Ibrahim Danzabarma Abdoulaziz, Hima Karmadine, Garba Madougou, Issaka Seydou, Dobigny Gauthier
Département de Biologie, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger.
Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR IRD-INRAE-CIRAD-Institut Agro-Université de Montpellier), Montferrier-sur-Lez, France.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 22;20(7):e0325427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325427. eCollection 2025.
Expanding transportation infrastructure has facilitated the introduction and proliferation of invasive small mammals, particularly now cosmopolitan rodents like Rattus spp. and Mus musculus, within urban socio-ecosystems where they may severely impact local biodiversity, economy and public health. However, fine-scale dynamics of such biological invasions are still poorly documented, especially in African cities where such biological invasions are still ongoing. We took advantage of a long-term monitoring program of terrestrial small mammal communities of Niamey, the capital city of Niger, to compare rodent and shrew faunas at the same sampling points ten years apart, namely in 2009-2013 and in 2020-2023. We show that Rattus rattus has been expanding significantly in almost all trapping areas across the city, while Mastomys natalensis relative abundance has decreased. This clear trend of native-to-invasive rodent species turnover was particularly marked within the core city, but some notable exceptions exist in peripheral as well as traditionally built zones where the native species still remains dominant. These patterns are discussed, with special attention given to possible human socio-economic and health implications.
交通基础设施的扩张促进了入侵性小型哺乳动物的引入和扩散，尤其是现在在城市社会生态系统中广泛分布的啮齿动物，如褐家鼠属和小家鼠，它们可能会对当地生物多样性、经济和公共卫生造成严重影响。然而，此类生物入侵的精细动态仍记录不足，尤其是在非洲城市，此类生物入侵仍在持续。我们利用了对尼日尔首都尼亚美陆生小型哺乳动物群落的长期监测计划，比较了相隔十年的同一采样点的啮齿动物和鼩鼱动物区系，即2009 - 2013年和2020 - 2023年。我们发现，黑家鼠在城市几乎所有诱捕区域都有显著扩张，而南非乳鼠的相对丰度有所下降。这种从本土啮齿动物物种到入侵啮齿动物物种的明显更替趋势在市中心尤为明显，但在周边以及传统建筑区域也有一些显著例外，那里本土物种仍然占主导地位。我们对这些模式进行了讨论，并特别关注了可能对人类社会经济和健康的影响。
