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D’Ammando, G, Caro, T, Oelze, VM, Phillips, S, Sime, P, Stewart, FA and Piel, AK (2022) Ecological Drivers of Habitat Use by Meso Mammals in a Miombo Ecosystem in the Issa Valley, Tanzania. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10.
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Ecological Drivers of Habitat Use by Meso Mammals in a Miombo Ecosystem in the Issa Valley, Tanzania.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Vast stretches of East and Southern Africa are characterized by a mosaic of deciduous woodlands and evergreen riparian forests, commonly referred to as “miombo,” hosting a high diversity of plant and animal life. However, very little is known about the communities of small-sized mammals inhabiting this heterogeneous biome. We here document the diversity and abundance of 0.5–15 kg sized mammals (“meso-mammals”) in a relatively undisturbed miombo mosaic in western Tanzania, using 42 camera traps deployed over a 3 year-period. Despite a relatively low diversity of meso-mammal species (n = 19), these comprised a mixture of savanna and forest species, with the latter by far the most abundant. Our results show that densely forested sites are more intensely utilized than deciduous woodlands, suggesting riparian forest within the miombo matrix might be of key importance to meso-mammal populations. Some species were captured significantly more often in proximity to (and sometimes feeding on) termite mounds (genus Macrotermes), as they are a crucial food resource. There was some evidence of temporal partitioning in activity patterns, suggesting hetero-specific avoidance to reduce foraging competition. We compare our findings to those of other miombo sites in south-central Africa.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0602 Ecology; 0603 Evolutionary Biology |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences |
| Divisions: | Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19) |
| Publisher: | Frontiers Media SA |
| SWORD Depositor: | A Symplectic |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Oct 2022 12:29 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2022 12:30 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.3389/fevo.2022.773568 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/17877 |
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