Bird Surveys in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas, Gabon

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Bird Surveys in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas, Gabon Bird Surveys in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas, Gabon George ANGEHR1, Brian SCHMIDT2, Francis NJIE3, Patrice CHRISTY4, Christina GEBHARD2, Landry TCHIGNOUMBA5 and Martin A.E. OMBENOTORI6 1 Introduction status of protected areas within the complex was revised, and two areas, Loango and Moukalaba- Approximately 2,100 species of birds are known from Doudou, were upgraded to National Parks. An analy- Africa south of the Sahara. Gabon is fairly well known sis by BirdLife International (Christy 2001) found the ornithologically, the first collections having been made Gamba Complex to qualify as one of Gabon’s six by du Chaillu as early as the 1850s. To date, 678 Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Important Bird Areas species have been recorded in the country (Christy are areas that have been determined to be most impor- 2001), or about 30% of the total known for sub- tant for the conservation of birds at the global level, Saharan Africa. Gabon’s bird diversity is relatively lim- based on the distribution of endangered, endemic, ited compared to some other Afrotropical countries, habitat-restricted, and congregatory species. such as Cameroon, which has more than 900 species. Despite its importance, there has been relatively lit- The main factors involved include its relatively small tle published ornithological work on the Gamba size and lack of habitat and topographic diversity. The Complex. Sargeant (1993) was resident at Gamba for natural vegetation of most of Gabon is lowland ever- five years and compiled a bird list for the immediate green and semi-evergreen forest, with only limited area, and as well as lists for other localities within the areas of savanna in the east and south, and its maxi- Complex, including Rabi, the Rembo (River) Ndogo, mum elevation is 1,575 m, compared to 4,095 m for and the east side of the Moukalaba Faunal Reserve, Cameroon. Because of this Gabon has relatively few based on much briefer visits. Schepers and Marteijn species native to savanna or montane environments. (1993) included some incidental observations of land In economic terms, in recent decades petroleum has birds from the area in their report on surveys of water- been Gabon’s most important natural resource. Many birds along Gabon’s coast. Christy (2001) provided a of Gabon’s deposits are in tropical forest areas, and list of species of conservation interest for the their development for production necessarily involves Complex, but without details on individual sites with- removal of some forest and its conversion to other in it. No detailed ornithological surveys have been habitats such as grass, scrub, and bare ground. Road undertaken in most of the Complex. building and construction can block or change In order to rectify this lack of information, the drainage patterns, altering the flow of streams and cre- Smithsonian Institution’s Monitoring and ating ponds, swamps, and marshes. Roads and pipeline clearings can fragment forests, and allow colonization 1 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, by potential competitors, predators and parasites Balboa, Ancon, Panama City, Republic of Panama. (Kroodsma 1982, 1984). Gas flares, by attracting and Email: [email protected] 2 Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, killing nocturnal insects, could potentially affect Smithsonian Institution, 10th Street and Constitution resources for some species. Avenue NW, Washington DC 20560, USA. Email: [email protected], The Gamba region has been a very important area [email protected] for oil development by Shell Gabon for more than 40 3 BirdLife International, B.P. 6776, Yaoundé, Cameroon. years. It is also a very significant area for the conser- Email: [email protected] vation of Gabon’s birds. Eight protected reserves 4 B.P. 2240, Libreville, Gabon. under various levels of protection (see following sec- 5 Gabon Biodiversity Program, Smithsonian Institution, S/C Shell Gabon, BP 48, Gamba, Gabon. tion), collectively known as the Gamba Complex of Email:[email protected] Protected Areas, were previously set up. In 2002, the 6 Brigade de Setté Cama, BP 48, Gamba, Gabon. