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Abundance, Species Diversity, and Distribution of Diurnal Mammals in Humbo Community-Based Forest Area, Southern Ethiopia

Abundance, Species Diversity, and Distribution of Diurnal Mammals in Humbo Community-Based Forest... Hindawi International Journal of Zoology Volume 2020, Article ID 5761697, 5 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5761697 Research Article Abundance, Species Diversity, and Distribution of Diurnal Mammals in Humbo Community-Based Forest Area, Southern Ethiopia Adanech Lemma and Wondimagegnehu Tekalign Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University, P.O. Box 138, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Wondimagegnehu Tekalign; wondimagegnehu.tekalign@wsu.edu.et Received 23 December 2019; Revised 12 August 2020; Accepted 30 September 2020; Published 9 October 2020 Academic Editor: Hynek Burda Copyright © 2020 Adanech Lemma and Wondimagegnehu Tekalign. +is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. +is study was undertaken with the intention of assessing abundance, species diversity, and distribution of medium and large diurnal mammals at the Humbo Community Based Forest Area, Ethiopia. +e study area was stratified into three major habitats based on the vegetation cover of the area, such as riverine forest, bushland, and open grassland. +e study in each vegetation type was surveyed using the transect method. It was conducted on foot along a randomly selected transect line. A total of eight large and medium mammalian species were recorded. +e species recorded were Papio anubis, Sylvicapra grimmia, Tragelaphus scriptus, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Lepus fagani, Phacochorus ethiopicus, and Panthera leo. During the survey, the leading order recorded was Artiodactyla followed by Primates. In terms of relative abundance, Anubis baboon (28.4% and 28.1%) and common duiker (19.4% and 11.4%) were the most abundant species, while warthog (12.1% and 8.9%) and lion (0.7% and 0.4%) were the least abundant during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. +e highest number of mammalian species were distributed in bushland habitat during both wet (n � 7) and dry (n � 7) seasons. +e highest Shannon-winner diversity index and evenness were obtained in the bushland habitat (1.70 and 2.21) during wet and dry seasons, respectively. +ough the forest is the living place for various wild mammalian species, the conservation measures of the local community should also consider those species in line with the efforts that have been done on forest management practices. described that Ethiopia is among the world leaders in terms 1.Introduction of richness and endemism of mammalian species. Although Mammals are one of the most important components of there are some researches that have been conducted on the biodiversity in the world [1]. +e great impact of mammals large mammalian diversity in various parts of the world, on their environment is largely the result of the endothermic there is a lack of ample information in various parts of process that requires more energy [2]. According to Miller Ethiopia. Very few studies have been carried out in the present study area; mainly, studies were done related to the [3], medium- and large-sized terrestrial mammals develop important functions in the ecosystem, maintained by af- diversity of woody plants and human-wildlife conflict by fecting plant population dynamics through herbivore and Kuma [5] and Oyda [6], respectively. However, studies on also as seed dispersal. According to Kingdon [4], Africa hosts the diversity and distribution of mammalian species and the the highest number and diversity of mammalian species in ecology of other wildlife of the area have not yet been carried the world. out. Hence, this study was done on the medium and large Over 1,150 species of mammals belonging to 13 orders mammalian species diversity and their distribution in and 50 families were recorded from Africa. Tefera [2] Humbo community-based forest area, Southern Ethiopia. 2 International Journal of Zoology diversity index based on the formula indicated below: 2.Materials and Methods Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H) and evenness (E). 2.1. Study Area. Humbo community-based forest is located Shannon-Weiner diversity index assumes that all species are in Humbo Woreda, Wolaita Zone administration, Southern represented in a sample species and calculated by the fol- Nation Nationalities People Regional State (SNNPRS), lowing formula: Ethiopia, at about 420 km, 180 km, 31 km, and 12 km away H � − − 􏽘 P from the capital city of the country Addis Ababa, Hawassa, 􏼐 ln p 􏼑, (1) i i Wolita Sodo, and Humbo Tebela towns, respectively. +e where H � Shannon-Weiner diversity index, P � fraction of area is located in the Great Rift Valley. +e annual average i th individuals belonging to i species, and ln � natural temperature and the total annual precipitation of the area are logarithm. 22.15 C and 1123 mm, respectively. 