Investigation of the Distribution and Abundance of Butterfly in the Nature Reserve of Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, Kilifi County, Kenya
Loading...
Date
2019
Authors
Aden, Hussein A
Dharani, Najma
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Fortune Journals
Abstract
Arabuko Sokoke Forest (ASF) is ranked second in
Africa and fifty globally in biodiversity richness. It is
the largest remnant of what was originally an extensive
strip of dry coastal forest that extended from Southern
Somalia in the horn of Africa to the Eastern Cape in the
south. The forest consists of three vegetation types; the
Brachystegia, Cynometra and Mixed forest and provide
habitat cover to the many flora and fauna. Extraction of
adult butterfly by the local adjacent population for
export has been going on over 25 years. The ten (10)
current research investigates the distribution and
abundance of butterfly’s species along transects within
the nature reserve in all three habitat types. Physical
observation of butterflies using pollard walk 1500m
standardized transects were used. The level of
disturbance can interfere with habitat structures, species
distribution and abundance. The seasonality can affects
species distribution and resource partitioning. A
potential seasonality difference in butterfly composition
within the sites was tested and diversity indices were
measured. A total of 106 species of 49 genera and 5
families were sighted. Shannon–Weiner diversity
indices and evenness showed (H’) 1.42, (E’) 0.79
Int J Plant Anim Environ Sci 2019; 9 (4): 222-236 DOI: 10.26502/ijpaes.008
International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences Vol. 9 No. 4 - December 2019. 223
respectively. The overall butterfly abundance was very different in 2017 as compared to the 1997. The results show that there were no significant changes in rank abundance for the identified 60 set of species. The results show that butterflies are evenly distributed based on availability of host plants and nutrition for adult butterflies.
Description
Article
Keywords
Abundance, Lepidoptera, Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Distribution, Transects, Population
Citation
Aden, H. A., & Dharani, N. (2019). Investigation of the distribution and abundance of butterfly in the Nature Reserve of Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, Kilifi County, Kenya. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences, 9(4), 222-236.