Biogeographical patterns of endemic terrestrial Afrotropical birds
Date
2002
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Abstract
Biogeographical zones are described for terrestrial bird species endemic to the
Afrotropics using up-to-date distributional data and multivariate statistical techniques. This
provides an objective basis for a hierarchy of subregions, provinces and districts, based on a
set of rules. Results are compared to previous studies at continental and regional scales.
Biogeographical zones for passerines and non-passerines are compared and found to be
similar. Peaks of species richness and narrow endemism are described for the six major
subdivisions (subregions) identified by the cluster analysis. Coincidence of peaks of species
richness and narrow endemism is found to be low, such that areas selected to represent high
species richness tallies will often fail to represent narrow endemics. Strong regionalization of
Afrotropical birds indicates the need to use a biogeographical framework in conservation
priority setting exercises to ensure that unique, but species-poor, avifaunas are not
neglected.
Description
The original publication is available at http://www.blackwell-science.com/ddi
Keywords
Afrotropical region, Biogeography, Endemism, Birds -- Biogeographical zones -- Africa, Ethiopian region
Citation
De Klerk, H.M., Crowe, T.M., Fjeldsa, J. & Burgess, N.D. 2002. Biogeographical patterns of endemic terrestrial Afrotropical birds. Diversity and Distributions, 8, 147-162.