An experimental investigation of the effects of supplementary food and ground cover on small mammal population dynamics and community structure in a Swaziland grassland.
Loading...
Date
1997
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The primary aim of this study was to investigate the role of food supply and ground cover on the
community structure, population dynamics and demography of terrestrial small mammals in a
subtropical grassland. This aim was achieved through a series of food supplementation and cover
manipulation experiments conducted at eKundizeni Farm near Matsapha, Swaziland, over a 28
month period.
The effects of five different diets on the rodent Mastomys natalensis were investigated in the
laboratory, and the results showed that rolled oats and rabbit pellets were suitable for growth and
reproduction in this species.
The effects of supplementary food were investigated on two supplemented grids and one
control over a twelve month period. Small mammal biomass increased significantly on the
supplemented grids in relation to the control. This increase in biomass was the result of a twofold
increase in the numbers of M natalensis. Food supplementation further affected M. natalensis by:
extending the breeding season of females; increasing body weight; increasing survival; and
decreasing home range area. Food supplementation had a weak positive effect on the density of
another rodent Lemniscomys rosalia, but did not affect any other demographic feature of this
species. Food supplementation did not have a demographic effect on any other species of small
mammal captured.
The effects of vegetative cover were investigated, over a twelve month period, on two control
grids and four manipulated grids on which the vegetative cover was mechanically reduced.
Supplementary food was added to two of the latter four manipulated grids. The biomass of small mammals, including M. natalensis, was lower on grids with reduced vegetative cover than on the
controls. However, food supplementation resulted in a significant increase in the biomass of M.
natalensis on one of the manipulated grids. Hence, M. natalensis was induced to shift to a habitat
with reduced cover by the provision of supplementary food.
Additional information on the population dynamics, age structure, reproduction and diet of M
natalensis, L. rosalia, Mus minutoides and Steatomys pratensis is also presented.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.
Keywords
Rodents--Swaziland--Ecology., Habitat (Ecology), Grassland ecology--Swaziland., Rodents--Effect of habitat modification on., Biotic communities., Mastomys natalensis--Ecology., Theses--Zoology.