Use of savanna landscapes by migratory warblers and sedentary farmers in Senegal.

Abstract

The Sahel region of West Africa has been the wintering region of many European-breeding warblers for thousands of years, and the landscape has been modified by migratory and sedentary humans. Increased human population and settlement over the past 150 years, together with changing agricultural policy and climate, have accelerated changes in the Sahelian landscape, with widespread loss of woody plants. This paper describes recent research in Senegal into the use of managed and unmanaged habitats by wintering warblers and explores the potential for warblers and farmers to continue to occupy the same space in these new circumstances.