Bird Species Abundance and Diversity in Montane Forest Research Station, Jos, Plateau State

Abstract

Forest is the most significant habitat for birds by supporting around 75% of all bird species while only 45% of all bird species have adapted to humans modified habitats. The research was conducted in the Montane Forest Research Station, Jos, Plateau State, in other to determine the abundance, diversity and effect of habitat types on bird’s species diversity. Fifteen transects of 200m were laid in the three habitat types (riparian forest, farmland and residential area) using stratified random sampling method. The data collected were analysed using R console. Shannon Weiner diversity index was used to analyse species diversity while generalized linear model was used to determine the effect of the habitat variables on bird species diversity. The result showed a total number of 1466 individual birds belonging to 17 families and 60 bird species were sighted. The abundance of birds was highest in riparian forest (2252), farmland (1732) and Residential area (1094) with no significance difference (p=0.177). Species richness was higher in the riparian forest (57), farmland (49), and the residential area (44). It also revealed that bird diversity index was highly significant. Riparian forest had the highest diversity (4.77), and the species were more evenly distributed (0.6) as compared to the other habitat types. The higher the number of trees and canopy cover the higher the diversity of species as was observed in the riparian forest where forest species that weren’t seen in the other habitats were found. The farmland and residential areas also hold a considerable number of some generalist bird species due to some patches of vegetation found in the habitat. Therefore, conservation efforts should be directed towards keeping vegetation intact in human dominated areas, as it serves as repository for bird species which are ecologically important. Hence, planting trees (economic, fruit and ornamental) should be encouraged.