Diversity and Richness of Ciconiiformes Species in Badagry Wetland Southwestern Nigeria Diversity and Richness of Ciconiiformes Species in Badagry Wetland Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

We examined the richness and diversity Ciconiiformes species in Badagry wetland southwestern Nigeria. Point count method was used to collect data on the richness and diversity of Ciconiiformes in the study area. Counting bands of the 50 m radius were used for all the stations. The minimum distance between two counting stations was 200 m, and 25 stations were used for this study. On arrival at the sites, birds were allowed time to settle before recording all the birds seen or heard for a predetermined time 20 min. From the result obtained, it indicates that the study area is rich Ciconiiformes species. A total of 16 Ciconiiformes species belonging to four families were recorded in the study area. The family Ardeidae has the highest number of bird species (11), this is followed by Ciconiidae family (3), Threskiornithidae and Scopidae families have one bird species each. The Shannon H index revealed that dry season (2.153) was lower than a wet season (2.357); this was based on the data collected during the period of the research study. From the result obtained of the relative abundance of bird species in the study area, it was revealed that the following four bird species Ardea cinerea, Ardea melanocephala, Scopus umbretta, and Bostrychia hagedash have the highest relative (4.44) individual bird species per square kilometer within the study area.