Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T03:44:45.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Browsing and plant traits in nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor savannas in Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2017

Rosemary P. Mramba ,
Harry P. Andreassen  and
Christina Skarpe
Rosemary P. Mramba*
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Hedmark University College, NO-2480, Koppang, Norway
Harry P. Andreassen
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Hedmark University College, NO-2480, Koppang, Norway
Christina Skarpe
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Hedmark University College, NO-2480, Koppang, Norway
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Environmental productivity is important in determining defensive or tolerance traits of plants, with nutrient-rich savannas showing tolerance and nutrient-poor showing defence traits. Animals are affected differently by such traits due to differences in size, and other characters. We studied differences in browsing as a response to plant traits by elephant, giraffe and impala in Mikumi, a nutrient-poor savanna, and Serengeti, a nutrient-rich savanna, both in Tanzania, for a total of 4 mo; 2 mo at each site. Browsing time on a plant, species and height browsed were recorded. Spinesence reduced biting rate by elephant in Serengeti to 3.8 bites min−1, compared with 4.7 without spines, but had no effect on impala or giraffe. Leaf size affected biting rate by giraffe, decreasing with size in Serengeti from 19.8 bites min−1 to 17.4 bites min−1, increasing in Mikumi, from 17.7 to 19.5 bites min−1, but did not differ in elephant and impala. Biting rate by elephant in Serengeti decreased with browsing height from 0.6 m to 4.2 m and by impala in Mikumi decreased from 0.25 m to 1.5 m, while that of giraffe in Mikumi increased with browsing height, peaking at 4.2 m. The effect was comparable for elephant and impala.

Keywords

Aepyceros melampusAfricabrowsing heightGiraffa camelopardalisleaf sizeLoxodonta africanaMikumi National ParkSerengeti National Parksoil nutrientspinescence
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 33 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 327 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AUGUSTINE, D. J. & MCNAUGHTON, S. J. 2004. Regulation of shrub dynamics by native browsing ungulates on East African rangeland. Journal of Applied Ecology 41:45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BACKÉUS, I., PETTERSSON, B., STRÖMQUIST, L. & RUFFO, C. 2006. Tree communities and structural dynamics in miombo (Brachystegia–Julbernardia) woodland, Tanzania. Forest Ecology and Management 230:171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BARNES, R. 1982. Elephant feeding behaviour in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 20:123–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BELL, R. H. 1971. A grazing ecosystem in the Serengeti. Scientific American 225:86–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BELL, R. H. 1982. The effect of soil nutrient availability on community structure in African ecosystems. Pp. 193–216 in Huntley, B. J. & Walker, B. H. (eds). Ecology of tropical savannas. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BELOVSKY, G. E., SCHMITZ, O. J., SLADE, J. & DAWSON, T. 1991. Effects of spines and thorns on Australian arid zone herbivores of different body masses. Oecologia 88:521–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CODRON, J., LEE-THORP, J. A., SPONHEIMER, M., CODRON, D., GRANT, R. C. & DE RUITER, D. J. 2006. Elephant (Loxodonta africana) diets in Kruger National Park, South Africa: spatial and landscape differences. Journal of Mammalogy 87:27–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COLEY, P. D., BRYANT, J. P. & CHAPIN, F. S. 1985. Resource availability and plant antiherbivore defense. Science 230:895–899.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
COOPER, S. M. & OWEN-SMITH, N. 1986. Effects of plant spinescence on large mammalian herbivores. Oecologia 68:446–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CRAWLEY, M. J. 2007. Statistical modelling. The R Book. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. 950 pp.Google Scholar
