Abstract
The Guassa area of Menz in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia is an Afro-alpine ecological community with an indigenous resource management system. The local community harvest different resources including collecting grass and firewood from the Guassa area. Cattle and other livestock are also grazed in the Guassa area, especially during the dry season. Several sympatric species of endemic rodents dominate the small mammal ecological communities in the Guassa area, and form most of the diet of the endangered Ethiopian wolf. This study aimed to determine if current levels of resource use by the local community through the indigenous resource management system had any discernible effect on rodent community structure. We found that the structure of the rodent community differs between habitat types, and that different species of rodents show diurnal variations in their patterns of activity. We also found that populations of different species show variable responses to each type of resource use in different habitats; some species show increases in abundance in relation to use while others show decreases. Although the indigenous resource management system was not specifically designed to conserve wildlife, it has nevertheless allowed wildlife, specifically small mammals or rodent communities, to co-exist alongside the ongoing resource use by the local community. We conclude the Guassa area represents an interesting model of community-led resource management of an Afro-alpine habitat which supports populations of endemic and threatened species.
Highlights
Most terrestrial ecosystems are directly or indirectly affected by human activity
Six endemic species are confined to high altitude, Afro-alpine moorland 3000 m above msl, four endemic species occur in mountain grassland, and the remaining four endemic species occur in mountain forest areas
We aim to examine the distribution of different habitats in the Guassa area, characterise how each habitat type is utilised by people, the population structure and dynamics of the small-mammal community, and the response of the small-mammals to the patterns of human use of those habitats
Summary
Most terrestrial ecosystems are directly or indirectly affected by human activity. It is important for conservation biologists to characterise patterns of land use and assess. Recent research has demonstrated how different forms of land use can affect the community structure and the population dynamics of individual species Afro-alpine community as consumers and dispersal agents of seeds (Price and Jenkins 1986). The Ethiopian highlands have been the focus of a wide range of human land uses for at least four centuries, and probably for substantially longer, yet are rich in endemic species of plants, birds and mammals (Kingdon 1991) the highlands support 60 per cent of Ethiopia’s rodent fauna, among which.
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