TITLE:
Diversity, Abundance, Richness, and Birds of Conservation Interest in Nyando Sugar Belt, Muhoroni Sub-County, Lake Victoria Basin, Western Kenya
AUTHORS:
Daniel Mokaya Mogaka, Shadrack Muya, Francis Ndwigah, Paul Ndang’ang’a
KEYWORDS:
Diversity, Abundance, Richness, Birds, Nyando, Conservation, Migration, Forest Dependency, Kenya
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.9 No.3,
May
14,
2019
ABSTRACT: Thus far, no expedition has comprehensively surveyed
the composition of bird species in the dilapidated habitats of Nyando sugar
belt, Western Kenya. This has made it difficult unearthing equilibrium between
agricultural growth and bird species conservation. In response, we conducted
bird assessment by stratifying the expedition area into farmlands and
shrub-land. We then sampled birds by the standard point count method and
opportunistic counts within a 30 m radius parcel of land. We exhaustively
observed 1450 birds of 122 species. The farmland recorded a density of 2.065 ±
1.11 birds per hectare whereas the shrub-land had a density of 1.644 ± 0.70
birds per hectare. Nyando sugar belt was a diverse community with a Shannon
diversity index value (H’) of 3.225 regardless of the birds being constrained
in certain habitats. The magnitude of the disparity in true diversity indicated
that the farmland was 4 times more diverse than the shrub-land. The facts
promoted by this research validate the incorporation of bird conservation in
the farmland and formulation of avian conservation strategies.