Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa)
In many tropical areas of high conservation concern there is still no evidence on the effectiveness of protected areas in protecting specific components of biodiversity. Here, to assess the management effectiveness of protected areas, we carried out a field sampling design for collecting data on wat...
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Diversity |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/7/554 |
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| author | Gift Simon Demaya Shazali Abdallah Gordon Thomas Francis Lado Luca Luiselli Corrado Battisti |
| author_facet | Gift Simon Demaya Shazali Abdallah Gordon Thomas Francis Lado Luca Luiselli Corrado Battisti |
| author_sort | Gift Simon Demaya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In many tropical areas of high conservation concern there is still no evidence on the effectiveness of protected areas in protecting specific components of biodiversity. Here, to assess the management effectiveness of protected areas, we carried out a field sampling design for collecting data on waterbird communities within the Nibule National Park (South Sudan), a poorly-known hot-spot of biodiversity, and in the surrounding buffer zone. All the metrics of richness (absolute species richness, Margalef index, Chao-1) and diversity were significantly higher for bird communities inhabiting the national park, when compared to the buffer zone. Evenness was predictably lower in the national park when compared to the buffer zone, probably due to the large numbers of rare species that were observed in the park’s richer communities, thus increasing the differences in relative frequencies between species. The diversity profiles highlighted this pattern, with more sloping curves in the park sites, evidencing a role of protected area management in positively affecting the bird community structure. Our data provide the first evidence for a poorly-known area of high conservation concern on the effective role played by a National Park in maintaining high values of richness and diversity, at least for wetland-related birds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:00:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8e2721b413cc4fc9ad0d0888dfe3cec4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:00:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-8e2721b413cc4fc9ad0d0888dfe3cec42023-11-30T23:04:27ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182022-07-0114755410.3390/d14070554Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa)Gift Simon Demaya0Shazali Abdallah Gordon1Thomas Francis Lado2Luca Luiselli3Corrado Battisti4Department of Wildlife Science, University of Juba, Juba P.O. Box 80, SudanDepartment of Wildlife Science, University of Juba, Juba P.O. Box 80, SudanDepartment of Wildlife Science, University of Juba, Juba P.O. Box 80, SudanIDECC—Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, 00144 Rome, Italy“Torre Flavia” LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) Station, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Servizio Aree Protette, Via G. Ribotta, 41, 00144 Roma, ItalyIn many tropical areas of high conservation concern there is still no evidence on the effectiveness of protected areas in protecting specific components of biodiversity. Here, to assess the management effectiveness of protected areas, we carried out a field sampling design for collecting data on waterbird communities within the Nibule National Park (South Sudan), a poorly-known hot-spot of biodiversity, and in the surrounding buffer zone. All the metrics of richness (absolute species richness, Margalef index, Chao-1) and diversity were significantly higher for bird communities inhabiting the national park, when compared to the buffer zone. Evenness was predictably lower in the national park when compared to the buffer zone, probably due to the large numbers of rare species that were observed in the park’s richer communities, thus increasing the differences in relative frequencies between species. The diversity profiles highlighted this pattern, with more sloping curves in the park sites, evidencing a role of protected area management in positively affecting the bird community structure. Our data provide the first evidence for a poorly-known area of high conservation concern on the effective role played by a National Park in maintaining high values of richness and diversity, at least for wetland-related birds.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/7/554protected areasrichnessdiversityevennessrarefactiondiversity profiles |
| spellingShingle | Gift Simon Demaya Shazali Abdallah Gordon Thomas Francis Lado Luca Luiselli Corrado Battisti Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) Diversity protected areas richness diversity evenness rarefaction diversity profiles |
| title | Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) |
| title_full | Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) |
| title_fullStr | Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) |
| title_short | Are Afrotropical Protected Areas Effective in Increasing Waterbird Richness and Diversity? A Case Study from South Sudan (East Africa) |
| title_sort | are afrotropical protected areas effective in increasing waterbird richness and diversity a case study from south sudan east africa |
| topic | protected areas richness diversity evenness rarefaction diversity profiles |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/7/554 |
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