Around a Nigerian hydropower reservoir, semi-natural patches held more bird diversity than the disturbed edges
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Surveys around seven Shiroro Reservoir sites recorded 21,418 individual birds representing 179 species. Semi-natural habitats supported higher taxonomic and functional diversity than more disturbed or infrastructure-proximate locations; broad species-richness and Shannon responses were not strongly seasonal, although some functional metrics differed between wet and dry periods.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Large infrastructure landscapes are not ecologically uniform. Retained vegetation structure and semi-natural habitat around reservoir margins can matter for community composition even where the reservoir itself dominates the map.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is observational evidence from one reservoir landscape, not a before–after hydropower experiment. Site differences are correlated with several habitat and disturbance factors, and measured vegetation variables explained only part of the variation.
SOURCE
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
View original evidence ↗
Across seven Shiroro Reservoir sites, taxonomic and functional diversity varied more by location and disturbance than by broad wet–dry season counts.
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