SMALL MAMMALS OF A WOODLAND-SAVANNA ECOSYSTEM IN ZIMBABWE .1. DENSITYAND HABITAT OCCUPANCY PATTERNS

Population and habitat occupancy patterns of small mammals in five woo dland-savannah habitats (riverine grassland, miombo, mopane, talus, th icket) were studied at Sengwa Wildlife Research Area in Zimbabwe betwe en July 1992 and July 1993. The study was initiated following a drough t year and extended over a year of average rainfall. Fourteen species of small mammals were recorded during mark-and-recapture live-trapping . Populations of most species were low during the 1992 cool dry and ho t dry seasons, began increasing during the hot wet season, and attaine d peak densities during the 1993 cool dry season. The greatest amplitu des of density fluctuations were exhibited by the bush squirrel (Parax erus cepapi) and the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis). The num bers of habitats occupied by a single species ranged from one to four, although the majority of captures for each species tended to occur in a single habitat. The habitats occupied by an individual species duri ng the season of lowest density was always the same as the one in whic h it reached its highest density. Temporal variation in density was gr eatest in riverine grassland and least in talus. Overall low densities during this study may have resulted from a combination of drought and impacts of large mammals on small mammal habitats.