Biodiversity Surveys of Poorly Known Coastal Forests of ...

3.4 Desk top Study
Our desk top study of forests that we were unable to visit included the following sites: Weme,
Kichi Hills, Kiwengoma, Matumbi Hills, Mchungu, Mbarawala, Ruara, Rondo, Unguja island,
Jozani-Chwaka forests, Pemba island and Ngezi forest. The islands of Zanzibar (Unguja) and
Pemba were included because many faunal references may not mention forests specifically, but
rather these larger entities; a species presently known from a particular forest might well occur
outside that forest and it is good to be aware of this possibility; also, a species not known from a
forest but endemic to the island in question might well be found in a forest at some future date.
It will be appreciated that these species lists are based on surveys often conducted by nonspecialists
and not necessarily in seasons propitious for the detection of all groups. In addition,
there are certainlytaxonomic difficulties. In many cases we have used the names provided in
unpublished reports, as it has not been possible to verify identifications of individual specimens.
Nonetheless, the records are indicative of the species present and therefore are useful baselines.
The results of this study are presented in Tables 3.8 (vegetation), 3.9 (amphibians), 3.10 (reptiles),
3.11 (birds) and 3.12 (mammals).
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