Browsing and plant traits in nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor savannas inTanzania
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
Environmental productivityisimportantindeterminingdefensiveortolerancetraitsofplants,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 bitesmin−1to 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 at4.2 m. The effect was comparable for elephant and impala
Description
Abstract. Full text article available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S026646741700030X
Keywords
Plant traits, Leaf size, Loxodonta africana, Aepyceros melampus, Africa, Tanzania, Giraffa camelopardalis, Mikumi national park, Serengeti national park, Soil nutrient, Spinesence
Citation
Mramba, R. P., Andreassen, H. P., & Skarpe, C. (2017). Browsing and plant traits in nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor savannas in Tanzania. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 33(5), 327-236.