15,000 hectare of the Evenness is a measure of relative abundance of different study area was cleared prior to the late 1960s because the species making up the richness of an area by the following poor farmers have exploited the denuded, unmanaged forest formula: E �H/H , where Hmax � ln S in which in the Humbo area as a source of income through the grazing max S � number of species. of livestock, the sale of charcoal, the deforestation to meet household needs for fuel wood, and the cultivation of steep slopes to accommodate expanding population [7]. +e study 3.Results and Discussion area was classified into three major vegetation zones; such as riverine forest (RF: a type of forest ecology most dominant 3.1. Results. In this study, eight mammalian species were along waterways), bushland (BL: a land which supports identified during both the wet and dry seasons in the three remnant vegetation), and open grassland (OGL: a land habitat types. +e number of mammals identified in the covered with wild grass). riverine forest was 330 and 147, bushland 1474 and 848, and open grassland 494 and 355 during the wet and the dry seasons, respectively (Table 2). +e recorded total number of 2.2. Methods. Census zone with transect was established in all medium and large-sized mammals was 2298 and 1350 the three vegetation types. Following the preliminary surveys, during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. +ere was a identification and recording of medium and large mammalian great difference between mammalian abundance during the species were made through direct observation with naked eyes wet and dry seasons (p< 0.05). +e bushland habitat has a and/or aided with binocular (7 × 50 mm). +e survey was greater number of species (n � 1474), followed by open conducted during both dry (November–January) and wet grassland and riverine forest during the wet and dry seasons, (February–April) seasons on foot along the established respectively (Table 3). transects, observing the existing mammals on the left and right +e majority of the mammalian species in the area were sides of each transect and recorded with the wildlife data Anubis baboon (Papio Anubis) (n � 653 and n � 379) fol- collection sheet. lowed by common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) (n � 446 and A total of 15 transect lines, three for open grassland, ten n � 154), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) (n � 344 and for bushland, and the rest two for riverine forest, were n � 351), vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) (n � 380 established. +e transects varying in distance from 1.5 km to and n � 197), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) (n � 281 4 km and 50 m to 400 m distance within each transect were and n � 134), Ethiopian hare (Lepus fagani) (n � 108 and established depending on the vegetation cover and topog- n � 115), Warthog (Phacochorus ethiopicus) (n � 70 and raphy of the area (Table 1). Each transect was visited three n � 28), and lion (Panthera leo) (n � 16 and n � 5) during the times per season. +e species identification of the mammals wet and dry seasons, respectively (Table 4). +e relative was based on the Kingdon Field to African Mammals [8]. abundance of mammals in the riverine forest varied from Observations were done early in the morning from 07:00 to 0–51.5 in the wet seasons and 0–63.3 in the dry season. 10:00 h and late in the afternoon from 15:00 to 18:00 h, when While in the bushland, it was ranging from 0–33.4 and most of the wild animals are active. 0–38.3 in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. In the case of Diversity measures take into account both the number of open grassland, it varied between 0–41.7 and 0–38.9 during species and how evenly distributed individuals in those the wet and dry seasons, respectively. species are across the whole community [2]. Records of As indicated in Table 5, the diurnal mammals were mammalian species from all observers in each season were identified and recorded by four orders, five families, and analyzed together by major vegetation types and thus ad- eight species. Of these, the order Artiodactyla (n � 4) justed to describe the biological attributes of the mammalian recorded the highest number followed by the Primates community of the study area. +us, such measures as the (n � 2), Lagomorpha (n � 1), and Carnivora (n � 1) in the number of species, the relative abundance of individuals, study area. +e family Bovidae contained the highest and the diversity of species (a combination of the richness number of species (n � 3), followed by Cercopithecidae and evenness) were taken into account during data analyses. (n � 2), while the remaining each of the families such as SPSS software version 20 (Chi-square test) and Shannon- Suidae, Leporidae, and Felidae contained only a single Wiener diversity index (H) were used to analyze the data. species. +e species evenness and diversity of mammals in each +e species diversity index and evenness of the mam- habitat type were also computed using the Shannon-Wiener malian species between seasons on different habitat types of International Journal of Zoology 3 Table 1: Length and width for randomly selected transects. Habitats Number of potential transects Number of sample transects Length and width of the transect (km) Riverine forest 8 2 2 km × 0.4 km Bushland 40 10 1.5 km × 0.1 km Open grassland 12 3 3.5 km × 0.05 km Total 60 15 and warthog), while the remaining were large-sized mam- Table 2: Mammalian species in the three habitats during dry and malian species (bushbuck, greater kudu, vervet monkey, wet seasons. Anubis baboon, and lion). +e identification was undertaken Habitat types on randomly selected sampling transects of the three dif- Common Riverine Open ferent vegetation types of the area. +e number of species Bushland Total name forest grassland recorded during this study is lower than expected. Likewise, Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry different researches conducted similar studies in different Vervet monkey 170 93 210 104 — — 380 197 parts of Ethiopia and came across relatively more precised ´ Common estimation and overestimated findings by using similar study — — 240 16 206 138 446 154 duiker methods. For instance, Qufa and Bekele [10] recorded a total Ethiopian hare — — — — 108 102 108 102 of 15 medium- and large-sized mammals from Lebu Natural Lion — — 16 5 — — 16 5 Protected Forest, Southwest Showa; Kerorsa et al. [11] Warthog — — 70 28 — — 70 28 recorded 12 large- and medium-sized mammals in Wabe Bushbuck — — 164 236 180 115 344 351 forest fragments, Gurage zone, and Getachew and Yihune Greater kudu — — 281 134 — — 281 134 [12] recorded 12 medium- and large-sized mammalian Anubis baboon 160 54 493 325 — — 653 379 species at Mengaza communal forest, East Gojjam, Ethiopia. Total 330 147 1474 848 494 355 2298 1350 In contrary, the mammalian species diversity of the present Mean 238.5 1161 424.5 1824 study is too small compared with the findings of Gonfa et al. [8] that counted 28 mammalian species in Dati Wolel National Park; Chanea and Yirga [13] counted 23 species in Table 3: Relative abundance of mammalian species in the three Borena-Sayint National Park, and Girma et al. [14] counted habitat types. 