Suitability habitat of waterbird based on spatial analysis in Percut Sei Tuan, North Sumatera-Indonesia
U Meirani, A Zaitunah, Samsuri

Universitas Sumatera Utara

Abstract

Water bird species is defined as a group of birds that are highly dependent on the aquatic environment. As one component of the ecosystem, waterbird requires a place or space to find food, drink and breed called habitat. The purpose of this study was to create a habitat suitability map and find out habitat conditions for water birds in Percut Sei Tuan District. This research was conducted in April 2018 until July 2018. Activities to identify land cover, food availability and potential disturbance of human activities in the form of roads were carried out by using remote sensing technology. ArcGIS and Erdas are used to find out habitat suitability. Observation of waterbird was done using the point count method with support a hand held counter. Research shows that Percut Sei Tuan sub-district consists of 8 types of land. Settlement is a land cover with the largest area is 6,467.58Ha and forest plantation land cover is the smallest area that is 165.86Ha. The study area is dominated by land with very low food availability with an area of 1.3495.91 hectares, while the potential for disturbances with the largest area reaching 17,567.29 hectares. The overlay results show that Percut Sei Tuan District is mostly having the unsuitability about 1,4975.00Ha. The unavailability of space for water birds to find food, drink, nest and breed can cause decreasing waterbirds..

Keywords: food availability, land cover, potential disturbance, habitat suitability, waterbird

Topic: Topik E: Biodiversity and ecotourism