The Forgotten ‘Coastal Forests’ of Mtwara, Tanzania: A Biologically Impoverished and Yet Important Ecosystem

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dc.contributor.authorWegner, Giulia
dc.contributor.authorHowell, Kim
dc.contributor.authorDavenport, Tim R. B.
dc.contributor.authorBurgess, Neil D.
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-19T13:04:47Z
dc.date.available2016-07-19T13:04:47Z
dc.date.issued2009-11
dc.description.abstractBiodiversity surveys and the compilation of indigenous knowledge were conducted in eight previously unstudied proposed and already gazetted Forest Reserves of Mtwara Region, south-eastern Tanzania, from April to August of 2005. The results indicate relatively low biodiversity and endemism values in these forests, and high levels of forest disturbance. In most areas the original vegetation has been converted by clearance for cultivation and by fire, and has regenerated into degraded forms of Swahilian/Coastal Mixed Dry Forest, Swahilian/Coastal Brachystegia Forest and floristically impoverished Zambezian-Swahilian Brachystegia Woodland. Some Coastal Forest endemic and threatened species, however, occur in the degraded forest patches, such as east coast akalat Sheppardia gunningi, Reichenow's batis Batis mixta reichenowi, spotted flat-lizard Platysaurus maculatus, woodland toad Mertensophryne micranotis and the shrub Gardenia transvenulosa. The low proportion of endemic and threatened species recorded implies that these forests are of modest biological importance within the context of the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests Biodiversity Hotspot. Nevertheless, local inhabitants depend heavily on the long-termen_US
dc.identifier.citationWegner, G., Howell, K.M., Davenport, T.R. and Burgess, N.D., 2009. The Forgotten'Coastal Forests' of Mtwara, Tanzania: A Biologically Impoverished and Yet Important Ecosystem. Journal of East African Natural History, 98(2), pp.167-209.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.2982/028.098.0202
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/3308
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectCoastal forest mosaicen_US
dc.subjectBiodiversity hotspoten_US
dc.subjectBiodiversity surveyen_US
dc.subjectForest disturbanceen_US
dc.subjectSpecies checklisten_US
dc.subjectEast Africaen_US
dc.titleThe Forgotten ‘Coastal Forests’ of Mtwara, Tanzania: A Biologically Impoverished and Yet Important Ecosystemen_US
dc.typeJournal Article, Peer Revieweden_US
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