Effectiveness of protected areas in conserving avian communities amid human impact in Nigeria.

Understanding the impacts of human activities on avian communities in- and outside protected areas (PAs) is essential for guiding conservation strategies and evaluating the effectiveness of PAs in conserving avian diversity. Effective PAs should not only safeguard species within their boundaries but also contribute to maintaining ecosystem functionality in surrounding landscapes. We used citizen science data from the Nigerian Bird Atlas Project (2015-2024) and the human footprint index (HFI) from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) to analyze avian taxonomic and functional richness and diversity across 146 paired pentads (5' × 5' grid cells).

A comparison of the sampling effectiveness of acoustic recorder, camera trap and point count methods in sampling nocturnal birds in Afrotropical landscapes.

Conservation decisions for bird diversity in the Afrotropics are often based on ecological studies utilizing diurnal bird species likely owing to difficulties associated with sampling nocturnal birds. It is therefore important to compare the sampling effectiveness of some of the available techniques that can be used in nocturnal bird surveys to guide future long-term survey efforts. Thus, we compared the sampling effectiveness of point count, acoustic recorder and camera trap for estimating nocturnal bird species richness and also across habitat types.

Citizen science mitigates the lack of distributional data on Nigerian birds.

Citizen science projects are expanding globally, with the African continent, particularly Nigeria, registering significant growth. Here, we document and analyse novel operations of the Nigerian Bird Atlas Project (NIBAP), 2015-2022. This project has employed the use of ornithologists, mainly trained at the A.