Adaptation of Comoro birds to disturbed forest habitat

Most of the original habitat on the Comoros was forest, but humans brought about important modifications. Presently, fifty-four terrestrial birds are resident. Endemism is as follows: Grande Comore is the richest (at species and at subspecies level); Moheli is Grande Comore's satellite, sharing some endemism; Mayotte is a smaller centre of endemism; Anjouan is the poorest. Habitat choice and abundance were essentially obtained from standardised p oint-transect counts. Habitat preferences: (i) Grande Comore: Otus pauliani , Humblotia flavirostris and Zosterops mouroniensis are restricted to high altitude; most other endemics reach highest densities in the remaining undi sturbed forests but some accept disturbed habitat, including the whole popu lation of Dicrurus fuscipennis; (ii) Moheli: several equivalent birds adapt better to secondary vegetation than on Grande Comore; (iii) Anjouan: the m ost disturbed; some endemics survive, showing their capacity for adaptation ; (iv) Mayotte: all forests are new and situated lower than on the other is lands. While most prefer 'forest', some are odd: Nectarinia coquereli is mo re common outside forest and the local Foudia eminentissima is restricted t o non-forest, as on Aldabra, while it is mostly a forest bird elsewhere. Ha bitat adaptation is an indication of survival possibilities: many endemics can seemingly survive if 'forest' (even planted) persists. A variable pictu re appears for the other species. Surprisingly, the perspectives for most i ntroduced birds are not bright, except for Acridotheres tristis, nowadays t he most common bird.