Temporal Partitioning and Overlapping Use of a Shared Natural Resource by People and Elephants

Buchholtz, Erin K.; Redmore, Lauren; Fitzgerald, Lee A.; Stronza, Amanda; Songhurst, Anna; McCulloch, Graham

doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00117

Cited by 22 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Therefore, in addition to understanding the broad ecological relationship between elephants and the environment, it is also important to understand elephant ecology at the local scale around villages because that is where conflict between people and elephants occurs. This information can then be used to mitigate and manage conflicts; for example, predicting areas of frequent use by elephants that overlap with people's resource use around villages (Buchholtz et al 2019b) can help inform land-use planning and development of wildlife corridors to reduce negative interactions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experts and elephants: local ecological knowledge predicts landscape use for a species involved in human-wildlife conflict

Buchholtz¹,

Fitzgerald²,

Songhurst³

et al. 2020

E&S

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Local ecological knowledge (LEK) has been increasingly invoked in biodiversity monitoring and conservation efforts. Although methods involving LEK have become more widespread in ecology, it remains an undervalued source of information in understanding the ecology of wildlife in the context of human-wildlife conflict. People who regularly interact with wildlife, and often with notable consequences, as is the case with human-wildlife conflict, will likely build up ecological knowledge of that species. We gathered LEK on the landscape use of the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana) in a region where its range overlaps with human land use and results in conflict, the western Okavango Panhandle of Botswana. We interviewed community-defined local experts and used participatory ranking activities to gather information on landscape use of elephants. The scores from the rankings were then incorporated with environmental data following resource selection function methods common in ecology. The resulting LEK-based model had high predictive ability for elephant locations when modeled at a local scale (25 km, Spearman's rho = 0.98, P < 0.0001). We also calculated resource selection models using elephant telemetry data combined with the same environmental data as the LEK models. These models showed a complementary pattern, with better predictive ability at the regional scale (Spearman's rho = 0.98, P < 0.0001) than at the local scale (rho = 0.92, P < 0.0031). In addition to being used for the resource selection functions, each method provided different kinds of information on elephant landscape use. Our results support the use of LEK as a tool for understanding local patterns of wildlife landscape use in the context of human-wildlife conflict, where the knowledge can be used to complement other data across scales and the use of which can itself contribute to better conservation outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experts and elephants: local ecological knowledge predicts landscape use for a species involved in human-wildlife conflict

Buchholtz¹,

Fitzgerald²,

Songhurst³

et al. 2020

E&S

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“…Additionally, animal movements and ecological patterns and processes occur at multiple scales (e.g. as with elephants moving between local habitat patches versus moving between national parks: Buchholtz et al, 2019; Roever et al, 2013), and thus it can be important to identify and assess both small and large areas of connectivity in tandem. Wall‐to‐wall omnidirectional connectivity methods provide a framework to do this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We subset the data to focus on wet season (November–April) movement, because previous work suggests that movement in seasonal savannas is greatest in the wet season when ephemeral surface water is abundant and forage quality is high in areas away from permanent rivers (e.g. Buchholtz et al, 2019; Fryxell & Sinclair, 1988). Since connectivity patterns can differ by sex (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing multispecies connectivity across a transfrontier conservation landscape

