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Habitat choices of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and plains zebra (Equus quagga) in a heterogeneous protected area

Abstract Context An understanding of large herbivore habitat choices in heterogeneous African protected areas is important for the better management of these key ecosystems. Aims To determine habitat use of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and plains zebra (Equus quagga) in a heterogeneous protected area. Methods Zambezi National Park (ZNP), Zimbabwe, was divided into five vegetation types using an unsupervised classification on a Landsat satellite image that was classified into five land cover classes, using the K-means classification algorithm. African buffalo and plains zebra densities were then determined in each vegetation type using road transect surveys monthly between January 2013 and December 2015. Normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), grass biomass, grass height and grass quality (nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and acid detergent fibre content) were determined in each vegetation type during the wet (November to April) and dry (August to October) seasons to establish their quality as habitats for African buffalo and plains zebra. Key results Both African buffalo and plains zebra mostly foraged in mixed and grassland areas, and avoided Zambezi teak vegetation type. Zambezi teak vegetation type had high NDVI due to the dense tree cover. Both African buffalo and plains zebra preferred vegetation types with intermediate grass biomass (approximately 300 g m−2) and grass height (approximately 16 cm). Grass nutritive value (in terms of nitrogen, phosphorus and acid detergent fibre) declined from wet to dry season in all vegetation types. Conclusions African buffalo and plains zebra in the ZNP confined their habitat use mostly to two vegetation types (mixed and grassland), which together covered 25% of the protected area. Implications Teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) vegetation, which accounted for about 60% of the ZNP, was avoided by both African buffalo and plains zebra, suggesting that a significant part of the protected area was not used by the two herbivores.