University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCE BREEDING ECOLOGY AND FORAGING BEHAVIOUR OF BLACK-WINGED STILT (HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS) IN GHANA BY EMMANUEL NII ATTRAM TAYE (10381087) A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTER OF ZOOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION SCIENCE (MARCH 2019) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I Emmanuel Nii Attram Taye achieved this work independently under the supervision of Professors Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu and Erasmus H. Owusu. I declare that except for other people’s investigations which have been duly acknowledged, this work is a result of my own original research, and this dissertation, neither in whole nor in part has been presented elsewhere for another degree. ……………………………… ……..…………………………….. EMMANUEL NII ATTRAM TAYE DATE (STUDENT) ……………………………… ……..…………………………….. PROF YAA NTIAMOA-BAIDU DATE (PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR) ……………………………… ……..…………………………….. PROF ERASMUS H OWUSU DATE (SUPERVISOR) i University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my mom Mrs. Love Betty Taye and my dad Mr. Lord Joseph Taye who have sacrificed a lot to bring me this far. But for their wise counsel and calm leadership, I would not be here. They are my heroes. ii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincerest appreciations go to my Principal Supervisor Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu whose invaluable and blunt critique of my work has brought it to this stage and to my Co-supervisor Professor Erasmus H. Owusu who kindled my love for biodiversity years ago during my first degree. My gratitude goes to Mr. Jones Kpakpa Quartey for always being a brother and source of both intellectual stimulation and emotional motivation; he has always been supportive of me. I owe tons of gratitude to the following persons for their immense assistance and support: Mrs. Linda Tetteh, Mrs Leticia Taye, Mrs Hannah Amponsah-Mensah, Miss Patricia Afrifa, Mr. Enoch Gbi; Mr. William Smith, Miss Sylvia Kyere, Miss Freda Okine, Miss Margaret Impraim, and Miss Candace Owusu. iii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Table of Contents DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... x ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Justification ...................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Research concept and key research questions .................................................................. 6 1.1 Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 7 Main objective .................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................................... 8 2.0. Literature review ............................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Wetlands ....................................................................................................................... 8 Wetland fauna and flora ....................................................................................................... 13 Wetland degradation ............................................................................................................ 14 2.2. Breeding ecology........................................................................................................... 17 Breeding behavior ............................................................................................................. 17 Mate selection and copulation .......................................................................................... 17 Site selection ..................................................................................................................... 18 Black-winged Stilt Clutch size ............................................................................................. 19 Parental care and incubation period ..................................................................................... 20 Deterrent behavior ................................................................................................................ 20 Egg shell removal and egg capping...................................................................................... 21 Sources of nest failure .......................................................................................................... 22 Nest monitoring and predation or nest success .................................................................... 24 RUNT EEGGS ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.3. Foraging ecology ........................................................................................................... 26 2.3.1. Time budget ............................................................................................................ 26 Foraging behaviour .............................................................................................................. 27 Diet of Black-winged stilts ................................................................................................... 30 iv University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Disturbance, aggression and territoriality ............................................................................ 31 Foraging location and time ................................................................................................... 32 Foraging success and age ..................................................................................................... 33 Feeding techniques................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................. 39 3.0. Materials and methods .................................................................................................. 39 3.1 Study area ................................................................................................................... 39 3.1.1 Location and size ..................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Population and livelihoods ............................................................................................. 40 3.1.1 Land use and ownership .............................................................................................. 41 3.1 Climate ........................................................................................................................... 43 3.1.1 Vegetation ................................................................................................................... 43 3.1.1 Faunal composition ..................................................................................................... 44 3.1.1 Geology and Soil ......................................................................................................... 44 3.1.1 Relief and drainage...................................................................................................... 45 3.1.1 Hydrology.................................................................................................................... 45 3.1.1 Threats ......................................................................................................................... 45 3.1 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 46 3.1.1 Study site selection .................................................................................................. 46 3.1.1 Breeding ecology ..................................................................................................... 46 3.1.1.1 Foraging ecology ...................................................................................................... 48 3.1.1 Time activity budget.................................................................................................... 50 3.1.1 Breeding ecology........................................................................................................