Assignment 8: Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park PDF

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Assignment 8: Measuring Biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park

By team

BIO 2129

Presented to

University of Ottawa Department of Biology Thursday, November 19, 2020

PART 1: Biodiversity Indices 1)

Figure 1. Three different locations compared for species richness, Shannon Diversity Index and evenness which is shown in graph A, B and C respectively.

2) Table 1. Calculated values of species richness, the Shannon diversity index and evenness of species in Gorongosa National Park. Camera traps took data near 3 different human structures at the park: ranger outpost, road and school.

3) a) How do the three biodiversity indices compare among the sub-categories of your assigned category? Our category is Human Structure. Therefore, the sub-categories consist of the human structure closest to the site in which the species were observed. These sites include the road, the ranger post, and the school. In terms of the amount of species noted at each structure, it is indicated by the species richness that less species frequent the ranger outpost since this value was only 18, compared to 31 for the school, and 41 for the road. Thus, more species frequent the road. The Shannon-Wiener index provides insight into the diversity, this to say the number of individuals in a given area. The road also has the highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index (2.082), but despite having the lowest species richness, the diversity index for the ranger outpost was very close to that of the road, being 1.99. The school was the lowest, being only 1.318. Finally, in terms of how even the community is, the ranger outpost is the most even, then the road, then the school. This is indicated by the evenness values, which are respectively 0.688, 0.561, and 0.384. The randomness of the values of all of these biodiversity indices clearly shows that they represent different phenomenons in the given environment. b) Overall, is biodiversity similar or different among the subcategories of your assigned category? Give one or more possible explanations for their similarities and/or differences in biodiversity. All three indices used are to measure the biodiversity. By analyzing all of the indices, one can conclude that the biodiversity is different among the subcategories. The data shows that the road contains the most biodiversity since it has the highest Shannon-Wiener index and the highest species richness. Their lower evenness could simply mean that since the area contains higher abundances of species and individuals, the amount of these individuals of the many species have more variability. However, the school and outpost show less biodiversity. By analyzing the raw data, we can arrive at the same conclusion since the sum of species for every area is tremendously different. At the ranger outpost, there are 1,458 individuals; at the road there are 49,772; and at the school, there are 14,195. There are many explanations as to why the biodiversity is different in these different areas. First of all, research published by the African Journal of Ecology shows the effects of human structures on elephants. Many of the theories and patterns that explain elephant behaviour can be applied to other species, such as the ones in question during our study. The study published by the journal concluded (with data collected by camera traps), that elephant activity was higher along roads, since these serve as corridors. They

therefore use these “corridors” to move around and access food. The research also showed that elephants avoided humans in every way possible. Speculations as to why they avoid humans revolve around fear. Many animals are afraid of humans, but humans have a long history of hunting and brutally killing elephants. Even without this history, animals tend to be instinctually cautious around humans, and thus avoid human structures like schools and ranger outposts. This study therefore provides us with insight about animal behaviour, and we can conclude why biodiversity is higher near the road, and lower by the school and ranger outpost.

Gaynor, K. M., Branco, P. S., Long, R. A., Gonçalves, D. D., Granli, P. K., & Poole, J. H. (2018, November 29). Effects of human settlement and roads on diel activity patterns of elephants (Loxodonta africana). Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aje.12552

PART 2: Distribution of the Three Most Abundant Animal Species from Camera Traps 4)

Figure 2

Figure 2. Percent relative abundance (%pi) of baboons, warthogs, and waterbucks at the different subcategories of human structures. Abundances were measured with camera traps in Gorongosa National Park as the total number of individuals identified in the different locations. Relative abundances for the 3 most abundant species are presented.

5) Table 2. Calculated values of the % relative abundance and Chi square test (X2 ) observing baboons, warthogs, and waterbucks at three different locations at the park: ranger outpost, road, and school (n=3).

Human 

Species

Relative Abundance (%)

Baboon

33.5

Structure

Ranger Outpost Warthog

Road

School

a

1.5

Waterbuck

2.3

Baboon

39.7

Warthog

14.7

Waterbuck

11.4

Baboon

71

Warthog

6.0

Waterbuck

2.6

Total Total X2 Is p Higher or Accepted 2 Partial X Value Lower than Hypothesis α = 0.05? (HO and HA)

120.2

612

3085.823

p...