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Occurrence Thresholds of African Ant-Following Birds Inside an Agroforestry Mosaic

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Occurrence Thresholds of African Ant-Following Birds Inside an Agroforestry Mosaic OCCURRENCE THRESHOLDS OF AFRICAN ANT-FOLLOWING BIRDS INSIDE AN AGROFORESTRY MOSAIC Master Thesis by Carolina Maria Ocampo Ariza Born in Bogotá, Colombia September 11th, 1991 Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Biology and Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the integrated bi-national degree MASTER OF SCIENCE/ MASTER OF INTERNATIONAL NATURE CONSERVATION (M.SC. / M.I.N.C.) From the Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen; Germany and Lincoln University, Christchurch; New Zealand Göttingen, Germany. May 30th, 2017 Carolina María Ocampo-Ariza Beneficiaria Crédito-Beca Colfuturo, Promoción 2015 First Supervisor: PD Dr. Matthias Waltert Workgroup on Endangered Species, Georg-August-Universität Bürgerstr. 50, 37075, Göttingen, Germany Second Supervisor: PD Dr. Holger Kreft Biodiversity, Macroecology, Conservation, Biogeography Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Büsgenweg 1, 37077, Göttingen, Germany German Title: Schwellenwerte im Vorkommen von Ameisen-folgenden Vögeln in einem afrikanischen Agroforst-Mosaik Day of Announcement: 01.12.2016 Day of Submission: 30.05.2017 Carolina Ocampo-Ariza Beneficiaria Colfuturo, Prom 2015 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Denis Kupsch who collected and provided the information used in this study and gave me useful feedback throughout the data analysis and writing process. His patience and support to master students have been vital for our study group to continue its research in the tropical forests of Cameroon. I sincerely thank him and ornithologist Francis Njie for their ornithological guidance and for making me fall in love with the avifauna of Korup National Park. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor PD Dr. Matthias Waltert for his help and encouragement in the development of this project. It has been a pleasure to work with a professor with such a wide knowledge and passion of the West-African fauna and their conservation; and even more being able to spend time together in the field. I am also sincerely thankful to my supervisor PD Dr. Holger Kreft, whose comments and constant feedback have helped me improve my skills in ecology, data analysis and even writing. I would like to thank my friends and fellow MINCs Meagan Selvig, Torben Langer and Jakob Katzenberger, with whom I’ve shared amazing experiences and valuable discussions about diverse conservation issues. I thank my aunt Dr. Ma. Cristina Ocampo for always supporting me in the ups and downs of my studies abroad. Last but not least I would like to thank my parents and my partner César, whose support has been essential for me to stay sane, happy and motivated all throughout my master studies. Thank you for your infinite patience and love. Carolina Ocampo-Ariza Beneficiaria Colfuturo, Prom 2015 3 ABSTRACT Afrotropical ant-following birds are known to be vulnerable to forest loss and disturbance but occurrence thresholds for these insectivorous species regarding forest cover have never been estimated. I tested the effect of forest cover, landscape and land-use type on the encounter frequency and species richness of ant-following bird communities in Korup National Park and its surrounding area in the Southwest region of Cameroon. I used data of forest cover and of 1812 ant-following bird records obtained through 10-minute point counts at 48 one-km2 sites, across an area of 4,000 km2 that contained three landscapes: Korup National Park, adjacent unprotected agroforestry areas and industrial oil palm plantations. Twenty-six bird species known for their ant- following habits (including occasional and frequent swarm attendants) were detected and classified into ecological groups according to diet (true insectivores, omnivorous and carnivores), preferred foraging stratum and nesting site. Occurrence thresholds in regard to forest cover were calculated using Multiple Additive Regression Splines for the encounter frequency and species richness of the whole community, non-frugivorous species and each of the ecological groups, as well as individual species. Encounter frequency of ant-following birds differed significantly among landscapes and land-use type and the interaction of such factors, while only landscape had a significant effect on the species richness of the community. Species richness declined from ca. 18 spp. in fully forested areas to <=10 spp. in sites with <74% of forest cover. At ca. 80% of forest cover, encounter frequency was reduced to less than 50% compared to fully forested sites (from an average of 40 birds in fully forested areas to 20 birds). Encounter frequency in non-forested sites within oil palm plantations, was limited to only one bird per km2 and detection of only one spp. There was a steady decline of species richness of ca. 1 species with every 7.8% of forest cover lost. The most sensitive species were the fire-crested alethe (A. castanea), with an occurrence threshold estimated at ca. 74% of forest cover; the eastern bearded greenbul (C. chloronotus), the shining drongo (D. atripennis), and the white-tailed ant-thrush (N. poensis), with occurrence thresholds estimated at ca. 52% of forest cover. Species foraging and nesting in the understory were absent below 52 % and 25% of forest cover, respectively; while clear occurrence thresholds were identified for the species richness of ground foragers and ground-nesting species at 52 % and 72 % of forest cover, respectively. This study show that African ant-followers are very sensitive to forest loss from industrial oil palm development. Wildlife-friendly farming systems require substantial proportions of forest cover, probably above 75%, to avoid the loss of these species at the landscape level. Carolina Ocampo-Ariza Beneficiaria Colfuturo, Prom 2015 4 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ 3 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ 4 LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 9 METHODS................................................................................................................................ 11 1. Study area ....................................................................................................................... 11 2. Sampling design ............................................................................................................. 13 3. Data collection ............................................................................................................... 13 4. Data analysis .................................................................................................................. 14 RESULTS.................................................................................................................................. 16 1. Description of the ant-following bird guild ................................................................... 16 2. Effects of landscape and land-use type on species richness and encounter frequency of ant-following birds ................................................................................................................ 17 3. Forest cover thresholds for ant-following birds inside a land-use mosaic .................... 18 4. Effect of forest cover change on ecological guilds from ant-following birds ................ 20 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 25 1. Overall response to deforestation .................................................................................. 25 2. Differential response of non-frugivorous species and ecological guilds ....................... 26 3. Implications for forest management and conservation in Southwest Cameroon ........... 28 CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 31 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 32 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX 1. ............................................................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX 2. ............................................................................................................................... 37 APPENDIX 3. ............................................................................................................................... 39 Carolina Ocampo-Ariza Beneficiaria Colfuturo, Prom 2015 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of the study area around the Korup National Park ............................................... 12 Figure 2. Mean value and error bars of encounter frequency and species richness of ant- following birds per study plot (1km2) inside the three landscapes
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