Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on forage opportunities for local ungulates through pushing over trees
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are ecosystem engineers that have the ability to alter the physical structure of the landscape it inhabits and subsequently affect the livelihood of other local species. This study evaluated the landscape and plant level impacts by elephants by means of fallen...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
2013
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855570907052900352 |
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| author | Wong, Janson |
| author_browse | Wong, Janson |
| author_facet | Wong, Janson |
| author_sort | Wong, Janson |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are ecosystem engineers that have the ability to alter the physical structure of the landscape it inhabits and subsequently affect the livelihood of other local species. This study evaluated the landscape and plant level impacts by elephants by means of fallen trees in the Karoo ecosystem. Fourteen transects were walked and found the proportion of fallen trees inside the Kuzuko section of the Addo
Elephant National Park was higher than outside the game reserve. Potential shoot bites were higher for standing trees than fallen trees but percentage cover of coppiced re-growth remained similar for all fallen treatments except the Dead treatment. Standing trees were especially important as nurse plants, having a higher density of woody saplings and forbs coverage. Average foliage surface area from the canopy was better than foliage collected from coppiced re-growth outside the reserve. There was a noticeable effect from elephant presence. My data showed that both forage availability and quality decreased from a standing to a fallen tree. However, additional studies should be conducted for a better understanding of foliage quality differences. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU5810 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publishDateSort | 2013 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU58102013-07-02T10:55:26Z Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on forage opportunities for local ungulates through pushing over trees Påverkan av afrikansk elefant (Loxodonta africana) på lokala hovdjurs betesmöjligheter genom trädvältning Wong, Janson African elephants cascade effects forage treefalls fallen trees common duiker kudu black rhinoceros African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are ecosystem engineers that have the ability to alter the physical structure of the landscape it inhabits and subsequently affect the livelihood of other local species. This study evaluated the landscape and plant level impacts by elephants by means of fallen trees in the Karoo ecosystem. Fourteen transects were walked and found the proportion of fallen trees inside the Kuzuko section of the Addo Elephant National Park was higher than outside the game reserve. Potential shoot bites were higher for standing trees than fallen trees but percentage cover of coppiced re-growth remained similar for all fallen treatments except the Dead treatment. Standing trees were especially important as nurse plants, having a higher density of woody saplings and forbs coverage. Average foliage surface area from the canopy was better than foliage collected from coppiced re-growth outside the reserve. There was a noticeable effect from elephant presence. My data showed that both forage availability and quality decreased from a standing to a fallen tree. However, additional studies should be conducted for a better understanding of foliage quality differences. SLU/Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies 2013 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/5810/ |
| spellingShingle | African elephants cascade effects forage treefalls fallen trees common duiker kudu black rhinoceros Wong, Janson Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on forage opportunities for local ungulates through pushing over trees |
| title | Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| title_full | Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| title_fullStr | Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| title_short | Effects of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| title_sort | effects of african elephant (loxodonta africana) on
forage opportunities for local ungulates through
pushing over trees |
| topic | African elephants cascade effects forage treefalls fallen trees common duiker kudu black rhinoceros |