Habitat mosaic
The programme’s third objective focuses on the protection and management of the MMNR’s characteristic habitat mosaic, which is not only important for maintaining the Reserve’s species diversity and abundance but also forms a crucial part of the area’s tourism attraction. A major focus of management action is fire management, which is one of the most important threats to these habitats.
Although the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem has undergone a series of well-documented woodland-grassland cycles over the last 100 or so years, and, as some authors have noted “stability has no place in systems such as these”, concerns have been raised about the current decline in the extent and species diversity of woodland habitats and thickets, which appears to be specific to the MMNR part of the ecosystem. Within the Reserve, woodlands have declined dramatically over the past four decades, and 46 percent of the Reserve has been converted from shrubland to grassland between 1979 and 1998. It has also been estimated that mature trees are being lost in the MMNR at a rate of 8 percent per year, necessitating significant regeneration if woodlands are to be maintained. These woodlands and thickets provide vital food and shelter for a number of wildlife species, and their reduction within the MMNR may have already seriously impacted on diversity and distribution of some wildlife species within the MMNR.
A combination of unprescribed fires and elephants has been identified as the primary cause of this decline. It has been suggested that repeated burning events, especially “hot” fires late in the dry season, have prevented the regeneration of woodlands, and have resulted in a distorted age structure of old trees. This situation is exacerbated by the relatively high, and increasing, population of elephants in the area that maintain the grassland state by eating any new tree seedlings that emerge. Elephants are considered especially important in this regard, as studies have shown that while the majority of seedlings impacted by fire or wildebeest re-sprout within six months, recovery is much slower and damage much greater after browsing by elephants25.
In order to address these issues and to improve the protection and management of the MMNR’s habitat mosaic,five management actions have been developed; these are elaborated in more detail in the following sections.
Although the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem has undergone a series of well-documented woodland-grassland cycles over the last 100 or so years, and, as some authors have noted “stability has no place in systems such as these”, concerns have been raised about the current decline in the extent and species diversity of woodland habitats and thickets, which appears to be specific to the MMNR part of the ecosystem. Within the Reserve, woodlands have declined dramatically over the past four decades, and 46 percent of the Reserve has been converted from shrubland to grassland between 1979 and 1998. It has also been estimated that mature trees are being lost in the MMNR at a rate of 8 percent per year, necessitating significant regeneration if woodlands are to be maintained. These woodlands and thickets provide vital food and shelter for a number of wildlife species, and their reduction within the MMNR may have already seriously impacted on diversity and distribution of some wildlife species within the MMNR.
A combination of unprescribed fires and elephants has been identified as the primary cause of this decline. It has been suggested that repeated burning events, especially “hot” fires late in the dry season, have prevented the regeneration of woodlands, and have resulted in a distorted age structure of old trees. This situation is exacerbated by the relatively high, and increasing, population of elephants in the area that maintain the grassland state by eating any new tree seedlings that emerge. Elephants are considered especially important in this regard, as studies have shown that while the majority of seedlings impacted by fire or wildebeest re-sprout within six months, recovery is much slower and damage much greater after browsing by elephants25.
In order to address these issues and to improve the protection and management of the MMNR’s habitat mosaic, five management actions have been developed; these are elaborated in more detail in the following sections.
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