| dc.description.abstract | As the human population grows, particularly in the developing world, so does the
demand for land for agriculture in pursuit of food security. Over the past three decades,
this has resulted in massive degradation, fragmentation and loss of natural habitat with
corresponding loss of biodiversity. However, biodiversity conservation and agricultural
systems can be complimentary rather than mutually exclusive. On the one hand, there are
a range of ecosystem services that are rendered to farmlands by wild flora and fauna,
including pollination, seed dispersal, nutrient cycling, soil conservation and genetic
exchange. On the other hand, agricultural landscapes offer additional foraging and
dispersal opportunities for species from neighbouring degraded habitats.
Kakamega forest, Kenya's only tropical rainforest, has been severely fragmented, mainly
due to human encroachment for agriculture, leading to degradation of natural habitat for
its biodiversity. This study, conducted fsomOctober 2006 to March 2007, aimed at ",
assessing structural characteristics of a selection o{,)"arms around Kakamega forest,
determining species richness, diversity and density of birds-on the farms and evaluating
of the association between bird community structure and these structural characteristics. A
total of 30 farms were studied, covering a total of 38.2 ha, selected and clustered into
three strata based on relative proximity to the forest. Farm structure was characterized in
terms of size, hedge. length and volume, vertical and horizontal habitat heterogeneity,
density of woody plants, the type of cash crop grown, proportion of crop cover, plant
diversity and distance from the forest. Birds were surveyed five times using the Distance
sampling procedure along line transects. | en |
