43 Journal of Global Resources Volume 3 July 2016 Page 43-51 ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online) 5 BIRD DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE ALONG ALTITUDINAL GRADIENTS IN MOUNT HANANG FOREST RESERVE Abraham Eustace 1* , Salome Gissemoda 1 and Hamad I. Dulle 2 1 Wildlife Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania. 2 College of African Wildlife Management Mweka, Moshi, Tanzania. *Email:abrah15@gmail.com Abstract: Bird diversity and abundance study along altitudinal gradients was carried on April 2010 in Mount Hanang Forest Reserve in Hanang District, Tanzania. The study was conducted purposely to observe if the altitude change have any influence to diversity and abundance of birds. Surveyed area was divided into two sites namely low altitude (1500- 1900m.a.s.l) and high altitude (2000-2500m.a.s.l); where in all sites point count method was used. With this method five transects with five points in each transect were established in each site. Ten minutes was used to count birds in each point established and at each point after arrival five minutes were used for relaxing before starting the count and to let birds settle after the arrival of the observer. Shannon-Weiner (H') and Simpson (D) diversity indices were used to determine species diversity while Margalef’s (  ) and Menhinick’s (  ) indices were used to determine bird species richness. The results showed that, many bird species were restricted in one area either low altitude or high altitude while few occurred in both sites. Abundance differences varied significantly between low and high altitude sites (t = 3.486; df = 8; P = 0.0082). Although low altitude area was having a higher diversity (H' = 2.78 and D = 0.90) than high altitude area (H' = 2.10 and D = 0.82) the difference wasn’t statistically significant (Shannon-Wiener: P = 0.273; Simpson: P = 0.471). Availability of food and presence different vegetation patches were responsible for difference in abundance while habitat heterogeneity and disturbance were dependable factors for differences in bird’s diversity in low and high altitude areas. The results from this study plays vital role in conservation of birds in Mount Hanang Forest Reserve as it provide information since little has been done. Keywords: Diversity, Abundance, Richness, Point Count, Mount Hanang, Forest Reserve, Birds, Altitude Introduction Biological diversity in the world is not evenly distributed; some areas tend to have a higher biodiversity while others are having lower diversity for example, tropical region and polar region (Gaston, 2000; Joshi et al., 2012). These variations in biodiversity have reasons and it is the target of many scholars to understand them (Stoms and Estes, 1993; Acharya et al., 2011).Biological diversity is composed by different elements; birds are one of them as they form their own ecological niche in an ecosystem (Sekercioglu, 2006). They are found in every corner of the earth’s surface, from desert to forest, from polar region to tropical region (Garrett, 2009). Their presence in any ecosystem plays important roles such as pollination which is especially done by nectar feeders like humming birds and sunbirds (Sekercioglu, 2006; Klein