COS 238-5 - CANCELLED - Delayed elephant-mediated amplification of nutritional benefits of prescribed burns to cattle in a multiuse African savanna ecosystem

Abstract: Prescribed burning is used in tropical savannas to improve habitat conditions for both domestic and wild herbivores. However, there is little scientific knowledge on how the interaction between domestic and wild herbivores influences the long-term nutritional effects of burning on these herbivore guilds. Understanding such effects will contribute towards more informed management of both herbivore guilds in landscapes where they share habitats. We investigated the effects of shared herbivory with wild ungulates on the long-term nutritional response of cattle to prescribed burning in a Kenyan savanna ecosystem. We compared cattle nutrient intake rates across burned and unburned areas cattle accessed exclusively, and those they shared with medium-sized wild ungulates, both with and without megaherbivores (elephants and giraffes), sampling in both short-term (0-1 years) and long-term (4-5 years) post-burning time scales. Over the short-term time scale, cattle benefited from prescribed burns only when they were the only herbivores present but not when they shared foraging areas with wild ungulates. Over the long-term time scale, however, cattle benefited from burns both when they foraged exclusively and when they shared foraging areas with medium-sized wild ungulates in the presence (but not in the absence) of megaherbivores. To our knowledge, our study is the first to provide insights into the role of elephants in shaping the long-term nutritional response of cattle to prescribed burning in such multiuse savanna ecosystems.