SPECIES DIVERSITY AND HABITAT USE OF BIRDS IN MENAGESHA SUBA STATE
FOREST, CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA
Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the species diversity and
habitat use of birds in the Menagesha Suba State forest and surrounding
farmland. The study was conducted from July 2018 to January 2019 during
the wet and dry seasons. The study area was stratified based on the
dominant habitat types. A standardized survey technique was employed
using systematically established point counts for all habitat types.
EstimateS software (version 9.1) and Chi-square test were applied to
analyze the data. A total of 122 bird species belonging to 14 orders and
49 families were identified in the study area during the two-season
surveys. There was a statistically significant difference in the
relative abundance of species among habitat types (χ2=81.928, df = 2,
p<0.05). During both seasons, the highest bird diversity was
observed in farmland (H’=3.65), followed by plantation forest (H’=3.52).
The lowest and highest distributions were observed in natural forests
(J=0.77) and plantation forests (J=0.89), respectively. Variations in
the number of bird species were observed among the three habitats.
Species similarity was highest between natural forests and plantation
forests during both the dry and wet seasons. There was a statistically
significant difference in habitat use of bird species among the three
habitat types either when seasons were considered separately (dry
season: χ2 = 22.825, df = 6, P<0.05; wet season: χ2 = 22.186,
df = 6, P<0.05) or when combined (χ2 = 26.658, df = 6,
P<0.05). The Menagesha Suba State forest is rich in endemic
bird species to Ethiopia and shared with Eritrea, and more than 15% of
bird species distributions are locally rare. There is a need for a
detailed study of long duration on the diversity and other ecological
aspects of forest bird species should be conducted to get exhaustive
information.