Acknowledgements
This study was generously funded by the International Gorilla
Conservation Programme We express our gratitude to Dr. Emmanuel De Merode,
Provincial Director of ICCN and site manager of Virunga National Park who
granted a permission to carry out this study in Virunga National Park. During
the collection of field data, we have benefited from technical assistance from
Warden in Charge of PNVi South and his staff including rangers and trackers to
whom we address our thanks. We also thank the Responsible of the Herbarium at
the Research Center in Natural Sciences at Lwiro who identified plant samples
which we couldn't determine during our field works. To all, we express our
gratitude for the work well done.
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Biodiversity survey of Mwaro corridor, Altitudinal
distribution of the vegetation and assessment of Gorilla food
availability
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background
The Mikeno sector is the largest component of the Virunga
Massif, both in terms of biodiversity and area (about 250 square kilometers,
more than half the total area of the Virunga Massif estimated at 440
km2). This is the only component that has remained almost intact in
the lower altitude (1800 m above sea level), which was retained in the Mwaro
corridor, and which plays an important ecological role for the seasonal
movements of a number of animal species such as buffaloes, elephants and
sometimes chimpanzees, between Nyamulagira and the Mikeno sector.
Unfortunately, since 1990, Mikeno sector has become the drama
of the most tragic human conflicts. A series of wars since 1996 has caused many
deaths and significant cross-border migrations. These wars have also destroyed
human institutions, resulting in massive deforestation and the slaughter of
many wild animals, including the endangered mountain gorilla (Gorilla
beringei beringei).
Military units and several thousand refugees engaged in
agricultural activities within the park, both in the Mikeno sector of the
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Volcano
NationalPark in Rwanda, cultivating exotic plants such as potato, tobacco,
wheat and hemp (Rutagarama, 1999).
We also witnessed massive deforestation by armed groups for
strategic purposes. It is in the ecological corridor of Mwaro that links Mikeno
sector to Nyamulagira sector in the Virunga National Park that the
deforestation has had the greatest impact. To limit the risk of ambush, the
military forces cleared the road side vegetation. The cleareance which
sometimes went 70 m deep into the forest had negative consequences for this
very important ecological link that populations of elephants and other animals
used in their seasonal movements.
Additionally, the armed rebel groups have freely used and
roamed different parts of the forest in Virunga National Park in particular in
the areas around the Mikeno volcano positioning their troops in park rangers'
outposts in Gatovu, Kibumba, Bukima and Bikenge. This has had enormous
repercussions on the living animal populations inhabiting Mikeno sector as
protection from park staff diminished. The ecological role of the Mwaro
corridor remains today unclear because its current status has been poorly
studied. To fill this gap in information, the IGCP has initiated a program of
ecological monitoring within the corridor.
1.2. Objective of IGCP Monitoring Program in Mwaro
corridor
The overall objective of the IGCP Monitoring program in the
Mwaro corridor is to assess the current ecological role and establish the
conservation status of this important corridor connecting two ecosystem blocs
(mountain gorilla habitat in Mikeno sector and Nyamulagira sector). To achieve
this overall objective, the program should fulfill the following specific
objectives:
a.
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Install a permanent transect and plot for collecting data on
plant species composition, phenology, and species distribution.
b. Document the seasonal movements of animals between
Nyamulagira and Mikeno sectors through the corridor using data collected along
the permanent transect and within the plot.
c. Discribe different types of vegetation in the corridor by an
altitudinal gradient and assess availability of plant species known eaten by
gorillas in this part of the park.
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