Effect of rehabilitated sites on African herbivore dynamics in community grazing land in Laikipia, Kenya

Land degradation is a serious problem in semi-arid rangelands in Africa, threatening wildlife habitats, grazing lands and pastoral livelihoods. Despite extensive research on the causes and consequences of rangeland... [ view full abstract ]

Land degradation is a serious problem in semi-arid rangelands in Africa, threatening wildlife habitats, grazing lands and pastoral livelihoods. Despite extensive research on the causes and consequences of rangeland degradation, studies on the impacts of restoration of degraded areas has on African savannah ecosystems are less common. Range rehabilitation was carried out in degraded grazing areas in three community ranches in Laikipia. The aim was to improve grazing resources and create alternative income generating activities for the pastoralist group ranch communities. This study was carried out after repeated observation of surprisingly high aggregation of wild herbivores in the rehabilitated sites. Relative frequency of wild herbivore distribution in relation to rehabilitated sites was estimated using dung counts done every month for 12 months from January to December 2010. The rehabilitated sites had significantly higher dung densities of wild herbivores than the background grazing areas. The dung densities of the wild herbivores visiting the sites followed a sine wave pattern, increasing during the dry season and decreasing during the wet season when the herbivores tended to distribute further throughout the range. The dung density of the domestic herbivores increased away from the sites most likely due to the deliberate herding restraining livestock from grazing in the rehabilitated sites. We concluded that forage abundance relative to the degraded background areas and the introduction of new forage species in the rehabilitated sites are a major factor attracting the large herbivores to these sites. With increasing need to conserve biodiversity in the livestock-wildlife interface areas in Africa, range rehabilitation could present an avenue that can benefit both domestic and wild herbivores, and ultimately the pastoral communities.

Key-words: Community conservation, Livestock, Kenya, Pastoralism, Range rehabilitation, Wildlife