19 at Wondo Genet Forest, Ethiopia. +e dissimilarity of Habitat type terrestrial mammals in different parts of the same country Riverine Open might be due to the difference in the mammalian and Common name Bushland forest grassland vegetation structure and anthropological impacts. +e study Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry conducted in diverse countries indicated that the recorded number of medium- and large-sized mammalian species was Vervet monkey 51.5 63.3 14.2 12.3 — — higher than the finding of the present study [15–17]. +e Greater kudu — — 19.1 15.8 — — Common duiker — — 16.3 1.9 41.7 38.9 reason for this alteration might be for the variation in the Ethiopian hare — — — — 21.9 28.7 climate, seasonal consideration, sampling technique, and Lion — — 1.2 0.6 — — vegetation composition of the study areas. Warthog — — 4.7 3.3 — — In the present study, four orders of the medium- and Bushbuck — — 11.1 27.8 36.4 32.4 large-sized terrestrial mammals, such as Artiodactyla, Pri- Anubis baboon 48.5 36.7 33.4 38.3 — — mates, Carnivora, and Lagomorpha were recorded. +is is consistent with the investigation of Qufa and Bekele [10] that recorded the same number and kind of orders in Lebu the study area are indicated as follows: the open grassland Natural Protected Forest. However, during this study, the (0.647 and 0.97), riverine forest (0.501 and 1.00), and leading order recorded was Artiodactyla followed by Pri- bushland (0.790 and 0.82) habitats during the wet season, mates, while the results of the survey in the Lebu Natural respectively. While during the dry season, the species di- Protected Forest are vice versa. On the contrary, our finding versity index and evenness among the habitat types were as is inconsistent with the study conducted by Woldegeorgis follows: in the open grassland habitat 0.663 and 0.99, riv- and Wube [18] in Yayu forest, southern Ethiopia, in which erine forest 0.468, and bushland habitat 0.96, 0.805, and 1.06, they recorded seven orders, that is different from the result respectively (Table 6). of the present study. During this study, the highest numbers of mammals 4.Discussion were found in the bushland area, followed by open grassland, while riverine forest supported the least number of the +e field evidence is indispensable for developing the animals. +e possible reason for this distribution of mam- conservation actions of the terrestrial mammal surveys [9]. malian species might be due to the availability of foraging +e current survey identified eight mammalian species in resources and the stability of the area from human distur- the study area. Among those of the mammalian species, bance. Mekonen et al. [9] and Yimer and Yirga [19] reported three were medium-sized (common duiker, Ethiopian hare, 4 International Journal of Zoology Table 4: +e relative abundance of mammals during wet and dry seasons. Season Mammals Wet Dry Number Relative abundance Number Relative abundance Vervet monkey 380 16.6 197 14.6 Greater kudu 281 12.2 134 9.9 Common duiker 446 19.4 154 11.4 Ethiopian hare 108 4.7 102 7.6 Lion 16 0.7 5 0.4 Warthog 70 3.0 28 2.1 Bushbuck 344 15.0 351 26 Anubis baboon 653 28.4 379 28.1 Total 2298 100 1350 100 Table 5: Abundance of mammalian species based on their taxonomic category. Season Order Family Species name Common name Wet Dry Sylvicapra grimmia Common duiker 446 154 Bovidae Tragelaphus scriptus Bushbuck 344 351 Artiodactyla Tragelaphus strepsiceros Greater kudu 281 134 Suidae Phacochorus ethiopicus Warthog 70 28 Chlorocebus pygerythrus Vervet monkey 380 197 Primates Cercopithecidae Papio Anubis Anubis baboon 653 379 Lagomorpha Leporidae Lepus fagani Ethiopian hare 108 102 Carnivora Felidae Panthera leo Lion 16 5 Table 6: Diversity indices of mammals in the three habitats during both seasons. Habitat Season Number of species Number of individuals H max Evenness 1-D Wet 2 330 0.69 0.693 1.00 0.501 RF Dry 2 147 0.66 0.693 0.96 0.468 Wet 8 1474 1.7 2.08 0.82 0.790 BL Dry 8 848 2.21 2.08 1.06 0.805 Wet 3 494 1.065 1.099 0.97 0.647 OGL Dry 3 355 1.087 1.099 0.99 0.663 that the resource abundance and their quality are the major different from the present result. +e warthog is also the factors of mammals to prefer one habitat over the others. second least abundant mammals recorded in the present Balakrishnan and Easa [20] asserted that the distribution and study from bushland habitat during both wet and dry habitat association of large mammals determined in terms of seasons. In this study, area mammals were not distributed their water and food requirements. According to this uniformly among the different habitat types, and their finding, the distribution of mammalian species during the abundance significantly varies between seasons. Girma et al. wet seasons exceeded that of the dry seasons. +e underlying [14] described that seasonal movement in search of the reason behind this fact might be the nature and diversity of requirement of the resources is common in many terrestrial mammals. Although the forest is the living place for various vegetation in the study area. Regarding the relative abundance of mammals, the study