A comparative study of rodent and shrew diversity and abundance in and outside the N’washitshumbe enclosure site in the Kruger National Park

Abstract

Understanding the extent and cause of small mammal diversity and movement in an area is one of the major challenges in modern ecology. Rodents are a very successful group forming the largest Order of mammals, but monitoring trends in populations remains complicated, especially when populations are influenced by changes in vegetation structure, seasonal climate fluctuations and different management practices. This project aims to determine the biodiversity of rodent populations in the northern plains of the Kruger National Park and to investigate the possible role they may play as bio-indicators for different management practices. Movement of rodents from one area to the next is expected to be restricted due to changes in the habitat structure. This study describes the results of small mammal trapping in, surrounding and outside the N’washitshumbe enclosure site, an area enclosed since 1968 for the protection of endangered antelope species in the northern plains of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The study refers to plant association, seasonal change, management practices (e.g. presence or absence of fire and elephant impact) and community dynamics of rodents. It is argued that progress in estimating rodent diversity to develop an understanding of small mammal community dynamics will be enhanced by building local inventories of fluctuations of species diversity and abundance, and in descriptive and experimental studies of the structure of the communities.