Habitat Quality Assessment of the Ethiopian Wolf in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 15 records.

2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Tamene M Y, Bekele A (2025). Habitat Quality Assessment of the Ethiopian Wolf in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. Version 1.0. No organization. Samplingevent dataset. https://test.gbif.se/ipt/resource?r=habitat_quality&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Addis Ababa University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: db63ff50-6364-4afc-8f67-0d5d97f5b4e4.  Addis Ababa University publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Samplingevent; Observation

External data

The resource data is also available in other formats

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

The research was conducted in Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. It is about 860 km north of Addis Ababa. It is part of the Simien Mountains (between 38000'-38012'E and 13012'-13019'N) (Falch and Keiner, 2000). The area occupies chains of plateau and grassy plains and is part of the Simien massif which includes the highest peak in Ethiopia, Ras Dejen Mountain (4,543 m asl) (Nepal, 2000). The topographic feature of the SMNP is characterized by unique landscape composed of a broad undulating plateau. It is also known by its precipitous cliffs, deep gorges and high peaks (Hurni, 1986).

Project Data

Biodiversity is crucial for maintaining a healthy environment, ensuring food security, and building resilience, especially in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Rich in biodiversity and traditional farming systems, Ethiopia hosts the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot as well as the Horn of Africa biodiversity hotspot, which are critical for the Arabica coffee wild gene pool, but one of the least developed globally. Conserving biodiversity in Ethiopia requires robust evidence, skills, and policies, and quality data production and effective mobilization to data aggregators like GBIF are essential. The biodiversity data in Ethiopia is available in fragmented forms across various institutions, limiting access, especially for policymakers and practitioners. This bottleneck is largely due to the need for skills in developing and managing databases and making data available in an integrated manner at national, regional, and global scales. In addition, there is a shortage of analytical skills in producing quality scientific data and knowledge. This project aims to extend the work initiated in 2017 by the EU-funded GBIF Biodiversity Information for Development project BIDERSE and to address challenges by providing capacity-building training and knowledge transfer, enabling stakeholders to mobilize, manage, and use data according to global best practices. The key stakeholders identified for establishing a national biodiversity platform will act as a basis for this initiative.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

Extensive field surveys were conducted in different sample areas to record variables relevant to the quality of habitat for the Ethiopian wolf. A total of 403 point samples from the selected sample areas (Gich, Chennek, Aynameda, Sebat-Minch, Matiba, Adilemlem and Atere) were surveyed to study vegetation types and land characteristics. At each site, variables relevant to rodent distributions were measured, including the percentage cover of vegetation (grasses, shrubs and herbs) and physical variables (bare ground and stone). Vegetation type was also determined in each point sample area. Soil and rocks can form a significant portion of the landscape (Lewis, 1998). Other environmental variables were also recorded to represent the landscape in which the sample was found for instance, landform and slope. The point samples were located every 200 m along line transects running across the study areas of different sample sites. This helped to avoid spatial auto-correlation and ensure independence. The percentage cover of bare ground, stone and plants as visually assessed and estimated on a circular area of 5 m radius quadrat. Vegetation cover was measured following Braun-Blanquet’s scale: 1 = <5%; 2 = 5-25%; 3 = 26-50%; 4 = 51-75%; 5 = 76-100% (Hurst and Allen, 2007). For additional information on the structure of vegetation, the cover of vegetation layer was also recorded that typically describes the structure of Afro-alpine type vegetation: modal height <5 cm ground level; 5-30 cm herbaceous level and >30 cm shrub level. The overall habitat type for the area immediately surrounding the quadrat was classified. Grass cover was recorded as ‘short grass’ or ‘tall grass’ where they belonged to the ground or herbaceous layer, respectively. Landscape environmental variables included four categories of slope: Flat, gentle, moderate and steep and terrain forms: swamp, plateau, crag (rock face) and slope. Furthermore, the number of the Ethiopian wolf scat and dig outs were recorded in each quadrat. Livestock droppings were also counted to investigate their impact on the quality of habitat by affecting the number of rodents. These were classified as cattle, pack animals and sheep and goats. Fresh and recent wildlife droppings were also counted and identified in each quadrat. Measurements of rodent abundance using counts of holes in each quadrat were used to assess the use of vegetation classes in predicting prey abundance and distribution. This is because, the distribution of the Ethiopian wolf was correlated with the abundance of rodents (Sillero-Zubiri et al., 1995). Counts of rodent signs were assumed to be an appropriate measure of prey availability to the Ethiopian wolves (Sillero-Zubiri et al., 1995). Number of rodent holes were measured in each 5 m radius quadrat. During counting, old unused rat holes that were distinguished by plant growth around the entrance were excluded. Mole rat signs were also included in counting.

Method step description:

1. The data were collected during dry and wet seasons.

Additional Metadata