Landscape heterogeneity and the use of space by elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Grainger, Matthew; Aarde, Rudi van; Whyte, I. J.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2005.00592.x

Cited by 54 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Individual home range size variation was within limits attributable to differences in resource requirement due to body size, sex, reproductive status and sociality. No major individual deviations were observed as in north-eastern India (Datye and Bhagwat 1995) and parts of Africa (Thouless 1996;Grainger et al 2005;Galanti et al 2006), where divergent strategies of migration and residence within a single population, resulted in home range size differences of large magnitude.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elephant habitat in South India consists of larger homogenous and relatively undisturbed tracts of vegetation (Leimgruber et al 2003), signifying lower accessibility hence productivity for elephants. Home range size is inversely related to habitat productivity (Thouless 1996;Dahle and Swenson 2003) and heterogeneity (Grainger et al 2005). Therefore, the observed discrepancy in home range size between South India and Sri Lanka could be attributed to habitat characteristics that over ride effects of rainfall on productivity.…”

Section: Rainfall and Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, in the area adjoining the western boundary of the Yala National Park, where most of the tracked elephants ranged, the density of reservoirs is approximately one every 2 km 2 . Therefore similar to African elephants in Kruger National Park where lack of seasonal variation in ranging was attributed to the abundance of artificial water sources (Grainger et al 2005), water availability may not be an important determinant of elephant ranging patterns over most of Sri Lanka, especially outside protected areas.…”

Section: Seasonal Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ranging behavior of the Asian elephant in Sri Lanka

et al. 2008

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We studied the ranging patterns of 10 elephants in and around the Yala protected area complex, southern Sri Lanka, using VHF radio telemetry. All tracked elephants displayed similar ranging patterns. The observed home ranges were small (mean=115.2±64.0 km2) relative to reported home ranges in India, possibly in response to high habitat productivity and abundant perennial water sources. Elephants showed high fidelity to their ranges. Home ranges had relatively large core areas, suggesting intensive use of habitat. No geographically distinct seasonal ranges or migratory behavior was observed. Home range overlap was high, and territoriality was absent. Male musth ranges were considerably larger than non-musth ranges and may signify mate searching. Most elephants ranged both in and outside protected areas, suggesting that resources outside protected areas were important for their survival. Thus, translocating and restricting elephants to protected areas will be detrimental to their survival, as it limits resource access. The ranging patterns of Asian elephants suggest that conservation of the species requires their management both in and outside protected areas. Original investigation Ranging behavior of the Asian elephant in Sri Lanka AbstractWe studied the ranging patterns of ten elephants in and around the Yala protected area complex, southern Sri Lanka, using VHF radio telemetry. All tracked elephants displayed similar ranging patterns. The observed home ranges were small (mean = 115.2±64.0 km 2 ) relative to reported home ranges in India, possibly in response to high habitat productivity and abundant perennial water sources. Elephants showed high fidelity to their ranges. Home ranges had relatively large core areas, suggesting intensive use of habitat. No geographically distinct seasonal ranges or migratory behavior was observed. Home range overlap was high, and territoriality was absent.Male musth ranges were considerably larger than non-musth ranges and may signify mate searching. Most elephants ranged both in and outside protected areas, suggesting that resources outside protected areas were important for their survival.Thus, translocating and restricting elephants to protected areas will be detrimental to their survival, as it limits resource access. The ranging patterns of Asian elephants suggest that conservation of the species requires their management both in and outside protected areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rainfall and Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonal Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ranging behavior of the Asian elephant in Sri Lanka

et al. 2008

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“…It is difficult to collect comprehensive presence and absence data for the estimated 12,000 elephants across the entire park (Smit et al, 2007a). Furthermore, elephants have a home range of up to 1,800 km 2 in KNP, making it especially difficult to accurately track them within a park of 19, 485 km 2 (Whyte, 2001;Grainger et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Distribution of African Savanna Elephants in Kruger National Park: An Application of Multi-Scale Globeland30 Data

Xu¹,

Hays²,

Fayrer-Hosken³

et al. 2016

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The ability of remote sensing to represent ecologically relevant features at multiple spatial scales makes it a powerful tool for studying wildlife distributions. Species of varying sizes perceive and interact with their environment at differing scales; therefore, it is important to consider the role of spatial resolution of remotely sensed data in the creation of distribution models. The release of the Globeland30 land cover classification in 2014, with its 30 m resolution, presents the opportunity to do precisely that. We created a series of Maximum Entropy distribution models for African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) using Globeland30 data analyzed at varying resolutions. We compared these with similarly re-sampled models created from the European Space Agency's Global Land Cover Map (Globcover). These data, in combination with GIS layers of topography and distance to roads, human activity, and water, as well as elephant GPS collar data, were used with MaxEnt software to produce the final distribution models. The AUC (Area Under the Curve) scores indicated that the models created from 600 m data performed better than other spatial resolutions and that the Globeland30 models generally performed better than the Globcover models. Additionally, elevation and distance to rivers seemed to be the most important variables in our models. Our results demonstrate that Globeland30 is a valid alternative to the well-established Globcover for creating wildlife distribution models. It may even be superior for applications which require higher spatial resolution and less nuanced classifications.

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“…These studies are often motivated by the conservation predicament of elephants and the need to deduce their movement patterns, evaluate habitat utilization patterns and study conflict between elephants and people (e.g. Grainger et al 2005;Leggett 2006;Wittemyer et al 2007;Harris et al 2008;Jackson et al 2008;Blake et al 2008). To our knowledge, there has been no formal attempt to evaluate the performance of units deployed on elephants in southern Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferred Spatial use by Elephants is Robust to Landscape Effects on GPS Telemetry

Ott¹,

Aarde²

2010

South African Journal of Wildlife Research

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Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry provides data to study spatial utilization patterns of animals. Spatial uncertainty due to poor accuracy and fix rates, however, may detract from inferences based on such data. The exclusion of two-dimensional (2D) locations may improve such inferences, but the prevalence of 2D locations may be a factor of landscape properties. In trials conducted using GPS units stationed at known positions, fix rate decreased significantly with increased canopy cover, but was unaffected by slope. Most (75%) of the locations recorded in closed woodland were 2D locations, suggesting that the exclusion of 2D locations may reduce estimates of the utilization of such habitats. Excluding 2D locations from records obtained for GPS units deployed on free-ranging elephants (Loxodonta africana) increased daily displacement distances, and changed the number of locations per habitat. However, selection ratios and estimates of home range area were not influenced by filtering location data. We concluded that although the exclusion of 2D locations improved the accuracy of locations per se, it resulted in significant data loss. This loss could alter inferences on patterns of spatial utilization.

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Landscape heterogeneity and the use of space by elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Cited by 54 publications

References 26 publications

Ranging behavior of the Asian elephant in Sri Lanka

Ranging behavior of the Asian elephant in Sri Lanka

Modeling the Distribution of African Savanna Elephants in Kruger National Park: An Application of Multi-Scale Globeland30 Data

Inferred Spatial use by Elephants is Robust to Landscape Effects on GPS Telemetry

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