Methods of studying the distribution, diversity and abundance of birds in East Africa—some quantitative approaches
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Date
1997
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
African Journal of Ecology
Abstract
In this paper we compare the use of transect counts with a simpler method of
investigating bird diversity and numbers, particularly in terrestrial habitats, both
natural and non-natural. Transect Counts (TCs) have long been widely used,
whereas Timed Species Counts (TSCs), which estimate relative abundance, are
comparatively untried. We find that TSCs give results which are comparable to
those from TCs in most respects, except that they can only be used indirectly for
estimating population densities, and they give different measures of diversity.
However, TSCs generate data on many more species much faster than do TCs
and are therefore more cost-effective in most situations. In particular, TSCs are
useful for community studies. We show, for example, that in natural habitats
bird populations are positively correlated with the amount of woody vegetation,
but not with rainfall. Diversity too increases with woody vegetation. Because
TSCs are simple, more of them can be made for a given input of time, and hence
more distributional data are obtained as an additional benefit.
Description
Keywords
Bird survey methods, Diversity, Kenya
Citation
POMEROY, D., & DRANZOA, C. (1997). Methods of studying the distribution, diversity and abundance of birds in East Africa—some quantitative approaches. African Journal of Ecology, 35(2), 110-123.