The map and images of African savanna

The map of African savanna

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the present image of African savanna:

 
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The historical image of African savanna:

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The spatial scale of savanna

Savanna, tropical grassland, is found in areas of low rainfall or, more commonly, in areas of intense seasonal rainfall with prolonged dry periods such as Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, India, and Australia. The African savannas covers Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'ivore, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa (3). Herds of herbivores such as antelope, giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, and zebra along with large predators such as lions and hyenas occur in the African savanna.  

The historical state of African savanna

The African savanna occurred and evolved over millions of years where the climate was too dry and too cold for rainforest. After the middle of the Miocene period, the proportion of savanna grew equivalent to what we know as today. Along with the evolution of the savanna came human ancestors and other environmental changes. Between Miocene and Pliocene periods, “there was a global increase in the biomass of plants using C4 photosynthesis as indicated by changes in the carbon isotope ratios of fossil tooth enamel in Asia, Africa, North America and South America” (4), and it caused by the decrease of atmospheric threshold for carbon dioxide. The vegetation changed from C3 to C4 plants (grasses) and led to the expansion of the savanna (4). Moreover, in the earlier Miocene and later Pliocene, the mammals in Eastern Africa showed a shift in their community structure that their character changed from a tropical-forest character in early Miocene to a savanna-mosaic character in the Pliocene. For instance, “grazing antelopes and hippos replaced chevrotains and anthracotheres as the dominant artiodactyls” (4), and eventually, the earlier less seasonal woodland/forest habitats changed to open wooded-grassland habitats during the terminal Miocene. (4)

Human impacts on African savanna

Savannas are dynamic ecosystems for many adapted animals and plants. However, savannas are also very fragile due to the threats from human beings. People impacted the ecosystem in a bad way, and the problems are especially severe in Africa, where human population grows rapidly. Due to the increased population in Africa, savanna in Africa is being converted into rangeland for cattle and other domesticated animals and then converted to deserts. Moreover, human beings have turned savannas into agricultural places, and increased use of fertilizer and irrigation causes land erosion. Also, monoculture cropping depletes the nutrients in the soil, leading to soil degradation. In the graph shown below, the yellow columns represent the current arable lands in different parts of Africa and the green columns represent the potential arable lands. From the data, it can be interpreted that if the human population cannot be controlled in the future, the arable lands will expand which also means the areas of African savannas will decrease. Human beings also cause fires which destroy savannas and over-use woods to for fuel (3). Additionally, due to the abundance of megafauna in African savanna, poaching, which is an illegal action of taking wild animals, happens in Africa for human beings’ commercial benefits. Many species have gone extinct. The number of elephants is threatened with extinction, but surprisingly “it is poaching for ivory, rather than the growth of human populations, which threatens the elephants of the equatorial forests” (5). Although the ivory trade was banned in 1989, the poaching level have returned to those of in 1890s that the value of rhino horns in black-market has become higher than gold (6).

On the other hand, tourism keeps the African savanna and the animals alive since the money from tourism goes to the fund for conservation reserves and education of maintaining savannas for local communities.

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In terms of tourism, the safari in African savanna has brought a lot of money for government. People are benefited from tourism since they have a chance to appreciate the African savanna nature and learn aspects of wildlife and plantations. Other benefits that people get from the ecosystem are more arable lands and more rangelands for cattle and other domesticated animals to raise families. Also, a controversial benefit that people get from African savannas is from poaching since some animals can be a source of some medicine especially Chinese traditional medicine.   

The protected areas of African savanna

To repair and maintain African savannas, people set up a lot of national parks and biosphere reserves in South African. There are 741 protected areas in Africa. The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which are the two famous ones, together are named a World Heritage site. Serengeti, one of the most famous national parks in the world, “has the most grazing animals and their predators in Africa” (3). Serengeti National Park is the oldest and most popular national park in Tanzania. It hosts large migration of mammals in the world and has not only large mammals but also lizards, hyraxes and more than 500 bird species (8). Ngorongoro Conservation area has a small number of black rhinoceros and a population of about 25,000 large animals, largely ungulates along with the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa (9). The status of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation area is good since people have made efforts to preserve the savannas