wild mammalian species, there is a need for integrated conservation measures by various stakeholders including the revealed that Vervet monkey was the most abundant in the dry seasons, while greater kudu, common duiker, Ethiopian adjacent communities with special consideration for the hare, lion, warthog, and bushbuck were totally absent in the mammalian fauna of the forest area in line with the efforts riverine forest both during the dry and wet seasons. +e put on the forest management practices. common duiker comes next followed by bushbuck, Anubis baboon, greater kudu, Ethiopian hare, and warthog; while 5.Conclusion the least abundant mammal in the area was lion. Getachew and Yihune [12] described Olive baboon as the most +e effective management of animal species is greatly im- abundant species during the dry and wet seasons, which is proved by the accurate knowledge of population distribution International Journal of Zoology 5 Journal of Biodiversity, vol. 2016, Article ID 7930857, 8 pages, and abundance. Hence, abundance, species diversity, and distribution of diurnal mammals are the essential ecological [6] S. Oyda, “Human-wildlife conflict in Humbo community information required for the population ecology. +e study managed forest area, Humbo district, Ethiopia,” Ph.D. thesis, confirmed that there are higher numbers of mammals p. 86, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, EthiopiaWo- distributed in the bushland area, followed by open grassland, laita Sodo University, 2017. while riverine forest supported the least number of the [7] World Vision Ethiopia, “Humbo reforestation carbon project. animals. +e finding also revealed that order Artiodactyla Project information document concept stage,” 2006, http:// was the largest order while Bovidae was the largest family in documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/ the study area. Based on the species, the most abundant 258081468031581179/pdf/34683.pdf. mammals were Anubis baboon, Bushbuck, and Common [8] R. Gonfa, T. Gadisa, and T. Habtamu, “+e diversity, Duiker, while the rest such as vervet monkey, greater kudu, abundance, and habitat associations of medium and large- sized mammals in Dati Wolel national park, western Ethio- Ethiopian hare, warthog, and lion were the least abundant. pia,” International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, For the conservation and the welfare of those terrestrial vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 112–118, 2015. mammals of the area, there is a need for integrated con- [9] T. Mekonen, M. Yaba, A. Bekele, and J. Malcolm, “Food servation practice of the concerned governmental bodies selection and habitat association of starck’s hare (Lepus starcki with the local community. +us, this research will be rele- petter, 1963) in the Bale mountains national park Ethiopia,” vant as a baseline for the other scholars who are interested to Asian Journal of Applied Sciences, vol. 4, pp. 728–734, 2011. investigate further other ecological and behavioral aspects of [10] C. A. Qufa and A. Bekele, “A preliminary survey of medium the species for their sustainable conservation. and large-sized mammals from Lebu natural protected forest, southwest Showa, Ethiopia,” Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, no. 21, pp. 12322–12331, 2019. Data Availability [11] K. L. Kerorsa, A. Bekele, and S. K. Youm, “A Survey of large and medium-sized mammals in Wabe forest fragments, No data were used to support the study. Gurage zone, Ethiopia,” International Journal of Avian and Wildlife Biology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 32–38, 2019. Disclosure [12] A. Getachew and M. Yihune, “Species composition and rel- ative abundance of medium and large mammals in Mengaza +e authors declare that this research did not receive specific communal forest, East Gojjam, Ethiopia,” Journal of Ecology funding from any fundraising organizations; however, it was and the Natural Environment, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 34–40, 2018. performed as part of Master’s thesis. [13] M. Chanea and S. Yirga, “Diversity of medium and large-sized mammals in borena-sayint national park, south Wollo, Ethiopia,” International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Conflicts of Interest Research, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 95–106, 2014. [14] Z. Girma, Y. Mamo, and M. Ersado, “Species composition, +e authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the distribution and relative abundance of large mammals in and publication of this paper. around Wondo Genet forest patch, southern Ethiopia,” Asian Journal of Applied Sciences, vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 538–551, 2012. Acknowledgments [15] G. Bastos, O. Marçal-Junior, ´ and V. L. d. C. Brites, “Medium and large-sized mammals of a fragment of Cerrado in the +e authors would like to acknowledge the Department of Triangulo ˆ Mineiro region, Southeastern Brazil,” Bioscience Biology, Wolaita Sodo University, the staff of the Humbo Journal of Uberlandia, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 863–873, 2014. Community Based Forest Area, the local communities, and [16] M. J. Craweley, “+e population Biology invaders,” Philo- sophical Transaction of the Royal Society of London, Series B, local government officials for their help during data col- vol. 314, no. 1167, pp. 711–731, 1986. lection and provided information. [17] R. A. Ojeda, P. G. Blendinger, and R. Brandl, “Mammals in south American drylands: faunal similarity and trophic References structure,” Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 115–123, 2000. [1] M. R. Muchai, “Ishaqib in conservation: large mammal dis- [18] G. Woldegeorgis and T. Wube, “A survey on mammals of the tribution. Abundance and habitat