Pastoralism was traditionally, and is currently, one of the most pervasive and
widespread livelihoods throughout East African savannas. After abandonment, livestock
corrals in East African savannas develop into nutrient-rich, treeless “glades” that persist for
decades. Other research has shown that glades have significantly higher concentrations of
soil nutrients including nitrogen, potassium and carbon, which support several specialist
grass species, and turning these patches long-term primary productivity hotspots. Using
detailed observations, extensive sampling, and experimental methods, we demonstrate that
these effects on primary productivity cascade up two trophic levels to increase abundance of
insects and the gecko Lygodactylus keniensis. Extending previous research, we find that
Acacia drepanolobium trees close to glade edges are larger and grow faster than those farther
from the glade. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally that grasshoppers grow
significantly faster inside glades than far away from glade edges and that arboreal insect
abundance, biomass and diversity show the same significant trend. Finally, we find that
geckos are significantly more abundant in trees close to the glade edge than far away. Our
results show that traditional pastoral methods have significant impacts on multiple trophic
levels at multiple scales and add important habitat heterogeneity to an otherwise homogenous
landscape.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83507/1/Donihue_SNRE_Thesis.pd
