Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands
A study on population density, feeding, and reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and the adjacent farmlands was conducted from July 2018-September 2020. Live and snap traps were used for capturing rodents from the study area. The Capture-Mark-Release method was employe...
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ftjafricanj:oai:ajol.info:article/224496 2023-05-15T18:05:38+02:00 Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands Takele, Bewketu Yihune , Mesele Bekele, Afework 2022-04-27 application/pdf https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496 eng eng Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496/211792 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496 SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science; Vol. 45 No. 1 (2022); 86-96 2520-7997 0379-2897 Adjacent farmland Alemsaga Forest Feeding and Reproductive ecology Rodents density info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2022 ftjafricanj 2022-05-01T02:48:01Z A study on population density, feeding, and reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and the adjacent farmlands was conducted from July 2018-September 2020. Live and snap traps were used for capturing rodents from the study area. The Capture-Mark-Release method was employed to estimate the population size and respective density of rodents. Snap traps were used to capture rodents for body measurement and stomach content analysis. Embryo count was carried out from 64 pregnant females. Data were computed using descriptive statistics and compared with chi-square. Lophuromys simensis, Arvicanthis abyssinicus, Desmomys harringtoni, Mastomys natalensis, Stenocephalemys albipes, Rattus rattus, Arvicanthis dembeensis, Mus musculus, and Acomys cahrinus were recorded from the six habitats. The result indicated that a total of 1140 and 171 individuals were trapped in the study area with live and snap traps, respectively. The average population density of rodents was 47.4 h-1. The highest density was recorded in bushland habitat (75.1 h-l) while the least was in Carissa land (32.2h-l). In terms of species, L. simensis showed the highest density (111.65 h-l) whereas A. cahrinus was the lowest (1.7 ha-1). The overall densities of rodents were 224.82 ha-1 and 162.93 ha-1 during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The total rodent biomass in the study area was 160,495 g. The number of embryos counted ranged from 4-12 and 2-8 during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. However, there was no statistical significance between the two seasons (χ2 = 0.74, df=1, p> 0.05). Plant matters constituted a higher proportion of stomach contents (64.4%) compared to animal matters (13.2%). Generally, Alemsaga State Forest harbors rodent species with high density and biomass. Proper conservation of the area will contribute to the betterment of species density and biomass. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus AJOL - African Journals Online |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AJOL - African Journals Online |
op_collection_id |
ftjafricanj |
language |
English |
topic |
Adjacent farmland Alemsaga Forest Feeding and Reproductive ecology Rodents density |
spellingShingle |
Adjacent farmland Alemsaga Forest Feeding and Reproductive ecology Rodents density Takele, Bewketu Yihune , Mesele Bekele, Afework Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
topic_facet |
Adjacent farmland Alemsaga Forest Feeding and Reproductive ecology Rodents density |
description |
A study on population density, feeding, and reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and the adjacent farmlands was conducted from July 2018-September 2020. Live and snap traps were used for capturing rodents from the study area. The Capture-Mark-Release method was employed to estimate the population size and respective density of rodents. Snap traps were used to capture rodents for body measurement and stomach content analysis. Embryo count was carried out from 64 pregnant females. Data were computed using descriptive statistics and compared with chi-square. Lophuromys simensis, Arvicanthis abyssinicus, Desmomys harringtoni, Mastomys natalensis, Stenocephalemys albipes, Rattus rattus, Arvicanthis dembeensis, Mus musculus, and Acomys cahrinus were recorded from the six habitats. The result indicated that a total of 1140 and 171 individuals were trapped in the study area with live and snap traps, respectively. The average population density of rodents was 47.4 h-1. The highest density was recorded in bushland habitat (75.1 h-l) while the least was in Carissa land (32.2h-l). In terms of species, L. simensis showed the highest density (111.65 h-l) whereas A. cahrinus was the lowest (1.7 ha-1). The overall densities of rodents were 224.82 ha-1 and 162.93 ha-1 during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The total rodent biomass in the study area was 160,495 g. The number of embryos counted ranged from 4-12 and 2-8 during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. However, there was no statistical significance between the two seasons (χ2 = 0.74, df=1, p> 0.05). Plant matters constituted a higher proportion of stomach contents (64.4%) compared to animal matters (13.2%). Generally, Alemsaga State Forest harbors rodent species with high density and biomass. Proper conservation of the area will contribute to the betterment of species density and biomass. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Takele, Bewketu Yihune , Mesele Bekele, Afework |
author_facet |
Takele, Bewketu Yihune , Mesele Bekele, Afework |
author_sort |
Takele, Bewketu |
title |
Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
title_short |
Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
title_full |
Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
title_fullStr |
Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from Alemsaga Priority State Forest and adjacent farmlands |
title_sort |
population density, feeding and, reproductive ecology of rodents from alemsaga priority state forest and adjacent farmlands |
publisher |
Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science; Vol. 45 No. 1 (2022); 86-96 2520-7997 0379-2897 |
op_relation |
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496/211792 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sinet/article/view/224496 |
_version_ |
1766177125825511424 |