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Comparative demography of an at-risk African elephant population

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dc.contributor.authorWittemyer, George, author
dc.contributor.authorDaballen, David, author
dc.contributor.authorDouglas-Hamilton, Iain, author
dc.contributor.authorPublic Library of Science, publisher
dc.coverage.spatialAfrica
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T05:34:40Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T05:34:40Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractKnowledge of population processes across various ecological and management settings offers important insights for species conservation and life history. In regard to its ecological role, charisma and threats from human impacts, African elephants are of high conservation concern and, as a result, are the focus of numerous studies across various contexts. Here, demographic data from an individually based study of 934 African elephants in Samburu, Kenya were summarized, providing detailed inspection of the population processes experienced by the population over a fourteen year period (including the repercussions of recent increases in illegal killing). These data were compared with those from populations inhabiting a spectrum of xeric to mesic ecosystems with variable human impacts. In relation to variability in climate and human impacts (causing up to 50% of recorded deaths among adults), annual mortality in Samburu fluctuated between 1 and 14% and, unrelatedly, natality between 2 and 14% driving annual population increases and decreases. Survivorship in Samburu was significantly lower than other populations with age-specific data even during periods of low illegal killing by humans, resulting in relatively low life expectancy of males (18.9 years) and females (21.8 years). Fecundity (primiparous age and inter-calf interval) were similar to those reported in other human impacted or recovering populations, and significantly greater than that of comparable stable populations. This suggests reproductive effort of African savanna elephants increases in relation to increased mortality (and resulting ecological ramifications) as predicted by life history theory. Further comparison across populations indicated that elongated inter-calf intervals and older ages of reproductive onset were related to age structure and density, and likely influenced by ecological conditions. This study provides detailed empirical data on elephant population dynamics strongly influenced by human impacts (laying the foundation for modeling approaches), supporting predictions of evolutionary theory regarding demographic responses to ecological processes.
dc.description.sponsorshipPublished with support from the Colorado State University Libraries Open Access Research and Scholarship Fund.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediumarticles
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationWittemyer, George, David Daballen, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Comparative Demography of an At-Risk African Elephant Population. PLoS ONE 8, no. 1 (January 2013): 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053726
dc.identifier.doihttps://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053726
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/79279
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartofOpen Access Research and Scholarship Fund (OARS)
dc.rights.licenseThis article is open access and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0).
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
dc.subjectelephant population
dc.subject.lcshAfrican elephant
dc.subject.lcshAfrica
dc.titleComparative demography of an at-risk African elephant population
dc.typeText

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