Nesting trees used by a pest bird (Village Weaver, Ploceus cucullatus): a large field survey suggests further human conflicts with local stakeholders in Southern Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/foecol-2024-0008Keywords:
economic impact, Elaeis guineensis, pest species, tree check-list, stakeholdersAbstract
The village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) is a common colonial nesting bird widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It is known to weave its nests from leaf strips from a variety of tree species (mainly coconuts trees, oil palm trees) associated with human settlement areas, grasses, and other available plants. In this regard, this bird was considered a pest for its impact on different economic activities. Although extensive literature is already available on the parasitic role of village weavers, there is still a lack of analytical data that outlines which tree species are used for nesting and in what proportion, as well as the related implications in terms of economic impacts. Here, we carried out the first comprehensive arrangement of trees used by this species for nesting in Southern Nigeria (West Africa), checking for possible different impacts on stakeholders. In April 2021, we searched for village weaver nesting in 95 sites in 77 communities from 24 local government areas in Southern Nigeria, during 14 field surveys. Within each site, we collected GPS coordinates and counted the number of active nests, nesting birds and occupied trees. We recorded a total of 5,776 nests and 2,140 birds in 94 plants belonging to 23 tree species selected for nesting. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis; n = 45) was the most used tree species, as 2,990 (51.77%) nests and 873 (40.79%) birds were recorded. Our results indicate the preference for nesting on trees used by stakeholders belonging to agricultural (palm farmers), touristic (operators) and energy (gas flare stations) sectors with economic implications about the conflict with this pest species.
References
Adegoke, A.S., 1983. The pattern of migration of village weaverbirds (Ploceus cucullatus) in southwestern Nigeria. The Auk, 100 (4): 863–870.
Akande, M., 1978. Some problems concerning the control of bird damage in Southwestern Nigeria. Proceedings of the 8th vertebrate pest conference, 1. [online]. [cit. 2023-09-19]. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc8/1
Akani, G.C., 2008. Impact of petroleum industry activities on wildlife and biodiversity conservation in some states of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. PhD thesis. Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.
Akani, G.C., Ebere, N., Luiselli, L., Eniang, E.A., 2007. Community structure and ecology of snakes in fields of oil palm trees (Elaeis guineensis) in the Niger Delta, Southern Nigeria. African Journal of Ecology, 46: 500–506. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2028.2007.00885.x
Aiyeloja, A.A., Adedeji, G.A., 2015. Impact of weaver birds (Ploceus cucullatus Muller) nesting on the ornamental trees shade management in the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Researcher, 7 (4): 49–54.
Amadi, N., 2017. A herpetofauna survey of Rivers State. Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria: Rivers State University Press.
Battisti, C., Dodaro, G., Franco, D., 2014. The data reliability in ecological research: a proposal for a quick self-assessment tool. Natural History Sciences, 1 (2): 75–79. https://doi.org/10.4081/nhs.2014.61
Crook, J.H., 1960. Nest form and construction in certain West African. Ibis, 102 (1): 1–25.
Din, N.A., 1992. Breeding of the black‐headed village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) and the chestnut‐and‐black weaver (P. nigerrimus) in Ile‐Ife, Nigeria. African Journal of Ecology, 30 (1): 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1992.tb00478.x
Dytham, C., 2011. Choosing and using statistics. A biologist’s guide. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. 298 p.
Efenakpo, O.D., Ijeoma, H.M., Bunza, M.S., 2017. Preference of nesting material by village weaver birds (Ploceus cucullatus) in University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, 9 (4): 75–85.
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D.A., 2001. Past: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica, 4 (1): 1.
Hiron, M., Rubene, D., Mweresa, C.K., Ajamma, Y.U., Owino, E.A., Low, M., 2014. Crop damage by granivorous birds despite protection efforts by human bird scarers in a sorghum field in western Kenya. Ostrich, 85 (2): 153–159. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2014.937368
Keogh, R., 2009. The future of teak and the high-grade tropical hardwood sector. Planted Forests and Trees Working Paper FP/44E. Rome: FAO. [online]. [cit. 2023-09-06]. http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/10368/en/.
IUCN, 2004. IUCN Red list of threatened species. [online]. [2023-09-04]. http://www.redlist.org/.
Lahti, D.C., 2003. A case study of species assessment in invasion biology: the Village Weaverbird Ploceus cucullatus. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation, 26 (1): 45–55.
Lobovikov, M., Ball, L., Guardia, M., 2007. World bamboo resources: a thematic study prepared in the framework of the global forest resources assessment 2005. Non-wood Forest Products, no. 18. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Magurran A.E., 2004. Measuring biological diversity. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. 256 p.
Magurran, A.E., McGill B.J. (eds), 2011. Biological diversity: frontiers in measurement and assessment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 345 p.
Martin, L.R., 1976. Test of bird damage control measures in Sudan, 1975. Proceedings of Bird Control Seminar, 7: 259–266.
Mengesha, G., Mamo, Y., Bekele, A., 2011. A comparison of terrestrial bird community structure in the undisturbed and disturbed areas of the Abijata Shalla lakes national park, Ethiopia. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 3 (9): 389–404.
Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES), 1998. Environmental and socio-economic characteristics. Vol. 1. Port Harcourt. 272 p.
Newby, J.E., Grettenberger, J.F., 1986. The human dimension in natural resource conservation: a Sahelian example from Niger. Environmental Conservation, 13 (3): 249–256. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900036304
Nwaihu, E.C., Egbuche, C.T., Onuoha, G.N., Ibe, A.E., Umeojiakor, A.O., Chukwu, A.O., 2015. Socioeconomic importance and livelihood utilization of bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) in Imo State Southeast Nigeria. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 4: 81–85. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2015040301.24
Ogunjinmi, A.A., Ijeomah, H.M., Aiyeloja, A.A., 2009. Socio-economic importance of bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) in Borgu local government area of Niger State, Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 10 (4): 284–298.
Pielou, E.C., 1966. The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 13: 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(66)90013-0
Reading, A.J., Thompson, R.D., Millington, A.C., 1995. Humid tropical environments. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 429 p.
Yisau, M.A., Onadeko, S.A., Jayeola, O.A., Smith, O.F., Osunsina, L.O.O., 2014. Assessment of population density and disparity of Village Weaverbirds (Ploceus cucullatus) along three selected road axis in Ogun State, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 18 (3): 397–401.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights except for commercial rights (transfer of commercial rights) and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