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The future prospects of African savanna

Based on what human beings have done to African savanna ecosystem, the status of this ecosystem is likely to be worse due to overgrazing, agriculture, urbanization, and control and manipulation of fires. As a result of these causes, the lands which have already been affected and destroyed by human beings will be further destroyed and hard to recover. Moreover, the population in Africa is consistently growing which can lead to more damage. However, the government has already set up protected areas and National Parks, so the future of African savanna can be promising as long as the untouched areas in protected areas and National Parks are protected well. Since the governments also secured the ban on international ivory trade and tried to prevent poaching, the number of elephants and rhinos would rise in the future.  

What can be done to maintain balance between people and African savanna?

In order to maintain balance between people and the ecosystem, the local and national governments and authorities should strictly implement conservation efforts such as set up more protected areas since the protected areas are still a small percent of the total land of African savannas, as well as strictly prevent poaching. Although the population of elephants was growing after the ban on ivory trade, but recent research of elephant population data (the graphs shown below) from 1979 to 2007 shows that the number of elephants continued to decrease in some countries in Africa. This situation is “explained by the presence of unregulated domestic ivory markets in and near countries with declines in elephant population” (11). Therefore, local governments should make more efforts to prevent poaching and educate local communities how important it is to protect the endangered species and African savannas.

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Another way to improve and maintain balance is tourism. When thousands of people come to visit the magnificent and unique animals and plants species in Africa, they bring in a lot of money for the funding of conservation programs in the country they are visiting. The action of tourism also shows governments and local people how crucial it is to conserve and preserve African savanna so that more and more tourists would come and bring in money which enhances the economy.

Moreover, there is one approach called Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICDP) attempting to link the conservation of biological diversity within a protected area to social and economic development outside the protected area. ICDPs provide incentives for local communities “in the form of shared decision-making authority, employment, revenue sharing, limited harvesting of plant and animal species, or provision of community facilities, such as dispensaries, schools, bore holes, roads, and woodlots, in exchange for the community's support for conservation” (12). Although ICDP is facing some conflicts, people should definitely support ICDP to further protect the animals and plants.

References

(1) "Savannas." Savannas. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

<http://people.eku.edu/davisb/Africa/Savannas.htm>.

(2) "Ancient Hominid Males Stayed Home While Females Roamed, Says CU-Boulder study." Ancient Hominid Males Stayed Home While Females Roamed, Says CU-Boulder Study. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.<http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/06/01/ancient.hominid.males.stayed.home.while.females.roamed.says.cu.boulder.study>.

(3) "African_savanna.htm." African_savanna.htm. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/african_savanna.htm>.

(4) Cerling, Thure E., et al. "Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary." Nature 389.6647 (1997): 153-158. 

(5) Barnes, R. F. W., M. Agnagna, M. P. T. Alers, A. Blom, G. Doungoube, M. Fay, T. Masunda, J. C. Ndo Nkoumou, C. Sikubwabo Kiyengo, and M. Tchamba. "Elephants and Ivory Poaching in the Forests of Equatorial Africa." Oryx 27.01 (1993): 27. Print.
(6) "Poaching in Africa: The Scale of the Problem." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/9230744/Poaching-in-Africa-the-scale-of-the-problem.html>.

(7) "Environmental Issues of Africa." 7thGradeGPS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://7thgradegps.wikispaces.com/04 SS7G2 Environmental Issues of Africa B>.

(8) "Tanzania National Parks." The Official Site of the. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/serengeti.html>.

(9) "Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania." Ngorongoro Conservation Area,

Tanzania. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area,_Tanzania>.

(10) "APAAT - The Assessment of African Protected Areas - European Commission." APAAT - The Assessment of African Protected Areas - European Commission. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/APAAT/>.

(11) Lemieux, A. M., and R. V. Clarke. "The International Ban on Ivory Sales and Its Effects on Elephant Poaching in Africa." British Journal of Criminology 49.4 (2009): 451-71. Print.

(12) Newmark, William D., and John L. Hough. "Conserving Wildlife in Africa: Integrated Conservation and Development Projects and Beyond." BioScience 50.7 (2000): 585. Print.