Patterns of elephant impact on woody plants in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi park, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa |
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Authors: | Roger Patrick Boundja Jeremy J Midgley |
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Institution: | Department of Zoology, Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;and Department of Botany, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | African savannah breaking elephant damage stripping toppling woody plant |
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