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. 2025 Jun 10;122(23):e2502418122.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2502418122. Epub 2025 May 30.

Short-term study fails to capture negative impacts of livestock intensification on wildlife

Joseph O Ogutu  1 , Jared A Stabach  2 , J Grant C Hopcraft  3 , Randall B Boone  4 , Holly T Dublin  5 , Christopher L Dutton  6 , Andrew Gichira  7 , Abby Guthmann  8 , Ask L Herrik  9 , Kay E Holekamp  10 , Rebekah R Karimi  11 , Shem C Kifugo  12 , Peter Leimgruber  2 , Niels Mogensen  13 , Stephen S Moiko  14 , Joseph M Mukeka  15 , Harrison Nabaala  7 , Stephen Ndambuki  15 , Lucy M Njino  16 , Gordon O Ojwang  12 , Han Olff  12 , Craig Packer  8 , Lemein Parmuntoro  11 , Robin S Reid  17 , Rehema B Rioba  16 , Mohammed Y Said  18 , Jully S Senteu  12 , Amanda L Subalusky  6 , Jens-Christian Svenning  9 , Stewart Thompson  7 , Antonio Uzal  19 , Michiel P Veldhuis  20 , Robert Buitenwerf  9
Affiliations

Short-term study fails to capture negative impacts of livestock intensification on wildlife

Joseph O Ogutu et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Logarithm of aggregate large herbivore (≥15 kg) biomass (tons/25 km2) as a function of the logarithm of livestock (cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats) biomass (tons/25 km2) (A) and large herbivore species richness/25 km2, averaged over each decade (B) across the 7,500 km2 Masai Mara Ecosystem based on 77 systematic reconnaissance aerial surveys conducted by Kenya’s DRSRS between 1977 and 2022 and one aerial total count conducted jointly by the Kenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute and the Kenya Wildlife Service in 2021. In the dry season, biomass of resident (rs = −0.23589, P < 0.0001, n = 11,838) and migratory (rs = −0.21419, P < 0.0001, n = 11,838) wildlife—including wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, and eland—decreases significantly with increasing livestock biomass. In the wet season, resident wildlife biomass (rs = −0.22782, P < 0.0001, n = 7,736) also decreases significantly with increasing livestock biomass but migratory wildlife (rs = −0.00264, P < 0.8166, n = 7,736) does not. Species richness decreases significantly with increasing livestock biomass density in both the dry (rs = −0.30992, P < 0.0001, n = 1,591) and wet (rs = −0.25015, P < 0.0001, n = 1,548) seasons. The solid red lines show the fitted linear regression lines. The proportions of resident (C), migratory (D), and overall (E) wildlife biomass increase toward and inside the Mara reserve, whereas the proportion of livestock biomass (F) decreases, indicating that livestock activity compresses wildlife into the reserve boundaries, reducing their presence in surrounding areas.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Intensifying pressures throughout the Masai Mara Ecosystem are evident in multiple trends: rapidly increasing human population between 1962 and 2019 (A and B); the expansion of settlements between 1970s and 2015–2022 (C and D); the proliferation of fences between 1985 and 2020 (E and F); growing sheep and goat numbers between 1970s and 2015–2022 (G and H); increasing bush encroachment between 1985 and 2021 (I and J); and increasing cattle density and spatial spread between 1970s and 2015–2022 (K and L).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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