Avian species assemblages in African mangrove forests

Abstract

African mangrove forests are threatened by harvesting and climate change. Most bird species that occur in this habitat are either drawn from adjacent forests or woodlands or are marine and piscivorous species. Bird communities of East and southern African mangroves, along the coast from the northern shores of the Red Sea to the Mngazana Estuary in South Africa, are known mainly from a few vegetation studies. Mangrove bird communities in West and Central Africa are better studied, and are listed in this review, together with notes on habitat use within the mangroves. No African bird species are restricted to mangroves, but four species are strongly associated with mangroves in West and Central Africa. These mangrove forests also provide space for migrant warblers (of families Acrocephalidae, Phylloscopidae and Sylviidae), possibly because they lack similar-sized species that are resident in other African forest types. Although African mangroves appear to lack a distinctive avifauna, their possible values as foraging sites for resident coastal and forest birds and as refugia for migrating warblers remain to be documented.