Resource Partitioning in the Sunbird Species Found in Federal College of Forestry, Jos, Plateau State

Abstract

Competition occurs when individuals or different species are vying for the same resource which is in limited supply. Two complete competitors cannot coexist indefinitely, therefore competitors must differ to some degree in their resource use. The research was carried to investigate how resources are partitioned among the species of sunbirds found in Federal College of Forestry, Jos. Opportunistic sightings along a 200m transect was used for observation. Sunbirds were observed using binoculars between 6:30 – 8am and by 4:30 – 6pm. Six transects were purposively selected in the study area. Sightings along a 200m transect was used to observe; species of sunbird, sex of individual sunbird species, species of flowering plant visited by the sunbird species, activity or behaviour performed by the sunbird (probing, insect hunting, roosting, perching etc.) and duration of activity. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and post hoc test was used to analyse the data obtained. Results showed that forty-three (43) plant species were utilised by the four (4) sunbird species found in the study site with Corymbia torelliana and Hamelia patens having the highest number of visit. These four sunbird species observed were; Scarlet-chested sunbird, Variable sunbird, Green-headed sunbird and the Copper sunbird. Mean number of plants visited shows that Green-headed sunbird visited more plants than the other three species (28.89) which was highly significant (p=0.001). Copper sunbird spent the highest foraging time (67.71) which showed no variation with the other species (p=0.516). Females of the sunbird species visit more plants species and spent more time foraging as compared to the males although there was no variation (p= 0.984 and p= 0.906 respectively). The activities of the males (perching, hovering, probing, feeding) was higher than that of females and had a high level of significance (p=0.001). Callistemon citrinus, Corymbia torelliana, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Hamelia patens, Parkia biglobosa and Ziziphus mucronata were utilised by all the sunbird species. Scarlet-chested sunbirds spent more time probing which aids pollination of plants in the study site and hence ecologically important to the plants found in the study site.