Rangeland degradation is poised to cause Africa's first recorded avian extinction

Animal Conservation

Volumn 12, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 249-257

  Spottiswoode, Claire N ^a   Wondafrash, M ^b   Gabremichael, M N ^c   Abebe, Y Dellelegn ^d   Mwangi, M A K ^e   Collar, N J ^e   Dolman, P M ^f  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^b Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society   (Ethiopia)

^c UNICEF   (United States)

^d Wellbrook Court ^*  (Ethiopia)

^e BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL   (United Kingdom)

^f UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Borana; Bush encroachment; Ethiopia; Fire suppression; Heteromirafra sidamoensis; Liben plain; Multi model inference; Pastoralism; Savanna; Sidamo lark; Transhumance

Indexed keywords

BIRD; ENDANGERED SPECIES; EXTINCTION; HABITAT FRAGMENTATION; NEW RECORD; PASTORALISM; POPULATION ESTIMATION; POPULATION STRUCTURE; POPULATION VIABILITY ANALYSIS; RANGELAND; SEX RATIO;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; ETHIOPIA; LIBEN PLAIN; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

AVES; HETEROMIRAFRA SIDAMOENSIS;

EID: 65649113607     PISSN: 13679430     EISSN: 14691795     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00246.x     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Angassa, A. (2002). The effect of clearing bushes and shrubs on range condition in Borana, Ethiopia. Trop. Grass. 36, 69-76.
2. Angassa, A. (2005). The ecological impact of bush encroachment on the yield of grasses in Borana rangeland ecosystem. Afr. J. Ecol. 43, 14-20.
3. Angassa, A. & Beyene, F. (2003). Current range condition in southern Ethiopia in relation to traditional management strategies: The perceptions of Borana pastoralists. Trop. Grass. 37, 53-59.
4. Angassa, A. & Oba, G. (2008). Herder perceptions on impacts of range enclosures, crop farming, fire ban and bush encroachment on the rangelands of Borana, southern Ethiopia. Hum. Ecol. 36, 201-215.
5. Anselin, L. (2003). GeoDa 0.9 User's Guide. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Spatial Analysis Laboratory, University of Illinos.
6. Augustine, D.J. & McNaughton, S.J. (2004). Regulation of shrub dynamics by native browsing ungulates on East African rangeland. J. Appl. Ecol. 41, 45-58.
7. BirdLife International. (2004). Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.
8. 2 and fire in promoting the spread of grasslands and savannas. Global Change Biol. 9, 973-982.
9. Borghesio, L. & Giannetti, F. (2005). Habitat degradation threatens the survival of the Ethiopian bush crow Zavattariornis stresemanni. Oryx 39, 44-49.
10. Buckland, S.T., Anderson, D.R., Burnham, K.P., Laake, J.L., Borchers, D.L. & Thomas, L. (2001). Introduction to distance sampling: estimating abundance of biological populations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11. Burnham, K.P. & Anderson, D.R. (2002). Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach. New York: Springer-Verlag.
12. Butchart, S.H.M., Stattersfield, A.J. & Brooks, T.M. (2006). Going or gone: Defining 'Possibly Extinct' species to give a truer picture of recent extinctions. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 126A, 7-24.
13. Collar, N.J., Dellelegn Abebe, Y., Fishpool, L.D.C., Gabremichael, M.N., Spottiswoode, C.N. & Wondafrash, M. (2008). Type locality, behaviour, voice, nest, eggs and plight of the Sidamo Lark Heteromirafra sidamoensis. Bull. Afr. Bird Club 15, 180-190.
14. Coppock, D.L. (1994). The Borana plateau of southern Ethiopia: Synthesis of pastoral research, development and change, 1980-91. Addis Ababa: International Livestock Centre for Africa.
15. Cottam, G. & Curtis, J.T. (1956). The use of distance measures in phytosociological sampling. Ecology 37, 451-460.
16. Dalle, Maass, B.L. & Isselstein, J. (2006). Encroachment of woody plants and its impact on pastoral livestock production in the Borana lowlands, southern Oromia, Ethiopia. Afr. J. Ecol. 44, 237-246.
17. Desta S. & Coppock, D.L. (2002). Cattle population dynamics in the southern Ethiopian rangelands, 1980-97. J. Range Mgmt. 55, 439-451.
18. Donald, P.F. (2007). Adult sex ratios in wild bird populations. Ibis 149, 671-692.
19. ESRI. (1999-2004). ArcGIS: Release 9.0 [software]. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute.
