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Naivasha Virtual Fieldcourse

Human modified ecosystems

Human impact on the Lake Naivasha Basin is pervasive and it has severely affected the local water cycle and the related water cycle. Deforestation has restricted the canopy forest to much reduced high altitude portions of the basin. In the lowlands, marginal drylands have also been exploited and expanded in size with the creation of artificial desert rangelands that are becoming progressively eroded. Between highland forests and lowland pastures, subsistence agriculture created a typical rural zone that can be at times quite pleasant, characterised by numerous smallhoder plots divided by lines of planted trees including fruits (pears, plums) and timber-trees (cypress, pine, eucalyptus) as well as artificial wetlands. Overall, these farmlands are healthy landscapes characterised by high natural biodiversity and low pollution loads, as evidenced by recent research on farmland birds highlighting their high biodiversity.

Human-made ecosystems such as artificial wetlands and pastures often represent biodiversity-rich secondary biotopes (as opposed to natural forest considered to be "primary"), that host endemic endangered species such as Sharpe's Longclaw (Macronyx sharpei), a pipit-like low altitude terrestrial bird feeding on beetles and grasshoppers.