Use of bird vulnerability for national park prioritisation across ecozones in Ghana

Abstract

Global bird populations are declining due to habitat loss, climate change, and hunting, among other factors, potentially leading to species extinction and loss of ecosystem services. Also, protected areas are increasingly threatened by human activities, thus affecting their effectiveness as cornerstones for biodiversity conservation. Their effectiveness is further exacerbated by logistical and other resource constraints, which call for prioritising conservation areas to ensure the efficient use of limited resources in developing nations like Ghana. Thus, this study was conducted to identify and prioritise conservation areas based on vulnerability by analysing bird inventory data of national parks in Ghana. Our findings revealed that some smaller protected areas hosted a higher diversity of species, including imperilled species, despite the positive correlation between national park size (i.e., area) and species richness and vulnerability indices. In addition, we found that Mole National Park, located in the savanna, was the most vulnerable protected area because it hosted the highest proportion of imperilled bird species in the country. Although vulnerability indices did not differ statistically between parks in the savanna and forest ecozones, they did differ based on their assemblages, highlighting their potential in differentially hosting varied species with different habitat requirements (and probably varying species and habitat vulnerabilities). We advocate that vulnerability indices can be cautiously applied to prioritise conservation efforts or areas while considering other site-specific factors influencing biodiversity.