Diversity Patterns of Rodent Assemblages in the North of Fazao-Malfakassa National Park (Togo) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rodent Assemblages in the Mosaic of Habitat Types in the Zambezian Bioregion
Diversity
Rodent assemblages have ecological importance in ecosystem functioning and protected area management. Our study examines the patterns of assemblages of rodents across four habitat types (i.e., Miombo woodland, Acacia woodland, grasslands and farmlands) in the savanna environment. Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods were applied for data collection across the Chembe Bird Sanctuary (CBS) landscape. The Non-metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling (NMDS) was used for exploratory data analysis, followed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey–Kramer’s Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) post-hoc tests. The rodent assemblages in CBS significantly differed between the non-farmlands (i.e., Miombo woodland, Acacia woodland and grasslands) and farmlands. There were: (1) zero rodent diversity in farmlands, dominated completely by a pest species, M. natalensis; and (2) different rodent assemblages in three non-farmland habitat types. We suggest that rodent assemblages should be mediated by conser...
Integrative Zoology, 2007
Rodents form a vital component of Free State ecosystems and monitoring them may be a relatively quick and inexpensive method of indicating healthy or unhealthy ecosystem functioning. Using removal trapping, we have studied rodent seasonal abundance, species richness, Shannon diversity, and evenness of rodents in four habitats in the Tussen-die-Riviere Nature Reserve, inspected the most successful sampling method for these habitats, and report on their community structure and how it is related to an Ecological Index (≈ EI value of grassland). Both species richness and Shannon diversity increased significantly with EI value. The indicator species Mastomys coucha occurred at all plots, but contributed the largest proportion of the total captures (ca. 80%) at the plot with lowest EI value. Other results important for small mammal monitoring and collecting are that trap success and species richness was highest in autumn. This study also confirms that four days and nights continuous trapping is essential for the effective sampling of rodent communities in Free State grasslands. Our results partially support expectations that the number of specialist species increases with succession, M. coucha dominance acts as an indicator of habitat disturbance, rodent species richness conforms to Tilman's hump-shaped curve model, and adds to a baseline of diversity indices in a variety of grassland habitats.
Diversity of Rodents (Rodentia: Mammalia) in the Kandolo Forest Reserve (Maniema Province, DR Congo)
2020
Our work entitled: Diversity of Rodents (Rodentia: Mammalia) in the Kandolo Forest Reserve (Maniema Province, DR Congo) aimed to assess the biodiversity of Rodents in the Kandolo Forest Reserve while comparing the specific diversity during two capture sessions and in the two prospected habitats (Mixed primary forest (FPM) and Gilbertiodendron dewevrei primary forest (FPG) Finally, assess the distribution of Rodents in the two habitats (FPG and FPM) prospected by sex. These objectives have been achieved. To achieve this, only one method was used in the field, the only in-line trapping using two types of traps including Sharmen and Pitfall. Two habitats were explored (primary mixed forest and primary forest at Gilbertiodendron dewevrei) during 2 capture sessions. After processing the data, the results presented 153 captured Rodents synthesized as follows: For a total of 153 individuals captured in the two habitats prospected during the two capture sessions, the first capture session c...
2010
A study on the species richness, abundance and habitat preference of rodents of Komto Protected Forest was carried out from July, 2009 to Feburary, 2010 encompassing both wet and dry seasons. The study investigates rodent species richness and their habitat preference in the study area. Furthermore, the role of different soil types associated with rodent habitat preference and abundance was also investigated. The study was carried out using Sherman live and snap traps in maize farm, grassland, bushland and forest habitats. A total of 312 individual rodents (live traps) and 66 (snap traps) were captured over 2352 and 1200 trap nights, respectively. The species composition and relative abundance were: Stenocephalemys albipes (48.4%), Lophuromys flavopunctatus (27.6%), Lemniscus. striatus (10.3%), Pelomys harringtoni (7.7%), Rattus rattus (5.1%) and Mus mahomet (0.9%). In addition, a shrew Crocidura flavescens was also captured. Mastomys natalensis and Arvicanthis species were absent which was unexpected as these species were most common in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the rodent species preferred grassland and maize farm to bushland and forest. Bushland and forest habitats provided more number of individual rodents with few species. This is because environmental variables, for example, plant species composition might not favor all animals equally. Males comprised 52.9% and females 47.1% of the total capture. Among the total rodents captured, adults, subadults and juveniles comprised 60.6 %, 28.8% and 10.6%, respectively. Loamy soil formed the grassland and forest habitats, whereas the maize farm had sandy clay soil. Active or new burrows were not recorded in all habitats during the wet season. This might be a mechanism of avoiding the effect of flooding, and due to the presence of suffcient ground cover in wet season. However, during both seasons, new burrows or/and abandoned burrows were not recorded from grassland and forest habitats because of sufficient ground cover. Therefore, the effect of soil should be considered in ecological based rodent management in agricutural system.