Brennan

Beytell

Aschenborn

et al. 2020

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Connectivity conservation is aimed at sustaining animal movements and ecological processes important to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of biodiversity. However, connectivity conservation plans are typically developed around a single species and rarely empirically evaluated for their relevance to others, thereby limiting our understanding of how connectivity requirements differ across species. We used an omnidirectional application of circuit theory and GPS data from six species to evaluate connectivity at multiple scales for multiple species within the world's largest transfrontier conservation landscape in southern Africa. We evaluated the effects of linear barriers, natural habitat types and anthropogenic land use on movement. We identified multispecies connectivity hotspots as areas where current flow was concentrated or channelled through pinch points. To evaluate surrogate species for connectivity, we evaluated the correspondence among single‐species connectivity across the entire landscape and also examined whether a more localized corridor for African savanna elephant Loxodonta africana captured high multispecies connectivity values. Connectivity models revealed many intact areas across the landscape with diffuse current flow, but also evidence that fences, rivers, roads and areas of anthropogenic use acted as strong barriers to movement—particularly in the case of fences, which completely blocked female elephant movement. Tests of correspondence among single‐species connectivity models revealed spotted hyaena and African wild dog as the strongest surrogate species of connectivity. Female elephants were found to be the weakest surrogate species of connectivity at the landscape scale. However, focusing within a localized elephant corridor revealed the areas of concentrated or channelled connectivity for most species in our study. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that the single‐species focus permeating connectivity literature may result in conservation plans that poorly conserve the connectivity needs of co‐occurring species. Our study also highlights the importance of testing the efficacy of surrogate species for connectivity at multiple scales. We recommend evaluating multispecies connectivity to prioritize areas for conservation that safeguard the connectivity needs of multiple species of conservation concern.

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“…Elephants, much like people, are long-lived and socially complex mammals (Sukumar 2003) known to avoid people in denselysettled areas (Pozo et al 2017) and more likely to approach rural villages at night when people are at home (Buchholtz et al 2019). People, similarly, modify their behaviors, including livelihood activities and settlement decisions to avoid elephants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As settlements grow and proximate trees are cleared for space and to be used as building materials, people must harvest further into the woodlands (Agarwal 1986), which can be dangerous where elephants roam. However, given that elephants fell trees as they move through wooded landscapes, creating dried wood that people can harvest readily (Buchholtz et al 2019), these dynamics are multifaceted and poorly understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where elephants roam: perceived risk, vulnerability, and adaptation in the Okavango Delta

Redmore¹,

Stronza²,

Songhurst³

et al. 2020

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Where people and elephants share space, the chance of human-elephant interactions (HEI) shape how people make livelihood decisions, including where and when to harvest resources. In the Eastern Panhandle of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, elephant populations have doubled in the past 10 years. Currently 16,000 men and women from different ethnic backgrounds share woodlands with 18,000 elephants. People carry out livelihoods in ways that are shaped by multiple facets of their identities, including gender, age, ability, and ethnicity. Residents depend on firewood for energy, but collecting firewood where elephants may be is risky because elephants can kill people. Using an intersectional approach, we asked how do facets of people's identities influence perceived risk, ability to adapt, and vulnerability to HEI? We conducted one year of mixed method, ethnographic research in the village of Mokgacha in the Eastern Panhandle. We found that both men and women collected elephant-felled firewood but had different perceptions of risk to HEI and adapted in different ways. Women often harvested in groups and the middle of the day, whereas men harvested alone in the morning and evenings while tending to cattle, leaving them vulnerable to elephants. Because of physical limitations, the elderly and people with disabilities were vulnerable to HEI and relied on resource sharing from family to reduce their vulnerability to HEI. Settlement history also influenced how people of different ethnicities are vulnerable because of access to environments with low visibility and higher chance of HEI. This work provides insights on who, how, and when people adapt to minimize the potential danger of HEI when collecting firewood. To reduce unwanted HEI and ensure continued support for elephants by rural residents, conservation interests should focus efforts on building solutions that recognize social diversity, recognize local perceptions of risk, and reinforce culturally relevant adaptations.

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Temporal Partitioning and Overlapping Use of a Shared Natural Resource by People and Elephants

Cited by 22 publications

References 85 publications

Experts and elephants: local ecological knowledge predicts landscape use for a species involved in human-wildlife conflict

Experts and elephants: local ecological knowledge predicts landscape use for a species involved in human-wildlife conflict

Characterizing multispecies connectivity across a transfrontier conservation landscape

Where elephants roam: perceived risk, vulnerability, and adaptation in the Okavango Delta

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