Bamenda Highlands Research Articles

Forest eternal? Endemic butterflies of the Bamenda highlands, Cameroon, avoid close‐canopy forest

AbstractThe Gulf of Guinea Highlands, a centre of endemism and high conservation importance, represent the only large mountain system in West and Central Africa. We studied habitat use of three common endemic butterflies Colias electo manengoubensis, Bicyclus anisops and Mylothris jacksoni knutsoni, using time‐standardized surveys in four distinct habitats: close‐canopy forest, scrub and forest edges, bracken and grasslands. All three species avoided close‐canopy forests and bracken; the Colias preferring grassland, whereas Bicyclus and Mylothris scrub and forest edges. Ordination analyses of surrounding habitats indicated that all three taxa required heterogeneous landscape mosaics. We argue that the life history traits of taxa with limited geographic distribution may reflect past habitat conditions within their ranges, and that these habitat preferences can indicate the continuous existence of mosaic of forest and nonforest habitats in the West African mountains. Such a landscape was probably maintained by climatic fluctuation and large herbivores, further modified by human impact. This conclusion is consistent with the palaeoenvironmental record and with the requirements of Afromontane endemics from other groups. Recent conservation activities focus on patches of continuous forests, but the mosaic landscapes are no less threatened by intensive agriculture, and should be included to protected areas.

Diet of sympatric African grass owl (Tyto capensis) and spotted eagle owl (Bubo africanus) in the Bamenda Highlands, NW Cameroon

Diet of sympatric African grass owl (Tyto capensis) and spotted eagle owl (Bubo africanus) in the Bamenda Highlands, NW Cameroon Jan Riegert*, Ondřej Sedlacek and Rainer Hutterer Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, CZ-370 05 Ceske Budějovice, Czech Republic, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Vinicna 7, CZ-128 44 Praha, Czech Republic and Section of Mammals, Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany

Habitat preferences of birds in a montane forest mosaic in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon

Although the high species richness and endemism of birds in the Bamenda Highlands has attracted ornithological research for decades, most studies have been restricted to bird communities of continuous montane forests. Instead, we focused on a mosaic landscape with montane forest remnants, where the habitat preferences of birds remain unknown. We performed an assessment of habitat associations of birds in the Bamenda Highlands in the Cameroon Mountains. Using a point count census method, we detected 71 species within the study area. The most abundant species were the Northern Double-collared Sunbird Cynniris reichenowi, the Oriole Finch Linurgus olivaceus, the Common Stonechat Saxicola torquata, the Thick-billed Seed-eater Serinus burtoni, the Black-crowned Waxbill Estrilda nonnula, the Brown-backed Cisticola Cisticola chubbi and the Yellow-breasted Boubou Laniarius atroflavus. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that the most important environmental gradient structuring the bird community follows the forest coverage. We found that both endemic and non-endemic montane species are more closely associated with montane forest remnants, compared to widespread species. Endemic species are most closely dependent on continuous forest cover. However, some montane species did not show any clear habitat associations and thus can be viewed as local habitat generalists. This study shows that many restricted-range species (including endangered endemics) are able to live in fragmented landscapes, which cover a substantial part of the Bamenda Highlands. Therefore, conservation programmes should focus their action plans on these landscapes.

Unusual abundance–range size relationship in an Afromontane bird community: the effect of geographical isolation?

AbstractAim To show that the frequently reported positive trend in the abundance–range‐size relationship does not hold true within a montane bird community of Afrotropical highlands; to test possible explanations of the extraordinary shape of this relationship; and to discuss the influence of island effects on patterns of bird abundance in the Cameroon Mountains.Location Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon, Western Africa.Methods We censused birds during the breeding season in November and December 2003 using a point‐count method and mapped habitat structure at these census points. Local habitat requirements of each species detected by point counts were quantified using canonical correspondence analysis, and the size of geographical ranges of species was measured from their distribution maps for sub‐Saharan Africa. We tested differences in abundance, niche breadth and niche position between three species groups: endemic bird species of the Cameroon Mountains, non‐endemic Afromontane species, and widespread species.Results We detected neither a positive nor negative abundance–range‐size relationship in the bird community studied. This pattern was caused by the similar abundance of widespread, endemic and non‐endemic montane bird species. Moreover, endemic and non‐endemic montane species had broader local niches than widespread species. The widespread species also used more atypical habitats, as indicated by the slightly larger values of their niche positions.Main conclusions The relationship detected between abundance and range size does not correspond with that inferred from contemporary macroecological theory. We suggest that island effects are responsible for the observed pattern. Relatively high abundances of montane species are probably caused by their adaptation to local environmental conditions, which was enabled by climatic stability and the isolation of montane forest in the Cameroon Mountains. Such a unique environment provides a less suitable habitat for widespread species. Montane species, which are abundant at present, may also have had large ranges in glacial periods, but their post‐glacial distribution may have become restricted after the retreat of the montane forest. On the basis of comparison of our results with studies describing the abundance structure of bird communities in other montane areas in the Afrotropics, we suggest that the detected patterns may be universal throughout Afromontane forests.

