Mlinga Forest Reserve: a biodiversity survey. - Coastal Forests of ...

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Mlinga Forest Reserve vi Despite its small size, Mlinga Forest Reserve supports a high diversity of mammal and butterfly species and a high number of near-endemic amphibian and reptile species. The reserve is home to 4 endangered and 23 vulnerable species according to the National Biodiversity Database (UDSM, 1997) and IUCN categories (Hamilton-Taylor, 2000). Mlinga Forest Reserve produced the first records of the toad Schismaderma carens in the East Usambara mountains. These records are believed to represent the most northerly record of this species to date. Mlinga Forest Reserve continues to be of spiritual value to local Washambaa communities. The forest serves as a source of medicinal plants and non-timber forest products. Ritual areas were witnessed to still be in use today. The greatest threat to Mlinga Forest Reserve, is fire disturbance that has threatened the forest annually and extensively in recent years. Pole cutting and animal hunting continue illegally on a small scale within the forest reserve. Local concern for the future of the forest reserve is apparent amongst elders in village communities. The information collected by this survey will be used for management planning by the EUCAMP. The survey results are also available as a baseline for monitoring. The data are stored on a Microsoft Access (version Windows 2000) database in the EUCAMP library in Tanga, and parts of it will be available on the Internet at the following address: www.usambara.com Animal specimens have been deposited at: the Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, University of Dar es Salaam; Natural History Museum, London; Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark; Frankfurt Zoological Museum, Germany and The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo. Contact names and addresses are listed in Appendix 2. Botanical specimens are held at the National Herbarium of Tanzania (NHT) in Arusha, Missouri Botanical Gardens, USA and Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, UK. East Usambara Conservation Area Management Programme Technical Paper 56
Mlinga Forest Reserve vii FOREWORD The East Usambara forests in northeastern Tanzania are part of the Eastern Arc mountains. More than one hundred years of biological interest and research have shown that these forests have a unique diversity of flora and fauna, and an exceptionally high degree of endemism. They have gained global recognition as being part of a Biodiversity Hotspot (Conservation International), an Endemic Bird Area (BirdLife), a Centre of Plant Diversity (WWF and IUCN) and a Globally Important Ecoregion (WWF). Since 1990, the East Usambara Conservation Area Management Programme (EUCAMP) (formerly known as the East Usambara Catchment Forest Project (EUCFP)) has worked in the East Usambara Mountains with the mission to protect these natural forests. The project is implemented by the Forestry and Beekeeping Division (FBD) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) with financial support from the Government of Finland, and technical support from Indufor / Metsähallitus Group. Although a considerable amount of biological information exists from the East Usambara Mountains much of this is restricted to the Amani area and systematic surveys elsewhere are few. In order to get more comprehensive information on the forests, biodiversity surveys were initiated and contracted in July 1995. The surveys are conducted by Frontier Tanzania, a joint venture between the University of Dar es Salaam and the Society for Environmental Exploration, together with EUCAMP. The aim of the surveys is to provide systematic baseline information on the biological values of different forests as a basis for management planning and long-term monitoring, as well as training forestry staff in the use of biological inventory techniques. They will also help setting priorities in the conservation of this valuable area. The programme involves locally employed field assistants, permanent EUCAMP, Frontier- Tanzania, University of Dar es Salaam, and Tanzania Forestry Research Institute staff, as well as an international network of taxonomists and other experts. The surveys have become progressively more systematic and quantitative, and have already resulted in the discovery of several previously unknown taxa. This will further raise awareness of the unique conservation values of the East Usambara Mountains. EUCAMP has also commissioned the development of a biodiversity database, a work which also contributed the maps to these reports. All data collected during the surveys is entered into this database, which is linked to the Tanzanian national biodiversity database held at the Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, University of Dar es Salaam. The reports are the result of the work of many people – too many to be listed here. We would like to thank all of them for their invaluable effort. We hope that the surveys will make yet another contribution to the long historic chain of efforts to study and understand these unique forests. Perhaps even more than that we hope that this information will contribute to better management and conservation of the East Usambara Mountains so that the beauty of the area will continue to amaze coming generations and that the light in the tunnel will become the bright future. Mathias Lema Project Manager Veli Pohjonen Chief Technical Adviser East Usambara Conservation Area Management Programme Technical Paper 56
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 53 The follow
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 57 5.0 FAUNA
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 67 KEY TO ABB
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 69 Ecological
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 71 5.4.4 Amph
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 77 The most e
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 85 7.0 REFERE
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 87 Litterick,
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 89 8.0 APPEND
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Appendix 3: General vegetation plot
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Mlinga Forest Reserve 93 Appendix 4
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Appendix 5 continued. Species LEGUM
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Appendix 6: Medicinal plants Summar
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