Browsing by Author "Adera, Tebekew"

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    Diversity and Relative Abundance of Birds in Six Selected Church Forests Located in Addis Ababa
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-08) Adera, Tebekew; Wube, Tilaye (PhD)
    A survey of birds’ species diversity and abundance was conducted from October to April, 2016. The method used for the study was the Time-spaced point count method. The survey was conducted in six selected church forests of Addis Ababa: Aboye, Asco-Gabriel, Philipos, Petros We-Paulos, Addisu Michael and Amanuel Cathedral. The study was carried out 6 days per month in October, December, and February, and 8 days per month in April. A total of 100 field hours equally distributed in 3 months (October, December, and February) and 28 hours in April were used during the survey. Twenty one species, which belonged to 5 Orders and 17 Families, were recorded. The most common species was common grey-headed sparrow (Passer griseus) and the least common species was Mountain thrush (Turdus abyssinicus).The overall diversity index was (H: 2.70) and evenness value was 0.88. All of the churches have the same number of species; twenty one each. This could be due to proximity of the churches to each other in location. Similarly, the diversity and evenness indices of the churches did not show noticeable variation. The highest diversity and evenness indices were (H: 2.70) and (E: 0.89), respectively; and the lowest diversity and evenness indices were (H: 2.67) and (E: 0.88), respectively. It is recommended that conservation of church forests by all concerned bodies should be practiced since the churches are suitable habitats and refuge for a diverse group of avifauna. Since those small patches play an important role in biodiversity conservation and these natural holy places are maintained through traditional methods of community based conservation that do not require governmental involvements, incorporating these sites into conservation networks could enhance the effectiveness of protected areas by covering a wider variety of habitats and by harnessing the support of local people. Key words: Abundance, birds, biodiversity, churches, Addis Ababa