Species richness and diversity of birds in Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria

This study focused on bird species richness and diversity in Borgu sector, Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria. The study was undertaken to derive information on the species of birds utilizing the study area, and to determine the relative abundance and diversity of birds in the study area. The Line transect methods was used for the study. The result revealed that the present number and kinds of birds species in all the ranges sampled is very low, with Range 4 having the highest bird’s species richness of (22.29%). A total of 3255 birds were inventoried in all the ranges. These belonged to 44 species from 28 families. Family Ardeidae contain the highest number of 593 birds, followed by the family Sturnidae and Numididae - having 392 and 351 birds, respectively. The findings indicate that birds’ abundance is very low with many bird species displaying 0% relative abundance. The low abundance and diversity of birds indicates that Kainji Lake National Park birds in relation to habitat characteristics is very poor. Furthermore, the result from the test prediction Output shows that the estimators predict that (after 5 samples) there will be 41 birds’ family species in the habitat in future, since they (ACE, ICE, Chao2, Jack2) level off at 41. The result indicate that only the same birds species, instead of new birds species are presently seen in Kainji Lake National Park, which are poorly represented among 28 families sampled. It is, therefore, recommended that environmental education campaign on birds’ conservation and protection should be carried out in the communities around the park so as to persuade residents to stop killing birds.