CUNNINGHAM, S. A., SUMMERHAYES, B. & WESTOBY, M. 1999. Evolutionary divergences in leaf structure and chemistry, comparing rainfall and soil nutrient gradients. Ecological Monographs 69:569–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DAGG, A. I. 2014. Giraffe: biology, behaviour and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 209 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DALERUM, F., LANGE, H., SKARPE, C., ROOKE, T., INGA, B. & BATEMAN, P. W. 2008. Foraging competition, vigilance and group size in two species of gregarious antelope. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 38:138–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DU TOIT, J. T. 1990. Feeding‐height stratification among African browsing ruminants. African Journal of Ecology 28:55–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DU TOIT, J. T. & CUMMING, D. 1999. Functional significance of ungulate diversity in African savannas and the ecological implications of the spread of pastoralism. Biodiversity and Conservation 8:1643–1661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DU TOIT, J. T., MOE, S. R. & SKARPE, C. 2014. Elephant-mediated ecosystem processes in Kalahari Sand woodlands. Pp. 30–39 in Skarpe, C., du Toit, J. T. & Moe, S. R. (eds). Elephants and savanna woodland ecosystems: a study from Chobe National Park, Botswana. Wiley-Blackwell, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EAST, R. 1984. Rainfall, soil nutrient status and biomass of large African savanna mammals. African Journal of Ecology 22:245–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ELLENBERG, H. & MUELLER-DOMBOIS, D. 1967. A key to Raunkiaer plant life forms with revised subdivisions. Berichte des Geobotanischen Institutes 37:56–73.Google Scholar
ESTES, R. 1991. The behavior guide to African mammals. University of California Press, Berkeley. 611 pp.Google Scholar
FORTIN, D., BOYCE, M. S., MERRILL, E. H. & FRYXELL, J. M. 2004. Foraging costs of vigilance in large mammalian herbivores. Oikos 107:172–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FOSBERG, F. R. 1961. A classification of vegetation for general purposes. Tropical Ecology 2:1–28.Google Scholar
FRITZ, H. & DE GARINE-WICHATITSKY, M. 1996. Foraging in a social antelope: effects of group size on foraging choices and resource perception in impala. Journal of Animal Ecology 65:736–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FRITZ, H., DUNCAN, P., GORDON, I. J. & ILLIUS, A. W. 2002. Megaherbivores influence trophic guilds structure in African ungulate communities. Oecologia 131:620–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
GOWDA, J. H. 1996. Spines of Acacia tortilis: what do they defend and how? Oikos 77:279–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRÖMPING, U. 2006. Relative importance for linear regression in R: the package relaimpo. Journal of Statistical Software 17:1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GROSS, J. E., SHIPLEY, L. A., HOBBS, N. T., SPALINGER, D. E. & WUNDER, B. A. 1993. Functional response of herbivores in food-concentrated patches: tests of a mechanistic model. Ecology 74:778–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRUBB, P. J. 1992. A positive distrust in simplicity – lessons from plant defences and from competition among plants and among animals. Journal of Ecology 80:585–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GUREVITCH, J., SCHEINER, S. M. & FOX, G. A. 2006. The ecology of plants. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland. 523 pp.Google Scholar
HANLEY, M. E., LAMONT, B. B., FAIRBANKS, M. M. & RAFFERTY, C. M. 2007. Plant structural traits and their role in anti-herbivore defence. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 8: 157–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HERMS, D. A. & MATTSON, W. J. 1992. The dilemma of plants: to grow or defend. Quarterly Review of Biology 67:283–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOLDO, R. M. 2003. Woody plant damage by African elephants in relation to leaf nutrients in western Zimbabwe. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19:189–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HUNTLEY, B. J. 1982. Southern African savannas. Pp. 101–119 in Huntley, B. J. & Walker, B. H. (eds). Ecology of tropical savannas. Springer, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ILLIUS, A. & FITZGIBBON, C. 1994. Costs of vigilance in foraging ungulates. Animal Behaviour 47:481–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ILLIUS, A. & GORDON, I. 1987. The allometry of food intake in grazing ruminants. Journal of Animal Ecology 56:989–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JACHMANN, H. & BELL, R. 1985. Utilization by elephants of the Brachystegia woodlands of the Kasungu National Park, Malawi. African Journal of Ecology 23:245–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JARMAN, P. 1974. The social organisation of antelope in relation to their ecology. Behaviour 48:215–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KARTZINEL, T. R., CHEN, P. A., COVERDALE, T. C., ERICKSON, D. L., KRESS, W. J., KUZMINA, M. L., RUBENSTEIN, D. I., WANG, W. & PRINGLE, R. M. 2015. DNA metabarcoding illuminates dietary niche partitioning by African large herbivores. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112:8019–8024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