use,” Report No. 2, National Yayu forest in Southwest Ethiopia,” Ethiopian Journal of Museum of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya, 2008. Science, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 135–138, 2012. [2] M. Tefera, “Wildlife in Ethiopia: endemic large mammals,” [19] D. Yimer and S. Yirga, “Mammals of the maze national park, World Journal of Zoology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 108–116, 2011. southern nations, nationalities and peoples regional state, [3] C. Micaela, T. Jeffrey, A. Laura, C. Sara, D. M. Silvia, and Ethiopia,” SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science, vol. 36, no. 1, A. Mariana, “Using local ecological knowledge to improve pp. 55–61, 2013. large terrestrial mammal surveys, build local capacity and [20] M. Balakrishiman and P. S. Easa, “Habitat preference of large increase conservation opportunities,” Biological Conservation, mammals in the Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary Karala, vol. 244, p. 108450, 2020. India,” Biological Conservation, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 191–200, [4] J. Kingdon, .e Kingdon Field Guide to Africa Mammals, p. 475, Academic Press, London, UK, 2003. [5] M. Kuma, “Diversity of woody plant species of gamuwa and oda forests of Humbo carbon project, Wolaita, Ethiopia: for conservation and management of forests,” International http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Zoology Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Abundance, Species Diversity, and Distribution of Diurnal Mammals in Humbo Community-Based Forest Area, Southern Ethiopia

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Copyright © 2020 Adanech Lemma and Wondimagegnehu Tekalign. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Hindawi International Journal of Zoology Volume 2020, Article ID 5761697, 5 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5761697 Research Article Abundance, Species Diversity, and Distribution of Diurnal Mammals in Humbo Community-Based Forest Area, Southern Ethiopia Adanech Lemma and Wondimagegnehu Tekalign Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University, P.O. Box 138, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Wondimagegnehu Tekalign; wondimagegnehu.tekalign@wsu.edu.et Received 23 December 2019; Revised 12 August 2020; Accepted 30 September 2020; Published 9 October 2020 Academic Editor: Hynek Burda Copyright © 2020 Adanech Lemma and Wondimagegnehu Tekalign. +is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. +is study was undertaken with the intention of assessing abundance, species diversity, and distribution of medium and large diurnal mammals at the Humbo Community Based Forest Area, Ethiopia. +e study area was stratified into three major habitats based on the vegetation cover of the area, such as riverine forest, bushland, and open grassland. +e study in each vegetation type was surveyed using the transect method. It was conducted on foot along a randomly selected transect line. A total of eight large and medium mammalian species were recorded. +e species recorded were Papio anubis, Sylvicapra grimmia, Tragelaphus scriptus, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Lepus fagani, Phacochorus ethiopicus, and Panthera leo. During the survey, the leading order recorded was Artiodactyla followed by Primates. In terms of relative abundance, Anubis baboon (28.4% and 28.1%) and common duiker (19.4% and 11.4%) were the most abundant species, while warthog (12.1% and 8.9%) and lion (0.7% and 0.4%) were the least abundant during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. +e highest number of mammalian species were distributed in bushland habitat during both wet (n � 7) and dry (n � 7) seasons. +e highest Shannon-winner diversity index and evenness were obtained in the bushland habitat (1.70 and 2.21) during wet and dry seasons, respectively. +ough the forest is the living place for various wild mammalian species, the conservation measures of the local community should also consider those species in line with the efforts that have been done on forest management practices. described that Ethiopia is among the world leaders in terms 1.Introduction of richness and endemism of mammalian species. Although Mammals are one of the most important components of there are some researches that have been conducted on the biodiversity in the world [1]. +e great impact of mammals large mammalian diversity in various parts of the world, on their environment is largely the result of the endothermic there is a lack of ample information in various parts of process that requires more energy [2]. According to Miller Ethiopia. Very few studies have been carried out in the present study area; mainly, studies were done related to the [3], medium- and large-sized terrestrial mammals develop important functions in the ecosystem, maintained by af- diversity of woody plants and human-wildlife conflict by fecting plant population dynamics through herbivore and Kuma [5] and Oyda [6], respectively. However, studies on also as seed dispersal. According to Kingdon [4], Africa hosts the diversity and distribution of mammalian species and the the highest number and diversity of mammalian species in ecology of other wildlife of the area have not yet been carried the world. out. Hence, this study was done on the medium and large Over 1,150 species of mammals belonging to 13 orders mammalian species diversity and their distribution in and 50 families were recorded from Africa. Tefera [2] Humbo community-based forest area, Southern Ethiopia. 2 International Journal of Zoology diversity index based on the formula indicated below: 2.Materials and Methods Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H) and evenness (E). 