The woodland vegetation of the Katavi-Rukwa ecosystem in western Tanzania

Banda, Tasila; Mwangulango, Nathan; Meyer, Britta; Schwartz, Mark W.; Mbago, Frank M.; Sungula, Michael; Caro, Tim

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.01.079

Cited by 41 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…a). The area is part of the central Zambezi miombo woodlands ecoregion (Burgess et al ., ) but, unusually for miombo, is characterized by trees of the Terminalia and Combretum genera (Banda, Schwartz & Caro, ; Banda et al ., ). A great diversity and abundance of large mammals occur in this area (Caro, , b , ), which is currently under several different forms of protection.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Edge effects and large mammal distributions in a national park

Kiffner

Stoner

Caro

2012

Animal Conservation

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While protected areas are a centrepiece of conservation, populations of animals in protected areas can still be subject to considerable human influence. Conservation theory suggests that many species should live at lower densities at the periphery of protected areas compared with the core area. Similarly, but more specifically, species subject to exploitation are expected to have lower densities in areas close to human settlements compared with more remote areas. Drawing upon distributional data of eight large African herbivore species (buffalo Syncerus caffer, elephant Loxodonta africana, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, impala Aepyceros melampus, topi Damaliscus lunatus, warthog Phacochoerus africanus, waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus and zebra Equus quagga) sampled using ground surveys in 1995 and 1996, and seven large herbivore species (the same species without impala) sampled using aerial surveys from 1987 to 2009, we fitted logistic regression models and used an information theoretic model selection approach to test these two hypotheses in an East African savannah national park subject to illegal hunting from outside. In the vast majority of herbivore species, occupancy was not substantially affected by being close to the edge of the park or in close proximity to human villages. Furthermore, population declines witnessed in this protected area were not reflected in reduced occupancy near park boundaries. We conclude that assumed distributional differences between peripheral and core parts of reserves are not necessarily supported by empirical evidence, and that population declines within reserves do not inevitably proceed from boundaries inwards.Edge effects and large mammals C. Kiffner et al.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Edge effects and large mammal distributions in a national park

Kiffner

Stoner

Caro

2012

Animal Conservation

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“…It was gazetted in 1974 to protect two seasonal lakes, Katavi and Chada, around which high mammal densities have been reported (Caro, 1999a). Apart from these lakes and several larger plains, the NP is mainly covered by mixed woodland characterized by Markhamia, Grewia, Terminalia, Combretum , Syzygium and Acacia vegetation, atypical of the miombo biome in which it is embedded (Banda, Schwartz & Caro, 2006; Banda et al. , 2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat availability, hunting or poaching: what affects distribution and density of large mammals in western Tanzanian woodlands?

Waltert¹,

Meyer²,

Kiffner

2009

African Journal of Ecology

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Game reserves (GR) in Tanzania have been found to support similar or lower densities of large mammals compared with National parks (NP). But as these areas usually differ considerably not only in regard to management but also to environmental factors, we assessed the relative importance of vegetation cover, species‐specific habitat preferences and legal (trophy hunting) and illegal off‐take for observed differences in species‐specific densities. In the Katavi ecosystem, open habitats were characteristic elements of Katavi NP, while Rukwa GR was dominated by miombo forest. In an inter‐specific comparison, density differences were moderately correlated with preferences for open habitats, and with estimates of combined legal and illegal off‐take but not with one of these separately. In a multiple linear regression, open habitat preference was found to explain 39.6% of the density differences between the two protected areas. This analysis suggests that the broad‐scale pattern of most species’ distributions is governed by differing vegetation cover but that several species are overexploited by illegal (elephant, giraffe, buffalo, bush pig, warthog) or combined off‐take (hippopotamus, eland, waterbuck), thus emphasizing the need for quota readjustments and a more efficient anti‐poaching control.

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“…Rukwa Game Reserve (RGR, 4323 km 2 ), to the east and south, is administered by the Wildlife Division but is patrolled less frequently; tourist hunting occurs there (Waltert, Meyer & Kiffner, ). Both are part of the central Zambezi miombo woodlands ecoregion (Burgess et al ., ) characterized here by Terminalia and Combretum tree genera (Banda et al ., ). To the south of KNP and RGR lies Usevya Open Area (OA, also called Mpimbwe) where Pimbwe, Fipa and Rungwa people live in and around eleven villages cultivating subsistence crops; Sukuma herd cattle (Borgerhoff Mulder, Caro & Msago, ).…”

Section: Estimated Population Sizes Of Larger Mammals In the Katavi‐rmentioning

confidence: 97%