Impacts of grazing ungulates on vegetation and soils in areas closer to water holes in serengeti plains, Tanzania
Paper Details
Impacts of grazing ungulates on vegetation and soils in areas closer to water holes in serengeti plains, Tanzania
Abstract
Impacts of grazing ungulates on vegetation and soils in areas closer to water holes in Serengeti plains were studied between September 2004 and December 2004. Grass cover, percentage of grass grazed and soil characteristics closer to water holes and those as far as 4 km from water sources were evaluated. Grazing was found to be significantly more intense (P=0.001, F=8.44, df=35) closer to water holes than in areas away from water holes. Total grass cover and species diversity were significantly lower nearer water holes (P=0.01,F= 5.32, df= 35, P<0.0001, F=10.00, df=35). Percentage of clay, electrical conductivity and pH were significantly higher in areas close to the water holes and decreased with increasing distances from the water holes (P=0.01, F=4.85, df=35; P=0.02,F=4.02, df=35 and P<0.0001, F=17.05, df=35 respectively). Soil organic matter, total nitrogen and potassium were significantly lower (P=0.03, F=3.89, df=35; P<0.0001, F=26.9, df=35 and P<0001, F=37.34, df=35) in areas closer to the water holes. Park’s management is recommended to install artificial waterholes and salt licks in different areas of the Park to encourage a more even distribution of animals over the park to reduce level of environmental degradation around the few existing water holes.
Abrahamson GW. ed. 1989. Plant-Animal Interactions. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York.
Agouridis CT, Edwards DR, Workman SR, Bicudo JR, Koostra BK, Vanzant ES, Taraba JL. 2005. Stream bank erosion associated with grazing practices in the humid region. American Society of Agricultural Engineers 48 (1), 181 -190.
Andrew MH, Lange RT. 1986. Development of new biosphere in arid chenopod shrubland grazed by sheep: changes to the vegetation. Australian Journal of Ecology 11, 411- 424.
Bernhard G, Michael G. 1965. Serengeti Shall Not Die. Hamis Hamilton Ltd., London.
Brady NC, Weil RR. 1999. The Nature and the Properties of Soils. 12th edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River.
Burrows DW. 2000. Literature Review of the Potential Impacts of grazing on Aquatic and Riparian Ecosystems in the Australian Dry Tropical Rangelands. Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research. Report No. 00/01.
Campbell K, Borner M. 1995. Population trends and distribution of Serengeti herbivores: implications for management. In: Sinclair ARE, Arcese P, eds. Serengeti II: Dynamics, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 117-145.
Charley RR, Cowling SW. 1968. Changes in the soil nutrient status resulting from overgrazing and their consequences in plant communities of semi arid areas. Proceeding of Ecological Society of Australia 3, 28–38.
Crawley MJ. 1997. Plant Ecology. 2nd Edition, Blackwell Sciences, Cambridge.
Crisp DJ. 1975. Grazing in Terrestrial and Marine Environments. Blackwell Scientific Publication, London.
de Wit H. 1977. Soil Map of the Serengeti Plain. Appendix: Soils and Grassland types of the Serengeti Plain (Tanzania). PhD Thesis, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen.
Gereta EJ. 2004. The Importance of Water Quality and Quantity in the Tropical Ecosystem, Tanzania. Ph.D. Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim.
Hagwet MB. 2005. Distribution of Grazing Ungulates in Relation to Water Holes, its Consequences on Vegetation and Soil in the Serengeti Plains, Tanzania. M.Sc Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa.
Humphrey JW, Patterson GS. 2000. Effects of late summer cattle grazing on the diversity of riparian pasture vegetation in an Upland Conifer Forest. Journal of Applied Ecology 37, 986-996.
Kent M, Coker P. 1992. Vegetation Description and Analysis: A Practical Approach, CRC Press, Boca Raton.
McNaughton SJ, Banyikwa FF. 1995. Plant communities and herbivory. In: Sinclair ARE, Arcese P, eds. Serengeti: Research, Management, and Conservation of an Ecosystem, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 49-70.
Moore JP, Taylor JE, Paul ND, Whittaker JB. 2003. Reduced leaf expansion as a cost of systematic induced resistance to herbivory. Functional Ecology 17, 75-81.
Ntalwila J. 2001. An Ecological Study of the Pattern of Plant Species Diversity around Lake Manyara, Northern Tanzania. M.Sc. thesis, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa.
Rapp A. 1976. Sudan: Can Desert Encroachment be stopped? A Study with Emphasis on Africa. In: Rapp A, Le Houérou HN, Lundholm B, eds. Ecological Bulletin, No.24. U.N. Environment Programme & Secretariat for International Ecology, Stockholm,155-164.
Robert ER. 1990. Ecology. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York.
Senzota RBM. 1997. Water Dynamics in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Research Report. Biannual Newsletter of Research Programmeme on Sustainable Use of Dryland Biodiversity 3, 22.
Senzota RBM, Mtahko G. 1990. Effect on wildlife of a water-hole in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 28, 147-151.
Sinclair ARE. 1995. Serengeti. Past and Present. In: Sinclair ARE, Arcese P, eds. Serengeti II. Dynamics, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 3- 30.
Sinclair ARE, Arcese P. (eds.), 1995. Serengeti II: Dynamics, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem. Chicago University Press, Chicago.
William LR, Eric B. 1989. Wildlife Ecology and Management, 2nd Edition. Collier Macmillan Publishers, London.
Wilson AD. 1990. The effects of grazing on Australian ecosystems. Proceeding of Ecological Society of Australia 16, 235-244.
Zerihun W. 1985. Variation in grassland vegetation on the central plateau of Shewa, Ethiopia in relation to Edaphic Factors and Grazing Conditions. PhD Thesis, Uppsala University, Sweden. PhD Dissertationes Botanecea 84, 1-114.
Hagwet, M.B., Senzota, R.B., Balakrishnan, M., Bekele, A. (2014), Impacts of grazing ungulates on vegetation and soils in areas closer to water holes in serengeti plains, Tanzania; JBES, V4, N5, May, P296-302
https://innspub.net/impacts-of-grazing-ungulates-on-vegetation-and-soils-in-areas-closer-to-water-holes-in-serengeti-plains-tanzania/
Copyright © 2014
By Authors and International
Network for Natural Sciences
(INNSPUB) https://innspub.net
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0