Livestock grazing pressure

Building on the trophic interactions being investigated in BMNP, research is also investigating the impact of livestock grazing as a potentially profound threat to the integrity of the ecosystem as a whole through its impact on the rodent communities and cascading impacts on higher trophic levels. A Management Zoning Scheme has been introduced in the GMP for the park that aims to provide a framework for achieving and reconciling the management needs of both protecting the exceptional resources of the BMNP (in particular afroalpine grasslands) and allowing the use of the these resources, by pastoralist communities. In certain predefined areas, sustainable use of natural resources will be allowed under negotiated agreements between rightful users (pastoralists) and the park management. In order to guide the implementation of this Zoning Scheme, scientific evidence is needed regarding which areas in the park are overgrazed and/or particularly sensitive to the impacts of grazing. Research to identify sustainable livestock grazing strategies is therefore an urgent priority.

This research will incorporate field data on vegetation types, rodent distributions/abundance, and livestock habitat use into spatially explicit grazing and trophic models for the BMNP ecosystem. Output of these models will indicate areas where vegetation biomass is insufficient to support livestock grazing without degrading ecosystem functioning and areas where livestock grazing can be allowed without detriment. Livestock exclosures are being built as a first step towards monitoring vegetation and small mammals change following exclusion of grazers and will continue to be used by BMNP as part of the park’s long-term monitoring programme and future research on vegetation and rodent populations following grazing exclusion.

This research is being undertaken by Flavie Vial towards a PhD from the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with the Bale Mountains National Park, Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme with financial support from the University of Glasgow, the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Glasgow Natural History Society and British Airways.

Iink: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/eeb/researchinterests/pgs/flavievial/