A NON-INVASIVE APPROACH TO FAUNAL BIODIVERSITY SURVEY OF THE YALA SWAMP AND KAKAMEGA FOREST REGIONS OF KENYA.

Abstract

Between 30th August and 14th September 2018, we did a survey of the fauna of one of the most important remnants of the guineo-congolian rain forest complex, the Kakamega forest, and the neighboring Yala swamp. The approach used was non invasive so as to avoid death or possible injury to the study species. A scat and bone analysis was conducted on all samples collected so as to confirm the species representation in each study site. A total of 30 species belonging to 11 orders and 16 families were identified from the analysis of the skeletal remains collected from all the study sites. The order Rodentia was the most dominant species with a relative abundance of 93%. Our results indicate that the forest still harbors an appreciable number of species and these are in need of conservation. The study highlights the power and potential the non-invasive approach has in surveying biodiversity and points to the fact that the approach needs to be accepted and used more often in the place of or as a complement to the more traditional approaches of surveying biodiversity.