ESTIMATION OF FLORAL DIVERSITY AND POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF INTRODUCED SPECIES AT THE NATURE PRESERVE, UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN AFRICA, BARATONL KENYA
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Date
2013-12-13
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International*Journal*of*Bioassays
Abstract
Biological!diversity!(Biodiversity)!is!the!variety!of!life!on!earth.!Measurement!of!biodiversity!is!one!of!the!
greatest!scientific!challenges!of!our!time.!It!is!also!one!of!the!most!urgent!because,!we!must!address!the!problem!
soon!or!we!will!lose!the!chance!forever!since!many!species!are!becoming!extinct!without!trace.!Introduced!species!
is!among!the!factors!that!cause!native!species!to!go!extinct.!Biodiversity!is!normally!considered!at!the!species!level,!
and!that!the!species!diversity!of!an!area!is!a!measure!of!both!the!number!of!species!present!and!their!relative!
abundance.!In!this!study!trees!and!shrubs!were!only!considered.!The!objectives!of!the!study!was!to!determine!the!
number!of!species!of!trees!and!shrubs!and!to!compare!the!relative!abundance!of!introduced!species!with!the!total!
floral!biodiversity!at!the!University!of!Eastern!Africa,!Baraton!(UEAB)!nature!preserve.!The!purpose!was!to!develop!
an!inventory!of!trees!and!shrubs!and!to!create!a!case!for!the!potential!effect!of!introduced!species!to!native!species!
and!eventual!loss!of!biodiversity.!The!study!was!conducted!over!a!period!of!five!weeks!with!sampling!done!twice!
every! week.!Data!was!collected!by!the!Belt!transect!method!and!analyzed!by!descriptive!statistics.!The!results!
indicated! that! nature! preserve!is! rich! in! species! diversity! and! native!species!diversity! is! lower!compared!to!the!
relative!abundance!of!introduced!species.!