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

We studied the distribution and habitat use of Sharpe's Longclaw, Macronyx sharpei, a Kenyan montane grassland endemic, in a fragmented agricultural l andscape at two spatial scales. Monthly counts in a fixed number of plots s elected in contrasting habitat types provided insight in the species' distr ibution in relation to the available habitat. Simultaneously, focused ecolo gical work in a smaller area provided information on its behaviour, movemen ts and habitat choice, and allowed us to interpret the wider distribution p atterns in a biologically meaningful way. Sharpe's Longclaw occurs only in grasslands, not in cultivated fields or plantations of exotic trees. It pre fers short grassland with a well-developed tussock structure, apparently be cause tussocks provide good cover while foraging and nesting. However, as t ussock grass is unpalatable to livestock, this grassland type is being plou ghed up, re-seeded and converted to cultivation at an alarming rate, and th e remaining patches are becoming ever more isolated from each other. Althou gh only limited information on the species' population dynamics and dispers al ability is available, there is a clear need to conserve and manage the r emaining natural grassland habitat. Since most of the land within the speci es' distribution range is privately owned, keeping viable populations of Sh arpe's Longclaw may be extremely difficult.