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Effort towards Conservation of Bird Species across
Urban-Rural Gradients in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
1 Akemien Neri Nerioya, 2 Abalaka Jacinta, 3 Molokwu
Mary, 2 Nwaogu Josiah Chima
1 Federal college of Forestry, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
2 A.P. Leventis ornithological Research Institute, Jos,
Plateau, Nigeria
3 Fauna and Flora International, Monrovia, Liberia
Email for Correspondence:akemiennerioya@yahoo.com
Abstract
Urbanization is unquestionably the most ubiquitous
form of land transformation that severely affect
biodiversity. In order to ascertain the avian composition
and potentiality of biodiversity conservation across an
urban gradient,we surveyed birds across the urban-rual
gradient in Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria. Fourty-five
transects (each 1,601m long) were evenly distributed
across three predefined gradient sites from the urban
core to the rural undeveloped area namely, Vegetation
Exclusive Residence (VER), Vegetation Inclusive
Residence (VIR), Undeveloped site (UND) respectively.
Transects surveys were replicated morning and evening
on different days. A total of 16,043 bird individuals from
139 species were recorded. Diversity and abundance
varied significantly across the gradient. Avian diversity
increased across the urban-rural gradient while
abundance decreased across thesame gradient. All the
bird species recorded in the three sites and their
abundance were compiled into a checklist. Residents
were casually interviewed on their knowledge about
birds and conservation-inclined development. Overall,
residents’ perception seem positive towards
conservation of birds.We recommend a follow up with
conservation education as a good number of the
residents do not appreciate an aspect of bird behaviour,
such as birdcalls which they perceive as “bad sign”. In
addition, there is need for conservation inclined
development such as protection of the Benin moat
which fragments the VIR and habours a lot of vegetation
within the City.
Keywords: Vegetation Exclusive Residence (VER),
Vegetation Inclusive Residence (VIR), Undeveloped site
(UND), Urbanization, urban-rural gradient
Elephant Tolerance to Human activity in the Mara
Ecosystem of Kenya
Mayeli Hensley
IAS University of Washington Environmental Science
Program
Email for correspondence: may4u2nvme@msn.com
Abstract
The decline and management of elephant populations in
Africa is a key concern of their conservation. This study
investigated how elephant behaviour is affected by
exposure to human activity. I compared the distribution
of elephants after they had been translocated from
Narok-North to the Masai Mara National Reserve
(MMNR) by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) with native
Mara elephants who had not been translocated. It was
expected that the Narok elephant sub-population,
which had experienced high levels of negative
interactions with humans, would express less tolerance
to human activity than the native Mara populations,
which experience fewer negative interactions with
humans. I quantified the tendency for elephants to
avoid humans by recording the distance away from
roads and human activity along 20 road transects. A
total of 769 elephants in 112 herds were counted. My
results indicated that the Narok-North sub population
had no tolerance to human activity, with no sightings of
the translocated elephants in any of the transects.
Furthermore, GSM/GPS readings from collars on two
translocated matriarchs indicated that they had crossed
to Northern Serengeti National park, which presumably
has lower human activity than MMNR. Taken together,
my results suggest that the trans-located elephants had
decreased tolerance to human activity, likely due to
negative experiences stemming from Human Elephant
Conflict (HEC), which has plagued the Narok area as a
result of increased human population and the
conversion of elephant range areas into crop farms. It is
recommended that a long-term monitoring program be
established to better document elephant behavioral
characteristics in regard to human activity in the Mara
ecosystem.
Keywords: translocation, species conservation, Masai
Mara, Human Elephant Conflict (HEC).
TAAG First African Student’s Conference, Nairobi. 2-4 July, 2013 23