Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Abstract Though elephants are a major cause of savanna tree mortality and threaten vulnerable tree species, managing their impact remains difficult, in part because relatively little is known about how elephant impacts are distributed throughout space. This is exacerbated by uncertainty about what d...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2021-05-01
|
Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7465 |
id |
doaj-f07a8f017f6746329c6238149f2d6188 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-f07a8f017f6746329c6238149f2d61882021-05-19T04:56:22ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582021-05-0111105624563410.1002/ece3.7465Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South AfricaJoel O. Abraham0Emily R. Goldberg1Judith Botha2A. Carla Staver3Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yale University New Haven CT USADepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yale University New Haven CT USAScientific Services Kruger National Park Skukuza South AfricaDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yale University New Haven CT USAAbstract Though elephants are a major cause of savanna tree mortality and threaten vulnerable tree species, managing their impact remains difficult, in part because relatively little is known about how elephant impacts are distributed throughout space. This is exacerbated by uncertainty about what determines the distribution of elephants themselves, as well as whether the distribution of elephants is even informative for understanding the distribution of their impacts. To better understand the factors that underlie elephant impacts, we modeled elephant distributions and their damage to trees with respect to soil properties, water availability, and vegetation in Kruger National Park, South Africa, using structural equation modeling. We found that bull elephants and mixed herds differed markedly in their distributions, with bull elephants concentrating in sparsely treed basaltic sites close to artificial waterholes and mixed herds aggregating around permanent rivers, particularly in areas with little grass. Surprisingly, we also found that the distribution of elephant impacts, while highly heterogeneous, was largely unrelated to the distribution of elephants themselves, with damage concentrated instead in densely treed areas and particularly on basaltic soils. Results underscore the importance of surface water for elephants but suggest that elephant water dependence operates together with other landscape factors, particularly vegetation community composition and historical management interventions, to influence elephant distributions.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7465elephant impactslandscape heterogeneityLoxodonta Africanamanagement legaciessavanna vegetationsurface water |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Joel O. Abraham Emily R. Goldberg Judith Botha A. Carla Staver |
spellingShingle |
Joel O. Abraham Emily R. Goldberg Judith Botha A. Carla Staver Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa Ecology and Evolution elephant impacts landscape heterogeneity Loxodonta Africana management legacies savanna vegetation surface water |
author_facet |
Joel O. Abraham Emily R. Goldberg Judith Botha A. Carla Staver |
author_sort |
Joel O. Abraham |
title |
Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa |
title_short |
Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa |
title_full |
Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa |
title_fullStr |
Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heterogeneity in African savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in Kruger National Park, South Africa |
title_sort |
heterogeneity in african savanna elephant distributions and their impacts on trees in kruger national park, south africa |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Ecology and Evolution |
issn |
2045-7758 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Abstract Though elephants are a major cause of savanna tree mortality and threaten vulnerable tree species, managing their impact remains difficult, in part because relatively little is known about how elephant impacts are distributed throughout space. This is exacerbated by uncertainty about what determines the distribution of elephants themselves, as well as whether the distribution of elephants is even informative for understanding the distribution of their impacts. To better understand the factors that underlie elephant impacts, we modeled elephant distributions and their damage to trees with respect to soil properties, water availability, and vegetation in Kruger National Park, South Africa, using structural equation modeling. We found that bull elephants and mixed herds differed markedly in their distributions, with bull elephants concentrating in sparsely treed basaltic sites close to artificial waterholes and mixed herds aggregating around permanent rivers, particularly in areas with little grass. Surprisingly, we also found that the distribution of elephant impacts, while highly heterogeneous, was largely unrelated to the distribution of elephants themselves, with damage concentrated instead in densely treed areas and particularly on basaltic soils. Results underscore the importance of surface water for elephants but suggest that elephant water dependence operates together with other landscape factors, particularly vegetation community composition and historical management interventions, to influence elephant distributions. |
topic |
elephant impacts landscape heterogeneity Loxodonta Africana management legacies savanna vegetation surface water |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7465 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT joeloabraham heterogeneityinafricansavannaelephantdistributionsandtheirimpactsontreesinkrugernationalparksouthafrica AT emilyrgoldberg heterogeneityinafricansavannaelephantdistributionsandtheirimpactsontreesinkrugernationalparksouthafrica AT judithbotha heterogeneityinafricansavannaelephantdistributionsandtheirimpactsontreesinkrugernationalparksouthafrica AT acarlastaver heterogeneityinafricansavannaelephantdistributionsandtheirimpactsontreesinkrugernationalparksouthafrica |
_version_ |
1721437103150071808 |