2.1. Study Area. Humbo community-based forest is located Shannon-Weiner diversity index assumes that all species are in Humbo Woreda, Wolaita Zone administration, Southern represented in a sample species and calculated by the fol- Nation Nationalities People Regional State (SNNPRS), lowing formula: Ethiopia, at about 420 km, 180 km, 31 km, and 12 km away H � − − 􏽘 P from the capital city of the country Addis Ababa, Hawassa, 􏼐 ln p 􏼑, (1) i i Wolita Sodo, and Humbo Tebela towns, respectively. +e where H � Shannon-Weiner diversity index, P � fraction of area is located in the Great Rift Valley. +e annual average i th individuals belonging to i species, and ln � natural temperature and the total annual precipitation of the area are logarithm. 22.15 C and 1123 mm, respectively. 15,000 hectare of the Evenness is a measure of relative abundance of different study area was cleared prior to the late 1960s because the species making up the richness of an area by the following poor farmers have exploited the denuded, unmanaged forest formula: E �H/H , where Hmax � ln S in which in the Humbo area as a source of income through the grazing max S � number of species. of livestock, the sale of charcoal, the deforestation to meet household needs for fuel wood, and the cultivation of steep slopes to accommodate expanding population [7]. +e study 3.Results and Discussion area was classified into three major vegetation zones; such as riverine forest (RF: a type of forest ecology most dominant 3.1. Results. In this study, eight mammalian species were along waterways), bushland (BL: a land which supports identified during both the wet and dry seasons in the three remnant vegetation), and open grassland (OGL: a land habitat types. +e number of mammals identified in the covered with wild grass). riverine forest was 330 and 147, bushland 1474 and 848, and open grassland 494 and 355 during the wet and the dry seasons, respectively (Table 2). +e recorded total number of 2.2. Methods. Census zone with transect was established in all medium and large-sized mammals was 2298 and 1350 the three vegetation types. Following the preliminary surveys, during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. +ere was a identification and recording of medium and large mammalian great difference between mammalian abundance during the species were made through direct observation with naked eyes wet and dry seasons (p< 0.05). +e bushland habitat has a and/or aided with binocular (7 × 50 mm). +e survey was greater number of species (n � 1474), followed by open conducted during both dry (November–January) and wet grassland and riverine forest during the wet and dry seasons, (February–April) seasons on foot along the established respectively (Table 3). transects, observing the existing mammals on the left and right +e majority of the mammalian species in the area were sides of each transect and recorded with the wildlife data Anubis baboon (Papio Anubis) (n � 653 and n � 379) fol- collection sheet. lowed by common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) (n � 446 and A total of 15 transect lines, three for open grassland, ten n � 154), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) (n � 344 and for bushland, and the rest two for riverine forest, were n � 351), vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) (n � 380 established. +e transects varying in distance from 1.5 km to and n � 197), greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) (n � 281 4 km and 50 m to 400 m distance within each transect were and n � 134), Ethiopian hare (Lepus fagani) (n � 108 and established depending on the vegetation cover and topog- n � 115), Warthog (Phacochorus ethiopicus) (n � 70 and raphy of the area (Table 1). Each transect was visited three n � 28), and lion (Panthera leo) (n � 16 and n � 5) during the times per season. +e species identification of the mammals wet and dry seasons, respectively (Table 4). +e relative was based on the Kingdon Field to African Mammals [8]. abundance of mammals in the riverine forest varied from Observations were done early in the morning from 07:00 to 0–51.5 in the wet seasons and 0–63.3 in the dry season. 10:00 h and late in the afternoon from 15:00 to 18:00 h, when While in the bushland, it was ranging from 0–33.4 and most of the wild animals are active. 0–38.3 in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. In the case of Diversity measures take into account both the number of open grassland, it varied between 0–41.7 and 0–38.9 during species and how evenly distributed individuals in those the wet and dry seasons, respectively. species are across the whole community [2]. Records of As indicated in Table 5, the diurnal mammals were mammalian species from all observers in each season were identified and recorded by four orders, five families, and analyzed together by major vegetation types and thus ad- eight species. Of these, the order Artiodactyla (n � 4) justed to describe the biological attributes of the mammalian recorded the highest number followed by the Primates community of the study area. +us, such measures as the (n � 2), Lagomorpha (n � 1), and Carnivora (n � 1) in the number of species, the relative abundance of individuals, study area. +e family Bovidae contained the highest and the diversity of species (a combination of the richness number of species (n � 3), followed by Cercopithecidae and evenness) were taken into account during data analyses. (n � 2), while the remaining each of the families such as SPSS software version 20 (Chi-square test) and Shannon- Suidae, Leporidae, and Felidae contained only a single Wiener diversity index (H) were used to analyze the data. species. +e species evenness and diversity of mammals in each +e species diversity index and evenness of the mam- habitat type were also computed using the