Seth Inman
Montane Avifauna Distribution in the Albertine Rift
Fellowship Year:
2019
Degree:
MEM
Research Country:
Rwanda
Research Continent:
Africa
Fields of Interest:
Avian ecology, biodiversity, tropical conservation management, endemism
Abstract:
I conducted fieldwork in the summer of 2019 to survey Gishwati forest, part of Rwanda's newest national park, more comprehensively than any previous study, with 180 independent points established in or within 1km of Gishwati forest, walking approximately 300 kilometers on transects and trails to record data and carrying out over 400 hours of combined direct observation and opportunities for bird detection while walking between points. This two-month effort has yielded 156 species of birds for the area, twenty of which are endemic to the Albertine Rift, and eleven of which had never been reported in the Gishwati area before (two of these eleven are endemics, one of which is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN RedList).
The first goal of my research is to finally establish an openly accessible baseline of the avifauna of the remaining fragment of Gishwati forest—at least as recorded during his two months of fieldwork—in a peer-reviewed ornithological journal. While back in New Haven I will be analyzing the results of the 400+ point counts conducted across and around the forest to determine if there are significant changes in avian diversity (considering factors such as body size, diet preference, forest dependence, and so on) based on proximity to the edge of the forest, which is surrounded by a mix of cow pasture, tea plantations, non-native Eucalyptus forest, and other agriculture. These results will help assess the impacts of fragmentation in tropical montane forests on bird communities.