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Dissertation
An examination of mammal community composition shifts and species turnover across landscape mosaics in Cameroon and on Bioko Island
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Mar 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001952
Abstract
Protecting the world's biodiversity requires understanding the patterns of species community compositions and the impacts of disturbance on species living with human pressures. Human development has coincided with extirpation of species and some continents have lost most of their large fauna. Central Africa still retains much of its biodiversity and may be uniquely suited to provide insight into how large mammals respond to human development and a disturbed landscape. Mbam Djerem National Park contains a transition from savanna to forest and is an excellent place to study the natural process of species turnover across habitats. The mammal community is diverse, with large carnivores, megafauna, and primates, and species that are found throughout Central Africa. Identifying development that can provide for humans while maintaining biodiversity is needed, and agroforestry, one of the traditional farming methods in Cameroon and on Bioko Island, has this potential. Agroforestry comes in many forms, from smallholder farms, to large monoculture plantations that have a negative impact on local fauna due to the habitat destruction that occurs. The impact of smallholder farms on the local abundance of mammal species remains poorly understood. The Dja Biosphere Reserve in southeastern Cameroon and Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea are both home to people who practice small- and large- scale agroforestry methods. Thus, these sites provide an opportunity to study mammal community patterns and the disturbance to the soundscape, where species communicate and interact, in this form of development. The likely future of the regions surrounding tropical protected areas is a mosaic of agricultural farms and small forest patches and any development that can maintain native trees is critical. This study will help predict how the mammal community will change as habitats are converted for development and help us understand the impacts of this disturbance in a Central Africa.
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Details
- Title
- An examination of mammal community composition shifts and species turnover across landscape mosaics in Cameroon and on Bioko Island
- Creators
- Ian Nichols
- Contributors
- Mary Katherine Gonder (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xvi, 158 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biology; College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021853711004721