Shannon-Wiener malian species between seasons on different habitat types of International Journal of Zoology 3 Table 1: Length and width for randomly selected transects. Habitats Number of potential transects Number of sample transects Length and width of the transect (km) Riverine forest 8 2 2 km × 0.4 km Bushland 40 10 1.5 km × 0.1 km Open grassland 12 3 3.5 km × 0.05 km Total 60 15 and warthog), while the remaining were large-sized mam- Table 2: Mammalian species in the three habitats during dry and malian species (bushbuck, greater kudu, vervet monkey, wet seasons. Anubis baboon, and lion). +e identification was undertaken Habitat types on randomly selected sampling transects of the three dif- Common Riverine Open ferent vegetation types of the area. +e number of species Bushland Total name forest grassland recorded during this study is lower than expected. Likewise, Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry different researches conducted similar studies in different Vervet monkey 170 93 210 104 — — 380 197 parts of Ethiopia and came across relatively more precised ´ Common estimation and overestimated findings by using similar study — — 240 16 206 138 446 154 duiker methods. For instance, Qufa and Bekele [10] recorded a total Ethiopian hare — — — — 108 102 108 102 of 15 medium- and large-sized mammals from Lebu Natural Lion — — 16 5 — — 16 5 Protected Forest, Southwest Showa; Kerorsa et al. [11] Warthog — — 70 28 — — 70 28 recorded 12 large- and medium-sized mammals in Wabe Bushbuck — — 164 236 180 115 344 351 forest fragments, Gurage zone, and Getachew and Yihune Greater kudu — — 281 134 — — 281 134 [12] recorded 12 medium- and large-sized mammalian Anubis baboon 160 54 493 325 — — 653 379 species at Mengaza communal forest, East Gojjam, Ethiopia. Total 330 147 1474 848 494 355 2298 1350 In contrary, the mammalian species diversity of the present Mean 238.5 1161 424.5 1824 study is too small compared with the findings of Gonfa et al. [8] that counted 28 mammalian species in Dati Wolel National Park; Chanea and Yirga [13] counted 23 species in Table 3: Relative abundance of mammalian species in the three Borena-Sayint National Park, and Girma et al. [14] counted habitat types. 19 at Wondo Genet Forest, Ethiopia. +e dissimilarity of Habitat type terrestrial mammals in different parts of the same country Riverine Open might be due to the difference in the mammalian and Common name Bushland forest grassland vegetation structure and anthropological impacts. +e study Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry conducted in diverse countries indicated that the recorded number of medium- and large-sized mammalian species was Vervet monkey 51.5 63.3 14.2 12.3 — — higher than the finding of the present study [15–17]. +e Greater kudu — — 19.1 15.8 — — Common duiker — — 16.3 1.9 41.7 38.9 reason for this alteration might be for the variation in the Ethiopian hare — — — — 21.9 28.7 climate, seasonal consideration, sampling technique, and Lion — — 1.2 0.6 — — vegetation composition of the study areas. Warthog — — 4.7 3.3 — — In the present study, four orders of the medium- and Bushbuck — — 11.1 27.8 36.4 32.4 large-sized terrestrial mammals, such as Artiodactyla, Pri- Anubis baboon 48.5 36.7 33.4 38.3 — — mates, Carnivora, and Lagomorpha were recorded. +is is consistent with the investigation of Qufa and Bekele [10] that recorded the same number and kind of orders in Lebu the study area are indicated as follows: the open grassland Natural Protected Forest. However, during this study, the (0.647 and 0.97), riverine forest (0.501 and 1.00), and leading order recorded was Artiodactyla followed by Pri- bushland (0.790 and 0.82) habitats during the wet season, mates, while the results of the survey in the Lebu Natural respectively. While during the dry season, the species di- Protected Forest are vice versa. On the contrary, our finding versity index and evenness among the habitat types were as is inconsistent with the study conducted by Woldegeorgis follows: in the open grassland habitat 0.663 and 0.99, riv- and Wube [18] in Yayu forest, southern Ethiopia, in which erine forest 0.468, and bushland habitat 0.96, 0.805, and 1.06, they recorded seven orders, that is different from the result respectively (Table 6). of the present study. During this study, the highest numbers of mammals 4.Discussion were found in the bushland area, followed by open grassland, while riverine forest supported the least number of the +e field evidence is indispensable for developing the animals. +e possible reason for this distribution of mam- conservation actions of the terrestrial mammal surveys [9]. malian species might be due to the availability of foraging +e current survey identified eight mammalian species in resources and the stability of the area from human distur- the study area. Among those of the mammalian species, bance. Mekonen et al. [9] and Yimer and Yirga [19] reported three were medium-sized (common duiker, Ethiopian hare, 4 International Journal of Zoology Table 4: +e relative abundance of mammals during wet and dry seasons. Season Mammals Wet Dry Number Relative abundance Number Relative abundance Vervet monkey 380 16.6 197 14.6 Greater kudu 281 12.2 134 9.9 Common duiker 446 19.4 154 11.4 Ethiopian hare 108 4.7 102 7.6 Lion 16 0.7 5 0.4 Warthog 70 3.0 28 2.1 Bushbuck 344 15.0 351 26 Anubis baboon 653 28.4 379 28.1 Total 2298 100 1350 100 Table 5: Abundance of mammalian species based on their taxonomic category. Season Order Family Species name Common name Wet Dry Sylvicapra grimmia Common duiker 446 154 Bovidae Tragelaphus scriptus Bushbuck 344 351 Artiodactyla Tragelaphus strepsiceros Greater kudu 281 134 Suidae Phacochorus ethiopicus Warthog 70 28 Chlorocebus pygerythrus Vervet monkey 380 197 Primates Cercopithecidae Papio Anubis Anubis