Species Composition, Diversity, Relative Abundance and Habitat Association of Avifauna in Gondar City, Central Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Mulualem, Belayneh

dc.contributor.author	Mulualem, Belayneh
dc.date.accessioned	2022-06-28T08:58:08Z
dc.date.available	2022-06-28T08:58:08Z
dc.date.issued	2022-05
dc.identifier.uri	http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/13832
dc.description.abstract	Birds are an important component of biodiversity in urban ecosystems. The present study was carried out from April to October 2021 comprising dry and wet seasons. The objective of the current study was to investigate the composition, diversity, relative abundance and habitat association of avifauna in Gondar city. Based on the land scape, four habitat types were selected. Both point and line transect count methods were employed to record the avian species. Diversity and species similarity of birds were determined using the Shannon-Weiner diversity and Simpson’s similarity indexes. Chi-square test, independent t-test and one way ANOVA were used to analyze data. Survey on avifauna was taken twice a day (morning (6:30 and 10:00 am) and afternoon (3:30 to 6:00)). A total of 113 bird species belonging to 15 orders and 46 families were recorded. Five species were intra-African migrants, seven were Palearctic migrants, one endemic species, 12 were endemics shared with Eritrea, and 101 were resident species. Passeriformes was the dominant Order of birds with the highest number of Families (n=23) and Species (n=59). The species richness of birds in the four habitats varied during the dry and wet seasons. Ninety three avian species were recorded during both seasons, but six species were recorded only in dry season and fourteen species were recorded only during the wet season. The mean number of individuals observed varied among habitats and it was statistically significant (F= 17.79, df = 3, p = 0.000). The differences among habitats had a significant effect on the abundance of birds. The riverine habitat has the highest value of species diversity (H’=3.95) while the lowest (H’=3.31) diversity was recorded in the waste dump site. The highest (E=0.91) even distribution was observed in the waste dump site while the lowest (E=0.81) evenness in the residential habitat during both seasons. Simpson’s similarity index was the highest (SI=0.79) between patch forest and residential habitats during both the wet and dry seasons. Gondar city is a refuge for a variety of avian species including globally threatened and endemics species. Different bird species occupied different habitats in the study area due to different resource availability and disturbance status. Conservation priority area in the city should get attention and long-term studies of avian species with association of changing landscapes should be needed to conserve the birding area in the city for ecotourism development. The ecotourism office and wildlife department should give attention for the conservation works on avian species in the city	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Biology	en_US
dc.title	Species Composition, Diversity, Relative Abundance and Habitat Association of Avifauna in Gondar City, Central Gondar Zone, Ethiopia	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US