Wildlife Management collection
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Item ‘Serengeti shall not die’: Can the ambition be sustained?(Taylor & Francis, 2005) Kideghesho, Jafari R; Røskaft, Eivin; Kaltenborn, Bjørn P; Tarimo, Thadeo M. CSerengeti, a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve, is increasingly being threatened by human factors, which undermine its natural resource base and, therefore, contradict the ambition contained in Grzimeks’ popular book ‘Serengeti Shall Not Die’. We discuss five forces against the ambition: rapid human population growth, poverty, illegal hunting, habitat destruction, and wildlife diseases. We also review some of the current strategies adopted in view of pre-empting the negative outcomes resulting from these forces by pointing out their deficiencies. We conclude that, although human population growth and poverty are underlying factors threatening the Ecosystem, the current mitigative strategies barely address them adequately. We, therefore, recommend that, for Grzimeks’ ambition to remain valid, the two factors should take priority. We also call for more research to establish the reasons making people exhibit unsustainable behaviours toward the resources. We further suggest learning from past mistakes in view of correcting the identified deficiencies. Support in the form of alternative sustainable livelihood strategies and discouraging all ecologically destructive policies are equally important. Drawing from experience of the Kenyan part of the Ecosystem we suggest banning of land privatization, commercial agriculture and other development policies conflicting with conservation interests around Serengeti National ParkItem Distribution pattern of anuran species in Kimboza forest reserve, Morogoro, Tanzania(Journal of Rural Planning Association, 2021) Mbije, Nsajigwa EmmanuelAn assessment of the distribution of anuran species of Kimboza forest reserve, Tanzania was conducted between March 2017 and April 2017. Visual encounter survey applying Time- Constraint Search (TCS) approach was used to study the distribution of anurans in seven micro-habitats within the forest. A total of 13 species of amphibian belonging to seven families of order anuran were found to exist in Kimboza forest. The highest occurrence of anurans (70%) was recorded in areas along forest and farms border and along Kimboza forest streams. The study shows that there was no significant variation of occurrence of anurans among different habitats in the forest (Q=11; DF =6; P=0.096). However, the variation of total number of occurrences of anuran species between the upper and lower segment of the forest was significant (McNemar Test, P<0.05). The study provides a preliminary estimation of the general distribution pattern for these species in Kimboza forest. These findings are important for understanding and management of anurans in Kimboza forest reserve. It is recommended that further studies should focus on dry season and nocturnal species so as to come up with a complete description of the distribution of anuran species of Kimboza forest reserve.Item Rainy season food availability for anurans of Kimboza forest reserve, Tanzania(Asian Journal of Biology, 2021) Mbije, Nsajigwa Emmanuel; Kamungu, AshaAmphibians are mostly considered to be generalist predators. Some species have a narrow diet or even specialize on certain prey categories. An assessment of the feeding habits of anuran species of Kimboza forest reserve, Tanzania was conducted during rainy season between March 2017 and June 2017. Through a visual encounter survey, 93 species were captured and analyzed for gut contents. About 462 prey items were identified the most abundant component being Isoptera and Hymenoptera. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the anurans’ diet (composition or diversity or preferences) among different habitats of the forest (along boundaries and within the forest) but significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between the upper Stratum and the lower Stratum of the forest. The study provides a preliminary estimation of the actual diet of anurans and establishes a general feeding pattern for these species for the management of the Kimboza forest reserve. The study recommends the intensification of similar assessments in the nearby forest areas to come up with a complete description of the feeding habits for management purposes.Item Rodent community composition, distribution and breeding pattern in Tarangire national park, Tanzania(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2021) Kamungo, Ruth ZakayoThis study investigated the community composition, distribution and breeding pattern of rodent in three habitats (grassland, woodland and shrubland) found in Tarangire National Park. Rodent population was sampled using Sherman live traps following capture-mark- recapture technique from March-August 2020. A total of 6 species of rodents were captured in 2646 trap nights (covering wet and dry seasons). Overall, Mastomys natalensis