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

Mohammed Y. Said,Joseph O. Ogutu,Jafari R. Kideghesho,Francesca Verones,Bente J. Graae,Lazaro J. Mangewa,John Bukombe,Emmanuel F. Nzunda,Hamza K. Kija

doi:10.3390/su12062440

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.

Highlights

Quality wildlife habitats, the areas that provide shelter and forage and support survival of wildlife species, are declining worldwide [1]
In the subsequent 21 years (1975–1995), the poor-quality habitats increased four-fold, the low-quality habitats reduced by a half, and the medium-quality habitats doubled in size, but the high-quality habitats hardly changed relative to 1975 (Figures 2 and 3)
Over the entire study period (1975–2015), a large part of the low-quality habitats was degraded to poor-quality habitats in the ecosystem and its surrounding buffer zone (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

The areas that provide shelter and forage and support survival of wildlife species, are declining worldwide [1]. Overexploitation of biodiversity stems from human population growth and the associated socio-economic development activities, such as expansion of settlements and agriculture within or close to wildlife habitats. This typically results in wildlife habitat degradation, including deforestation [4], changes in land use and land cover [5], fragmentation [6], and, deterioration of habitat quality, leading to biodiversity loss [7]. Since high habitat quality is a key determinant of vibrant wildlife populations in any ecosystem [8], its decline reduces the ability of habitats to sustain diverse wildlife resources, resulting in altered species distributions, composition, and population abundance [9,10], and in loss of wildlife [11,12]

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Conclusion