Biogeography and Ecology of the Rain Forests of Eastern Africa

by Edited by Jon C. Lovett , Samuel K. Wasser

• ISBN13: 9780521068987
• ISBN10: 0521068983
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Eastern African rain forests are remarkable in their high level of endemism. Miocene uplift of the central African plateau separated these montane and coastal forests from the main Guineo-Congolian forest of west and central Africa. Since then, stable Indian Ocean temperatures maintained a region of high rainfall throughout Pleistocene droughts that devastated forest elsewhere on the continent. Relics of the former Pan-African rain forest survived here, the study of which provides a unique insight into tropical evolutionary processes. This book brings together research on the animals, plants and geography of this intriguing residual forest, and highlights the need for effective management practices to conserve its exceptional biodiversity in the face of increasing pressure for land for cultivation.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Overview of the biogeography and ecology of the rain forests of eastern Africa

The geological evolution of east Africa

Climatic history and forest distribution in eastern Africa

Forest Flora of Eastern Africa

Eastern Arc moist forest flora

East African coastal forest botany

Forest Fauna of Eastern Africa

Biogeography of the east African montane forest millipedes

The lynyphiid fauna (araneae: lynyphiidae) of the forests in the Eastern Arc mountains

The montane butterflies of eastern Africa

Herpetofauna of the eastern African forests

The zoogeography of the montane forest avifauna of Eastern Tanzania

Mammals in the forests of eastern Africa

Ecology of the Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkey, Colobus badius kirkii (Gray, 1968), in comparison with other red colobines

The socioecology of interspecific associations among the monkeys of the Mwanihana rain forest, Tanzania: a biogeographic perspective

Conservation

The conservation of the forest resources of eastern Africa: past influences, present practices and future needs

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