Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ...

Table 1. Numbers of Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable species in five majortaxonomic groups in the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests hotspotDegree of ThreatCountryTaxonomic Group CR EN VU Total Tanzania KenyaMammals 5 8 16 29 27 9Birds 3 1028 24 1015Amphibians 4 11 18 33 31 3Gastropods 3 3 1 7 4 3Plants 9 36 191 236 221 80Total 24 68 241 333 307 105CR = Critically Endangered, EN = Endangered, VU = Vulnerableranges have not yet been assessed (Q. Luke & R. Gereau pers. comm.). Gereau and Luke (2003)estimate the total number of globally threatened plant species in the hotspot is probably 1,200 ormore, including 973 taxa that are not in the 2002 IUCN Red List and that urgently need to beassessed for degree of threat status.Noticeably absent from the species outcomes are reptiles, freshwater fish and nearly all theinvertebrates. None of the reptiles or fish within this hotspot is currently on the IUCN Red List.This is a result of either (1) a lack of information on these species or simply (2) because nobodyhas yet made the required “assessment” for possible inclusion in the Red List. Amonginvertebrates, information was only available for gastropods. It is expected that many moreinvertebrate species (as well as plants and reptiles) will prove to be threatened once they areassessed using updated IUCN criteria. A list of potentially threatened dragonflies has also beencompiled by Viola Clausnitzer of the University of Marburg, Germany.Table 2 lists the 24 Critically Endangered species in this hotspot (five mammals, three birds,four amphibians, three gastropods and nine plants). Of these 24 species, 12 occur in Tanzania,seven in Kenya and five in both Kenya and Tanzania. If extinctions are to be avoided, the full setof these Critically Endangered species, together with the sites they depend on, must be rankedhigh among any priorities for conservation action. For example, 17 of the 24 CriticallyEndangered species in this hotspot are each restricted to a single site. This result is important forthe site prioritization process.There are other species in the hotspot, currently listed as Endangered, which should be reassessedfor threat status. These include the Zanzibar red colobus monkey (Procolobus kirkii)(less than 2,000, mostly in Jozani Forest Reserve) and Aders’ duiker (probably less than 800 in avery restricted range with a 50 percent decline within last 15-20 years) (Struhsaker pers.comm.). Two other Endangered species—African Elephant and African Wild Dog—wereidentified as “landscape species,” indicating that they will likely not be conserved through a sitebasedapproach alone.Site OutcomesThe definition of site outcomes produced 160 Key Biodiversity Areas for the Eastern ArcMountains and Coastal Forests hotspot (Appendix 2, Table 3). Among these, 41 sites areimportant for mammals, 29 for birds, 19 for amphibians, four for gastropods and 140 for plants.In the hotspot, 26 sites are home to 10 or more globally threatened species, 53 sites have two to19