Species composition and abundance of small mammals in Chebera-Churchura National Park, Ethiopia

Abstract

In this study, we investigated species composition and abundance of small mammals (rodents and insectivores) in the recently established Chebera Churchura National Park, in Ethiopia between 2010 and 2011. Two study grids were established in seven selected habitats. In each grid, forty-nine Sherman live traps were used to capture the small mammals. A total of 704 individuals were captured in 5488 trap-nights. Among them, 682 (98.3%) were rodents and 12 (1.7%) were insectivores. These comprised 16 species of rodents and 2 species of insectivores. The captured species were: Mastomys natalensis, Mastomys erythroleucus, Lemniscomys striatus, Arvicanthis nilotiucs, Arvicanthis dembeensis, Acomys cahirinus, Rattus rattus, Mus musculus, Stenocephalemys albipes, Gerbilliscus robusta, Lophuromys flavopunctatus, Pelomys harringtoni, Mus tentellus, Crocidura fumosa and Crocidura flavescens. Tachyoryctes splendens, Xerus rutilus and Hystrix cristata were recorded as observed species. The abundance of species varied among habitats and between seasons. M. natalensis and L. striatus were the most abundant species, whereas C. flavescens was the least abundant. The age distribution and trap success of small mammals varied between seasons and among habitats. This study clearly shows that the park has a diverse fauna.

Species composition, abundance and habitat association of non‐volant small mammals in Gibe Sheleko National Park, southwestern Ethiopia

“…Relative abundance of small mammal species from six habitats This result goes in line with the study of Datiko and Bekele (2014) and Loggins et al (2019). The presence of diverse vegetation types in wooded grassland habitat could support higher number of species and individuals due to the presence of sufficient feeding and sheltering sites.…”

Composition, abundance and distribution of rodent species in Alemsaga Priority State Forest and farmlands, northwestern Ethiopia

“…This pattern of distribution shows that the species is adapted to diverse ecological situations. Different studies in various parts of Ethiopia (Datiko & Bekele, 2013;Kostin et al, 2020) also reported the generalist behaviour of this species. A widespread distribution of M. natalensis is also reported in Ethiopia, on the northwestern plateau and south of the Ethiopian Rift Valley (Kostin et al, 2020).…”

“…Several studies have been conducted on rodent species richness and distribution in Ethiopia including Chilalo‐Galama Mountain Ranges (Kasso et al, 2010), the Simien Mountains National Park (Yihune & Bekele, 2012), Kaka and Hunkolo, Southeast Ethiopia (Girma et al, 2012), Chebera Churchura National Park (Datiko & Bekele, 2013), Awi Zone (Bantihun & Bekele, 2015), Bale Mountains National Park (Fekadu et al, 2015) and Choke Mountain (Simeneh, 2016). Most previous studies on rodent populations targeted the protected southwestern forests, south and southeastern highlands (Chekol et al, 2012; Habtamu & Bekele, 2008; Kasso & Bekele, 2011).…”

Population dynamics of Rodents and Insectivores in lowland tropical rainforest ecosystem of Okomu National Park, Edo State, Nigeria

“…Adult and sub-adult groups had higher population size during the dry season than the wet season while juveniles had higher population size during the wet season. This might be due to the correlation between rainfall and the breeding patterns of for the majority of tropical small mammals (Happold, 1979;Datiko and Bekele, 2013), with most of the small mammals' species taking advantage of the availability of food and dense vegetation cover during the wet season to produce many offspring.…”