Modelling The Dynamics Of Migrations For Large Herbivore Populations In The Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Date
2013-04Author
Mose, Victor N
Nguyen-Huu, Tri
Western, David
Auger, Pierre
Nyandwi, Charles
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The spread of human activity, settlement and land fragmentation threatens the migrations of large migratory ungulates in Africa. Modelling the migrations gives conservationists a tool for building scenarios of the threats and containment options. We propose a simple spatially explicit mathematical model of ungulate migrations based on the seasonal distribution of vegetation quantity and quality and allometric models of diet. We use the seasonal movements of selected migrants in relation to vegetation in the Amboseli ecosystem, Kenya. Parameters estimation was done by fitting the model to long term movement patterns by minimizing total least square errors. The model suggests that the migrants broadly track the shifting patterns of vegetation growth and senescence according to body size.
URI
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380013000434http://hdl.handle.net/11295/65432
Citation
Ecological Modelling Volume 254, 10 April 2013, Pages 43–49Publisher
Universty of Nairobi