order to asse...

A revised and updated checklist of the herpetofauna of the Krau Wildlife Reserve (KWR), Pahang is presented, which includes 61 species of amphibians and 65 species of reptiles. Five species of amphibians are listed under revised names i.e. Hylarana labialis, H. picturata, Ansonia latiffi, Microhyla mantheyi and Rhacophorus norhayatae; and two speci...

TexT & images by Wan Juliana W.a., muhamad Razali salam, ehWan ngadi, Faizi zulkiFli, azmil Razak, Mohd-aRRabe'a.b., abdul Ghani hussain, noRhayati ahMad and a. latiff Langkawi Geopark was endorsed as a member of the Global Geopark Network under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in June 2007, and is Malay...

Agriculturally altered vegetation, especially oil‐palm plantations, is rapidly increasing in Southeast Asia. Low species diversity is associated with this commodity, but data on anuran diversity in oil‐palm plantations are lacking. We investigated how anuran biological diversity differs between forest and oil‐palm plantation, and whether observed d...

A review of the taxonomic status of the Asian Slug Snake, Asthenodipsas vertebralis (Boulenger, 1900) based on an integrative taxonomic approach using molecular, morphological, color pattern, and ecological data indicate it is composed of three well supported monophyletic lineages: (1) Pulau Tioman and Fraser's Hill, Pahang and Bukit Larut, Perak;...

A review of the taxonomic status of the Bent-toed Gecko Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus Taylor, 1962 based on a molecular phylogeny, scalation, and color pattern analyses indicate that it is composed of a single, recently expanding, widespread population with weakly supported phylogeographic substructuring with no discrete morphological differentiatio...

An integrative taxonomic analysis using color pattern, morphology and 1497 base pairs of the ND2 mitochondrial gene and its five flanking tRNAs demonstrated that nine monophyletic species-level lineages occur within the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus complex (C. pulchellus sensu stricto and C. macrotuberculatus) of the Thai-Malay Peninsula that have a se...

A review of the taxonomic status of the Bent-toed Gecko Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus Taylor, 1962 based on a molecular phylogeny, scalation, and color pattern analyses indicate that it is composed of a single, recently expanding, widespread population with weakly supported phylogeographic substructuring with no discrete morphological differentiatio...

Kuraishi, N., Matsui, M., Hamidy, A., Belabut, D. M., Ahmad, N., Panha, S., Sudin, A., Yong, H. S., Jiang, J.-P., Ota, H., Thong, H. T. & Nishikawa, K. (2012). Phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships of the Polypedates leucomystax complex (Amphibia). —Zoologica Scripta, 42, 54–70. We investigated the phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships and es...

We investigated the phylogenetic relationships and estimated the history of species diversification and character evolution in two ichthyophiid genera: Caudacaecilia and Ichthyophis. We estimated the phylogenetic relationships of 67 samples from 33 localities in Southeast Asia from 3840-bp sequences of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cyt...

An analysis of Lee Grismer's opus 'Lizards of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and their adjacent archipelagos' is made. Localities were not given by the author for some photographs, and were added in our book review, based on personal communications by Grismer (for the species Cyrtodactylus consobrinus, Gekko smithii, Eutropis multifasciata and Vara...

A number of collections on fish fauna were conducted in Langkawi island with earliest by Tweedie (1936) and most recent by Izzati and Samat (2010). Forty-one fish species are known from the streams of the island out of which 24 species are considered primary freshwater fishes including three introduced species (Oreochromis mossambicus, Carassius au...

Langkawi Geopark was bestowed the status of a global geopark by the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) and endorsed by the UNESCO as the 52nd member of the GGN in 2007, making it the first in Malaysia and South East Asia to be given the status. The status is due to its many unique and significant geological, biological, and cultural features in Langkawi...