Environmental factors affecting the distribution of African elephants in the Kasigau wildlife corridor, SE Kenya. (12th August 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Environmental factors affecting the distribution of African elephants in the Kasigau wildlife corridor, SE Kenya. (12th August 2017)
- Main Title:
- Environmental factors affecting the distribution of African elephants in the Kasigau wildlife corridor, SE Kenya
- Authors:
- Williams, Harry F.
Bartholomew, David C.
Amakobe, Bernard
Githiru, Mwangi - Abstract:
- Abstract: The African elephant, Loxodonta africana, is under threat from habitat loss, poaching and human–elephant conflict. To mitigate for impact of habitat loss and reduce conflict, connectivity between elephant habitats can be improved through the protection of corridor areas. This study looks at elephant distribution and movement patterns within the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor (KWC) within the Tsavo Conservation Area in South‐east Kenya. Elephant presence data were obtained from observations by rangers during routine patrols across KWC, and were analysed in MaxEnt. The environmental factors predicting elephant distribution and density were tested, as well as the relationship between elephant maximum entropy and the presence and abundance of other wildlife. Seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation, plus presence of waterholes were found to play significant roles in elephant distribution across KWC. Higher elephant densities were not found to correlate with lower densities of other wildlife species; indeed, during the dry seasons, elephant presence was associated with greater wild herbivore densities. Besides illustrating the importance of the KWC for elephant conservation in the Tsavo ecosystem, both as a key corridor and habitat, this study also hopes to highlight the untapped utility of routine ranger patrol data, and encourage the use of such presence‐only data for deducing important knowledge for conservation of biodiversity.
- Is Part Of:
- African journal of ecology. Volume 56:Number 2(2018)
- Journal:
- African journal of ecology
- Issue:
- Volume 56:Number 2(2018)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 56, Issue 2 (2018)
- Year:
- 2018
- Volume:
- 56
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2018-0056-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 244
- Page End:
- 253
- Publication Date:
- 2017-08-12
- Subjects:
- Kasigau Corridor -- Loxodonta africana -- maximum entropy -- presence‐only -- ranger patrol -- REDD+
Zoology -- Africa -- Periodicals
Ecology -- Africa -- Periodicals
Wildlife management -- Africa -- Periodicals
Zoology -- Africa, East -- Periodicals
Ecology -- Africa, East -- Periodicals
Wildlife management -- Africa, East -- Periodicals
577 - Journal URLs:
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2028 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/aje.12442 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0141-6707
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 0732.519000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 6757.xml