全部 标题 作者
关键词 摘要

OALib Journal期刊
ISSN: 2333-9721
费用:99美元

查看量下载量

相关文章

更多...

Threats to Mammals on Fragmented Habitats around Asella Town, Central Ethiopia

DOI: 10.1155/2014/903898

Full-Text   Cite this paper   Add to My Lib

Abstract:

Assessment of the current information on the major threat to mammals in fragmented remnant montane forest of Child Care Center and School of Agriculture was conducted from March to July 2013. The prevailing threatening factors were collected by questionnaires, checklists, interview, observation, and document analysis. A total of 22 species of mammals were recorded of which six (27%) were endemic to the country and vulnerable. Mammals and their habitats were threatened by land fragmentation, hunting, habitat modification, land degradation and deforestation, lack of awareness, and finance. Although all mammals were susceptible to hunting, high rate of occurrence was recorded for Olive baboon (Papio anubis). The different infrastructure construction in both compounds is causing different impacts. As the area is rich in mammals and other species and threatened by different factors to reverse the situation, urgent conservation action is highly recommended. 1. Introduction Habitat fragmentation is splitting of natural habitats and ecosystems into smaller, more isolated patches driven by many different factors like disturbance, pollution, settlement, infrastructure, and deforestation [1]. It is the main process responsible for biodiversity loss and threat in tropical forests leading to isolation [2]. Conversion to agricultural land use results in a loss of habitat, reduction in patch size, and an increase in distance between patches and new habitat formation [3]. Habitat loss has pervasive and disruptive impacts on the biodiversity and its magnitude of the ecological impacts can be exacerbated by habitat fragmentation [4]. Anthropogenic activities were frequently related in many ways to forest fragmentation and alteration of natural communities [2]. Land transformation severely affects the integrity of ecological systems through loss of native species, invasion of exotic species, pronounced soil erosion, and decreased water quality [5]. Human activities like tourism practices, hunting, agriculture, and cattle rearing are also known to affect the demography, population structure, spatial range of individuals and species, and change in the community structure [2]. Although the mechanism of impact on populations is poorly known, habitat fragmentation is often considered as a major threat and endangerment to biodiversity [6]. As the proportion of suitable habitat decreases, small and isolated habitat patches appear whose patch size and degree of isolation influence the population size of individual species [3]. This leads species to depend on increasingly smaller

References

[1]  G. J. Bekker, “Introduction,” in Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure. The European Review, M. Trocmé, S. Cahill, H. J. G. de Vries et al., Eds., pp. 15–17, Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, Belgium, 2003.
[2]  N. Olifiers, R. Gentile, and J. T. Fiszon, “Relation between small-mammal species composition and anthropic variables in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest,” Brazilian Journal of Biology, vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 495–501, 2005.
[3]  H. Andren, “Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review,” Oikos, vol. 71, no. 3, pp. 355–366, 1994.
[4]  R. M. Ewers and R. K. Didham, “Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation,” Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 117–142, 2006.
[5]  S. K. Collinge, “Ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation: implications for landscape architecture and planning,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 59–77, 1996.
[6]  J. L. Koprowski, “The response of tree squirrels to fragmentation: a review and synthesis,” Animal Conservation, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 369–376, 2005.
[7]  A. Seiler, “Key ecological concepts,” in Habitat Fragmentation due to Transportation Infrastructure. The European Review, M. Trocmé, S. Cahill, H. J. G. de Vries, et al., Eds., pp. 19–29, Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2003.
[8]  R. M. Sauvajot, M. Buechner, D. A. Kamradt, and C. M. Schonewald, “Patterns of human disturbance and response by small mammals and birds in chaparral near urban development,” Urban Ecosystem, vol. 2, pp. 279–297, 1998.
[9]  R. H. MacArthur and E. O. Wilson, The Theory of Island Biogeography, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA, 1967.
[10]  A. O. Mesquita and M. Passamani, “Composition and abundance of small mammal communities in forest fragments and vegetation corridors in Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil,” Revista de Biologia Tropical, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 1335–1343, 2012.
[11]  K. McGarigal, S. Cushman, and C. Regan, Quantifying Terrestrial Habitat Loss and Fragmentation: A Protocol, Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Mass, USA, 2005.
[12]  L. R. Prugh, K. E. Hodges, A. R. E. Sinclair, and J. S. Brashares, Effect of Habitat Area and Isolation on Fragmented Animal Populations, The National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Washington, DC, USA, 2008.
[13]  P. Matson, “The use of urban gradients in ecological studies,” Ecology, vol. 71, pp. 12–31, 1990.
[14]  R. B. Blair, “Land use and avian species diversity along an urban gradient,” Ecological Applications, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 506–519, 1996.
[15]  J. Fischer and D. B. Lindenmayer, “Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesis,” Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 265–280, 2007.
[16]  I. C. Fernández and J. A. Simonetti, “Small mammal assemblages in fragmented shrublands of urban areas of Central Chile,” Urban Ecosystems, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 377–387, 2013.
[17]  G. R. Singleton, H. Leirs, L. A. Hindus, C. J. Krebs, and D. M. Sparatt, Rats, Mice, and People: Rodent Biology and Management, Australian Center for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia, 2003.
[18]  A. Bekele, “Population dynamics of the Ethiopian endemic rodent Praomys albipes in the Menagesha State Forest,” Journal of Zoology, vol. 238, no. 1, pp. 1–12, 1996.
[19]  A. Bekele and M. Corti, “Forest blocks and altitude as indicators of Myomys albipes (Rüppell 1842) (Mammalia Rodentia) distribution in Ethiopia,” Tropical Zoology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 287–293, 1997.
[20]  M. C. Lyra-Jorge, G. Ciocheti, and V. R. Pivello, “Carnivore mammals in a fragmented landscape in northeast of S?o Paulo State, Brazil,” Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 1573–1580, 2008.
[21]  W. F. Laurance, L. V. Ferreira, J. M. de Merona, and S. G. Laurance, “Rain forest fragmentation and the dynamics of Amazonian tree communities,” Ecology, vol. 79, no. 6, pp. 2032–2040, 1998.
[22]  G. K. Meffe and C. R. Carroll, Principles of Conservation Biology, Sinauer Associate, Sunderland, Mass, USA, 2nd edition, 1997.
[23]  K. F. Davies and C. R. Margules, “Effects of habitat fragmentation on carabid beetles: experimental evidence,” Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 460–471, 1998.

Full-Text

Contact Us

[email protected]

QQ:3279437679

WhatsApp +8615387084133