Bird and Plant Diversity in Tropical Landscape Mosaics in East Usambaras, Tanzania
2013
Vihemäki, Heini | Hall, Jaclyn M. | Leonard Charles, | Mwangoka, Moses | Mkongewa, Victor
The role of land uses outside protected areas in conserving tropical biodiversity remains poorly understood and contested. This paper summarizes the results of plant and bird surveys conducted in three rural landscapes in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, covering a gradient from Village forest reserves to tree-based and other agricultural land uses. The species richness and occurrence of conservationally important species across the land uses were analyzed. Twelve plots of 0.2 ha, stratified among land use types, were established to survey the large trees, with sub-plots of 1 × 40 m for tree saplings, shrubs and non-woody plants, and 5 × 40 m plots for small trees. Avian richness was measured in the same sites as the plants through mist netting and timed species counts. The village forests had higher plant species richness and more conservationally important plant species compared to other land uses. Agroforest and fallows supported a relatively high number of plant species, but the species composition was largely different to the adjacent village forests. Bird species of conservation importance were recorded across all land uses. Village forest reserves and some of the tree-based agricultural land uses were found to contribute to biodiversity conservation goals in tropical landscape mosaics. There is a need to better integrate them, and address their multiple functions, in village land-use planning and conservation efforts at the landscape level.
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