KOS, M., HOETMER, A. J., PRETORIUS, Y., DE BOER, W. F., DE KNEGT, H., GRANT, C. C., KOHI, E., PAGE, B., PEEL, M., SLOTOW, R., VAN DER WAAL, C., VAN WIEREN, S. E., PRINS, H. H. T. & VAN LANGEVELDE, F. 2012. Seasonal diet changes in elephant and impala in mopane woodland. European Journal of Wildlife Research 58:279–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LACA, E. A., SHIPLEY, L. A. & REID, E. D. 2001. Structural anti-quality characteristics of range and pasture plants. Journal of Range Management 54:413–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LUCAS, P. W., TURNER, I. M., DOMINY, N. J. & YAMASHITA, N. 2000. Mechanical defences to herbivory. Annals of Botany 86:913–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LYARUU, H. V. M. 1997. Plant community structure and land degradation in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Meddelanden från Växtbiologiska Institutionen. Uppsala 1: 1–35.Google Scholar
MACGREGOR, S. D. & O'CONNOR, T. G. 2004. Response of Acacia tortilis to utilization by elephants in a semi-arid African savanna. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 34:55–66.Google Scholar
MAHENYA, O., NDJAMBA, J. K., MATHISEN, K. M. & SKARPE, C. 2016. Giraffe browsing in response to plant traits. Acta Oecologica 75: 54–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MAKHABU, S. W. 2005. Resource partitioning within a browsing guild in a key habitat, the Chobe Riverfront, Botswana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 21:641–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCLANAHAN, T. R. & YOUNG, T. P. 1996. East African ecosystems and their conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 452 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCNAUGHTON, S. & GEORGIADIS, N. J. 1986. Ecology of African grazing and browsing mammals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:39–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILEWSKI, A. V. & MADDEN, D. 2006. Interactions between large African browsers and thorny Acacia on a wildlife ranch in Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 44:515–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILEWSKI, A. V., YOUNG, T. P. & MADDEN, D. 1991. Thorns as induced defenses: experimental evidence. Oecologia 86:70–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NORTON‐GRIFFITHS, M., HERLOCKER, D. & PENNYCUICK, L. 1975. The patterns of rainfall in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 13:347–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'KANE, C. A., DUFFY, K. J., PAGE, B. R. & MACDONALD, D. W. 2011. Overlap and seasonal shifts in use of woody plant species amongst a guild of savanna browsers. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27:249– 258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. & CHAFOTA, J. 2012. Selective feeding by a megaherbivore, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). Journal of Mammalogy 93:698–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. & COOPER, S. M. 1987a. Palatability of woody plants to browsing ruminants in a South African savanna. Ecology 68:319–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. & COOPER, S. M. 1987b. Assessing food preferences of ungulates by acceptability indices. Journal of Wildlife Management 51:372–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, R. N. 1992. Megaherbivores: the influence of very large body size on ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 369 pp.Google Scholar
PALGRAVE, K. C. 2002. Trees of Southern Africa. (Third edition). Stuik Publishers, Cape Town. 959 pp.Google Scholar
PELLEW, R. 1983. The impacts of elephant, giraffe and fire upon the Acacia tortilis woodlands of the Serengeti. African Journal of Ecology 21:41–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PELLEW, R. A. 1984a. Food consumption and energy budgets of the giraffe. Journal of Applied Ecology 21:141–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PELLEW, R. A. 1984b. The feeding ecology of a selective browser, the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi). Journal of Zoology 202:57–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PETER, F. 1996. The ecology of miombo woodlands. Pp. 11–55 in Campbell, B. M. (ed.). The Miombo in transition: woodlands and welfare in Africa. Cifor, Bogor.Google Scholar
