Impacts of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) on tall trees and their recovery within a small, fenced reserve in South Africa

Abstract

African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) can have detrimental impacts on trees; studies exploring elephant impact within small, fenced reserves, have lacked focus in determining elephant high‐use areas, the direct effect of fence line and tree recovery. The aim of this study is to assess whether elephants cause significant impact on trees in the small‐fenced Karongwe Private Game Reserve (KPGR) and to determine the levels of tree recovery. Trees ≥5 m in height were surveyed (n = 634 trees). Elephant location data were used to identify high‐ and low‐use areas. Five species accounted for 80% of the records; these were used for further analysis. Trees in high‐use areas were significantly less likely to show signs of debarking and push over. Tall trees were significantly more likely to be impacted by elephants, being associated with heightened risks of debarking and branches being broken but lower risks of being pushed over. Trees close to the fence line were not more impacted than trees near the centre of the reserve. The level of use, distance to the fence and tree height were not significant predictors of tree recovery indicators. Future mitigation efforts should focus on trees with high levels of impact and low levels of recovery.

A Socio-Ecological Approach to Understanding How Land Use Challenges Human-Elephant Coexistence in Northern Tanzania

“…Areas of high human population and a decrease of suitable land were the best predictors of HEC in Mozambique [75], where it was found that areas with a human population density of <60 people/km 2 had lower HEC incidences than areas with higher human population densities. At low population densities, there is less interaction between humans and elephants, but also human driven destruction on elephant habitats and migratory routes might be lower [76]. Unfortunately, our time span for land cover change and GPS collar data did not cover exactly the same time span, during which conflict occurrences were assessed, making it difficult to relate changes in LULC to HEC incidences over time.…”

Space use by African savannah elephants in an arid protected area dominated by a mosaic of different vegetation

“…Ngene et al, 2009). Understanding how dominant vegetation types influence elephant movement patterns in response to spatiotemporal resource fluctuations offers an invaluable approach to their conservation in climate threatened and resource constrained arid areas (Gandiwa et al, 2013;Hema et al, 2017;IUCN, 2021;Ndaimani, 2018;Thompson et al, 2022).…”

“…The African savannah elephant ( Loxodonta Africana ) respond to spatiotemporal variations in resource availability and quality over a wide variety of habitat landscapes as they require large food quantities to maximise foraging opportunities (Fryxell et al., 2004; Owen‐Smith & Chafota, 2012; Corpenicus, 2013; Van Moorter et al., 2013; (Carvalho & Campbell, 2023; Hema et al., 2017; Thompson et al., 2022). Several studies (e.g.…”

“…Consequently, African savannah elephants have migrated even outside protected habitats and raided crops leading to human–elephant conflicts (HEC) with proximal communities (Gandiwa et al., 2013; Kyokuhaire et al., 2023; Ngene et al., 2009). Understanding how dominant vegetation types influence elephant movement patterns in response to spatiotemporal resource fluctuations offers an invaluable approach to their conservation in climate threatened and resource constrained arid areas (Gandiwa et al., 2013; Hema et al., 2017; IUCN, 2021; Ndaimani, 2018; Thompson et al., 2022). We investigated African savannah elephant space use as a function of vegetation types in the GNP using global positioning system (GPS) telemetry data.…”

A Study on the Perception of African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Conservation by School Children in Africa and England (UK)

“…Conducting relevant scientific research on wildlife conservation and communicating findings to decision-makers is an essential method to enhance conservation practices in line with environmental threats, such as habitat fragmentation and land-use change [1,2]. However, this alone is not sufficient to solve complex conservation issues such as human-wildlife conflict (HWC) [3].…”