Abundance and distribution of small mammals relative to human activities in the wildlife management areas of Ruvuma landscape, southern Tanzania

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to understand the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on the abundance, diversity, richness and distributionof small mammals, and in Wildlife Management Areas of the Ruvuma landscape: Mbarang’andu, Kimbanda, Kisungule in Namtumbo District and Nalika and Chingoli in Tunduru District. The survey was conducted using standard live Sherman trap (23 x 8 x 9 cm) andplastic bucket pitfall traps (33.3cm high x 30cm diameter). A total of 187 individual small mammals were captured, including 17 species in 16 genera and five families. Chingoli had the least number of species with five species while Kimbanda accommodated the highest number of species (with 10), closely followed by Kisungule with 9 species. Species diversity was significantly different between areas of high and low anthropogenic disturbance. Therefore we suggest that human resources and funds should be available to safe guard from any environmental degradation for the benefit of present and future generation.