The status and habitat of Karamoja Apalis <i>Apalis karamojae</i> in the Wembere Steppe, Sukumaland, Tanzania. Shaw, P. & Mungaya, E. Bird Conservation International, 16(2):97–111, Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, P. O. Box 70919, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2006.
abstract   bibtex   
Karamoja Apalis Apalis karamojae is a globally Vulnerable warbler, restricted to north-east Uganda, north-central Tanzania and southern Kenya. Here, we describe its status and habitat in the Wembere Steppe, Sukumaland, Tanzania, an unprotected area of seasonally inundated grassland bordered partly by Acacia scrub. Although its habitat in the steppe was thought likely to span c. 175 km north-south during the 1960s to 1970s, we found the apalis to be patchily distributed over a distance of only 102 km north-south. Distance sampling yielded a density estimate of c. 7-16 birds km-2; equivalent to c. 3-7 pairs km-2, after juveniles (18% of the population) were excluded, and assuming that all adults were paired. The species occupied a very narrow foraging niche, feeding almost exclusively in Whistling Thorn Acacia drepanolobium, which accounted for 66% of woody stems in the study area, but for 95% of stems in the immediate vicinity of apalis sightings. Half of all individuals were encountered in the tallest, densest stands of A. drepanolobium, which covered less than 6% of the study area. Signs of scrub clearance, pruning and browsing were widespread in the steppe, and may have intensified during 1967-2002, when the human population in surrounding districts increased at a mean rate of c. 2-4% per year. Further research is required to determine whether our findings are representative of the species in other seasons and at other sites. © 2006 BirdLife International.
@ARTICLE{Shaw2006,
  author = {Shaw, P. and Mungaya, E.},
  title = {The status and habitat of Karamoja Apalis \textit{Apalis karamojae}
	in the Wembere Steppe, Sukumaland, Tanzania},
  journal = {Bird Conservation International},
  year = {2006},
  volume = {16},
  pages = {97--111},
  number = {2},
  abstract = {Karamoja Apalis \textit{Apalis karamojae} is a globally Vulnerable
	warbler, restricted to north-east Uganda, north-central Tanzania
	and southern Kenya. Here, we describe its status and habitat in the
	Wembere Steppe, Sukumaland, Tanzania, an unprotected area of seasonally
	inundated grassland bordered partly by Acacia scrub. Although its
	habitat in the steppe was thought likely to span c. 175 km north-south
	during the 1960s to 1970s, we found the apalis to be patchily distributed
	over a distance of only 102 km north-south. Distance sampling yielded
	a density estimate of c. 7-16 birds km-2; equivalent to c. 3-7 pairs
	km-2, after juveniles (18% of the population) were excluded, and
	assuming that all adults were paired. The species occupied a very
	narrow foraging niche, feeding almost exclusively in Whistling Thorn
	\textit{Acacia drepanolobium}, which accounted for 66% of woody stems
	in the study area, but for 95% of stems in the immediate vicinity
	of apalis sightings. Half of all individuals were encountered in
	the tallest, densest stands of A. drepanolobium, which covered less
	than 6% of the study area. Signs of scrub clearance, pruning and
	browsing were widespread in the steppe, and may have intensified
	during 1967-2002, when the human population in surrounding districts
	increased at a mean rate of c. 2-4% per year. Further research is
	required to determine whether our findings are representative of
	the species in other seasons and at other sites. © 2006 BirdLife
	International.},
  address = {Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, P. O. Box 70919, Dar es
	Salaam, Tanzania},
  owner = {eric},
  subdatabase = {distance},
  timestamp = {2006.11.22}
}

Downloads: 0