Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews)
Tropical savannah ecosystems are characterized by extensive grasslands with more or less sparse trees and thickets, and are threatened globally by anthropogenic forces. These grassland habitats house a rich and diversified fauna assemblage, with some of its conspicuous elements (for instance, small...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PAGEPress Publications
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Tropical Zoology |
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| Online Access: | https://pagepress.org/biology/tz/article/view/110 |
| _version_ | 1797834975199887360 |
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| author | Giovanni Amori Ermellina Di Bagno Luca Luiselli |
| author_facet | Giovanni Amori Ermellina Di Bagno Luca Luiselli |
| author_sort | Giovanni Amori |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Tropical savannah ecosystems are characterized by extensive grasslands with more or less sparse trees and thickets, and are threatened globally by anthropogenic forces. These grassland habitats house a rich and diversified fauna assemblage, with some of its conspicuous elements (for instance, small mammals) that have not been sufficiently investigated so far. In this paper, we meta-analyze the literature data available on the community structure and diversity patterns of shrews and rodents in West African savannahs. Overall, 10,197 small mammal individuals belonging to 111 species of Rodentia and 55 species of Soricomorpha were found in the various studies carried out in the countries covered by the present study. Studies using a combination of methods (e.g., live trapping, pitfalls, cover boards, visual encounter) detected more species in both Soricomorpha and Rodentia, and there was a positive survey (=trap ⁄ night) effort effect on the species richness in rodents. GLM models showed (i) that there was also no effect of trapping design (transect versus grid) on species richness per site, (ii) in both rodents and soricomorphs, the number of savannah species by country depended on the total species richness of that given country, but there was no effect of the relative surface covered by savannahs in that country. The number of sympatric species per site was 2.73± 1.7 (range = 1-7) in Soricomorpha and 6.33 ± 3.8 (range 1-15) in Rodentia. Dominance index was significantly different among countries, with Nigeria having lower values than all other countries and Ghana, Benin and Sierra Leone had significantly highest values. The conservation implications of the observed patterns are discussed.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:47:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e29809f030d8438baf72e28253f81382 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0394-6975 1970-9528 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:47:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | PAGEPress Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tropical Zoology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e29809f030d8438baf72e28253f813822023-05-02T14:58:22ZengPAGEPress PublicationsTropical Zoology0394-69751970-95282021-12-01343-410.4081/tz.2021.110Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews)Giovanni Amori0Ermellina Di Bagno1Luca Luiselli2Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (CNR-IRET), RomeResearch Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (CNR-IRET), RomeInstitute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, Rome Tropical savannah ecosystems are characterized by extensive grasslands with more or less sparse trees and thickets, and are threatened globally by anthropogenic forces. These grassland habitats house a rich and diversified fauna assemblage, with some of its conspicuous elements (for instance, small mammals) that have not been sufficiently investigated so far. In this paper, we meta-analyze the literature data available on the community structure and diversity patterns of shrews and rodents in West African savannahs. Overall, 10,197 small mammal individuals belonging to 111 species of Rodentia and 55 species of Soricomorpha were found in the various studies carried out in the countries covered by the present study. Studies using a combination of methods (e.g., live trapping, pitfalls, cover boards, visual encounter) detected more species in both Soricomorpha and Rodentia, and there was a positive survey (=trap ⁄ night) effort effect on the species richness in rodents. GLM models showed (i) that there was also no effect of trapping design (transect versus grid) on species richness per site, (ii) in both rodents and soricomorphs, the number of savannah species by country depended on the total species richness of that given country, but there was no effect of the relative surface covered by savannahs in that country. The number of sympatric species per site was 2.73± 1.7 (range = 1-7) in Soricomorpha and 6.33 ± 3.8 (range 1-15) in Rodentia. Dominance index was significantly different among countries, with Nigeria having lower values than all other countries and Ghana, Benin and Sierra Leone had significantly highest values. The conservation implications of the observed patterns are discussed. https://pagepress.org/biology/tz/article/view/110RodentiaSoricomorphasavannahWest Africameta-analysissmall mammals |
| spellingShingle | Giovanni Amori Ermellina Di Bagno Luca Luiselli Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) Tropical Zoology Rodentia Soricomorpha savannah West Africa meta-analysis small mammals |
| title | Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) |
| title_full | Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) |
| title_fullStr | Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) |
| title_short | Patterns of diversity, species richness and community structure in West African savannah small mammals (rodents and shrews) |
| title_sort | patterns of diversity species richness and community structure in west african savannah small mammals rodents and shrews |
| topic | Rodentia Soricomorpha savannah West Africa meta-analysis small mammals |
| url | https://pagepress.org/biology/tz/article/view/110 |
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