AmphibianandreptilesurveyWetseason2011Finalreport

SIMANDOUPROJECT(GUINEA)Railwaycomponent

LauraSandberger,NGoranGermainKouam,JosephDoumbia,KamanCamara,FrancoisGbmou,BlaisePivi

February2012

Content

Content1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................1

1.1 Context.....................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Objectives.................................................................................................................................1

2 Methods...........................................................................................................................................2 2.1 Reviewofexistingsurveysanddata........................................................................................2 2.2 Surveyteam,periodandsamplingeffort................................................................................2 2.3 Surveymethodology................................................................................................................3 2.4 Datacollection,managementandanalyses............................................................................4 2.5 Surveycoverage(generaldescription).....................................................................................6

3 Results..............................................................................................................................................8 3.1 FoutaDjalonRegion.................................................................................................................8

3.1.1 Sitespecificsurveycoverage........................................................................................9 3.1.2 Amphibianandreptilediversity....................................................................................9 3.1.3 Threatenedspecies(IUCNRedListandNationalstatus)...........................................10 3.1.4 Endemicity/distributionrangeofspecies..................................................................10 3.1.5 Newspeciestoscience...............................................................................................11 3.1.6 Priorityspeciesfactsheets.........................................................................................11

3.2 NigerRiverRegion..................................................................................................................14 3.2.1 Sitespecificsurveycoverage......................................................................................14 3.2.2 Amphibianandreptilediversity..................................................................................14 3.2.3 Threatenedspecies(IUCNRedListandNationalstatus)...........................................16 3.2.4 Endemicity/distributionrangeofspecies..................................................................16 3.2.5 Newspeciestoscience...............................................................................................17 3.2.6 Priorityspeciesfactsheets.........................................................................................17

4 Identificationofinvasivealienspecies...........................................................................................28 5 Levelofconfidenceandrepresentativityofsurveys......................................................................29 6 Currentthreatstoamphibianandreptilespeciesand/ortheirhabitat........................................32 7 Discussion.......................................................................................................................................33

7.1 Importanceofregionsofinterestforamphibiansandreptiles.............................................33 7.2 Recommendation...................................................................................................................34

References............................................................................................................................................35 Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................36 Appendix1............................................................................................................................................36 Appendix1............................................................................................................................................37

Introduction

1

1 IntroductionAglobaldemand for ironoreand thepresenceof large ironoredepositswithinGuinea leads tonumerousexplorationactivities for ironore,particularlywithinGuineForestire. TheSimandouRangeisoneofthelargestironoredepositsinGuineaandSimferSA,awhollyownedsubsidiaryofRio Tinto, and the International Finance Corporation are exploring the Simandou Range forfeasibility.PartoftheinfrastructureisaplannedrailwayfromtheSimandouRangetoKabakIsland,whereanewdeepseaportisplanned.ThisresultsinarailwaycorridortraversingmostofGuinea.

A large project as the Simfer project at Simandou demands thorough social, floristic and faunalstudies.SNCLavalin Inc.,EnvironmentalDivision (SNCLavalinEnvironment=SLE)wasassigned tocarry out the Social and Environmental Baseline Studies. One of the globallymost threatenedvertebrategroupsareamphibians,ofwhich30%ofspeciesareonthe IUCNRedList (IUCN2011).Anothergroup,reptiles,arecurrentlygloballyassessedandare likelyasthreatenedasamphibians(Gibbonsetal.2000). Ingeneralmost reptile speciesaremuchmorepoorly studied,making theassessmentmuchmoredifficult.

1.1 ContextThemaingoaloftheenvironmentalbaselinestudieswastogetanoverviewofthebiodiversityofthestudiedgroupspriortoconstructionorotheralterationsoftheenvironment.Hence,allregionsof interest,whichmightpresenthighvaluebiodiversityfeaturesandwhichmaybeaffectedbytheminingactivitiesoraccompanyinginfrastructure,shouldbesurveyed.

