Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Diets in Kruger National Park, South Africa: Spatial and Landscape Differences

Codron, Jacqui; Lee‐Thorp, Julia A.; Sponheimer, Matt; Codron, Daryl; Grant, Rina; Ruiter, Darryl J. de

doi:10.1644/05-mamm-a-017r1.1

Cited by 115 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…For example, Prins et al (2006) show that small differences in diet can have large consequences for diet breadth, diet overlap and segregation between species and hence influence interspecific competition. Our finding that elephant changed their diet to more dicots in the dry season is supported by other studies (Hansen et al 1985;Cerling et al 2006;Codron et al 2006;2011). Impalas are mainly grazers in the wet season and only change their diet to a higher percentage of dicots (while maintaining their monocot-dominated diet) when the monocots are of such low quality that it is more profitable to eat more dicots.…”

Section: Difference In Diet Switch Between Elephants and Impalasupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The importance of mopane in the diet of elephant in this study is in contrast with the findings of Codron et al (2006) and Codron et al (2011). In the first study, the authors suggested that mopane may deter feeding as a result of high percentages of secondary compounds and force elephant to forage on grasses (Codron et al 2006). In the second study, the authors suggested that in a mopane-dominated area, where diversity of browse species is low, elephants need to maintain dietary diversity and therefore feed less on mopane (Codron et al 2011).…”

Section: Month % Monocots In Faecescontrasting

confidence: 73%

“…Also, in other studies, mopane has been suggested to be an important food source for elephants due to its high quality and abundance (Styles and Skinner 2000;Ben-Shahar and Macdonald 2002;Holdo 2003). The importance of mopane in the diet of elephant in this study is in contrast with the findings of Codron et al (2006) and Codron et al (2011). In the first study, the authors suggested that mopane may deter feeding as a result of high percentages of secondary compounds and force elephant to forage on grasses (Codron et al 2006).…”

Section: Month % Monocots In Faecesmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…However, mopane contains high levels of condensed tannins and other secondary compounds compared to other plant species. This condensed tannin concentration fluctuates between seasons (Ferwerda et al 2005;Codron et al 2006;Wessels et al 2007). Mopane maintains its foliage well into the dry season, providing an important food source for browsers and intermediate feeders both in the wet season (summer) and dry season (winter).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal diet changes in elephant and impala in mopane woodland

et al. 2011

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Elephant and impala as intermediate feeders, having a mixed diet of grass and browse, respond to seasonal fluctuations of forage quality by changing their diet composition. We tested the hypotheses that (1) the decrease in forage quality is accompanied by a change in diet from more monocots in the wet season to more dicots in the dry season and that that change is more pronounced and faster in impala than in elephant; (2) mopane (Colophospermum mopane), the most abundant dicot species, is the most important species in the elephant diet in mopane woodland, whereas impala feed relatively less on mopane due to the high condensed tannin concentration; and (3) impala on nutrient-rich soils have a diet consisting of more grass and change later to diet of more browse than impala on nutrient-poor soils. The phosphorus content and in vitro digestibility of monocots decreased and the NDF content increased significantly towards the end of the wet season, whereas in dicots no significant trend could be detected. We argue that this decreasing monocot quality caused elephant and impala to consume more dicots in the dry season. Elephant changed their diet gradually over a 16-week period from 70% to 25% monocots, whereas impala changed diets rapidly (2-4 weeks) from 95% to 70% monocots. For both elephants and impala, there was a positive correlation between percentage of monocots and dicots in the diet and the in vitro digestibility of these forage items. Mopane was the most important dicot species in the elephant diet and its contribution to the diet increased significantly in the dry season, whereas impala selected other dicot species. On nutrient-rich gabbroic soils, impala ate significantly more monocots than impala from nutrient-poor granitic soils, which was related to the higher in vitro digestibility of the monocots on gabbroic soil. Digestibility of food items appears to be an important determinant of diet change from the wet to the dry season in impala and elephants.

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Section: Difference In Diet Switch Between Elephants and Impalasupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Month % Monocots In Faecescontrasting

confidence: 73%

Section: Month % Monocots In Faecesmentioning

confidence: 51%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal diet changes in elephant and impala in mopane woodland

et al. 2011

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“…Quantifying and dating fine scale foraging behaviors is difficult, typically causing foraging studies to focus on averages compiled from observations and measurements collected from multiple, and often unknown, individuals (e.g., refs. [4][5][6]; such dietary data are difficult to relate to spatially or temporally explicit resource changes. Quantifying the long-term diets of a single individual requires continuous observation, often in the face of cryptic life stages or range shifts and seasonal migration.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

History of Animals using Isotope Records (HAIR): A 6-year dietary history of one family of African elephants

Cerling¹,

Wittemyer

Ehleringer³

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

113

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The dietary and movement history of individual animals can be studied using stable isotope records in animal tissues, providing insight into long-term ecological dynamics and a species niche. We provide a 6-year history of elephant diet by examining tail hair collected from 4 elephants in the same social family unit in northern Kenya. Sequential measurements of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen isotope rations in hair provide a weekly record of diet and water resources. Carbon isotope ratios were well correlated with satellite-based measurements of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the region occupied by the elephants as recorded by the global positioning system (GPS) movement record; the absolute amount of C4 grass consumption is well correlated with the maximum value of NDVI during individual wet seasons. Changes in hydrogen isotope ratios coincided very closely in time with seasonal fluctuations in rainfall and NDVI whereas diet shifts to relatively high proportions of grass lagged seasonal increases in NDVI by Ϸ2 weeks. The peak probability of conception in the population occurred Ϸ3 weeks after peak grazing. Spatial and temporal patterns of resource use show that the only period of pure browsing by the focal elephants was located in an over-grazed, communally managed region outside the protected area. The ability to extract time-specific longitudinal records on animal diets, and therefore the ecological history of an organism and its environment, provides an avenue for understanding the impact of climate dynamics and land-use change on animal foraging behavior and habitat relations.C4 photosynthesis ͉ carbon-13 ͉ stable isotopes ͉ wildlife conservation V ariation in temporal and spatial resource quality and abundance can have strong affects on animal ecology and community resource partitioning (1). In particular, changes in species composition and abundance at seasonal and longer time scales strongly influences diet and, as a result, community dynamics and the life history of animals (2, 3). Quantifying and dating fine scale foraging behaviors is difficult, typically causing foraging studies to focus on averages compiled from observations and measurements collected from multiple, and often unknown, individuals (e.g., refs. 4-6); such dietary data are difficult to relate to spatially or temporally explicit resource changes. Quantifying the long-term diets of a single individual requires continuous observation, often in the face of cryptic life stages or range shifts and seasonal migration. As such, detailed dietary monitoring through observations is intractable for many species, although the importance of quantifying climate or human mediated diet changes that many species are experiencing is more critical than ever (7). Recent developments in stable isotope ecology enable the derivation of temporally explicit diet records, offering a means by which foraging decisions and the effect of ecological shifts on species can be recorded and compared over time.Stable isotopes in animal tissues record...

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