Revegetation of natural and human-caused disturbances in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Abstract

Patterns of revegetation on natural and human-caused disturbances in grasslands and savannas of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, were investigated by recording species compositions on all disturbances, in the undisturbed vegetation, and in unique microhabitats in 51 sites along a north-to-south transect through the park. The 487 resulting samples were ordinated by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and classified by two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). Natural disturbances were, in most cases, ordinated near or classified together with the climax sample from the same site but human-caused disturbances were classified separately. Human disturbances from all regions of the park were classified together in one group, while natural disturbances were divided into communities associated with different rainfall regimes. Natural disturbances were revegetated by species growing in the surrounding undisturbed communities while human-caused disturbances were revegetated by a set of ruderal species not found in the undisturbed communities nor in natural disturbances.