A bird community structure of a tropical forest, twenty years after logging, in Ghana

The avifaunal composition of a tropical forest, Kakum Conservation Area under natural regeneration, 20 years after a selective logging operation was studied. The study area was divided into approximately eight equal blocks and four transects each 1km long each was laid in every block. One hundred and thirty-five (135) bird species were recorded from all the forest blocks. Pycnonotidae (15 species) and Sylviidae (eight species) families dominated the entire avian assemblage all the eight blocks. Estimated richness using second order jackknife estimator was 137.14 (SD=1.06) and Shannon-Wienner diversity index at 95% confident limit was 4.63. There was a high similarity index and high species overlap ranging from 0.79-0.91 among the various forest blocks. Twelve feeding guilds were identified; five of the guilds accounted for over 60% of the total avian abundance. The potential of selectively logged forests to protect many species of forest birds after several years of logging can however not be underestimated. Long term avian monitoring program must be incorporated into the park management system.