Etosha Region
Basic information
Sample name: Etosha Region

Reference: T. Rottstock, T. Göttert, and U. Zeller. 2020. Relatively undisturbed African savannas - an important reference for assessing wildlife responses to livestock grazing systems in European rangelands. Global Ecology and Conservation 23:e01124 [ER 3426]
Geography
Country: Namibia



Coordinate: -19.6126° S, 14.9494° E
Coordinate basis: stated in text

Geography comments: "The study area in Namibia (Etosha Region) was situated on commercially managed land at the south-western border of Etosha National Park near the town Kamanjab"

Environment
Habitat: tropical/subtropical savanna

Altered habitat: pasture

Protection: national/state park

Substrate: ground surface

Disturbance: grazing

MAT: 24.0

MAP: 400.0

Habitat comments: "The semi-arid region receives average annual precipitation of only 250–400 mm, while the average annual temperature is above 22 °C" (24°C based on climate data for Etosha National Park)
"Riverbeds contain water only temporarily after rainfall, which can occur sporadically in summer months (November to April) with high inter-annual variability"
"The vegetation in this study area is characterized by mixed woodland savanna with partly open grasslands"
Acacia species and mopane are the dominate vegetation types
"The relatively poor soils only support low densities of livestock"
"Sedentary livestock farming is difficult in many parts of the country"
The study was "chosen to take place during the rainy season. However, owing to exceptional drought, there was no rain in Namibia during the study period"

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates

Sampling methods: line transect,automatic cameras

Sample size: 1464 captures or sightings

Years: 2019

Days: 76

Seasons: wet or monsoon

Nets or traps: 20

Net or trap nights: 711

Camera type: digital

Cameras paired: no

Trap spacing: 0.5

Sampling comments: "We deployed commercially available digital camera traps (Stealth Cam® G45NG PRO HD) with infrared sensor and infrared flash ... 20 of these camera traps were attached to wooden vegetation at about 1 m height"
"Camera traps were established in form of transects with uniform spacing"
"The distances between camera traps ... were identical"
"During period of data collection, camera traps operated 24 h per day, and took bursts of five photos with a delay of 30 s between trigger activations"
"Data was collected on a weekly basis"

Within the study area, comparisons were made between the data collected when livestock was present versus when livestock was absent. The register below corresponds to the data collected when livestock was absent.

Metadata
Sample number: 3810

Contributor: Benjamin Carter

Enterer: Benjamin Carter

Created: 2021-06-12 14:36:51

Modified: 2021-06-13 23:45:54

Abundance distribution
19 species
3 singletons
total count 1464
geometric series index: 24.7
Fisher's α: 3.082
geometric series k: 0.7066
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.7810
Shannon's H: 1.8442
Good's u: 0.9980
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Loxodonta africana52731 kg browser-grazer
Taurotragus oryx134393 kg browser-grazer
"Tragelaphus oryx"
Phacochoerus africanus1182 kg grazer-browser
Oryx gazella334195 kg grazer-browser
Giraffa camelopardalis66942 kg browser
Tragelaphus strepsiceros250189 kg browser-grazer
Sylvicapra grimmia1113 kg browser-grazer
Madoqua kirkii64.8 kg browser
Oreotragus oreotragus16 browser-grazer
Equus zebra518287 kg grazer
Antidorcas marsupialis140 kg browser-grazer
Raphicerus campestris79.7 kg browser-grazer
Proteles cristatus129.1 kg insectivore
"Proteles cristata"
Canis mesomelas507.9 kg carnivore
Caracal caracal412 kg carnivore
"Felis caracal"
Mellivora capensis17.7 kg carnivore-invertivore
Panthera pardus133 kg carnivore
Crocuta crocuta3266 kg carnivore
Felis lybica54.5 kg carnivore
"Felis silvestris": species assignment based on geography