Conservation planning in an agricultural landscape: the case of Sharpe's Longclaw

Lens, L., Muchai, M., Bennun, L.A. & Duchateau, L. 2000. Conservation planning in an agricultural landscape: the case of Sharpe's Longclaw. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 300–303. We studied the distribution and habitat use of Sharpe's Longclaw, Macmnyx sharpei, a Kenyan montane grassland endemic, in a fragmented agricultural landscape at two spatial scales. Monthly counts in a fixed number of plots selected in contrasting habitat types provided insight in the species' distribution in relation to the available habitat. Simultaneously, focused ecological work in a smaller area provided information on its behaviour, movements and habitat choice, and allowed us to interpret the wider distribution patterns in a biologically meaningful way. Sharpe's Longclaw occurs only in grasslands, not in cultivated fields or plantations of exotic trees. It prefers short grassland with a well-developed tussock structure, apparently because tussocks provide good cover while foraging and nesting. However, as tussock grass is unpalatable...