Species Richness, Abundance and Habitat Association of Rodents in Yerer Mountain Forest Area, Central Ethiopia
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
An ecological study on the species richness, abundance and habitat association of rodents
was carried out in the farmland, bushland, forest and grassland habitats of Yerer Mountain
Forest Area from July 2010 to March 2011. By using Sherman live-trap and snap-traps, six
species of rodents and one species of shrew were identified within 3312 trap nights. The
identified species were: Lophuromys flavopunctatus (31.6%), Stenocephalemys albipes
(18.0%), Arvicanthis dembeensis (16.4%), Arvicanthis abyssinicus (17.6%), Mus Mahomet
(13.7%), Dendromys mystacalis (2.2%) and the shrew species Crocidura fumosa (0.5%).
The variation in the species richness among the habitats was minimal. But there was
significant variation in their relative abundance during wet and dry seasons. Seasonal
species composition within each habitat was not significant. C. fumosa and D. mystacalis
were the only species captured from the farmland and grassland habitats, during the wet and
dry seasons, respectively. Except for A. abyssinicus, C. fumosa and D. mystacalis all the
remaining species of rodents were trapped from more than one habitat. M. Mahomet was
common to all habitat types during both seasons. High mean trap success (23.5%) and
biomass (4151g/hectare) was obtained from the farmland habitat. The proportion of adult,
sub-adult and young individuals showed variation between species and season. Number of
pregnant females and embryo count showed seasonal variation. Stomach content analysis
showed high proportion of plant matter in all samples. The study recommended the
importance of further ecotourism based investigations on Yerer Mountain.
Key words: Biomass, Habitat association, rodents, species abundance and richness, trap success,
Yerer Mountain
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Keywords
Biomass, Habitat association, rodents, species abundance and richness, trap success, Yerer Mountain