Effect of protected area category on mammal abundance in Western Ghana
Paper Details
Effect of protected area category on mammal abundance in Western Ghana
Abstract
A comparative study of the species composition and encounter rates of mammals (>400g) in two different protected area categories was conducted in the Bia-Goaso Forest Block in western Ghana from April 2008 to February 2009. One hundred and eighty-seven line transects were systematically distributed in an extensive network of 2 wildlife reserves and 9 forest reserves. Mammal signs (droppings and tracks) belonging to twenty-three species (2 rodents; 5 primates; 6 carnivores and 10 ungulates), representing 4 Families and 17 Genera were recorded for the survey period. The most abundant species recorded were brush-tailed porcupine (Antherurus africanus 14.0%), mammal signs, marsh cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus; 13.4%), Maxwell’s duiker (Cephalophus maxwelli; 11.3%) and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus; 10.2%). Large mammals, including elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), buffalo (Sycerus caffer nanus), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) and leopard (Panthera pardus) had relative abundance of less than 1.0%. Mammal density was significantly greater (Mann-Whitney U test: U=3057.0, P<0.01) in wildlife reserves (31 signs per km; 66%) than forest reserves (16 signs per km; 34%). Species richness in wildlife reserves (13 species; 57%) was however not very different (U=2262.5, P>0.05) from forest reserves (10 species; 43%).The forest reserves seem to be achieving only partial success in protecting wildlife, whereas wildlife reserves seem to be considerably more effective, although not entirely successful. The results calls for renewed efforts to include more wildlife protection in the management priorities of Ghana’s forest reserves.
Barnes RFW. 2001. How reliable are dung counts for estimating elephant numbers? East African Wildlife Society,African Journal of Ecology. 39:1-9.
Barnes RFW. 2002. The problem of precision and trend detection posed by small elephant populations in West Africa. East African Wildlife Society, African Journal of Ecology. 40:179-185.
Buckland, ST, Anderson DR, Burnham KP, Laake JL. 1993. Distance sampling: estimating abundance of biological populations. Chapman and Hall, London.
Carrillo E, Wong G, Cuarón AD. 2000. Monitoring mammal populations in Costa Rican protected areas under different hunting restrictions. Conservation Biology.14: (6) 1580-159
Danquah E, Sam MK, Marshal P. 2009a. Monitoring Matters: A survey of large mammals of the Ankasa and Bia Conservation Areas. Report submitted to EU/WD Protected Areas Development Programme Phase II Project.
Danquah E, Sam MK, Akom E, Appiah-Kubi SK, Ayiku T. 2009b. Elephant Conservation and Possibilities of Creating Corridors in Western Ghana.Project_AFE-0348. Technical report submitted by A Rocha Ghana to African Elephant Conservation Fund of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Eggert LS, Eggert JA, Woodruff DS. 2003. Estimating population sizes for elusive animals: the forest elephants of Kakum National Park, Ghana. Molecular Ecology 12: 1389-1402.
Lopes MA, Ferrari SF. 2000. Effects of human colonization on the abundance and diversity of mammals in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Conservation Biology 14:1658-1665.
Norton-Griffiths M. 1978. Counting animals. African Wildlife Foundation, Nairobi.
[PADP] Protected Area Development Programme. 2000. Ankasa Conservation Area Management Plan. Ghana Wildlife Division, Accra.
[PADP] Protected Area Development Programme. 2001. Bia Conservation Area Management Plan. Ghana Wildlife Division, Accra.
Plumptre AJ, Harris S. 1995. Estimating the biomass of large mammalian herbivores in tropical mountain forest: a method of faecal counting that avoids assuming a “steady state” system.Journal of Applied Ecology.32: 111-120.
SAS Institute. 1999. Statview for windows version 5.1, Cary NC USA.
Emmanuel Danquah, Samuel K. Oppong, Mac E. Nutsuakor (2012), Effect of protected area category on mammal abundance in Western Ghana; IJB, V2, N8, August, P50-57
https://innspub.net/effect-of-protected-area-category-on-mammal-abundance-in-western-ghana/
Copyright © 2012
By Authors and International
Network for Natural Sciences
(INNSPUB) https://innspub.net
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0