Using diet and plant resources to set wildlife stocking densities in African savannas

Abstract The concept of carrying capacity originally was developed for domestic grazers and does not make provision for the wide variety of diets found in wild African herbivores. In the African savannas, herbivores are classified into 4 basic dietary classes: low-selective grazers, high-selective grazers, mixed feeders, and browsers. Given these conditions, a more appropriate approach was needed than the agricultural method based on livestock units to determine stocking rates for wildlife. Consequently, a new approach was developed that recognizes plant resource variation at the plant community level and differentiates between the grazing and browsing component in the diet of herbivores in the African savannas. The model used to calculate the grazing and browsing capacity on wildlife ranches provides for rainfall variability, quality and quantity of available grazing and browse, dietary requirements of each type of wildlife, and availability of suitable habitat. In this model the conventional conversion ...