Effects of habitat heterogeneity on rodent community ecology in West mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
| dc.contributor.author | Thomas ,Suzana Mei | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-10-21T10:59:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-10-21T10:59:50Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-11 | |
| dc.description | dissertation | |
| dc.description.abstract | EXTENDED ABSTRACT Mountainous regions in Sub-Saharan Africa have high diversity of rare and endemic small mammals. Mount Kilimanjaro is among the well-known biodiversity hotspots in the world. Variations in vegetation and climate along the altitudinal gradient of Mt Kilimanjaro create distinct habitats with unique conditions which support high diversity and endemism of small mammals. Rodents are widely distributed small mammals inhabiting a variety of habitats. They are considered ecosystem engineers through burrowing, pollination, and seed dispersal hence they can act as ecological indicators of ecosystem health. However, most rodents are crop pests and reservoir of zoonotic pathogens. Studies on community ecology have reported that, rodent community is directly influenced by many factors like vertical and horizontal vegetation structure, anthropogenic activities, seasonality, predation, inter and intra specific competition, as well as disease and parasites. Understanding rodent diversity, species composition and the ecological interaction in a community is crucial for conservation and management of target species. Mount Kilimanjaro has high diversity of small mammals, however, climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities mainly cultivation and expansion of forest plantations particularly in west Kilimanjaro pause a challenge to conservation of small mammals. In recent decades, research on small mammals including rodents on Mt Kilimanjaro has been seriously ignored. Few existing studies were mainly based on short term surveys that provided a list of rodent species, composition and abundance. The studies did not fill in the gaps on breeding activity, population fluctuations, home range size, survival | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | ACE IRPM & BTD | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/6410 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Sokoine University of Agriculture | |
| dc.subject | habitat heterogeneity | |
| dc.subject | rodent community ecology | |
| dc.subject | West mount Kilimanjaro | |
| dc.subject | Tanzania | |
| dc.title | Effects of habitat heterogeneity on rodent community ecology in West mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania | |
| dc.type | Thesis |