ROSS, J. H. 1975. Flora of Southern Africa, which deals with the territories of the Republic of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and South West Africa. Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria. 159 pp.Google Scholar
RUESS, R. & SEAGLE, S. 1994. Landscape patterns in soil microbial processes in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Ecology 75:892–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHOLES, R. 1990. The influence of soil fertility on the ecology of southern African dry savannas. Journal of Biogeography 17:415–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SEBATA, A. & NDLOVU, L. R. 2010. Effect of leaf size, thorn density and leaf accessibility on instantaneous intake rates of five woody species browsed by Matebele goats (Capra hircus) in a semi-arid savanna, Zimbabwe. Journal of Arid Environments 74:1281–1286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SHANNON, G., PAGE, B., SLOTOW, R. & DUFFY, K. 2006. African elephant home range and habitat selection in Pongola Game Reserve, South Africa. African Zoology 41:37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SIMMONS, R. E. & SCHEEPERS, L. 1996. Winning by a neck: sexual selection in the evolution of giraffe. American Naturalist 148:771–786.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SINCLAIR, A. R. E. & ARCESE, P. 1995. Serengeti II: dynamics, management, and conservation of an ecosystem. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 665 pp.Google Scholar
SINCLAIR, A. R. E., MDUMA, S. A., HOPCRAFT, J. G. C., FRYXELL, J. M., HILBORN, R. & THIRGOOD, S. 2007. Long‐term ecosystem dynamics in the Serengeti: lessons for conservation. Conservation Biology 21:580–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SKARPE, C., BERGSTRÖM, R., DANELL, K., ERIKSSON, H. & KUNZ, C. 2012. Of goats and spines – a feeding experiment. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 29:37–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SKINNER, J. D. & CHIMIMBA, C. T. 2005. The mammals of the southern African sub-region. Cambridge University Press, Cape Town. 872 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SPALINGER, D. E. & HOBBS, N. T. 1992. Mechanisms of foraging in mammalian herbivores: new models of functional response. American Naturalist 140:325–348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
STAMP, N. 2003. Out of the quagmire of plant defense hypotheses. Quarterly Review of Biology 78:23–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
STOKKE, S. 1999. Sex differences in feeding-patch choice in a megaherbivore: elephants in Chobe National Park, Botswana. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1723–1732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
STOKKE, S. & DU TOIT, J. T. 2000. Sex and size related differences in the dry season feeding patterns of elephants in Chobe National Park, Botswana. Ecography 23:70–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VEDELD, P., JUMANE, A., WAPALILA, G. & SONGORWA, A. 2012. Protected areas, poverty and conflicts: a livelihood case study of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Forest Policy and Economics 21:20–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WIGLEY, B. J., SLINGSBY, J. A., DÍAZ, S., BOND, W. J., FRITZ, H. & COETSEE, C. 2016. Leaf traits of African woody savanna species across climate and soil fertility gradients: evidence for conservative versus acquisitive resource‐use strategies. Journal of Ecology 104:1357–1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILSON, S. L. & KERLEY, G. H. 2003a. Bite diameter selection by thicket browsers: the effect of body size and plant morphology on forage intake and quality. Forest Ecology and Management 181: 51–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILSON, S. & KERLEY, G. H. 2003b. The effect of plant spinescence on the foraging efficiency of bushbuck and boergoats: browsers of similar body size. Journal of Arid Environment 55:150–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WOOLNOUGH, A. & DU TOIT, J. T. 2001. Vertical zonation of browse quality in tree canopies exposed to a size-structured guild of African browsing ungulates. Oecologia 129:585–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
YOUNG, T. P. & ISBELL, L. A. 1991. Sex differences in giraffe feeding ecology: energetic and social constraints. Ethology 87: 79–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZUUR, A., IENO, E. N., WALKER, N. J., SAVELIEV, A. A. & SMITH, G. M. 2009. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer, New York. 574 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar