Elephant management
Elephant management

Author: Robert (Bob) Scholes

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2008-03-01

Total Pages: 551

ISBN-13: 1776142276

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Elephants are among the most magnificent – but also most problematic –members of South Africa's wildlife population. While they are sought after by South African and foreign tourists alike, they also have a major impact on their environment. As a result, elephant management has become a highly complex and often controversial discipline. The information needed to underpin vital decisions about elephant management has largely been unavailable to decision-makers, contested by experts, or simply unknown. As a result, the South African Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism convened a round table to advise him on this issue. The round table recommended that a scientific assessment of elephant management be undertaken to gather, evaluate, and present all the relevant information on this topic. Its main findings and recommendations are contained in this volume. Elephant Management is the first book of its kind, combining the work of more than 60 national and international experts. Extensively reviewed by policy-makers and other stakeholders, it is the most systematic and comprehensive review of savanna elephant populations and factors relevant to managing them to date. As such it is of interest to a broad spectrum of readers in South Africa and elsewhere. Above all, it is aimed at helping conservation policy-makers and practitioners to choose the best possible options for the sustainable preservation of these iconic animals.

Elephants and Savanna Woodland Ecosystems
Elephants and Savanna Woodland Ecosystems

Author: Christina Skarpe

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-04-02

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1118858581

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During the nineteenth century, ivory hunting caused a substantial decrease of elephant numbers in southern Africa. Soon after that, populations of many other large and medium-sized herbivores went into steep decline due to the rinderpest pandemic in the 1890s. These two events provided an opportunity for woodland establishment in areas previously intensively utilized by elephants and other herbivores. The return of elephants to currently protected areas of their former range has greatly influenced vegetation locally and the resulting potential negative effects on biodiversity are causing concern among stakeholders, managers, and scientists. This book focuses on the ecological effects of the increasing elephant population in northern Botswana, presenting the importance of the elephants for the heterogeneity of the system, and showing that elephant ecology involves much wider spatiotemporal scales than was previously thought. Drawing on the results of their research, the authors discuss elephant-caused effects on vegetation in nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor savannas, and the potential competition between elephants on the one hand and browsers and mixed feeders on the other. Ultimately this text provides a comprehensive review of ecological processes in African savannas, covering long-term ecosystem changes and human-wildlife conflicts. It summarises new knowledge on the ecology of the sub-humid African savanna ecosystems to advance the general functional understanding of savanna ecosystems across moisture and nutrient gradients.

Spatial Assessment of Elephant Impacts on Large Herbivores and Vegetation in Southern Africa
Spatial Assessment of Elephant Impacts on Large Herbivores and Vegetation in Southern Africa

Author: Timothy Jon Fullman

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13:

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MSDI and elephant utilization. At finer scales, however, MSDI values negatively relate to elephant utilization. This appears to be due to differences in within-patch and between-patch effects of elephants. Third, shifts in distributions of five large herbivore species in Kruger National Park are investigated using the SAVANNA model. Scenarios of climate change, water management, and elephant numbers are compared using directional persistence and repeated measures analysis of variance. Patterns across species differ between climate scenarios, encouraging monitoring of herbivore distributions to determine where shifts occur under changing climate. Altering artificial water availability has little effect on park-wide persistence of herbivore densities, but strongly influences overlap within- and between-species. Elephant numbers only influence herbivores under the most extreme increase. Collectively, findings from this dissertation improve understanding of the patterns of elephant distribution and impacts and generate suggestions for managing spatial effects of elephants.

Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores
Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores

