Browsing by Author "Kangombe, Fransiska"

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    Host specificity, prevalence and intensity of infestation of fleas (Order Siphonaptera) of small mammals at selected sites in the city of Windhoek, Namibia
    (University of Namibia, 2013) Mfune, John K.; Kangombe, Fransiska; Eiseb, Seth J.
    Small mammals host diverse communities of parasites including fleas. There is considerable research interest in effects of parasites on their hosts. Host specificity, prevalence and intensity of infestation of fleas on small mammals were studied at selected sites in the city of Windhoek, Namibia from April to July 2005. Small mammals were live-trapped using Sherman traps and autopsied before collection of fleas. Fleas were processed using standard parasitological procedures and were mounted permanently onto slides using Canada balsam. Small mammal hosts and fleas were identified to species level. A total of sixty one (61) small mammals belonging to four rodent species, i.e. bushveld gerbil Gerbilliscus leucogaster, hairy-footed gerbil Gerbillurus paeba, black-tailed tree rat Thallomys nigricauda and the four-stripped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio and one insectivore, bushveld sengi Elephantulus intufi, were captured. One hundred and thirty six (136) fleas belonging to eight species, i.e. Xenopsylla brasiliensis, Xenopsylla cheopis, Xenopsylla hirsuta, Xenopsylla trispinis, Dinopsyllus ellobius, Dinopsyllus zuluensis, Epirimia aganipes and Listropsylla aricinae were collected from infested hosts. Dinopsyllus ellobius and X. trispinis and L. aricinae were host specific, being collected only from G. leucogaster and G. paeba, respectively. No fleas were collected from E. intifi and R. pumilio. The prevalence of fleas ranged from zero in E. entufi and R. pumilio through 50 % in T. nigricauda, 55.1% in G. leucogaster to 61.1% in G. paeba. High species richness of fleas was recorded in G. leucogaster (seven out of eight flea species) and in G. paeba (six out of eight flea species). The overall prevalence of fleas was higher in male (54.3%) than in female (34.6%) hosts. There was no association between the body mass of small mammal hosts and the intensity of flea infestation. The intensity of infestation of fleas did not vary significantly by host species and sex of hosts.
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    The role of the National Botanic Garden of Namibia in plant species conservation
    (University of Namibia, 2016) Kangombe, Fransiska; Moses, M.N.; Kwembeya, E.G.
    This study was aimed at determining and comparing plant species diversity, species Composition and species richness in the National Botanic Garden and AloeTrail areas in Windhoek, Namibia. Floristic data were collected following standard random plot sampling procedure, where1m × 1m plots were nested in the 20m x 20m plots to measure herbaceous and woody plant species respectively. A total of 50 and 40 plots were sampled at the Botanic Garden and Aloe Trail areas respectively. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was used to compute the species diversity of each plot sampled in each area. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test the data for normality. The Jaccard index of similarity revealed a 64% percentage similarity in species composition Between the two sites. However, there was no significant difference in the herbaceous Cover (Mann-Whitneystatistic, Z = −1.314,p = 0.189) between the two areas. The Botanic Garden showed a significantly higher species richness than the AloeTrail (ttest, p= 0.000). In addition, the Botanic Garden was found to be significantly more diverse (Mann-Whitneystatistic, U=478, p=0.000) than the AloeTrail because it is a protected area that is fenced and with minimal disturbances. The higher species diversity in the National Botanic Garden is attributable to the role of these living collections in the conservation of plant species.