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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aje.12219/pdf
The Uluguru Mountains form a component block of the
Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya and are
known for a high degree of endemic vertebrate and plant
taxa. Among the Eastern Arc Mountains, the Uluguru
Mountains rank second in the number of endemic species.
Although the forests in these mountains have received
considerable ornithological attention, studies on how forest
bird communities in the available low elevation forests are
affected by seasons remain patchy and sporadic. Such
studies are important because in the Uluguru Mountains,
forest destruction in the lower slopes has been severe to an
extent that there is very little substantial forest survives
below 900 m above sea level. Using mist netting, seasonal
variation in understorey bird communities in the remaining
low elevation forests in the Uluguru Nature Reserve
was assessed between 2005 and 2011. Species diversity
and relative abundance of the birds were higher during the
cold season in comparison with the hot season possibly due
to seasonal elevational movements of some species. Elevational
migrants made a large proportion of the avifauna in
the study area. The results suggest that low altitude forests
are important cold season refugia of elevational migrants