Sources of Heterogeneity in Grasslands: Responses of Wildlife to People on Savanna Landscape

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An important, unresolved question in the design and management of wildlife reserves worldwide is: What is the role of traditional human land-use in conservation areas, particularly when those land uses have a long evolutionary relationship with the natural system? Equally important are questions about the cultural evolution of indigenous management systems into more modern systems and the impacts of these changes on wildlife outside reserves. Our study will be one of the first in the world to address both of these problems. This project will study these interactions in the savannas of East Africa, where our hominid ancestors and wildlife have lived side-by-side for at least 4 million years, and where it is logical to expect that these interactions will be deeply developed. Through field experiments, aerial surveys, and imagery analysis, our project will examine how and why traditional pastoral peoples affect large mammal populations in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. The project will then develop robust models describing people-wildlife interactions that land managers in East Africa can use to conserve these grand wildlife ecosystems in the face of current changes in land tenure and economic opportunities for pastoral peoples. This research will also provide a model for addressing these questions in the western US and other places where conservation management attempts to mimic the practices of indigenous peoples in efforts to maintain intact, native ecosystems.