Rodents have lowest diversity in primary forests in the Congo
Jeremy Hancemongabay.com
September 17, 2012
Capturing over 1,200 rodents across 24 species, scientists found that abundance and diversity were highest in transition areas between secondary forest and fallow cropland and lowest in primary forests. This is not entirely surprising as past studies have found similar results. Many rodents species thrive in human-impacted landscapes.
The scientists also found that rodent abundance changed significantly during seasons in secondary forest and fallow cropland. However, in primary forests, seasonality made little difference.
Other research has shown that sometimes bird diversity is actually higher in a landscape of forest patches and cropland than in primary rainforests. Still, primary forests often contains specialist species found no-where else.
CITATION: Iyongo Waya Mongo, L., Visser, M., De Cannière, C., Verheyen, E., Dudu Akaibe, B., Ulyel Ali-Patho, J., and Bogaert, J. 2012. Anthropisation et effets de lisière : impacts sur la diversité des rongeurs dans la Réserve Forestière de Masako (Kisangani, R.D. Congo). Tropical Conservation Science Vol. 5(3):270-283.
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