The diversity of dung beetles along disturbance gradient in the Udzungwa mountains national park, Tanzania
| dc.contributor.author | Mwambala, Anna Ndele | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-09-04T15:39:20Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-01-07T15:44:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-09-04T15:39:20Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-01-07T15:44:56Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013 | |
| dc.description | Available in print copy | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The diversity of dung beetles was assessed along a disturbance gradient in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park in Tanzania. The form of disturbance involved human activities such as excessive deadwood collection, cutting grasses for thatching and collection of medicinal plants. Disturbance gradients were primary forest (low level / no human activities), moderately disturbed sites and highly disturbed sites. Pitfall traps baited with fresh cow dung were used, nine transect were established along with three transects at each disturbance gradient. A total of 12,894 dung beetles comprised of 55 species were collected. Species richness was high in highly disturbed sites (48 species) compared with moderately and primary forest sites (41 species each). Kruskal–Wallis showed statistically significant difference among the three levels of disturbance (H=80.920, p<0.05), with abundance being highest in primary forest. The Shannon-Wiener index showed higher species diversity in the moderately disturbed sites (H′ = 2.5678) and lowest at primary forest (1.7248) and the difference was significance, p>0.05. Comparing the present study and previous studies showed that, from 2005 to 2012 relative abundance was decreasing while species richness was increasing. Species diversity from 2005 to 2012, remained more or less constant for the moderately disturbed sites, and was decreasing for the primary forest and highly disturbed sites. Study carried in 2005 was more diverse than the present study. Based on the present study, conclusions are drawn and areas that need further studies and improvement are suggested. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Mwambala, A.N.(2013). The diversity of dung beetles along disturbance gradient in the Udzungwa mountains national park, Tanzania. Master dissertation, university of Dar es Salaam. Available at(http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/search.aspx?formtype=advanced) | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1511 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | The university of Dar es Salaam | en_US |
| dc.subject | Dung beetles | en_US |
| dc.subject | Udzungwa Mountains National Park (Tanzania) | en_US |
| dc.subject | Tanzania | en_US |
| dc.title | The diversity of dung beetles along disturbance gradient in the Udzungwa mountains national park, Tanzania | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |