Av. Linzey et Mh. Kesner, SMALL MAMMALS OF A WOODLAND-SAVANNA ECOSYSTEM IN ZIMBABWE .2. COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, Journal of zoology, 243, 1997, pp. 153-162
Community characteristics of small mammals in five woodland-savannah h
abitats (riverine grassland, miombo, mopane, talus, thicket) were stud
ied at Sengwa Wildlife Research Area in Zimbabwe between July 1992 and
July 1993. The study was initiated following a drought year and exten
ded over a year of average rainfall. Fourteen species of small mammals
were recorded during mark-and-recapture trapping, with the number of
species known to occur in a single community ranging from three to nin
e. Species complements and biomass (g/ha) were lowest during the first
portion of the study and peaked during the 1993 cool dry season. Spec
ies diversity (H') was lowest in the hot dry season and highest in the
cool dry season. Temporal variation in biomass and species diversity
was least in talus and greatest in riverine grassland. Communities in
talus and thicket were most similar and those in riverine grassland an
d thicket least similar. In general, these results suggest that woodla
nd-savannah communities are highly variable and appear to be resource-
limited.