Assessing Habitat Suitability: The Case of Black Rhino in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Approximately 36% of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in Tanzania provides suitable habitat for black rhinos year-round, though suitability shifts seasonally. During the wet season, anthropogenic pressures significantly reduce suitable habitat to 53.6%, while dry-season constraints on browse availability force rhinos to become less selective, diminishing the impact of human activity. A stable core area between Olmoti and the Crater, characterized by minimal disturbance, offers consistent suitability despite historical declines in areas like Oldupai Gorge. The study integrates remote sensing (Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope imagery) with field data using machine learning algorithms—recursive feature elimination and random forest—to identify key environmental and anthropogenic factors influencing habitat suitability. It highlights the need for adaptive conservation strategies to mitigate land degradation and protect rhino populations amid evolving pressures.

Borges, J., Symeonakis, E., Higginbottom, T. P., Jones, M., Cain, B., Kisingo, A., Maige, D., Oliver, O., & Lobora, A. L. (2024). Assessing Habitat Suitability: The Case of Black Rhino in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Remote Sensing, 16(15), 2855. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16152855