Species Richness and Composition of Bird Communityofthe Hamuma Forest in Ilubabor Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southwestern Ethiopia

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Date

2018-05-02

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Study on the species richness and composition of bird community in the Hamuma Forest of southwestern Ethiopia was conducted during wet season (July, 2017 for 20 days) and dry season (January-February, 2018 for 20 days). This study aims to compare bird species richness, population abundance; assemblage’s composition and diversity across three habitat types (forest, cultivated and open land) and effects of vegetation variables were studied). Sampling sites were randomly selected and 0.5-1 km length transects were taken and bird data were collected using a point transect method. EstimateS 9.1.0 software is used to estimate and compare bird species richness across the three habitat types. SPSS and PRIMER software were used to compare mean bird species richness, abundance and composition similarity, and Shannon diversity index (H’) was used for diversity comparison across land use types. Overall, 122 bird species in 12 orders and 41 families with 2 endemic, 10 sub endemic and 7 endangered species were recorded across the three habitat types. Bird species richness was similar in all the three habitat types during both seasons and bird abundance was higher during wet season. The species diversity was higher in cultivated land and species composition is similar in two habitat types (forest and cultivated) in both dry and wet seasons. There is no evidence that disturbance has negatively affecting bird species richness. Future research should focus on comparing guilds (e.g., habitat, feeding and substrate use guilds) in order to better understand the bird species richness and population composition difference and similarity between the three land use types.

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Keywords

Afro-Tropical Montane Forest, Avifaunal Assemblages, Biomes, Hamuma Forest, Birds, Disturbance

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