Spatio-temporal home range of the dominant rodent species in Mabira central forest reserve, Uganda
Ssuuna James, 2023
Background Rodents form the largest order among mammals in terms of species diversity, and home range is the area where an individual normally moves during its normal daily activities. Information about rodent home ranges is paramount in the development of effective conservation and management strategies. This is because rodent home range varies within species and different habitats. In Uganda, tropical high altitude forests such as the Mabira Central Forest Reserve are experiencing continuous disturbance. However, information on rodent home range is lacking. Therefore, a two year Capture-Mark-Release (CMR) of rodents was conducted in the intact forest habitat: Wakisi, regenerating forest habitat: Namananga, and the depleted forest habitat: Namawanyi of Mabira Central Forest Reserve in order to determine the dominant rodent species, their home ranges, and factors affecting these home ranges. The home ranges were determined by calculating a minimum convex polygon with an added boundary strip of 5 m. (2023) 23:40 Conclusion The significant variation in home ranges of the dominant rodent species in Mabira Central Forest Reserve depending on the type of habitat presupposes that the rodent management strategies in disturbed forest reserves should focus on the type of habitat.
Rodent community of dry African savanna : population study
Mammalia, 1985
Small mammal community was studied for one year in arid savanna near Cabora Bassa, Mozambique. Information is given on species composition and abundance. For four most common rodent species data on population density, age composition, reproductive period and litter size, as well as taxonomic measurements, are presented. It is suggested that the study site was a dry-season refugium for rodents, and that the revealed pattern of seasonal variation in rodent density resulted from their seasonal dispersal onto the vast areas during the more favorable rainy period. Resume.-L'etude d'une communaute de petits mammiferes pendant une annee dans une savane aride du Mozambique permet de donner des informations sur les especes qui la constituaient et sur leur abondance. Des donnees sont presentees sur la densite de population, les classes d'äge, la periode de reproduction et Pimportance des portees, ainsi que des mensurations concernant les 4 especes de rongeurs les plus communes. Le milieu etudie parait etre un refuge pour les rongeurs pendant la saison seche. La variation saisonniere de la densite des rongeurs parait resulter de leur dispersion saisonniere sur de grandes surfaces au cours de la saison des pluies la plus favorable.
We sampled small mammal assemblage in a mosaic of Valley Thicket vegetation in the Great Fish River Reserve during the summers of 2001 and 2002. Assemblage was dominated by seven rodent species with a single nonrodent species (Elephantulus edwardii) in the 357 trapped specimens. Rhabdomys dilectus was the most abundant in both years, followed by Mus minutoides (ranking 2nd in 2001) and Mastomys coucha (2nd in 2002). These three species, which are widespread generalists, made up 85.0% of the total rodent catch in 2001 and 74.3% in 2002. Individual species were captured on 2-14 sites of a total of 17 and M. minutoides was the most widespread. The majority of samples consisted of two (ten sites in a pooled sample for 2 years) or three species (ten sites). Significant morphological structuring was found only in two-species samples. Species turnover was high both among sites and between the 2 years. We found no evidence of significant nested structure which would suggest hierarchical sets of ecological relationships among the species. Vegetation structure explained better than species interactions, the population variables in the rodent assemblage.
African Journal of Ecology, 2009
A Capture-Mark-Recapture study was undertaken in Central Tanzania to compare variations in community structure and population dynamics of rodents in two types of habitats. The study was conducted in fallow field mosaic habitat dominated by perennial and annual grasses (grid BEA) and a more heterogeneous habitat (grid BEB) which was previously woodland cleared of most trees with vegetation dominated by shrubs, bushes, scattered trees and perennial grass. The relative abundance of rodents in BEA was: Mastomys natalensis (73.5%) > Aethomys chrysophilus (8.9%) > Gerbilliscus vicina (7.3%) > Arvicanthis neumanni (6.1%) > Acomys spinosissimus (4.1%) and for grid BEB: M. natalensis (67.6%) > G. vicina (11.2%) > A. neumanni (10.3%) > A. chrysophilus (7.6%) > A. spinosissimus (2.9%). Graphiurus sp., Mus minutoides, Saccostomus mearnsi, Lemniscomys striatus and L. griselda were rare and only occasionally trapped in BEB. Spatial variations in population density were non-significant except for A. chrysophilus. Significant temporal variations within grids were observed, with synchrony of population peaks for some species. The rare species boosted species richness of grid BEB rather artificially, without significantly contributing to higher species diversity. Temporal variations in Simpson's Diversity indices between grids were non-significant except for three out of twenty-one trapping sessions. Tanzania façon plutôt artificielle la richesse en espèces de la grille BEB, sans contribuer significativement à une plus grande diversité des espèces. Des variations temporelles des indices de diversité de Simpson entre les grilles n'étaient pas significatives sauf pour trois des 21 sessions de captures.