Land use determinants of small mammal abundance and distribution in a plague endemic area of Lushoto District, Tanzania.

摘要: Small mammals are considered to be involved in the transmission cycle of bubonic plague, still occurring different parts world, including Lushoto District Tanzania. The objective this study was determine relationship between land use types and practices small mammal abundance distribution. A field survey used collect data three landscapes differing plague incidences. Data collection done both wet season (April-June 2012) dry (August-October 2012). Analysis variance Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) modelling technique were establish Significant variations (p ≤ 0.05) among identified. Plantation forest with farming, natural fallow had higher populations than other aggregated types. influence individual on level showed that, seasons, miraba tended favour mammals' habitation whereas tillage opposite effect. In addition, during crop such as potato maize appeared positively distribution which attributed shelter food availability. Based findings from it is recommended that future efforts predict map spatial temporal human infection risk at fine scale should consider role played by associated activities