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington, No. 12 I 327 Assessment of Biodiversity Program (MAB), in con- season there are two peaks in precipitation, the larger sultation with local stakeholders, and with the sup- in November (mean of 394.9 mm) and the smaller in port of Shell Foundation and Shell Gabon, under- April (301.5 mm); the rainy season month with the took more intensive bird surveys in the Gamba lowest precipitation is February (226.3 mm). Very lit- Complex. The principal objectives of this work were tle rain falls during the peak months of the dry season, (1) to obtain more detailed bird species lists and July (2.2 mm) and August (7.2 mm). All data is from other information on bird communities at sites in the Rabi 1989-2001 and provided by Shell Gabon. Gamba Complex, including areas subject to oil Oil development in the area of Gamba began in development and more remote areas; (2) evaluate 1967. In 1987 development began at the Rabi oil- differences between these areas that might be attrib- field about 80 km to the north, and a road and a uted to oil and other development; (3) obtain base- pipeline were constructed to connect the field to line information that could be used to develop mon- Gamba. More recently, oil has been discovered in the itoring programs or research projects on the effect of Toucan-Calao area just to the north of the Rabi field, development in the area. and roads and well sites were constructed in 2001 and 2002. 2 Study Areas We worked at four main sites within the Gamba Complex, two of them in areas of oil development The Gamba Complex totals approximately 1,130,000 and two at more remote and relatively pristine sites: ha centered on the coast around the town of Gamba. (1) the Gamba area; (2) the Rabi and Toucan oil The Complex originally consisted of eight protected fields; (3) Loango National Park; and (4) areas: the faunal reserves of Petit Loango, Ouanga Moukalaba-Doudou National Park (see map page Plain and Moukalaba-Dougoua; the hunting xxxii). These sites are described in more detail in the domains of Setté Cama, Iguéla, Ngové-Ndogo and following sections. Moukalaba; and the sensible-use faunal zone of Monts Doudou. In 2002 the status of the protected 2.1 Gamba areas was revised, and Loango and Moukalaba- Doudou National Parks were established. The natural habitats of the Gamba area include The coast consists mainly of sandy beach and sandy beaches, coastal scrub, and mangroves along sand dunes, with coastal scrub immediately inland. the coast, and swamp and upland forests interspersed Wave action intermittently blocks lagoon and river with small strips of savanna inland. There are also a mouths with sand, producing small brackish or number of small lakes, including Yenzi and Totou, freshwater lagoons that periodically empty into the and the Ndogo Lagoon is directly to the north. sea during the rainy season when rains cause the Development in the area has included an extensive rivers to rise and breach these barriers. Mangroves complex of oil and gas wells in the Gamba and occur in lagoons and river mouths and other areas Ivinga fields, pipelines, the Gamba oil terminal, the sheltered from the surf. The Ndogo Lagoon is the towns of Gamba, Yenzi, and Vembo, an airport, and largest freshwater lagoon system in Africa. Beyond an extensive connecting network of roads. There are the coastal zone lowland tropical forest covers most also several traditional villages in the area that prac- of the area, including permanently and seasonally tice subsistence agriculture and hunting, principally flooded swamp forest and upland forest. with snares. Because of this, much of the forest in Immediately inland from the coast these forests are the immediate area of Gamba has been fragmented broken by small areas of savanna, and there is more and disturbed, but less-disturbed habitat occurs only extensive savanna on the eastern side of Moukalaba- a few kilometers away. Doudou National Park. The area mostly consists of We established four mist-netting sites in the lowlands, with the exception of the Monts Doudou Gamba area (see the Methods section for description area to the northwest, which reaches about 800 m. of mist-netting protocols). These sites were selected Average annual rainfall at Rabi was 2,301.8 mm to compare bird communities in areas adjacent to the for the period 1989-2001. The rainy season extends oil fields (Gamba-30 and Gamba-26) to those farther from October to May, and there is a short but intense away (Mayonami Road and Totou). The sites were: dry season from June to September. During the rainy (1) Gamba-30 (02°45’24”S, 10°00’29”E). This well 328 I Gamba, Gabon: Biodiversity of an Equatorial African Rainforest site is located in a block of relatively dry upland for- the northeast around M’Bari. Selective logging was est completely surrounded by roads and about 1.8 x conducted in the Toucan-Calao area more recently. 2.0 km in size. (2) Gamba-26 (02°45’31”S, On the new road between Rabi and Toucan, approx- 10°01’30”E). This well site is located in a block of imately the first 6 km were heavily affected by recent forest, including both upland forest and seasonally- logging, while the forest along the rest of the road flooded forest with areas dominated by raffia palms, was relatively intact. Likewise the first 4 km of the completely surrounded by roads and about 1.8 x 2.0 road between Toucan and Calao was mostly intact, km in size.
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