Rodents in fire affected heather shrublands in Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

A study on rodents in the fire affected ericaceous vegetation in the Web Valley of the Bale Mountains National Park was conducted during July 2008–March 2009. Five trapping girds were randomly selected based on the duration since the occurrence of fire such as 6-months, 2- years, 3-years, 4-years and Erica vegetation unaffected by fire. Full recovery of Erica vegetation was observed 4-years after fire. A total of 1088 individual rodents were trapped by Sherman live traps (990) and snap traps (98) during 4440 trap nights. The species and the relative abundance of livetrapped rodents were Lophuromys melanonyx (32.0%), Lophuromys flavopunctatus (25.4%), Arvicanthis blicki (18.1%), Stenocephalemys albocaudata (12.6%) and Otomys typus (11.9%). Tachyoryctes macrocephalus was observed in Erica vegetation affected by fire since 2–3-years, but was not trapped. L. flavopunctatus and O. typus were widely distributed in burned Erica vegetation and the habitat unaffected by fire. No rodent was recorded from 6-months post-fire Erica. Highest density and abundance of rodents were recorded in 2- and 3-years Erica post-fire and the least in the grid from unburned Erica vegetation. Biomass of rodents was also high in 3-year Erica post-fire habitat.