was by far the most abundant rodent species with trap success of 4.8% and the least was Mus spp with trap success of 0.03%. Shrubland had the highest trap success with 88 individuals, followed by woodland with 70 individuals and grassland with 44 individuals. Shrubland indicated the highest diversity (Hˊ= 0.989), followed by woodland (Hˊ= 0.8859) and grassland (Hˊ= 0.2338), with statistical difference in all habitats when compared pairwise (p < 0.05). More adults were captured compared to sub-adults and juvenile. In addition, sex ratio was skewed more to females than males although the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). Breeding was high in wet season than dry season (p = 0.0237). Species were aggregate and randomly distributed, uneven distribution of food was probably the main factor for most of rodents to be randomly and aggregate distributed. This shed light on the management on which habitat needs more concentration in conservation in order to increase number of rodent species as they play important role in ecology. More studies are needed to cover the gap of different methods, more trapping sites and long duration of study period from three years and above.Item Abundance, distribution and conservation threats of African wild dog (lycaon pictus) in the Loliondo game controlled area, Tanzania(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2011) Masenga, Emmanuel HosianaAssessment of abundance, distribution and conservation threats to African wild dogs was conducted in Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA), northern Tanzania. Specifically, the study focused on determining population size and structure, spatial distribution, attitudes of local people towards wild dogs and wild dog conservation and threats impacting the species. Semi-structured interviews, diurnal random searches, internal and external examinations of wild dogs carcasses examined and night transect surveys were employed. Eight packs with a total of 132 recognised individuals at an average pack size of 16.50 ± SD 7.50 individuals were recorded. Pack sizes 3 individuals were reported to be sighted mostly and of all respondents (n = 210), only 26% were able to recognise wild dog sexes. The density of both known and unknown wild dogs was 0.19 animals/km 2 , higher compared to other carnivores. In terms of distribution most of the packs were concentrated in the northern part as compared to the central and southern parts of LGCA. The species was observed to occur most in woodland type of vegetation. Interestingly, 55.30% of respondents showed a positive attitude towards wild dogs and wild dog conservation despite that 52.90% of respondents dismissed lack of any conservation action or strategy in place towards conserving the species. However, poisoning and Canine Distemper Virus were identified as the main threats. Therefore, conserving African wild dogs in LGCA requires mult-approach conservation efforts (i.e. awareness rising to community, fitting radio telemetry to the dogs and threats management interventions) due to nature of the species.Item Insect abundance and food intake by agama mwanzae in Serengeti national park, Tanzania(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2010) Mchetto, John ThomasThe kopjes of Serengeti National Park, can be considered to be an understudied ecosystem although harbours a diverse distinct flora and fauna; even basic information such as knowledge about the food of Agama mwanzae is unknown. Thus, the study involved the investigation of the spatial and seasonal variation of insect abundance and agama food intake in the grass plain kopjes of Serengeti National Park. The insects were sampled by pitfall, sweep net and tray traps monthly within one year. A total of 58 175 individuals from 16 orders were collected. The most common orders were Hymenoptera (30.19%), Hemiptera (19.50%), Orthoptera (18.10%), Diptera (10.60%), Coleoptera (9.20%), Arachnida (4.40%), Dictyoptera (2.70%), Lepidoptera (2.50%), and Isoptera (1.90%). Insect abundance was higher during the wet period as compared to the dry season and Gol kopjes attained the highest insect abundance followed by Simba and lastly Barafu kopjes. A total of 2350 insect food items were identified from 120 agama lizard specimens whereby 1597 were found during the wet season and 750 in the dry season. The majority of the diet consisted of the Hymenoptera (47.03%), Isoptera (29.78%), Coleoptera (18.29%), and Orthoptera (2.63%). In addition to insects, A. mwanzae fed on plant materials. Insects comprised the majority of food items during the wet period when this prey was most common. During the dry season plant material was the dominant food type to agama lizards because of scarcity of insect food. It was found that there was statistical significant difference in agama food intake between seasons and locations. Due to the increase of destruction of agama lizard habitats the management authorities should ensure that the land management practices should not damage these fragile habitats.