Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa

Elephants are known to have a big influence on the environment. Their browsing routine includes the breaking of stems and branches, toppling of trees, and bark stripping. This, in combination with other factors, can have negative effects on the vegetation. However, elephants are also important seed...

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Autor principal: Apelqvist, Matilda
Formato: Second cycle, A2E
Lenguaje:Inglés
Inglés
Publicado: 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9905/
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author Apelqvist, Matilda
author_browse Apelqvist, Matilda
author_facet Apelqvist, Matilda
author_sort Apelqvist, Matilda
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Elephants are known to have a big influence on the environment. Their browsing routine includes the breaking of stems and branches, toppling of trees, and bark stripping. This, in combination with other factors, can have negative effects on the vegetation. However, elephants are also important seed dispersers, and their impacts on vegetation can facilitate food availability for smaller herbivores. This study focused on elephant impact on and utilisation of a coastal scarp forest in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa. Transects were laid out to quantify the elephants’ use of the forest, and additional plots with paired controls were placed in areas with signs of high elephant impact. Elephant impact was recorded on the plots, and they were all fitted with a camera trap to determine what other mammal species were using the same areas. Overall, the elephant impact found was rather old, and there were few indications that the elephants had any major effect on either tree community or animal community in the measured plots.
format Second cycle, A2E
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
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Inglés
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spelling RepoSLU99052017-01-20T10:13:41Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9905/ Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa Apelqvist, Matilda Nature conservation and land resources Elephants are known to have a big influence on the environment. Their browsing routine includes the breaking of stems and branches, toppling of trees, and bark stripping. This, in combination with other factors, can have negative effects on the vegetation. However, elephants are also important seed dispersers, and their impacts on vegetation can facilitate food availability for smaller herbivores. This study focused on elephant impact on and utilisation of a coastal scarp forest in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa. Transects were laid out to quantify the elephants’ use of the forest, and additional plots with paired controls were placed in areas with signs of high elephant impact. Elephant impact was recorded on the plots, and they were all fitted with a camera trap to determine what other mammal species were using the same areas. Overall, the elephant impact found was rather old, and there were few indications that the elephants had any major effect on either tree community or animal community in the measured plots. 2016-12-29 Second cycle, A2E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9905/1/apelqvist_m_170112.pdf Apelqvist, Matilda, 2016. Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa. Second cycle, A2E. Umeå: (S) > Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-251.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-6162 eng
spellingShingle Nature conservation and land resources
Apelqvist, Matilda
Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title_full Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title_fullStr Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title_short Elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in South Africa
title_sort elephant utilisation of and impact on a locally threatened habitat, coastal scarp forest, in south africa
topic Nature conservation and land resources
url https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9905/
https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/9905/