Understanding the Links Between Conservation and Development in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon

Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) attempt to link the conservation of natural resources with the development needs of local people. Recent reviews have provided differing perspectives on the relative success of ICDPs in addressing either their conservation or development objectives. This paper explores local perceptions of an ICDP that has been established for more than a decade around the Kilum–Ijim Forest, in North West Province, Cameroon. The study tested the assumptions underlying the ICDP: that by improving incomes and livelihoods from the land in and around the forest, pressure on the forest would decrease, contributing to conservation objectives. The study provides evidence that livelihood activities can have a conservation impact by helping to change local attitudes and behavior. Furthermore, the study analyzes and develops, some of the “factors for success” highlighted by previous papers.

A New Subspecies of Indigofera patula Baker (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) and a New Record for the Species in West Africa

Two recent collections of a previously unknown member of the taxonomically difficult and speciose Indigofera section Viscosae Rydb. (Schrire 1995) have been made from the Mt Oku area in the North West Province of Cameroon. They were gathered during a botanical inventory conducted jointly by the National Herbarium of Cameroon and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Cheek et al. 1997). The specimens were initially identified as being allied to Indigofera atriceps Hook. f. (but lacking the characteristic blackish hairs of that species) and Indigofera mimosoides Baker, both of which are recorded for Cameroon. Closer examination, however, revealed that these collections are apparently closest to the East and South-Central African Indigofera mimosoides Baker var. viscidior J. B. Gillett, which as a result of revisionary work by the first author for the Flora Zambesiaca account of Indigofera, has been placed in synonomy under Indigofera patula Baker. The latter differs from I. mimosoides in being usually a perennial herb or suffrutex (not an annual herb), with shorter, more even and numerous, conspicuously blackish gland-tipped hairs 0.1 1(3) mm long (vs. longer, more slender, less even and fewer glandular hairs to 4(5) mm long, not or minutely gland-tipped); leaflets with the margins and often the midrib beneath fringed with gland-tipped hairs (vs. leaflet margins of juvenile leaflets only with glandular hairs) and larger flowers with stamens 4 7 mm long and the style 3.5 4.5 mm long, bent to erect ? in the distal third (vs. stamens (2.5 -)3 4.5 mm long and the style 2.8 3.5 mm long, bent to erect ? in the middle). Mt Oku (3011 m) is the second highest mountain in Cameroon after Mt Cameroon (4095 m) and is part of the Bamenda Highlands, a chain of mountains with many peaks above 2000 m. The Bamenda Highlands are densely populated and intensively cultivated and grazed. The largest fragments of natural vegetation remaining in the Bamenda Highlands are believed to be those at Mt Oku which is protected by the Kilum-Ijim Projects managed by BirdLife International. Montane

A New Species and a New Combination in Chassalia (Rubiaceae) from Western Cameroon

Chassalia laikomensis is described as a new species from the Bamenda Highlands of western Cameroon. Its diagnostic characteristics are elucidated in relation to other taxa of the genus with which it has been confused. Notes on its conservation status and on its main stronghold, Mount Oku and the Ijim ridge, are provided. A new combination is made for a lowland species, Chassalia pteropetala, from Mount Cameroon.

Bioethics: An African Perspective

In this paper I have attempted to open a window on an African approach to Bioethics — that of the Nso' of the Bamenda Highlands of Kamerun — from the vantage position of someone who has familiarity with both African and Western cultures. Because of its scientific‐cum‐technological sophistication and its proselytising character, Western culture, as well as Western systems of thought and practice, have greatly affected and influenced other cultures, particularly African culture. But Western culture, systems of thought and practice, have been highly impervious and immune to influences from other cultures, philosophies, systems of thought and practice, even where these might have been salutary and enriching to Western culture and systems. What I have here termed Nso' eco‐bio‐cummunitarianism clearly indicates a viable alternative world‐view within which some of the bioethical perplexities and controversies of today might be more satisfactorily resolved than within a Western framework. I have further attempted to show, by way of example, how within such a world‐view, abortion and suicide, for instance, would be disapproved of while euthanasia, in its etymological purity, is approved of.

Bioethics: an African perspective.

In this paper I have attempted to open a window on an African approach to Bioethics -- that of the Nso' of the Bamenda Highlands of Kamerun [Cameroon] -- from the vantage position of someone who has familiarity with both African and Western cultures. Because of its scientific-cum-technological sophistication and its proselytising character, Western culture, as well as Western systems of thought and practice, have greatly affected and influenced other cultures, particularly African culture. But Western culture, systems of thought and practice, have been highly impervious and immune to influences from other cultures, philosophies, systems of thought and practice, even where these might have been salutary and enriching to Western culture and systems. What I have here termed Nso' eco-bio-communitarianism clearly indicates a viable alternative world-view within which some of the bioethical perplexities and controversies of today might be more satisfactorily resolved than within a Western framework. I have further attempted to show, by way of example, how, within such a world-view, abortion and suicide, for instance, would be disapproved of while euthanasia, in its etymological purity, is approved of.