Biogeographic patterns of the East African coastal forest vertebrate fauna |
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Authors: | Ermias T Azeria Isabel Sanmartín Stefan Ås Allan Carlson Neil Burgess |
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Institution: | 1.Department of Conservation Biology,Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,Uppsala,Sweden;2.Evolutionary Biology Centre,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden;3.WWF-Sweden,Solna,Sweden;4.WWF-USA Conservation Science Programme,Washington,USA;5.Conservation Biology Group, Zoology Department,Cambridge University,Cambridge,UK;6.Department of Biology,McMaster University,Hamilton,Canada |
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Abstract: | The archipelago-like coastal forest of East Africa is one of the highest priority ecosystems for biodiversity conservation
worldwide. Here we investigate patterns of species richness and biogeographic distribution among birds, mammals and reptiles
of these forests, using distribution data obtained from recently published reviews and information collated by the WWF Eastern
Africa Coastal Forest Ecoregion Programme. Birds and mammals species were divided into forest specialists and generalists,
and forest specialist reptiles into ‘coastal’ and ‘forest’ endemics. The species richness of birds and generalist mammals
increased with area, and is probably a result of area-dependent extinction. Only in birds, however, species richness increased
with decreasing isolation, suggesting possible isolation-dependent colonization. Forest diversity, associated to altitudinal
range, is important for specialist birds and mammals, whose species richness increased with wider altitudinal range. The number
of relict coastal endemic and forest endemic reptiles was higher in forests with wider altitudinal ranges and on relatively
higher altitude, respectively. Such forests have probably provided a suitable (and perhaps stable) environment for these species
through time, thus increasing their persistence. Parsimony analysis of distributions (PAD) and cluster analyses showed geographical
distance and general ecological similarity among forests as a determinant factor in bird distribution patterns, with compositional
similarity decreasing with increasing inter-forest distance. Compositional similarity patterns of mammals among the forests
did not show a strong geographical correspondence or a significant correlation with inter-forest distance, and those of reptiles
were not resolved, with very low similarity levels among forest faunas. Our results suggest that the relative importance (and
causal relationship) of forest attributes affecting the distribution of the East African coastal forest vertebrate fauna varies
depending on life history traits such as dispersal ability and forest specialization. The groupings in PAD are partly congruent
with some of the previous classifications of areas of endemism for this region, supporting the ‘naturalness’ of these regions. |
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Keywords: | Biogeography Conservation East Africa coastal forests Fragmentation Species– area relationship Isolation Altitude Parsimony analysis of distributions Relict fauna |
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