understanding long-term variations in an elephant piosphere effect to manage impacts理解长期变化大象piosphere管理效果的影响.pdfVIP

Understanding Long-Term Variations in an Elephant Piosphere Effect to Manage Impacts 1 1,2 3 1 Marietjie Landman *, David S. Schoeman , Anthony J. Hall-Martin , Graham I. H. Kerley 1 Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 2 Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, DC, Queensland, Australia, 3 Hall-Martin Consulting CC, Somerset West, South Africa Abstract Surface water availability is a key driver of elephant impacts on biological diversity. Thus, understanding the spatio-temporal variations of these impacts in relation to water is critical to their management. However, elephant piosphere effects (i.e. the radial pattern of attenuating impact) are poorly described, with few long-term quantitative studies. Our understanding is further confounded by the complexity of systems with elephant (i.e. fenced, multiple water points, seasonal water availability, varying population densities) that likely limit the use of conceptual models to predict these impacts. Using 31 years of data on shrub structure in the succulent thickets of the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa, we tested elephant effects at a single water point. Shrub structure showed a clear sigmoid response with distance from water, declining at both the upper and lower limits of sampling. Adjacent to water, this decline caused a roughly 300-m radial expansion of the grass-dominated habitats that replace shrub communities. Despite the clear relationship between shrub structure and ecological functioning in thicket, the extent of elephant effects v