Vegetation habitats and small mammals in a plague endemic area in Western Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Abstract

Human plague still exists in different parts of the world, including some landscapes in northeastern Tanzania. Wherever the hotspot of plague, small mammals seem to play a key role as host. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between vegetation habitats types and small mammals in a plague endemic area of Lushoto District in Tanzania. A combination of field survey and Landsat images was used to identify the vegetation habitats. Small mammals were trapped in the mapped vegetation units, and identified. In total, six main types of vegetation habitats were investigated. A total of 13 small mammal species, potentially related to plague were trapped. Results show that annual cultivated crops habitat accounted for 80% of Mastomys natalensis while natural forest accounted for 60% of Praomys delectorum. These findings have shed new light on the diversity of rodents in different habitats of natural and semi-natural vegetations, and agricultural crops in the study area, which is an important intermediate step in unravelling the complex human plague system.

Ecological Biogeography of West Usambara Mountains: A Study on the Influence of Abiotic Factors to Spatial Distribution of Plant and Animal Species

“…This is in contrast to convex slopes with gravelly and shallows soils where there sparse vegetation and in many incases they harbour woody shrubs. It has been observed from this study that there are associations between vegetation establishment, and animals' species, which comply with studies by Njaka et al [6] and Meliyo et al [51]. This is in agreement with a work by Valencia et al [25] who reported the inluence of slope gradient and forms to trees distribution in South America.…”

“…The results are too supported by those reported by Njaka et al [6] who indicated that small mammal abundance increased with increasing elevation. The increase of small mammals with elevation could be atributed to favourable climatic conditions such occurrence of rainfall and reduced temperature compared to the low plain characterised by hot temperature and drought.…”

“…Table 1 shows that plant and animal species occur across the three major geomorphic units. The diversity of species per landscape varies as has been reported by Meliyo et al [51] and Njaka et al [6]. The authors indicated that species speciically vegetation/habitat diversity increases with increasing elevation.…”

“…In canyons, Ficus spp., have been observed and dense shrubs occupied by different animal species including primate, wild pigs and diverse small mammals [6].…”

“…There are discoveries made on biological diversity for small mammals [4][5][6][7], larger mammals such as primates [8], carnivores [9], invertebrates [10], reptiles and amphibians [11], and birds [12][13][14]. The literature also indicates rich diversity of plants like angiosperms [15,16].…”