Diversity, habitat and activity patterns of mesocarnivore assemblages in an Afrotropical protected forest savannah mosaic of Central Cameroon

Abstract

Abstract Little is known about the diversity and ecology of mesocarnivores in the Mpem and Djim National Parks in central Cameroon. Therefore, we undertook a rapid assessment using camera traps from September 2021 to December 2021. The main objective of our study was to collect data on the diversity, abundance and relative frequency of mesocarnivores per habitat type and their activity period using camera traps with a distance sampling method. In 1700 trap nights, we recorded 53 events of seven mesocarnivores, all belonging to the family of Viveridae, Herpesdidae and Felidae which yield 3.12 mesocarnivores per 100 days. The black‐legged mongoose ( Bdeogale nigripes , Pucheran, 1855) exhibited the highest capture rate (CR, 0.88). The long‐nosed mongoose ( Xenogale naso, Winton, 1901) was found in all habitats class and was the more active mesocarnivore. The Shannon‐Weaver diversity index (H) showed a high diversity of species in the community with high diversity in the near primary forest. We obtained a lower dominance of one species over the other, a lower richness and a more even distribution of species between habitats. Our results suggest a possible spatio‐temporal niche partitioning between the species recorded, with blotched genet (Genetta maculata, Gray, 1830), showing no clear peak of activity. However, the rarefaction curve indicates that the effort expended was insufficient, suggesting that additional sampling is required to obtain a reasonable estimate of species richness within our community. The activity patterns of the recorded mesocarnivores were generally similar to those reported elsewhere but suggest some behavioural flexibility. Although all these species are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, the low number of recorded events may indicate that mesocarnivores may be threatened in this area if effective conservation strategies are not implemented.