TITLE:
Distribution and Forage Potential of Some Insect Taxa Sampled with Sweep Nets in the Flood Plains of a Coastal Ramsar Site in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Francis Gbogbo, Daniel Osei Yeboah, Maxwell K. Billah
KEYWORDS:
Insecta; Waterbirds; Distribution; Forage; Biomass
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.4 No.3,
March
17,
2014
ABSTRACT: Wetland
insect communities are an important food source for waterbirds. Yet studies on insect communities in West
African coastal wetlands—a major foraging area for wintering waterbirds of the
East Atlantic and Mediterranean flyways—are generally limited. This study investigated
the forage potential, micro-spatial and temporal distribution of insects swept
from air and low vegetation in Sakumo II—a coastal Ramsar site in Ghana.
Insects of the families Thripidae, Coccinellidae, Tetrigidae and Acrididae
dominated the wetland. Based on prey yield and abundance, Acrididae,
Coccinellidae and Tetrigidae appeared to be most promising source of food for
waterbirds. Despite the high abundance of Thripidae, their low per capita
biomass rendered them a less promising food source particularly to large sized
waterbird species. Spatial and temporal abundance
and distributions of insects along both the latitudinal and longitudinal axes
of the lagoon were non-significant. In recognition of the diversity and
abundance of insects on the wetland, there is the need to investigate the
disparity in the utilisation of the various taxa by waterbird species.