20. EWNHS. (2001). Ethiopia. In Important Bird Areas in Africa and associated islands: Priority sites for conservation: 291-336. Fishpool, L.D.C. & Evans, M.I. (Eds). Newbury & Cambridge, UK: Pisces Publications & BirdLife International.
21. Fortin, M.-J. & Dale (2005). Spatial analysis: A guide for ecologists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22. Gaggi, F. (2002). Geological-hydrogeological survey report, Negele and Filtu Districts. Addis Ababa: Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI).
23. IUCN SSC. (2000). IUCN red list categories and criteria Version 3.1. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
24. de Juana, E., Suárez, F. & Ryan, P.G. (2004). Family Alaudidae (larks): Family introduction. In Handbook of the birds of the World: 496-541. Vol. 9. del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. (Eds). Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
25. Mellanby, R.J., Ross, B., Watt, A., Wondafrash, M., Ewnetu, M., Broadhurst, C., Critchlow, R., Dadesa, A., Deas, T., Enawgaw, C., Gebremedhin, B., Graham, E., Maclean, S., McKean, M., Collar, N.J. & Spottiswoode, C.N. (2008). Distribution, abundance and habitat preferences of white-tailed swallow Hirundo megaensis and Ethiopian bush-crow Zavattariornis stresemanni, two southern Ethiopian endemics. Bird Conserv. Int. 18, 395-412.
26. Morgan, J.A., Milchunas, D.G., LeCain, D.R., West, M. & Mosier, A.R. (2007). Carbon dioxide enrichment alters plant community structure and accelerates shrub growth in the shortgrass steppe. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 14724-14729.
27. Oba, G. & Kotile, D.G. (2001). Assessments of landscape level degradation in southern Ethiopia: Pastoralists versus ecologists. Land Degrad. Dev. 12, 461-475.
28. Oba, G., Stenseth, N.C. & Lusigi, W.J. (2000). New perspectives on sustainable grazing management in arid zones of sub-Saharan Africa. Bioscience 50, 35-51.
29. Puff, C. & Nemomissa, S. (2005). Plants of the Simen. Meise: National Botanic Garden of Belgium.
30. Quinn, G.P. & Keough, M.J. (2002). Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31. R Development Core Team. (2006). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
32. Riginos, C. & Young, T.P. (2007). Positive and negative effects of grass, cattle, and wild herbivores on Acacia saplings in an East African savanna. Oecologia 153, 985-995.
33. Roques, K.G., O'Connor, T.G. & Watkinson, A.R. (2001). Dynamics of shrub encroachment in an African savanna: Relative influences of fire, herbivory, rainfall and density dependence. J. Appl. Ecol. 38, 268-280.
34. Scholes, R.J. & Archer, S.R. (1997). Tree-grass interactions in savannas. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 28, 517-544.
35. Seleshi, Y. & Zanke, U. (2004). Recent changes in rainfall and rainy days in Ethiopia. Int. J. Climatol. 24, 973-983.
36. Tefera S., Snyman, H.A. & Smit, G.N. (2007). Rangeland dynamics in southern Ethiopia: (1) Botanical composition of grasses and soil characteristics in relation to land-use and distance from water in semi-arid Borana rangelands. J. Environ. Mgmt. 85, 429-442.
37. Stattersfield, A.J., Crosby, M.J., Long, A.J. & Wege, D.C. (1998). Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for biodiversity conservation. Cambridge: BirdLife International.
38. Thomas, L., Laake, J.L., Strindberg, S., Marques, F.F.C., Buckland, S.T., Borchers, D.L., Anderson, D.R., Burnham, K.P., Hedley, S.L., Pollard, J.H., Bishop, J.R.B. & Marques, T.A. (2006). Distance 5.0. Release 2. University of St. Andrews, UK: Research Unit for Wildlife Population Assessment.
39. van Vegten, J.A. (1983). Thornbush invasion in a savanna ecosystem in eastern Botswana. Vegetatio 56, 3-7.
40. Walker, B.H., Ludwig, D., Hollin, C.S. & Peterman, R.M. (1981). Stability of semi-arid grazing systems. J. Ecol. 69, 473-798.
41. Ward, D. (2005). Do we understand the causes of bush encroachment in African savannas? Afr. J. Range Forage Sci. 22, 101-105.
42. Watson, E.E. (2003). Examining the potential of indigenous institutions for development: A perspective from Borana, Ethiopia. Dev. Change 34, 287-309.
43. Wondafrash, M. (2005). A note on current conservation status of Heteromirafra sidamoensis. Unpublished report. Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society.