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Patterns of elephant impact on woody plants in the Hluhluwe‐Imfolozi park, Kwazulu‐Natal, South Africa
Author(s) -
Boundja Roger Patrick,
Midgley Jeremy J.
Publication year - 2010
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.1365-2028.2009.01104.x
Subject(s) - woodland , national park , geography , vegetation (pathology) , woody plant , ecology , forestry , agroforestry , biology , medicine , pathology
This study identifies patterns of elephant Loxodonta africana africana impacts upon tree species and woody plant communities in Hluhluwe‐Imfolozi Park, a South African savannahs/woodlands area. Elephants were reintroduced there from 1981, following more than 80 years of absence. Data were collected in 2003 on elephant impact on woodland in the Park. Different vegetation types were susceptible to different types and levels of damage by elephants, suggesting that elephants will not homogenize the vegetation. Elephants targeted larger stems for all types of damage, with a strong preference for some of the less abundant species such as Albizia versicolor (breaking and toppling) and Cordia caffra and Schotia brachypetala (debarking). Elephant impacts tended to be distributed evenly across the park landscape, irrespective of stem density or proximity to permanent water. Overall, elephants have little impact on slowing or reversing the spread of undesirable woody species, but are having a marked impact on certain less common tree species and larger tree size‐classes in the Hluhluwe‐Imfolozi Park.