Effects of land use on abundance, distribution and domestication of helmeted guineafowl in Western and Eastern Serengeti ecosystem
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Date
2019
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate effects of land use on abundance,
distribution and domestication of Helmeted Guinea fowl in western and eastern
Serengeti ecosystem. This study addressed three objectives: (1) to determine
abundance, density and spatial distribution of the Helmeted Guinea fowl in various
vegetation/habitat and land use types; (2) to determine the species site occupancy
probability in various habitats and land use types; (3) to assess stocks of Helmeted
Guinea fowl under domestication in western and eastern Serengeti ecosystems.
Birds were surveyed between November, 2017 and April, 2018 in the land use
types of conservation areas, agro-pastoral and pastoralism zones using distance
sampling technique. Household surveys were conducted to assess stock size and the
socio-economics of the domesticated population of the Helmeted-Guinea fowl in
residential areas. Abundance was found to be higher in areas of sparse vegetation in
wooded grassland (147 birds) and in conservation areas (central Serengeti) (163
birds) while the densities were higher in bushed grassland (2.058 individuals/km 2 )
as well as in conservation areas (6.042 individuals/km 2 ). The study found a
significance difference in abundance between various habitat types (Kruskal
Wallis: α = 0.05, p = 0.0495) and among land use types (p = 0.043). Site occupancy
probability among land uses suggests that pastoral activity (grazing) has low effect
on natural habitats and supported higher bird occupancy probability, ψ 0.3238 ±
0.1408 than agro-pastoral (cultivated) zone, which demonstrated least site
occupancy probability, ψ 0.3055 ± 0.1125. On the other hand, Helmeted Guinea fowl occupancy probability was most influenced by bushed grassland in areas used
by wildlife and livestock in pastoral and Game controlled areas in eastern
Serengeti, ψ 0.2874 ± 0.1374 compared to the bushed grassland bordering
conservation areas and village lands in western Serengeti, ψ 0.2845 ± 0.1364.
The extent of farming was found to be dominated by free ranging and caging
system that hold the potential to support household economy for the keepers
through selling farmed birds. This survey discovered that keepers capture birds and
collect eggs on cultivated areas, grazing land, and in the protected areas, which
increases threat to the species. The effect of land use is more intense in western
than eastern Serengeti, therefore, this study recommends an urgent implementation
of land use plan as well as directing other conservation and monitoring efforts to
the villages surrounding Serengeti ecosystem.
Description
A Dissertation 2019
Keywords
Pastoralism zones, Land use, Domestication, Helmeted guinea fowl, Western-Eastern Serengeti ecosystem