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Testing the “Edge Effect”: do gallery forests boost rodent and bat diversity in the Dahomey Gap?

G. Amori,F. Petrozzi,L. Luiselli

Published 2025 in Animal Biology

ABSTRACT

Ecotones are transitional zones between distinct ecological communities that often exhibit elevated biodiversity due to the overlap of species from adjacent habitats. Gallery forests, linear riparian woodlands within savanna landscapes, function as such ecotones, providing refugia, dispersal corridors, and unique ecological niches. In the Dahomey Gap, a savannah intrusion separating Upper and Lower Guinean forests in West Africa, we analyzed rodent and bat diversity across three habitat types: non-riparian forests (FOR), gallery forests (GALFOR), and savannas (SAV). Data were compiled from published literature and field surveys across Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Species richness, habitat breadth, and taxon-specific habitat associations were assessed using Poisson and binomial Generalized Linear Models (GLMs), alongside Detrended Correspondence Analysis and species-area relationships. A total of 101 species (49 rodents, 52 bats) across 150 habitat occurrences were recorded. SAV showed the highest species richness, whereas GALFOR displayed strong compositional similarity to FOR, hosting no exclusive species but supporting forest-associated taxa. GLMs revealed taxon-specific patterns: bats and arboreal rodents were linked to forested habitats, while Muridae and Nesomyidae predominated in savannas. Edge effects were weak at the species level but pronounced at the family level. We quantified the relationship between habitat area and mammalian diversity using Poisson GLMs and a log-log species-area regression, finding that species richness increased with area while family-level diversity showed no significant response. However, relative to its very limited spatial extent, GALFOR supported a higher number of species than the two other main habitat types, particularly when compared with SAV. These findings confirm gallery forests as functional ecotones and ecological corridors, vital for maintaining mammalian diversity across fragmented savanna-forest mosaics.

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