Spatio-Temporal Changes in Wildlife Habitat Quality in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem

Hamza K. Kija, Joseph O. Ogutu, Lazaro J. Mangewa, John Bukombe, Francesca Verones, Bente J. Graae, Jafari R. Kideghesho, Mohammed Y. Said and Emmanuel F. Nzunda
Additional contact information
Hamza K. Kija: Department of Wildlife Management, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), P.O. Box 3073, Morogoro, Tanzania
Joseph O. Ogutu: Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Lazaro J. Mangewa: Department of Wildlife Management, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), P.O. Box 3073, Morogoro, Tanzania
John Bukombe: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Conservation Information and Monitoring Unit (CIMU), P.O. Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania
Francesca Verones: Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Bente J. Graae: Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Jafari R. Kideghesho: College of African Wildlife Management (CAWM), P.O. Box 3031, Moshi, Tanzania
Mohammed Y. Said: Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Emmanuel F. Nzunda: Department of Forest Resources Assessment and Management, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), P.O. Box 3013, Morogoro, Tanzania

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Understanding habitat quality and its dynamics is imperative for maintaining healthy wildlife populations and ecosystems. We mapped and evaluated changes in habitat quality (1975–2015) in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem of northern Tanzania using the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. This is the first habitat quality assessment of its kind for this ecosystem. We characterized changes in habitat quality in the ecosystem and in a 30 kilometer buffer area. Four habitat quality classes (poor, low, medium and high) were identified and their coverage quantified. Overall (1975–2015), habitat quality declined over time but at rates that were higher for habitats with lower protection level or lower initial quality. As a result, habitat quality deteriorated the most in the unprotected and human-dominated buffer area surrounding the ecosystem, at intermediate rates in the less heavily protected Wildlife Management Areas, Game Controlled Areas, Game Reserves and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the least in the most heavily protected Serengeti National Park. The deterioration in habitat quality over time was attributed primarily to anthropogenic activities and major land use policy changes. Effective implementation of land use plans, robust and far-sighted institutional arrangements, adaptive legal and policy instruments are essential to sustaining high habitat quality in contexts of rapid human population growth.

Keywords: Serengeti ecosystem; threats; InVEST model; protected areas; savannah; quality; buffer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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