Population Densities and the Range-Carrying Capacity for Large Mammals in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda

Abstract

The highest known densities oflarge terrestrial mammals occur on the grasslands in the western arm of the Rift Valley, in western Uganda (Petrides and Swank 1958, Petrides 1963) and the eastern Congo Republic (Bourliere and Verschuren 1960, Bourliere 1963). While prehistoric environments no longer exist, the plant and animal assemblages present in parts of East Africa, and in a few other regions of the African continent, provide as close a resemblance to Pleistocene conditions as it is now possible to experience. With increasing human populations and expanding industrialisation, the historical value alone of such areas, as examples of conditions now generally gone, is great. There is an indication here, too, that biological productivity may be far higher here than for most cultivated animal-plant communities and that the possibilities may indeed be great for a high economic return from wildlife husbandry and wild animal-viewing on selected lands in

Mammal studies in Uganda 1878–1980

“…Helmut Buechner studied both the effects of elephants on vegetation in Murchison Falls Park (Buechner and Dawkins 1961) and the complex mating behaviour of the Uganda kob (Kobus kob) (Buechner and Schloeth 1965). Meanwhile Petrides and Swank (1965) were estimating the carrying capacity of large mammals in Queen Elizabeth Park.…”

History of Ecological Sciences, Part 59: Niches, Biomes, Ecosystems, and Systems

“…Simplified network diagram for the system of big game ruminants on African savannas. Data from Uganda in Petrides and Swank ,. From HT Odum :111.…”

“…Simplified network diagram for the system of big game ruminants on African savannas. Data from Uganda in Petrides andSwank 1964,. From HT Odum 1971b:111. his followers used their approach to ecology to discredit the work of others who continued on as before, then one could assume that the "Odumites" would have won the day.…”

Advances in wildlife ecology and the influence of Graeme Caughley

“…Eventually, the sward incorporates species that are inedible (invaders), and if these are high in abundance the sward is deemed 'overgrazed' and ungulate numbers overabundant (Dyksterhuis 1949;Lewis 1969). This distinction between economic and ecological capacity, first highlighted by Caughley (Caughley 1976c), explains how criteria on vegetation condition developed for harvesting often lead to erroneous conclusions of overgrazing when applied to natural areas in protected parks where populations were at ecological carrying capacity; for example, buffalo were deemed to be overgrazing in Kruger, hippopotamus similarly in Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda (Petrides and Swank 1965;Pienaar 1983) and elk in Yellowstone (Pengelly 1963). Culling programs were implemented on the evidence of inappropriate plant community indices.…”