Author: Peter Frank Scogings

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-09-30

Total Pages: 794

ISBN-13: 1119081106

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Insights on current research and recent developments in understanding global savanna systems Increasingly recognized as synonymous with tropical grassy biomes, savannas are found in tropical and sub-tropical climates as well as warm, temperate regions of North America. Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores examines the interactions between woody plants and browsing mammals in global savannas—focusing primarily on the C4 grassy ecosystems with woody components that constitute the majority of global savannas—and discusses contemporary savanna management models and applications. This much-needed addition to current research examines topics including the varying behavior of browsing mammals, the response to browsing by woody species, and the factors that inhibit forage intake. Contributions from an international team of active researchers and experts compare and contrast different savanna ecosystems, offering a global perspective on savanna functioning, the roles of soil and climate in resource availability and organism interaction, and the possible impacts of climate change across global savannas. Fills a gap in literature on savanna management issues, including biodiversity conservation and animal production Applies concepts developed in other biomes to future savanna research Complements contemporary books on savanna or large herbivore ecology Focuses on the woody component of savanna ecosystems and large herbivore interactions in savannas Compares tree-mammal systems of savannas and other eco-systems of temperate and boreal regions Provides numerous case studies of plant-mammal interactions from various savanna ecosystems Savanna Woody Plants and Large Herbivores is a valuable addition to those in fields such as ecology, wildlife and conservation biology, natural resource management, and environmental science.

The Kruger Experience
The Kruger Experience

Author: Johan T. du Toit

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2003-10-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781559639811

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Kruger National Park in South Africa has one of the most extensive sets of records of any protected area in the world, and throughout its history has supported connections between science and management. In recognition of that long-standing tradition comes The Kruger Experience, the first book to synthesize/summarize a century of ecological research and management in two million hectares of African savanna. The Kruger Experience places the scientific and management experience in Kruger within the framework of modern ecological theory and its practical applications. The book uses a cross-cutting theme of ecological heterogeneity -- the idea that ecological systems function across a full hierarchy of physical and biological components, processes, and scales, in a dynamic space-time mosaic. Contributors, who include many esteemed ecologists who have worked in Kruger in recent years, examine a range of topics covering broad taxonomic groupings and ecological processes. The book's four sections explore: the historical context of research and management in Kruger, the theme of heterogeneity, and the current philosophy in Kruger for linking science with management the template of natural components and processes, as influenced by management, that determine the present state of the Kruger ecosystem how species interact within the ecosystem to generate further heterogeneity across space and time humans as key components of savanna ecosystems In addition to the editors, contributors include William J. Bond, Jane Lubchenco, David Mabunda, Michael G.L. ("Gus") Mills, Robert J. Naiman, Norman Owen-Smith, Steward T.A. Pickett, Stuart L. Pimm, and Rober J. Scholes. The book is an invaluable new resource for scientists and managers involved with large, conserved ecosystems as well as for conservation practitioners and others with interests in adaptive management, the societal context of conservation, links between research and management in parks, and parks/academic partnerships.

Arid Land Systems: Sciences and Societies
Arid Land Systems: Sciences and Societies

Author: Troy Sternberg

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2019-08-19

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 3039213474

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Understanding deserts and drylands is essential, as arid landscapes cover >40% of the Earth and are home to two billion people. Today's problematic environment–human interaction needs contemporary knowledge to address dryland complexity. Physical dimensions in arid zones—land systems, climate and hazards, ecology—are linked with social processes that directly impact drylands, such as land management, livelihoods, and development. The challenges require integrated research that identifies systemic drivers across global arid regions. Measurement and monitoring, field investigation, remote sensing, and data analysis are effective tools to investigate natural dynamics. Equally, inquiry into how policy and practice affect landscape sustainability is key to mitigating detrimental activity in deserts. Relations between socio-economic forces and degradation, agro-pastoral rangeland use, drought and disaster and resource extraction reflect land interactions. Contemporary themes of food security, conflict, and conservation are interlinked in arid environments. This book unifies desert science, arid environments, and dryland development. The chapters identify land dynamics, address system risks and delineate human functions through original research in arid zones. Mixed methodologies highlight the vital links between social and environmental science in global deserts. The book engages with today's topical themes and presents novel analyses of arid land systems and societies.

The Miombo in Transition
The Miombo in Transition

Author: Bruce Morgan Campbell

Publisher: CIFOR

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 9798764072

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Miombo woodlands and their use: overview and key issues. The ecology of miombo woodlands. Population biology of miombo tree. Miombo woodlands in the wider context: macro-economic and inter-sectoral influences. Rural households and miombo woodlands: use, value and management. Trade in woodland products from the miombo region. Managing miombo woodland. Institutional arrangements governing the use and the management of miombo woodlands. Miombo woodlands and rural livelihoods: options and opportunities.