![]() It's not going to be found anywhere else in the world."įreeman hopes his research predicting the distribution of the bird in coming decades can help inform policymakers about which areas of rainforest should be prioritized for conservation.įor the new paper, Freeman and his colleagues - Daniel Jiménez‐García of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico, Benjamin Barca of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Sierra Leone and Matthew Grainger of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom - used occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and datasets about occurrences of the White-breasted Guineafowl in Sapo National Park in Liberia and Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone, including data collected by Freeman. There is a sister species (Black Guineafowl, Agelastes niger) of the same bird that occurs on the other side of the Guinean forest, but this one is range-restricted, and it's only found in this region. "The important thing about this bird is that it's a specialist - it's more restricted to rainforest habitats. "It occurs within rainforest habitats in West Africa where it feeds like regular birds, like chickens feed, and depends on insects and seeds and things," Freeman said. Because of its exclusive dependence on the forest for habitat, the White-breasted Guineafowl is particularly susceptible to habitat loss. The KU researcher said West Africa suffers from extensive deforestation due to increasing populations, urbanization, agriculture expansion (both substance farming and industrial-scale farming of palm oil), logging and mining. So that's why it was selected for study."Īccording to Freeman, the vulnerable White-breasted Guineafowl, which has appeared on Liberian postage stamps, serves as an iconic "flagship species," conservation of which could preserve habitat of many lesser-known animals at the same time. The bird is threatened, and it's of conservation concern. Our study recharacterizes its distribution and helps us to understand to what extent it's distributed across the region. ![]() "Because of this poor history, there's very little understanding about its range. "This bird is endemic to West Africa, but it's not fully understood - it's poorly studied," Freeman said. Now, Freeman is lead author of a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Avian Research that projects the geographic distribution of the bird through 2050 as it shifts habitat due to climate change. The rainforests that once protected Freeman and his family host one of West Africa's flagship bird species - the White‐breasted Guineafowl (Agelastes meleagrides). That actually influenced my decision to get more interested in nature and conservation." "But I developed an interest in nature there, and eventually I started studying forestry for my undergraduate degree. ![]() "At that time, I really didn't know how important the forest would become for me - I saw the forest as a source of resources like food and shelter," said Freeman, who today is a doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and KU Biodiversity Institute.
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