Distribution and genetic diversity of the Endangered Abbott’s duiker Cephalophus spadix in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

Bowkett, Andrew E.; Jones, Trevor; Rovero, Francesco; Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt; Davenport, Tim R.B.; Hawkins, Dawn; Plowman, A. B.; Stevens, Jamie R.

doi:10.3354/esr00587

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Our results suggest that Mt. Kilimanjaro could be, apart from the Udzungwa Mountains (Bowkett et al, ), a second population stronghold of this species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Primary productivity and habitat protection predict elevational species richness and community biomass of large mammals on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Gebert

Njovu

Treydte

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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1. Despite their diversity and their large functional and cultural importance, the patterns and predictors of large mammal diversity along elevational gradients on tropical mountains remain poorly understood. Today, large mammals are threatened by human disturbances such as habitat destruction and hunting and may increasingly depend on the conservation of protected areas.2. Here, we use field data on the diversity of large mammals along a 3.6 km elevational gradient on Mt. Kilimanjaro to evaluate the importance of climate, net primary productivity and human impact for the distribution, species richness and community biomass of wild mammals.3. Mammal species richness was explored with camera traps on 66 study plots along an elevational gradient from 870 to 4,550 m a.s.l.. We applied path analysis and variance partitioning analysis to unravel the direct and indirect effects of temperature, precipitation, primary productivity, land use, land area, the protection of habitats and the occurrence of domestic mammals on the diversity of wild mammals. 4. Both species richness and community biomass of wild mammals showed a unimodal distribution with elevation, peaking in the montane zone of Mt. Kilimanjaro.However, the peak shifted significantly to lower elevations when only protected habitats were considered. Wild mammal diversity increased with net primary productivity, protection of habitats and temperature. 5.Our study underscores the importance of energy resources for the establishment of diversity gradients in large mammals. While temperature has been revealed as a direct predictor of diversity in most ectothermic taxa, in endothermic organisms temperature has stronger indirect effects, via a modulation of net primary productivity. Moreover, our study reveals how patterns of diversity on tropical mountains are influenced by human impact, pointing to the pivotal role of protected areas for the long-term conservation of mountain biodiversity.

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“…Our results suggest that Mt. Kilimanjaro could be, apart from the Udzungwa Mountains (Bowkett et al, ), a second population stronghold of this species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Primary productivity and habitat protection predict elevational species richness and community biomass of large mammals on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Gebert

Njovu

Treydte

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…The highland forests of Tanzania are among the most important areas in the world for biodiversity conservation due to the exceptional density of threatened and endemic species (Rovero et al, 2014a). In particular, the Udzungwa Mountains are a stronghold for many rare species, including mammals (Rovero & De Luca, 2007), such as the recently discovered endemic gray-faced sengi Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, the IUCN-endangered Abbott's duiker Cephalophus spadix, a large-bodied forest antelope which is endemic of Tanzania and threatened by hunting and habitat loss (Bowkett et al, 2014), and the ground-dwelling, IUCN-endangered (and Udzungwa's iconic monkey) Sanje mangabey Cercocebus sanjei (Rovero et al, 2014a;IUCN 2016). Mwanihana (177 km 2 ) is a forest within the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, while Uzungwa Scarp (200 km 2 ) is a nature reserve ( Fig.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Poor management in protected areas is associated with lowered tropical mammal diversity

Oberosler

Tenan

Zipkin

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created worldwide to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources from anthropogenic threats such as habitat destruction and bushmeat hunting. However, conservation efforts in many tropical PAs are still inadequate, revealing deficiencies in management effectiveness. It is therefore important to quantify how different protection regimes impact wildlife within PAs. We investigated the differences between forest mammal communities in two ecologically comparable PAs in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania) with contrasting management regimes. One is a well‐protected national park with efficient law enforcement; the other has suffered decades of inadequate protection, mainly resulting in high levels of illegal hunting. Using camera‐trapping data, we assessed the target communities in terms of species richness, functional composition (i.e. proportions of trophic guilds) and species‐specific occurrences, all while accounting for imperfect detection. We found striking differences between the two mammal communities: lower species richness, alteration in the trophic structure and reduced occurrence probabilities for most species in the forest with high disturbance. The difference in occurrence probability between the two PAs tended to be highest for larger‐bodied species. Our results show that strictly enforced legal protection is required to maintain diverse mammal communities in tropical forests under ever‐increasing anthropogenic threats. While PAs are the cornerstone of efforts to conserve tropical biodiversity, the future of biodiversity within them is closely tied to the effectiveness of enforcement.

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Camera trapping surveys of forest mammal communities in the Eastern Arc Mountains reveal generalized habitat and human disturbance responses

Rovero

Owen

Jones³

et al. 2016

Biodivers Conserv

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Distribution and genetic diversity of the Endangered Abbott’s duiker Cephalophus spadix in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

Cited by 7 publications

References 37 publications

Primary productivity and habitat protection predict elevational species richness and community biomass of large mammals on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Primary productivity and habitat protection predict elevational species richness and community biomass of large mammals on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Poor management in protected areas is associated with lowered tropical mammal diversity

Camera trapping surveys of forest mammal communities in the Eastern Arc Mountains reveal generalized habitat and human disturbance responses

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