Assessment of primary and secondary data for GIS mapping of key migratory wildlife species in the Tarangire - Manyara ecosystem - complex.

Assessment between primary and secondary data in mapping key migratory wildlife species in the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem/complex was carried out between September, 2000 and June, 2002. Throughout this study an attempt was made to organize all the primary and secondary data on key migratory wildlife species into a database in order to map the data in a Geographical Information System (GIS) and to investigate if primary and secondary data could give reliable information useful for conservation and management. An attempt was also made to test for the overall congruency within and between primary and secondary data in terms of both spatial and temporal species distribution. Results showed that databases from selected species within both primary and secondary sources were strongly positively correlated i.e. congruent but not between them, where a weak positive in most cases or a negative correlation was obtained. These findings suggested that primary and secondary data cannot replace each other but should be integrated because while primary database gave elaborate and accurate distribution and abundance on major species like elephant and wildebeest they gave poor results for the same on minor species like hunting dog and lesser kudu. On the other hand secondary database was superior to primary in producing distribution for both minor and major species but not in terms of their abundance. Further rigorous testing of the database in a GIS is recommended in order to better monitor wildlife species within the ecosystem/complex and elsewhere.