Abstract:
The study was conducted to examine and compare the species composition, diversity, and
richness of both fruit trees and frugivores between a protected natural forest – Main Forest (MF), and
unprotected forest fragments (A, B, and C) within a Nigerian montane forest ecosystem. Five 20m x 20m
quadrats were randomly distributed in each of the sites for the enumeration of fruit trees while the
identification and enumeration of frugivores was carried out using the Random Walk/Watch method.
Alpha diversity was measured using both Simpson and Shannon-Wiener indices while similarity or
otherwise dissimilarity in species composition between each pair of the sites was measured using
Sorenson’s index. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to examine the correlation between the
diversity of fruit trees and frugivores. The highest number of fruit tree species was encountered in MF
(46), followed by Fragment A (24) while 21 species were encountered in each of fragments B and C. The
highest number of frugivorous species was encountered in MF (39), followed by each of Fragments A and
B (26) while 25 species were encountered in C. Birds accounted for over 70 per cent of the frugivorous
species observed within the five taxonomic groups in all the sites. Both the fruit trees and frugivore
species composition varied more between the main forest and each of the fragments than between each
pair of the fragments. However, the level of dissimilarity in species composition between the main forest
and the fragments was more with the fruit trees than the frugivores. A total of 36, 34, and 33 fruit tree
species found in MF were not found in fragments C, B, and A respectively while 26 frugivorous species
were common to MF & A and MF & B, while MF & C have 24 species in common. The diversity of fruit
trees and that of frugivores were highly correlated. Both the number and diversity of fruit trees and
frugivores were higher in the protected main forest than in each of the forest fragments.
