Eggs of Helmeted guinea fowl Numida meleagris.

Biodiversity rich areas have been found to be increasingly surrounded by growing human populations especially in developing countries. Therefore, human activities for livelihood supports affect biodiversity and in most cases adversely. Pandam Wildlife Park (PWLP) (08°40’N 09°03’E) is one of few biodiversity destinations named among 30 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of Nigeria-West Africa, it covers an area of 22,400 ha and an altitude of 175-315 m with a Sudan-Guinea Savanna vegetation and gallery forest in riparian areas. Human activities have been found to contribute to ecological disturbance, and some distort the equilibrium of ecosystems, one of the key impacts of this is on the breeding ecology of the variety of life forms. Several detrimental human activities have been reported in PWLP, prominent among these are cattle herding and poaching, however, the extent of such activities and their impacts on biodiversity have remained largely un-investigated.

This research is aimed at investigating the impacts of cattle grazing and poaching on breeding birds. Some aspects of socioeconomic activities of communities around the PWLP will also be investigated. These will be done by locating nesting sites of ground nesting birds, cattle grazed sites and collection of data on poaching activities. The Long standing technique will be used to find nesting sites of birds, this technique involves observing birds exhibiting breeding behaviours; such as sighting of nest(s) and or eggs, nest building, carrying of nesting material or food, mating or in breeding plumage across five (5) transects of 2000 m each in the Park. These will be walked slowly and observed for birds exhibiting breeding behaviours, locations where such is observed will be marked using a GPS, also points where cattle grazed or are grazing. Points where poaching activities are seen will also be marked, noting the nearest community (or communities) to such points. Some aspects of socioeconomic activities of locals around the Park will be assessed using questionnaires. Results from this work will be used to advise the PWLP management accordingly.