| dc.description.abstract | A quantitative study of grassland standing crop
and the losses through large herbivore offtake, tourist
off-road driving. and fire was conducted in Masai Mara
National Reserve for approximately one year. The
Harvest method and Pin Frame Technique were used for
biomass and cover determinations.
Biomass was highest in June which was the end of
the wet season, while it was lowest in the dry season.
The highest green biomass in the wet season was 6494
kgha -1 in the western sec tion of the res erve, whiIe
the lowest biomass, 17il -1
kgha ,occurred at the
northeastern peripheral habitats grazed by domestic
Livestoc'k , In October, green biomass decreased to
, -1 -1
2723.2 kgha and 1175.2 kgha , for the two areas,
respectively. Local rainfall patterns probably affected
the trends in standing biomass
The Serengeti migratory sp~cies mean plot occupance
was 88.7 percent in the dry season, wh i le that of the
resident wildlife species was 12.26 percent. In the
wet period, the permanent exclosure plot green biomass
was reduced by 20.60 percent through grazing by large
herbivores, as compared to 8S.20 percent in the dry
season when the Serengeti mi;ra~ts occupied the reserve.
The effect of tourist off-road driving was very small
but the aesthetic quality of the reserve was adversely
affected. Fire alone removed 89.96, 79.77 and 52.32
percent of the standing crop from the tall, mixed tall
and medium, and short grassland types, respectively.
This represents considerable loss, yet incidents of
wild fire have decreaseJ over the Serengeti-Mara .
ecosystem since the 19605. Thus total losses may have
decreased. | en |
