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Landscape heterogeneity and the use of space by elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa
Author(s) -
Grainger Matthew,
Aarde Rudi,
Whyte Ian
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2005.00592.x
Subject(s) - national park , geography , range (aeronautics) , home range , spatial heterogeneity , ecology , biology , habitat , materials science , composite material
Landscape heterogeneity may influence ranging behaviour of mammals. Here we relate the home range size of elephants living in the Kruger National Park to the number of patches, proportion of each patch, spatial arrangement of patches, patch shape, and contrast between neighbouring patches. Home range sizes decreased exponentially with an increase in the number of patches per 100 km 2 and the home range sizes of bulls were in general more strongly related to measures of heterogeneity. This may reflect differences in perception of heterogeneity between the sexes.