*3.1. Ecological Characteristics of the Plot*

The plateau was flat and topographically homogeneous compared to the slope and low plain (Figures 1 and S1, Table 1). Both slope and convexity were lowest in the plateau, intermediate in the low plain, and greatest on the slope (Figure S1). The plateau's flat, clay soils that provide little opportunity for rain infiltration or runoff produced the highest TWI (Figure S1). Plant communities at grid sites included 47 out of 55 woody plant species from the plot-wide data—species that together represented 98% of identified stems in the plot (Table S1). This included 7621 individual plants (median = 193 stems/site; range = 20–925; Table S2). Numerically dominant species were *Acacia drepanolobium*, *Croton dichogamus*, *A. brevispica*, *Euclea divinorum*, *A. mellifera*, and *A. etbaica* (Figure 1, Table S1). Herbivore communities were characterized by 8879 independent photographs of 17 species over 10,075 trap days (median = 329 days/site; Tables S3 and S4). The most common species were dik-dik, giraffe, plains zebra, impala, and elephant (Tables S3 and S4).


**Table 1.** Summary of ecological characteristics at 33 grid sites across three habitats.
