Comparative Assessment of the Avifauna Species Composition of the Beach Environment in Badagry-West Local Government, Lagos State.

Abstract

Anthropogenic pressures and threats to coastal ecosystems are on the increase in this 21 century and can only be halted through strategic conservation planning. This study examined the comparative assessment of the avifauna speciescomposition of the beach environment in Badagry west local government using standard methods.Avian species diversities were calculated using the Shannon diversity index. The result indicates that the highest bird species in the study area is found in Suntan beach (51), among the 24 families recorded, the Family Ardeidae has the highestnumber of bird species (17) enumerated while, the following families Acrocephalidae,Alaudidae, Bucerotidae, Coliidae, Corvidae,  Falconidae, Hirundinidae, Jacanidae, Muscicapidae, Nectariniidae, Phalaciocoras africanus, Ziconotide, Sternidae, and Sturnidae each has one bird species as the lowest families recorded in the study area. The status of the bird species in the study sites,resident bird species (R) are the highest (71%), followed by the Palearctic (P) (24%) and the lowest is the Intra African Migrants (M) (5%).Habitat specialization indicates that the wetland area has the highest (Forty) bird species, followed by the Understory strata layer with (Nine) while the Tall Emergent layer has the lowest (Seven) bird species. Shannon -H Diversity indices of Bird Species in both Dry and Wet seasonsindividual bird species were higher (281) in the Dry season than the wet season (13) and Shannon-H diversity indicates that dry season was higher (3.575) than a wet season (3.238). This is also higher in with another parameter. In conclusion bird species were higher in the dry season (56) than the wet season (39).The study provided a quantitative description of beach ecosystems in the study areas from which future ecological changes may be assessed, and it documented differences that exist between beaches in Badagry west local government, Lagos State