THE INFLUENCE OF FIRE ON SALTATORIA DIVERSITY IN COASTAL HABITATS NEAR PANGANI, TANZANIA (EAST AFRICA)

In burnt coastal grasslands, fire-disturbed forest remnants, and undisturbed coastal forests of the Pangani area (Tanzania) 61 Saltatoria species were recorded. Comparing open-land habitats with forest and forest edge habitats, diver- sity rises in open-land habitats, as nearly 60% of the recorded species were found within grasslands. However, the share of endemic and near-endemic species decreases, as only 5% of the species occurring in open-land habitats were endemics, 14% are distributed throughout East Africa, and the majority (81%) are widespread forms. Forest and forest edge habitats, on the other hand, had 60% endemic species, 32% species restricted to East Africa, and only 8% widespread Saltatoria. The majority of the coastal endemics are highly endangered by the ongoing destruction of indigenous forest. Tangana asymmetrica was one of the few coastal endemics that also occurred in fire-influenced forest remnants, while most other forest species were exclusively found in closed undisturbed forest communities of the Gendagenda forest reserve. The new record of Parepistaurus pygmaeus in the Gendagenda reserve offers an explanation of the hitherto disjunct distribution of this flightless species.