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| The Eastern Arc Mountains of East Africa are known for an exceptionally rich flora and
fauna with very high endemism. For the conservation of rare forest birds these mountains
are of the utmost importance in Africa. We provide the first population estimate of the
endemic Loveridge’s Sunbird Nectarinia loveridgei in the Uluguru Mountains of eastern
Tanzania. Our study was conducted between September and December 2000. Capturerecapture
using mistnets was used to gather data at eleven study sites between 1,300–
2,600 m altitude in four different areas on the Ulugurus. The program CAPTURE was
used to estimate the population at each study site. Since the home range of Loveridge’s
Sunbird is unknown, the density of the potential population was calculated by assuming
home ranges ranging from 0 km2 through to 3 km2. When combined with data on the
forest area in the Ulugurus and fixing the lower and upper home range sizes for this
species at 0.1 km2 and 0.8 km2, we obtain an estimated total population ranging from
21,000 to 166,000 individuals. A median home range of 0.45 km2 estimates the population
close to 37,000 individuals. The species does not seem threatened but its long-term survival
will depend on the survival of the forest, and in particular on how well the forest
reserves on the Ulugurus are managed in the future. | |
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