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.
As Earth faces the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years, the present is a moment of tremendous foment and emergence in ecological science. With leaps in advances in ecological research and the technical tools available, scientists face the critical task of challenging policymakers and the public to recognize the urgency of our global crisis. This book focuses directly on the interplay between theory, data, and analytical methodology in the rapidly evolving fields of animal ecology, conservation, and management. The mixture of topics of particular current relevance includes landscape ecology, remote sensing, spatial modeling, geostatistics, genomics, and ecological informatics. The greatest interest to the practicing scientist and graduate student will be the synthesis and integration of these topics to provide a composite view of the emerging field of spatial ecological informatics and its applications in research and management.
This book was written by undergraduate students at The Ohio State University (OSU) who were enrolled in the class Introduction to Environmental Science. The chapters describe some of Earth's major environmental challenges and discuss ways that humans are using cutting-edge science and engineering to provide sustainable solutions to these problems. Topics are as diverse as the students, who represent virtually every department, school and college at OSU. The environmental issue that is described in each chapter is particularly important to the author, who hopes that their story will serve as inspiration to protect Earth for all life.
Elephant management traditionally centers on reducing ecological impact and human-elephant conflict by controlling numbers. However, such an approach only deals with symptoms, and ignores the causes of the problem. Planning for cases when a species is a nuisance in some areas, but threatened in others, could benefit from the application of metapopulation theory. The theory offers a framework that is elegant, and have ecological as well as political appeal. Applying classic metapopulation theory to long-lived species that are widely distributed in stochastic environments where they can resist extinctions is problematic. However, empirical evidence for metapopulation structure may exist when applying more lenient criteria. I examined the literature for empirical support of classic criteria set by Hanski (1999) and for a more lenient sub-set of criteria proposed by Elmhagen & Angerbj??rn (2001) for specifically mammals. I propose that for small mammals (5kg) the full complement of classic criteria must be applied to yield perspectives on population regulation and conservation. However, for large (>100kg) and medium sized (>5 100kg) mammals only habitat discreteness, potential of demographic asynchrony and the likelihood of dispersal among sub-populations must be evaluated. Metapopulation theory could then be useful when constructing conservation plans that ensure the persistence of a species and contribute to forces that stabilize populations regionally. I evaluated the applicability of metapopulation theory to southern Africa's elephant sub-populations. I identified 51 discrete administrative sub-populations that occurred in six conservation clusters. Population growth rates varied across space and time within and among conservation clusters. Some sub-populations and conservation clusters increased or decreased while others remained stable. Therefore, elephant populations in southern Africa were in demographic asynchrony, both on a local and regional scale. I also suggest that dispersal may occur among sub-populations within clusters. Consequently, the regional population is stabilized by emigration to, or immigration from neighboring sub-populations as a result of demographic asynchrony across an ecological gradient. Elephant populations across southern Africa thus adhered to one and could possibly adhere to all metapopulation criteria. Observed changes in elephant numbers could also be the result of survey error. To gain an understanding of how survey error could affect estimates, I used dung counts and measurements to estimate population size and construct an age structure for the elephants living in the Maputo Elephant Reserve in Mozambique. I suggest that dung surveys can yield population estimates with known precision and can be used in monitoring programmes aimed at assessing population trends - despite the fact that it can be affected by observer bias. In this thesis I show that metapopulation theory provides the opportunity of applying a spatio-temporal approach to elephant conservation that is not obsessed with numbers. When implementing metapopulation theory, management no longer have to centre on elephants, but can focus on the landscape as a spatially and temporally dynamic area. Local fluctuations in elephant numbers could be construed within a regional context, rather than implementing management strategies on a local scale. Such an approach will focus on the causes rather than the symptoms of the elephant problem and may contribute to the persistence of elephants as well as other components of southern African biodiversity. AFRIKAANS : Die ekologiese impak van olifante en konflik tussen mense en olifante