Biodiversity by Design: The attributes of ornamental plants in urban forest parks

Most bird species in urban parks depend on native plant community due to their selective dietary and nesting needs and are vitally affected by invasion of exotic plant community. Against this background, this study aims to investigate the significance of ornamental plants as birds’ food plants and cover in forest parks. The study will investigate the attributes of ornamental plants in term of the plant parts by adopting field observation techniques on a study area for duration of six months. The findings established that native species provide better food plants for urban birds and reaffirm that forest parks should cater for both human and bird habitats through selection of native plants; and be adopted as an urban conservation strategy.