A preliminary assessment of congruence between biodiversity patterns in Afrotropical forest birds and forest mammals

Databases compiled for forest birds and forest mammals in the Afrotropies w ere tested for congruence of overall patterns and hotspots of species richn ess and endemism. We also looked at how well a near-minimum set of priority areas for one taxon catered for the second taxon. Overall species richness and richness hotspots of forest birds were significantly correlated with t hose of forest mammals, as was the case for overall endemism. Endemism hots pots for Forest birds and mammals were not significantly correlated. The ne ar-minimum set for forest birds represented 136 (76.5%) forest mammal speci es. The near-minimum set for forest mammals represented 350 (93.62%) forest bird species. However, to represent all forest mammals three times each, 5 1 grids were needed in addition to the 78 chosen as a near-minimum set for forest birds, and to represent all forest birds three times each, 43 more g rids were needed in addition to the 80 selected for forest mammals. There i s some congruence between the patterns of richness. endemism and near-minim um sets for forest birds and mammals in the Afrotropics, but the one taxon does not provide the ideal conservation solution for the other. Further ref inement of the databases used in this paper would allow for more rigorous t esting of congruence between these two groups.