Diversity and Density of Avifauna in Areas with Different Protection Status: A Case Study in Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands, North-eastern Nigeria

Abubakar S. Ringim, F. J. Magige, J. M. John

Abstract


Diversity and density are critical variables in determining the functioning of an ecosystem. Wetlands are among the ecosystems that are rich in biodiversity. However, in many Ramsar wetlands, such information is lacking. Bird species were assessed  in Protected Areas (PAs) and Unprotected Areas (UPAs) of the Hadejia-Nguru Ramsar site between October and December, 2015 using point count method. Ninety nine point count stations spaced 400 m apart with radius of 100 m were surveyed. A total of 42,255 individuals of birds belonging to 148 species, 50 families and 23 avian order were observed.  Two globally threatened species, the European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur and Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus were observed. The former was categorized as Vulnerable while the latter as Near Threatened based on IUCN Red List categories version 3. There was higher species diversity in the UPAs than in the PAs (t = -15.34, df = 40073, p <0.001). The two areas were similar in their species composition by 81% indicating that these areas share a number of species. A relatively higher bird density was recorded in the PAs (7 individuals ha-1) than in the UPAs (5 individuals ha-1).. Both habitats are rich in avifauna and therefore deserve equal conservation attention, , especially the Unprotected wetlands and the globally threatened species.

Keywords


Bird Diversity; Density; Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands; Protected and Unprotected Areas

References


Akinsola, O.A.; Ezealor A.U. and Polet, G. 2000. Conservation of waterbirds in the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands, Nigeria: current efforts and problems. Ostrich 71: 118-121.

Barbier, E.B.; Acreman, M. and Knowler, D. 1997. Economic Valu-ation of Wetlands: A Guide for Policy Makers and Planners. Ramsar Convention Bureau, Gland, Switzerland. 138 pages.

Bibby, C. J. 2000. Bird Census Techniques. Elsevier, New York. 278 pages.

BirdLife International. 2013. State of Africa’s Birds: Indicators for Our Changing World, Cambridge, UK, BirdLife International. http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/sowb/pubs/SOWB2013.pdf (Last assessed 02/02/2017).

BirdLife International. 2015. Important bird areas factsheet: Hadejia-Nguru wetlands. Cambridge, United Kingdom. http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hadejia-nguru-wetlands-iba-nigeria/map (Last assessed 14/07/2016).

BirdLife International. 2016a. IUCN redlist for birds. http://www.birdlife.org (accessed 19/02/2016). http://www.birdlife.org (Last accessed 19/02/2017).

BirdLife International. 2016b. Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Hadejia-Nguru wetlands. http://www.birdlife.org (Last accessed 13/06/2016).

Borrow, N. and Demey, R. 2014. Field Guide to the Birds of Western Africa. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 592 pages.

Convention on Biological Diversity. 1992. Programme of work on protected areas. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal. https://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cbd-en.pdf (Last accessed 15/12/2016). 34 pages.

Chao, A.; Chazdon, R.L.; Colwell, R.K. and Shen, T.J. 2005. A new statistical approach for assessing similarity of species composition with incidence and abundance data. Ecology Letters 8: 148-159.

Craig, A. 2016. Northern red bishop Euplectes franciscanus In: del Hoyo J, Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D. A. and de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. (retrived https://www.hbw.com/node/55835 on 7 November 2017).

Cramp, S. and Simmons, K. E. L. 1977. handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. I: Ostriches to Ducks. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. 722 pages.

Evans, K. L.; Rodrigues, A. S.; Chown, S. L. and Gaston, K. J. 2006. Protected areas and regional avian species richness in South Africa. Biological Letters 2: 184-188.

Ezealor, A. U. and Giles Jr, R. H. 1997. Wintering ruffs Philomachus pugnax are not pest of Rice Oryza spp. in Nigeria's Sahelian wetlands. Wildfowl 48: 202-209.

Devictor, V.; Godet, L.; Julliard, R.; Couvet, D. and Jiguet, F. 2007. Can common species benefit from protected areas? Biological Conservation 139: 29-36.

Dowsett, R. J.; Atkinson, P. W. and Caddick, J. A. 2016. Checklist of the birds of Nigeria. Downloaded from www.africanbirdclub.org (Last accessed 04/02//2016). 21 pages

Franco, P.; Saavedra-Rodriguez, C. A. and Kattan, G. H. 2007. Bird species diversity captured by protected areas in the Andes of Colombia: a gap analysis. Oryx 41: 57-63.

Fry, H. and Boesman, P. 2016. Little bee-eater Merops pusillus In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie D.A. and de Juana, E. (Editors). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. (retrieved https://www.hbw.com/node/55835 on 7 November 2017).

Gunnarsson, T.G.; Gill, J.A.; Newton, J.; Potts, P.M. and Sutherland, W.J. 2005. Seasonal matching of habitat quality and fitness in a migratory bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 272: 2319-2323.

Hammer, Ø.; Harper, D.A.T. and Ryan, P. D. 2001. Paleontological statistics software: package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4:1-9.

Lameed, G.A. 2011. Species diversity and abundance of wild birds in Dagona-waterfowl sanctuary Borno State, Nigeria. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 5: 855-866.

Madge, S. and Burn, H. 1988. Wildfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World. Christopher & Helm Publisheers (A&C Black), London. 298 pages.

Mutagwaba, S.J. 2010. diversity and Distribution of Avifauna Resource: A Case of Lake Burigi wetland, North Western Tanzania. Masters Dissertation, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. 95 pages.

Oduntan, O. O.; Akinyemi, A. F.; Adetoro, A. O. and Osunsina, I. O. O. 2010. Seasonal availability of farmland and its contribution in wildbirds-landuse conflicts in Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, Nigeria. African Journal of General Agriculture 6: 131-137.

Ogunkoya, O. O. and Dami, A. 2007. Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS) 2006-2008 Version: Dagona Sanctuary Lake, Hadejia- Nguru Wetlands. Annual Report Submitted to Ramsar. Gland, Switzerland. 12 pages.

Rayner, L.; Lindenmayer, D. B.; Wood, J. T.; Gibbons, P. and Manning, A. D. (2014). Are protected areas maintaining bird diversity? Ecography 37: 43-53.

Skinner, S. P. and Clark, R. G. 2008. Relationships between duck and grassland bird relative abundance and species richness in southern Saskatchewan. Avian Conservation and Ecology 3: 1-16.

Sulaiman, I.M.; Cresswell, W. and Dami, F.D. 2014. Bird diversity and abundance in relation to Typha occurrence at the Hadejia- Nguru wetlands, Nigeria. Biotropic Research International Journal 6: 1-5.

Sulaiman, I.M.; Abubakar, M. M.; Ringim, A. S.; Apeverga, P. T. and Dikwa, M. A. 2015. Effects of wetlands type and size on bird diversity and abundance at the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, Nigeria. International Journal of Research Studies in Zoology 1: 15-21.

Sutherland, W.J. 1996. Ecological Census Technique: A Handbook. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. 172 pages.

Somershoe, S.G.; Twedt, D.J. and Reid, B. 2006. Combining breeding bird survey and distance sampling to estimate density of migrant and breeding birds. Condor 108: 691-699.

Weller, M.W. 1999. Wetland Birds: Habitat Resources and Conservation Implications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. 271 pages.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

COPYRIGHT of this Journal vests fully with the National Instional Institute of Ecology. Any commercial use of the content on this site in any form is legally prohibited.