word tradisioneel hanteer deur olifant getalle te beheer. Ongelukkig los so? benadering net die simptome en nie die oorsaak van die problem op nie. Gevalle waar? spesie? problem is in sommige areas maar bedreig is in ander, kan baat vind by die toepasing van die metabevolkings teorie. Die teorie bied? elegante raamwerk wat op ekologiese en politieke gebiede aanklank vind. Die toepasing van die klassieke metabevolkings teorie op lang lewende spesies wat wyd versprei voorkom in stochastiese omgewings waar hulle weerstand kan bied teen uitsterwings skep egter probleme. Emperiese bewyse vir? metabevolkings struktuur kan egter voorkom waneer meer gematigde kriteria ondersoek word. Ek het die literatuur ondersoek vir emperiese ondersteuning vir die klassieke kriteria wat Hanski (1999) voorgestel het, asook vir? meer gematigte sub-groep van kriteria wat deur Elmhagen & Angerbj??rn (2001) vir spesifiek soogdiere voorgestel is. Ek stel voor dat die klassieke kriteria aangewend kan word om bevolkings van klein soogdiere (5 kg) te reguleer, beter te kan verstaan en dan te bewaar. Vir groot (>100kg) en medium groot (>5 100kg) soogdiere kan die metabevolkings teorie net gebruik word as die bestaan van aparte habitate, demografiese asinkronie en die potensiaal van verstrooing tussen tussen subbevolkings bewys kan word. Die metabevolkings toerie kan dan gebruik word om bewarings inisiatiewe in te stel wat spesies in staat sal stel om voort te bestaan en oor die streek te stabiliseer. Ek het die toepasbaarheid van die metabevolkings teorie vir suidelike Afrika se olifant sub-bevolkings ondersoek. Ek het 51 aparte administratiewe sub-bevolkings geidentifiseer wat in ses bewaringsklosse voorkom. Bevolkings groeitempos het binne in en tussen bewaringsklosse gewissel. Sommige het of toegeneem of afgeneem terwyl ander stabiel gebly het. Olifant sub-bevolkings in Suider Afrika was dus in demografiese asinkronie, op? lokale sowel as op? streeks vlak. Ek het ook voorgestel dat verstrooing kan voorkom tussen sub-bevolkings binne in bewarings klosse. Die olifant bevolking van die streek word dus deur emigrasie na, of immigrasie van naburige sub-bevolkings as gevolg van demografiese asinkronie oor? ekologiese gradient gestabiliseer. Olifant bevolkings in Suider Afrika het dus voldoen aan een, en kan potensieel voldoen aan alle metabevolkings kriteria. Opmerklike veranderinge in olifant getalle kan ook wees as gevolg van foute wat tydens tellings gemaak word. Om beter te verstaan hoe sulke foute bevolking skattings affekteer, het ek olifant mis tellings en metings gebruik om? bevolking skatting en ouderdomsstruktuur vir olifante in die Maputo Olifant Reservaat in Mosambiek saam te stel. Ek stel voor dat mis opnames bevolking skattings kan lewer wat bekende presiesie het en dat dit gebruik kan word in moniterings programme wat neigings in olifiant bevolkings ondersoek - alhoewel sulke skattings beinvloed kan word deur die vooroordeel van waarnemers. In hierdie tesis toon ek aan dat die metabevolkings teorie? geleentheid skep vir? ruimtelike-tydelike benadering in olifant bewaring wat nie net op getalle fokus nie. Wanneer die metabevolkings teorie toegepas word, kan bestuur op die landskap as? ruimtelike en tydsgebonde dinamiese area fokus, in plaas van net op olifant getalle. Lokale wisselings in olifant getalle kan binne in? streek konteks geinterpreteer word, eerder as om bestuurs inisiatiewe net op? lokale vlak in te stel. So? benadering sal fokus op die oorsprong in plaas van die simptome van die olifant problem en mag bydra tot die voorbestaan van nie net olifante nie, maar ook tot die biologiese diversiteit van Suider Afrika. Copyright.
The Africa-wide Great Elephant Census of 2016 produced shocking findings: a decimated elephant population whose numbers were continuing to plummet. Elephants are killed, on average, every 15–20 minutes – a situation that will see the final demise of these intelligent, extraordinary animals in less than three decades. They are a species in crisis. This magnificent book offers chapters written by the most prominent people in the realm of conservation and wildlife, among them researchers, conservationists, film makers, criminologists, TV personalities and journalists. Photographs have been selected from among Africa’s best wildlife photographers, and the Foreword is provided by Prince William. It is hoped this book will create awareness of the devastating loss of elephant lives in Africa and stem the tide of poaching and hunting; that it will inspire the delegates to CITES to make informed decisions to ensure that all loopholes in the ivory trade are closed; and that countries receiving and using ivory (both legal and poached) – primarily China, Vietnam, Laos and Japan – ban and strenuously police its trade and use within their borders, actively pursuing and arresting syndicate leaders driving the cruel poaching tsunami. This book is also a tribute to the many people who work for the welfare of elephants, particularly those who risk their lives for wildlife each day, often for little or no pay – in particular the field rangers and the anti-poaching teams; and to the many communities around Africa that have elected to work with elephants and not against them. The Last Elephants – is the title prophetic? We hope not, but the signs are worrying.
