2. Growing Concern for the Conservation of Cavity-Nesting Birds Outside Protected Areas: Can Artificial Nest Boxes Be Effective Conservation Tools?

The overwhelming demand of deadwoods outside protected areas has not given deadwoods enough time to remain standing for the formation of the tree cavities by birds and other natural agents. Consequently, cavity adopter and large-bodied species face difficulties in finding and establishing acceptable nest sites. The focus of biodiversity conservation has been mainly within protected area systems, and less attention has been given to areas outside protected areas despite the fact that these areas support a bigger proportion of bird community. A high pace of deadwood loss on the entire landscape on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro is an irreversible situation in which is increasingly becoming a growing concern for the conservation of biodiversity beyond protected areas. Here, we investigate what extent deadwoods have in providing nest sites among cavity-nesting birds. We do this through observations and by placing artificial nest boxes on trees within three different land-use types. We found that deadwood volume and number of natural tree cavities were lower at coffee plantations as compared to mixed farming areas and Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA). Likewise, tree cavity positions from the ground were higher at coffee plantations than in other two land-use types. However, application of artificial nest boxes reveals that a good number of larger artificial nest boxes had greater occupancy, as did boxes placed at higher positions on trees from the ground at coffee plantations and mixed farming areas than at KINAPA, suggesting a shortage of natural cavity-nesting sites for larger birds and an avoidance of nest predation or human disturbances, respectively. Therefore, provision of artificial nest boxes could offer nesting opportunities for a range of cavity-nesting birds if designs and constructions take into consideration all possible factors that might hinder their occupation by cavity-nesting birds. In this manner, application of cavity nest boxes could be a vital alternative tool for conservation of cavity-nesting birds beyond boundaries of protected areas.