Monday 25 August 2014

Habitat loss and fragmentation reduce chameleon population in Tanzania

25th August 2014 
1 hour ago by Sathya Achia Abraham

(Phys.org) —Tucked away among the lush rainforests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania are a host of species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world.

Among them are a variety of chameleon species differing in size, color and how they use their forest dwelling. However, all of them rely on the rainforest for survival.

In the past 50 years, the chameleon populations in the montane rainforests of Tanzania have declined by more than 60 percent from historical levels due to habitat loss and fragmentation, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University biologists.

In the study, published in Diversity and Distributions, a top organismal conservation journal, researchers surveyed three chameleon species in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania using a hierarchical, distance-sampling model.




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