Withinthe lastyearsseveralamphibianstudieswerealreadycarriedoutfortheSimandouProject.ThesestudiesfocusedontheproposedminingareasinthePicdeFonClassifiedForestlocatedintheSimandouRange and some targeted speciesoccurring at Simandou (including amphibian surveysconductedintheFoutaDjalonandSouthEastGuinea).Hence,quitegoodknowledgeexistsontheamphibian faunaofPicdeFonClassifiedForestand thepossibleoccurrencesof targeted speciesoutsideoftheminefootprint.Theonlysurveyconductedalongtheproposedinitialrailwaycorridorfor amphibians focused on the Niger River area (NigerMafou Ramsar Site and the Niger RiverNationalPark)andwascarriedoutduringthedryseason(Bangouraetal.2008).Formostamphibianspeciesthedryseason isatimewheretheyare lesstonotactive. Hence,someoccurringspeciesmay not be recorded along the rail corridor even as they are present. Additionally passes theproposedrailwaythroughtheFoutaDjalonandending intheForecariahPrefecturewiththedeepseaport.Hence,anamphibianandreptilesurveyduringtherainyseasonintheregionsofinterestwasrecommended.

1.2 ObjectivesTheobjectivesof these surveyswere to get thebestpossibleoverviewofamphibian and reptilespeciesintheregionsofinterestforbiodiversityasidentifiedintheBiodiversityBaselineStrategyforthePortand theRailComponents (SNCLavalin,RioTintoandTBC2011). Methodsappliedwerebroadscale inventorysurveysaswellastargetedsurveysforfocusspeciesandreviewsofexistingdatafromtheprevioussurvey(Bangouraetal.2008)andexistingliteratureonsurveysconductedinthe regionsof interest. Additionally,preexistinghuman imposed threats tospeciesand/or theirhabitatwerenoted.Alltheseinformationgiveanoverviewoverthebiodiversityofamphibiansandreptilesandtheirrespectivehabitatalongtheproposedrailwaycorridor.

Methods

2

2 Methods

2.1 ReviewofexistingsurveysanddataFortheareasofinterestalongtherailcorridortheresultsofveryfewamphibianandreptilesurveysarepublished.MostofeffortandpublicationsofamphibianandreptilesurveyswereconductedinSouthEastGuinea,mainlyfocusingontheNimbaMountains.Thisliteratureishelpfulforthatareabutcannotbetaken intoaccountonthedifferenthabitatsoftheFoutaDjalonandtheNigerRiverarea. Onevery recentpublicationgivesacountrywidechecklist for reptiles (Bhmeetal.2011).Butnevertheless,thispublicationwasdoneonvoucherspecimenswithinMuseumsandhence,doesaswellconcentrateonGuineForestireandtheSouthEasternpartofGuinea.Hence,despite itstitle; it does not cover the areas included in this report and its data is neglected. Anotherpublication summarisesherpetologicaldataon theNigerRiverNationalPark (Greenbaum&Carr2005)andisreviewedwithinthisreport.

WithintheframeworkoftheSimandouProject,twobaselinecampaignswerecarriedoutalongtherailwaycorridor;thedryseasonsurveyintheNigerRiverregion(Bangouraetal.2008)andthewetseasonsurveyintheFoutaDjalonandtheNigerRiverregions(Sandbergeretal.2011).

2.2 Surveyteam,periodandsamplingeffortThedryseasonsurvey(03.02.300804.03.2008)wasconductedbyMohamedAlhassaneBangoura(teamleader)withtheassistanceofJosephDoumbia,KamanCamaraandBernardDor.Theteamwas completedby the cook (AlmamyDaouda Tour) and local guides. The team spend 28daysexclusively intheNigerRiverarea. Table1 identifies,foreachofthesurveys,thesamplingperiodandthesamplingeffort.

Thewet season survey team consisted alwaysofone team leader (Laura SandbergerorNGoranGermainKouam), JosephDoumbiaasGuinean team leaderand threeassistants (KamanCamara,FrancoisGbmou and Blaise Pivi). The teamwas completed by two Rio Tinto drivers (GoussouDoumbouyaandCherifSoumah),a cook (MohamedBashirBarry)andaGuineandoctor (DocteurLosseniCamara,as substitute foraparamedic). Within the respectivevillagesguideswerehired.The first threeweeks (11.06.2011 01.07.3011)were conducted in the Fouta Djalon and teamleaderwasLauraSandberger,thesecondhalfintheNigerRive