Assesing avian diversity and abundance in Nakivubo wetland

Abstract

Birds are essential components of any ecosystem in terms of continuing ecological cycles (Haider et al., 2022), particularly in the food chains and webs. The diversity and abundance of avifauna biodiversity in Nakivubo wetland was investigated to ascertain the current state of avifauna in Nakivubo wetland and provide up to date baseline information of the birds in this area. The open water which is referred to as the Inner Murchison Bay, the cultivated lands and the papyrus swamps were the sites considered for the study. The avifaunal Species diversity and Abundance was determined using the Point Count Method. Birds recorded were categorized into order, family, species, migratory status and feeding guilds. Relative abundance of bird species and diversity indices were determined. A total of 42 bird species, belonging to 23 families and 8 orders were observed in the study area. The Grey headed gull was the most abundant bird in the wetland. Other common species included the Pied king fisher, African jacana, Cattle egret and Long tailed cormorant. Majority of the bird species recorded were in the Least Concern (LC) category globally except for the hooded vulture which is Critically Endangered, Papyrus Gonolek which is Nearly Threatened, Shoebill which is Vulnerable and Grey crowned crane which is endangered. The bird species were categorized into eight feeding guilds. The piscivores, insectivores and omnivores were most in abundance. The order Passeriformes had the highest families (10) and species (12), followed by Pelecaniformes with 4 families and 11 species. The grey headed gull had the highest relative abundance of 15.44% while the Green crombec, Rufous bellied heron, hooded vulture and Grey crowned crane had the lowest relative abundance of 0.14% each. Shannon Wiener diversity index for the diversity of bird species at Nakivubo wetland was H’= 3.12. The findings can be attributed to the heterogeneity of the habitat resulting from alteration of the ecosystem through human activity such as urbanization and encroachment. However, Nakivubo wetland still harbors a significant number of avian species composition and Government of Uganda should consider reclamation and incorporate avian conservation in the area.