الملخص الإنجليزي
The objective of this study were (i) to evaluate the diversity of bird communities over a period of eight years from 2010 – 2017, (ii) to classify the species based on their migratory/non-migratory behavior, (iii) to assess seasonal changes in diversity based on occurrence and abundance (iv) highlight the IUCN status of the species visiting Al Ansab Wetland to show its importance as an Important Bird Area (IBA) in Oman and (v) to discuss the results in the context of conservation and conservation education. The data were collected weekly using point count method for the fourteen compartments in the wetland. In total 218 bird species were recorded belonging to 50 families and this accounted for 41% of the bird species recorded in Oman. This study showed that Al Ansab wetland is an important area for migratory birds. Of the total, 198 species were migrants and 20 were residents. The seasonal distribution each year were the same, for the summer as most of the birds were resident breeding in the wetland with the exception of a few summer visitors. There was a significant difference in species numbers in the winters of 2017 and 2012 because of habitat changes in one major lagoon. The IUCN status of the bird species in Al Ansab wetland, showed that 92 % of bird species were in least concern status, about 0.5 to 3.2% include critically endangered, endangered, near threatened and vulnerable status. The analyses of community structure showed that Al Ansab wetland had a high species richness in winter (October -March) and the low richness in summer (April – September), especially June and July. The seasonal pattern of general diversity was also the same as that of species richness with high values in winter and low values in summer. The species evenness was same in both winter and summer seasons. The dominance of the species were almost similar in all months with minor fluctuations. The correlation between the community parameters using the Pearson's correlation coefficients, indicated significant correlations between all the indices except for evenness in all years and dominance. Beta diversity was similar in all the compared years. Al Ansab Wetland is a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity by Haya Water and its main purpose is to maintain it as the best birding spot to support conservation and impart conservation education to the general public, especially the school children.
