Species Richness, Abundance and Habitat Association of Rodents in Yerer Mountain Forest Area, Central Ethiopia
| dc.contributor.advisor | Bekele Afework (Professor) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Terefe Yonas | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-17T13:11:47Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-09T04:21:47Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-17T13:11:47Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-09T04:21:47Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-06 | |
| dc.description.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 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/9060 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Biomass | en_US |
| dc.subject | Habitat association | en_US |
| dc.subject | rodents | en_US |
| dc.subject | species abundance and richness | en_US |
| dc.subject | trap success | en_US |
| dc.subject | Yerer Mountain | en_US |
| dc.title | Species Richness, Abundance and Habitat Association of Rodents in Yerer Mountain Forest Area, Central Ethiopia | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |