Patterns of bird species diversity within three vegetation types were investigated by the line transect method on Mundanthurai Plateau, South India. Minimum numbers of species and individuals were seen in the study area during July and August. Such seasonal variation was more pronounced in riverine and dry deciduous forest than in the secondary vegetation which was avoided by most of the winter migrants. There was a greater species overlap between riverine and dry deciduous forest than between riverine and secondary vegetation.

No relationship could be established between bird species diversity and tree species/foliage height diversity. The secondary vegetation had fewer specialized forest species and more generalists. Larger birds (>200 g) were rare but smaller ones (<50 g) were more common. The paper emphasizes that the conservation status of avifauna in managed forests in India needs to be assessed and monitored.

Seven species of rodent, Paraxerus ochraceus, Tatera robusta, Saccostomus meamsi, Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis, Acomys dimidiatus, Thamnomys (Grammomys) dolichurus and Hystrix cristata were recorded in the riverine forests of the Jubba Valley, southern Somalia, in the dry season of 1986. Acomys dimidiatus was the most common of the five species trapped. Overall trap success was low, but increased over successive days. Saccostomus mearnsi, Praomys natalensis, Acomys dimidiatus and Thamnomys dolichurus all showed signs of breeding, and pregnant females of A. dimidiatus and T. dolichurus were trapped until the end of the dry season. Analysis of stomach contents revealed that all five trapped species relied heavily on seeds and, where comparisons could be made, the degree of overlap in diets was high. The findings are discussed in relation to the environmental conditions in the forest and neighbouring habitats.

Tropical forest vegetation occurs within a narrow corridor along the semi-arid lower floodplain of the Tana River, Kenya. An inventory of the woody flora and ecological study of 12 forest areas in the Tana River National Primate Reserve (TRNPR) describe the composition and structure of this riverine forest ecosystem and identify patterns of regional and local diversity. Only 175 species in 49 families are recorded in the woody flora, but the geographic affinities of 98 species are from four major floristic regions in Africa: Zanzibar-Inhambane (31%), Somalia-Masai (16%), Guinea-Congolian (12%), and Zambezian (1%). Ten species are rare and/or disjunct. Forests have a disturbed physiognomy characterized by a low mean height (14.4 m), high species importance attributable to a few trees, low density (409 ha−1) and coverage (23.1 m2 ha−1) of trees > 10 cm dbh, and an abundance of palms and lianes. Changes along the river in sediment deposition and hydrology explain the high diversity of landforms and corresponding forest types in the TRNPR vicinity, but the absence of trees which are most important near Bura, Acacia elalior, and near Wema, Barringtonia racemosa, suggests that the regional diversity of the ecosystem is inadequately protected. Preservation of key resources, such as the endangered primates, should be coupled with protection of the forest heterogeneity that characterizes this dynamic landscape.