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Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences Vol.2(6)pp.166 - 175,September 2011
Available online Available online http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/journal/?a=journal&id=jabs
Copyright ©2011 Global Research Journals.
Full Length Research.
SPECIES RICHNESS, ABUNDANCE AND HABITAT PREFERENCE OF RODENTS FROM KOMTO PROTECTED FOREST, WESTERN ETHIOPIA
Mosissa Geleta1, Yosef Mamo2 and Afework Bekele3*
1Department of Biology, Wollega University, PO Box 395, Nekemte, Ethiopia, email:mosisagal1968@yahoo.com
2Hawassa University, PO Box 5, Hawassa, Ethiopia, e-mail: yosefmam@yahoo.com
3Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
*Corresponding author:afeworkbekele@hotmail.com
Accepted 16th July 2011.
| Abstract |
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.
Keywords: Diversity, Ethiopia, habitat preference, Komto Protected Forest, rodents