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Small Mammal in the Volta Region of Ghana

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AutorInnen: 
Jan Decher, Ryan Norris, Michael Abedi-Lartey, James Oppong, Rainer Hutterer, Martin Weinbrenner, Martin Koch, Lars Podsiadlowski, C. William Kilpatrick
Erscheinungsjahr: 
2021
Vollständiger Titel: 
A survey of small mammals in the Volta Region of Ghana with comments on zoogeography and conservation
ZFMK-Autorinnen / ZFMK-Autoren: 
Dr. Jan Decher, Dr. Rainer Hutterer, Dr. Lars Podsiadlowski
Org. Einordnung: 
Theriologie, Fledermaus Beringungszentrale, Molekularlabor, Zentrum für molekulare Biodiversitätsforschung (zmb)
Publiziert in: 
Zoosystema
Publikationstyp: 
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
DOI Name: 
https://doi.org/10.5252/zoosystema2021v43a14
Keywords: 
inventory, Dahomey Gap, Togo Highlands, new records, survey, Ghana, bats, rodents, shrews, deforestation, conservation
Bibliographische Angaben: 
Decher, J., R. Norris, M. Abedi-Lartey, J. Oppong, R. Hutterer, M. Weinbrenner, M. Koch, L. Podsiadlowski & C. W. Kilpatrick. (2021): A survey of small mammals in the Volta Region of Ghana with comments on zoogeography and conservation. - Zoosystema 43:253-281.
Abstract: 

We examined small mammal (insectivores, bats and rodents) diversity in community and legally protected forest remnants in the Ghana-Togo Highlands of the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa, a zoologically understudied area compared to neighboring Togo to the East, or Ghana west of the Volta River. We recorded 34 small mammal species: three species of shrews (Soricidae Fischer, 1815), 12 species of rodents, one primate (Galagidae Gray, 1825) and 17 species of bats (Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779). The rodent Stochomys longicaudatus (Tullberg, 1893) appears to be a first record for Ghana. Two shrew, three rodent and one bat species were first records for the Volta Region. By comparing our small mammal captures and limited microhabitat data from 1999 and 2001 to forest cover change maps for the period 2000-2015 we discuss trends in species community changes due to forest cover loss and other disturbance regimes. Aside from contributing to our understanding of the distribution of several small mammal species, the study demonstrates the progressive loss of forest habitat in the Volta Region.