baboon 653 379 Lagomorpha Leporidae Lepus fagani Ethiopian hare 108 102 Carnivora Felidae Panthera leo Lion 16 5 Table 6: Diversity indices of mammals in the three habitats during both seasons. Habitat Season Number of species Number of individuals H max Evenness 1-D Wet 2 330 0.69 0.693 1.00 0.501 RF Dry 2 147 0.66 0.693 0.96 0.468 Wet 8 1474 1.7 2.08 0.82 0.790 BL Dry 8 848 2.21 2.08 1.06 0.805 Wet 3 494 1.065 1.099 0.97 0.647 OGL Dry 3 355 1.087 1.099 0.99 0.663 that the resource abundance and their quality are the major different from the present result. +e warthog is also the factors of mammals to prefer one habitat over the others. second least abundant mammals recorded in the present Balakrishnan and Easa [20] asserted that the distribution and study from bushland habitat during both wet and dry habitat association of large mammals determined in terms of seasons. In this study, area mammals were not distributed their water and food requirements. According to this uniformly among the different habitat types, and their finding, the distribution of mammalian species during the abundance significantly varies between seasons. Girma et al. wet seasons exceeded that of the dry seasons. +e underlying [14] described that seasonal movement in search of the reason behind this fact might be the nature and diversity of requirement of the resources is common in many terrestrial mammals. Although the forest is the living place for various vegetation in the study area. Regarding the relative abundance of mammals, the study wild mammalian species, there is a need for integrated conservation measures by various stakeholders including the revealed that Vervet monkey was the most abundant in the dry seasons, while greater kudu, common duiker, Ethiopian adjacent communities with special consideration for the hare, lion, warthog, and bushbuck were totally absent in the mammalian fauna of the forest area in line with the efforts riverine forest both during the dry and wet seasons. +e put on the forest management practices. common duiker comes next followed by bushbuck, Anubis baboon, greater kudu, Ethiopian hare, and warthog; while 5.Conclusion the least abundant mammal in the area was lion. Getachew and Yihune [12] described Olive baboon as the most +e effective management of animal species is greatly im- abundant species during the dry and wet seasons, which is proved by the accurate knowledge of population distribution International Journal of Zoology 5 Journal of Biodiversity, vol. 2016, Article ID 7930857, 8 pages, and abundance. Hence, abundance, species diversity, and distribution of diurnal mammals are the essential ecological [6] S. Oyda, “Human-wildlife conflict in Humbo community information required for the population ecology. +e study managed forest area, Humbo district, Ethiopia,” Ph.D. thesis, confirmed that there are higher numbers of mammals p. 86, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, EthiopiaWo- distributed in the bushland area, followed by open grassland, laita Sodo University, 2017. while riverine forest supported the least number of the [7] World Vision Ethiopia, “Humbo reforestation carbon project. animals. +e finding also revealed that order Artiodactyla Project information document concept stage,” 2006, http:// was the largest order while Bovidae was the largest family in documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/ the study area. Based on the species, the most abundant 258081468031581179/pdf/34683.pdf. mammals were Anubis baboon, Bushbuck, and Common [8] R. Gonfa, T. Gadisa, and T. 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Bekele, “A preliminary survey of medium the species for their sustainable conservation. and large-sized mammals from Lebu natural protected forest, southwest Showa, Ethiopia,” Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, no. 21, pp. 12322–12331, 2019. Data Availability [11] K. L. Kerorsa, A. Bekele, and S. K. Youm, “A Survey of large and medium-sized mammals in Wabe forest fragments, No data were used to support the study. Gurage zone, Ethiopia,” International Journal of Avian and Wildlife Biology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 32–38, 2019. Disclosure [12] A. Getachew and M. Yihune, “Species composition and rel- ative abundance of medium and large mammals in Mengaza +e authors declare that this research did not receive specific communal forest, East Gojjam, Ethiopia,” Journal of Ecology funding from any fundraising organizations; however, it was and the Natural Environment, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 34–40, 2018. performed as part of Master’s thesis. [13] M. Chanea and S. Yirga, “Diversity of medium and large-sized mammals in borena-sayint national park, south Wollo, Ethiopia,” International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Conflicts of Interest Research, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 95–106, 2014. [14] Z. Girma, Y. Mamo, and M. Ersado, “Species composition, +e authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the distribution and relative abundance of large mammals in and publication of this paper. around Wondo Genet forest patch, southern Ethiopia,” Asian Journal of Applied Sciences, vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 538–551, 2012. Acknowledgments [15] G. Bastos, O. Marçal-Junior, ´ and V. L. d. C. Brites, “Medium and large-sized mammals of a fragment of Cerrado in the +e authors would like to acknowledge the Department of Triangulo ˆ Mineiro region, Southeastern Brazil,” Bioscience Biology, Wolaita Sodo University, the staff of the Humbo Journal of Uberlandia, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 863–873, 2014. Community Based Forest Area, the local communities, and [16] M. J. 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