Impact of large herbivores at artificial watering points compared to that at natural watering points in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Abstract

Two pairs of a natural and an artificial watering point in each of the four largest land systems in the Kruger National Park, South Africa were randomly selected for study. The herbaceous community composition and basal cover were measured in transects starting at the water and radiating to 100m from the water. The community composition was converted to herbaceous forage and fine fuel production potential scores. A general linear model was used to test for differences between the impact of large herbivores on these parameters at natural and artificial watering points. There was no evidence of a difference in the impact of herbivores at artificial and natural semi-permanent watering points. Stabilization of natural semi-permanent watering points by artificially making than permanent is likely to have negligible impact on rangeland condition. Artificial watering points are likely to be foci of much greater degradation than seasonal sources and provision of artificial watering points in areas where only seasonal sources naturally exist is not recommended where the aim of management is the maintenance of biodiversity and natural ecological processes.