The distribution and diet of the elephants of the Maputo Elephant Reserve were studied using dung counts, satellite tracking and faecal analysis. The results were compared with earlier data from before the civil war in Mozambique. The elephant population decreased during the civil war, but 180 animals still remain. Earlier studies described the elephants as preferring the grass plains. Currently, the elephants prefer the dense forest patches over the high quality forage found in the grass plains. Water salinity a¡ected distribution; elephant dung piles were found closer to fresh water in the dry season. A total of 95 di¡erent plant species were identi-¢ed in the faeces. The percentage of grass was relatively low compared with other studies, increasing at the beginning of the rainy season. At the end of the dry season, elephants concentrated on the few available browse species with young leaves, but generally preferred grass species to browse species. Diet composition was mainly a¡ected by season and less by habitat. The elephants have changed their habitat preference in reaction to poaching, and probably increased the contribution of browse species in the diet. The presence of forest patches has been vital for the survival of the elephants.Re¨sumeÖ n a e¨tudie¨la distribution et le re¨gime alimentaire des e¨le¨phants de la Re¨serve a¨e¨le¨phants de Maputo en utilisant le comptages des crottes, le tracking par satellite et l'analyse des excre¨ments. On a compare¨les re¨sultats avec des donne¨es recueillies avant la guerre civile au Mozambique. La population d'e¨le¨phants a baisse¨pendant la guerre civile mais il reste 180 animaux. Des e¨tudes ante¨rieures montraient que les e¨le¨phants pre¨fe¨raient les plaines herbeuses. Actuellement, ils pre¨fe© rent les |ª lots de foreª t dense au fourrage de haute qualite¨qui se trouve dans les plaines herbeuses. La salinite¨de l'eau modi¢e la distribution; on trouvait les crottes d'e¨le¨phants plus pre© s de l'eau douce en saison se© che. On a identi¢e¨un total de 95 espe© ces ve¨ge¨tales di¡e¨rentes dans les excre¨ments. Le pourcentage d'herbes e¨tait relativement bas par rapport aux e¨tudes ante¨rieures, il augmentait au de¨but de la saison des pluies. A la ¢n de la saison se© che, les e¨le¨phants se concentraient sur les quelques espe© ces de buissons comestibles ayant des jeunes feuilles, mais ils pre¨fe¨raient ge¨ne¨ralement les espe© ces herbeuses aux buissons. La composition du re¨gime e¨tait surtout a¡ecte¨e par la saison et moins par l'habitat. Les e¨le¨phants ont change¨leurs pre¨fe¨rences en matie© re d'habitat en re¨action au braconnage et ont sans doute ainsi augmente¨la contribution des espe© ces buissonnantes dans le re¨gime alimentaire. La pre¨sence des |ª lots forestiers a e¨te¨vitale pour la survie des e¨le¨phants.

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t u m i , S . M . F e r r e i r a and R . J . v a n A a r d e Abstract The elephant Loxodonta africana population of Mozambique has declined rapidly over the last 4 decades. Historical census data are incomplete but suggest that the impact of human activity on the elephant population increased after the onset of the colonial era. Demand for ivory explains the population decline from 1700 to 1940, and the killing of elephants as part of settlement policies and tsetse fly control programmes further reduced the populations between 1940 and 1960. Land transformation from 1900 onwards may also have contributed to the historical decline in elephant numbers. Our assessment suggests that landscape approaches should be explored in seeking to conserve elephants in modern Mozambique.

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Land cover change (LCC) is a complex and dynamic process influenced by social, economic, and biophysical factors that can cause significant impacts on ecological processes and biodiversity conservation. The assessment of LCC is particularly relevant in a country like Mozambique where livelihood strongly depends on natural resources. In this study, LCC was assessed using a point-based sampling approach through Open Foris Collect Earth (CE), a free and open-source software for land assessment developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This study aimed to conduct an LCC assessment using CE for the entire Mozambique, and according to three different land classifications: administrative boundaries (provinces), ecoregions, and protected vs unprotected areas. A set of 23,938 randomly selected plots, with an area of 0.5 hectares, placed on a 4 × 4 km regular grid over the entire country, was assessed using CE. The analysis showed that Mozambique has gone through significant loss of forest (− 1.3 Mha) mainly to the conversion to cropland. Deforestation is not occurring evenly throughout the country with some provinces, such as Nampula and Zambezia, characterized by higher rates than others, such as Gaza and Niassa. This result can be explained considering a combination of ecological and socio-economic factors, as well as the conservative role played by the protected areas. Our study confirmed that LCC is a complex phenomenon, and the augmented visual interpretation methodology can effectively complement and integrate the LCC analyses conducted using the traditional wall-to-wall mapping to support national land assessment and forest inventories and provide training data for environmental modeling.