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Comparison of avian assemblage structures in two upper montane forests of the Cameroon volcanic line: lessons for bird conservation

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Abstract

The Cameroon volcanic line montane forests host specific avian assemblages with many endemic species. Such unique bird assemblages deserve adequate description for proper protection. For this purpose, we sampled birds in the upper montane forests of Mts Cameroon and Oku situated at ~2,250 m. We combined point counts and continuous observations to describe species composition and estimate densities of particular species. In total, we recorded 106 species; 45 only on Mt Oku, 21 only on Mt Cameroon, and 40 common to both mountains. The higher species richness on Mt Oku was due to non-forest species that invade the forest interior due to recent human disturbance. Endemic species of the Cameroon volcanic line and montane non-endemic species had higher abundances than widespread species in general. As a result, we did not find a positive abundance–range-size relationship for both locations. Our findings support a previously made observation that montane species of the Cameroon volcanic line have higher densities compared to widespread species. However, we also show that the structures of avian assemblages vary between sites as species spatial turnover was lower on Mt Cameroon than on Mt Oku and species common to both were more abundant on Mt Cameroon. This could be attributed to the more pristine forest on Mt Cameroon, with higher annual rainfall but also due to lower human impact and the existence of a continuous forest. Conservation action within the broader landscape context is thus necessary to secure diverse montane forests in West-Central Africa in the future.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the communities of Bokwango, Bakingili and Oku villages for their support during field work by providing us with field guides and porters to go up the mountains. We are grateful to Francis, Nathaniel and Collins in particular for their kind reception in the Bokwango village. We thank the Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of Buea, Cameroon and in particular Eric Fokam, Philip Tem Dia and Bertilla Sirri for their assistance during the field work. We also thank Kevin Njabo and the IRTC of the UCLA in Yaoundé for their technical support. Ernest Vunan, David Storch and Martin Mikeš helped us with data collection. Arnošt L. Šizling provided kind assistance with SAR calculation. This study was performed with the authorisation number: 2309/PRBS/MINFOF/SG/DFAP/SDVEF/SC of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife of the Republic of Cameroon and with the support of Mt Cameroon NP authorities. The research was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (project no. P505/11/1617).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Eric Djomo Nana, Ondřej Sedláček, Michal Ferenc & David Hořák

  2. IRTC—International Research and Training Center, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Eric Djomo Nana

  3. SELVA—Investigación para la Conservación en el Neotropico, Bogotá, Colombia

    Nicholas Bayly

  4. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Albrecht

  5. Institute of Vertebrate Biology v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Albrecht

  6. Institute for Environmental Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jiří Reif

  7. Botanic Garden, Limbe, Cameroon

    Francis Njie Motombi

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  1. Eric Djomo Nana
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  2. Ondřej Sedláček
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  8. David Hořák
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Correspondence to David Hořák.

Additional information

Communicated by Alexander NG Kirschel.

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Nana, E.D., Sedláček, O., Bayly, N. et al. Comparison of avian assemblage structures in two upper montane forests of the Cameroon volcanic line: lessons for bird conservation. Biodivers Conserv 23, 1469–1484 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0677-7

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