The wetlands of the semi-arid savanna ecosystem of Amboseli are the critical dry-season range for a diverse wildlife population, as well as for livestock and humans. Changes in the migratory patterns and increases in the population of the elephants in the ecosystem, as well as a shift in the lifestyle of the growing human population from predominantly nomadic pastoralist society to a sedentary agrarian community, has had far-reaching effects on the ecosystem and the wetlands. In this thesis, the current status of the wetlands and the changes in vegetation over the last four decades were examined using satellite imagery and long-term census data. Studies were also conducted to determine the impact of grazing by elephants and other large mammals on wetland vegetation, and the flooding patterns and extents of some of the wetlands were examined. <br /><br /> Long-term aerial count data indicated that the wetlands that are currently protected by the Amboseli National Park have been under increasing use year-round by elephants since 1975. These wetlands showed a rapid increase in extent between 1950 and 1976. This corresponds to the elephant-driven decline in <I>Acacia xanthophloea</I> woodlands, which may have changed the hydrology of the area. Since then, only one of the wetlands, Longinye, has shown dynamic changes in extent. This is either the effect of the blockage of water flow by vegetation or the creation of new channels by elephants and hippopotami. The wetlands had a diverse range of wetland habitat from areas of open water with scattered tall <I>Cyperus papyrus</I> communities in the centre of one wetland to large expanses of seasonally inundated <I>C. laevigatus</I> and <I>Cynodon dactylon</I> dominated habitats fringing the wetlands. Most of the wetland habitats were composed of short sedges and grasses, which was shown to be the direct result of elephant grazing. Elephants tended to keep the vegetation of a control wetland short and of low biomass during both wet and dry seasons, whereas the vegetation in a treatment wetland, where elephants were excluded, showed a rapid increase in biomass and height. Other herbivores were shown to maintain conditions of short vegetation of low biomass through grazing pressure in the dry season. The impact of natural and simulated grazing on growth of the vegetation was studied and only under simulated grazing pressure was growth increased in the seasonally inundated <I>C. dactylon</I> grasslands, as well as the floating mat communities dominated by <I>C. laevigatus</I> that occur in the shallow water wetlands. This indicates that natural grazing may be detrimental either to the plants or the soil. <br /><br /> The wetlands that are under human use had predominantly shallow water and seasonal wetland habitat. Deep water habitat with <I>C. papyrus</I> communities was only present in one of these wetlands, Kimana, which is also the only wetland outside the park that is used by livestock and wildlife, as well as to irrigate a large area of land around the wetland. Two other wetlands, Namelok and Lenkir that were predominantly used for irrigated agriculture, were largely composed of seasonally inundated wetland habitat. A fourth wetland, Esoitpus, has been almost completely drained and this has most likely resulted in the development of <I>A. xanthophloea</I> and <I>C. dactylon</I> dominated riverine and <I>C. laevigatus</I> / <I>C. dactylon</I> dominated seasonally inundated wetland communities. <br /><br /> Overall, the wetlands in the park provide a measure of habitat diversity that may be useful for various invertebrate and vertebrate communities. However, the present lack of tall sedges may negatively impact the bird community. This state can be reversed by the exclusion of elephants from some wetlands for short periods of time. On the other hand, the wetlands outside the park appear to be facing rapid draw-down. Hence, there is an urgent need for sound water management practices for these wetlands.

A couple travels through Spain in order to obtain an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy. The couple, an unnamed American man and a woman known only by the nickname Jig, has a much more complicated relationship than first seems and must navigate through complex emotions and gender roles. This story, and elaboration on Hemingway’s well known “Hills Like White Elephants”, attempts to give the characters introduced by Hemingway more depth and back story than the original short story.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Zoology and Entomology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Abstract in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia Southern University, 2009. / "A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science." Directed by Bruce A. Schulte. ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-45, 64-87) and appendices.

No description available.

In May 1994 IFAW funded the relocation of 50 elephants from the Kruger National Park to Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in the Northern Province, South Africa. Impact by the elephants on the vegetation of this reserve has since become a concern. The aim of this study was to quantify impact by the elephants on the woody vegetation by investigating vegetation and habitat use by elephant bachelor and breeding groups. This was determined by comparing resource use between sexes within seasons, and within sexes between seasons. Data were collected at two ecological scales: feeding patch scale and habitat scale. Feeding data were collected from 202 food plots, defined from 161 elephant sightings. In the dry season, when resources are often limited, no difference in feeding patch use was found between bachelor groups and breeding groups. This may suggest a lack of inter-sexual competition and could therefore suggest that the elephant population is currently below carrying capacity. Three habitat types are available to the elephants: plateau, hillslope and valley bottom. Both bachelor groups and breeding groups preferred valley bottom in comparison with habitat availability, in both seasons. When sexes were compared within seasons, in the dry season, bachelor groups used valley bottom more and breeding groups used hillslope more. / Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

This study aims to develop a predictive understanding of the resource use, impacts and interactions of elephant Loxodonta africana and black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis in the succulent thickets of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. While these megaherbivores typically dominate the biomass, elephant are more abundant, such that their impacts off-set that of all other herbivores. Consequently, this thesis has three main foci: first, developing a mechanistic understanding of the influences of elephant; second, developing predictive insights into elephant impacts on plant communities; finally, an understanding of the knockon-effects of the impacts for coexisting rhinoceros. Thus, by documenting the diet and dietary preferences of elephant, I firstly show that only about 18 percent of the species previously thought vulnerable to herbivory, occur in the diet. This refutes the generally held belief that elephant herbivory is the primary driver of decline among plants, and emphasizes the likely contribution of other mechanisms (e.g. trampling, knock-on-effects, etc.). Thus, the accurate prediction of the impacts caused by elephant requires an understanding of previously marginalized mechanisms. From here, I quantify >50 years of impacts on the thicket shrub community and test their spatial and temporal extent near water. I confirm the vulnerability of thicket to transformation (particularly near water) as the accumulated influences of elephant reduce community composition and structure, and predict that these impacts will eventually bring about landscape-level degradation and a significant loss of biodiversity. Importantly, results show an uneven distribution of effects between elements of this community: from community composition and structure, to the structure of individual canopy species and ecological functioning. While these findings confound our interpretation of the extent of the impacts, it demonstrates the importance of explicitly recognizing biodiversity and heterogeneity for the conservation management of elephant. Finally, I test the consequences of the impacts for coexisting rhinoceros. While I show that this causes rhinoceros to change their foraging strategies in the presence of elephant at high densities, I also show that elephant may facilitate access to food for rhinoceros at reduced densities. These findings indicate the importance of elephant in driving the structure and composition of the thicket shrub community and the consequences of this for coexisting large herbivores. Thus, developing a predictive understanding of the spatial and temporal variations of elephant impacts between elements of biodiversity and the mechanisms driving these changes are key to their management. This implies that the effective conservation management of elephant can only be achieved through the careful, scientific design of monitoring programmes.

Many elephant populations across Africa were or are being devastated by poaching and habitat loss, making population and range size for the species important issues of conservation concern in elephant ranging areas, including Tarangire National Park (TNP). Poaching and/or overhunting are known to have direct effects on the demography of elephant populations. The current understanding of the indirect effects of poaching on the sociality and demography of elephant populations is relatively poor, both at the group and an individual level. In this thesis the importance of genetic relatedness (as influenced by poaching) on sociality and demography of the female elephants was studied, using a combination of genetic, observation of behaviour and two decades of demography data collected from the northern subpopulation of TNP. I investigated and characterized the relatedness categories within elephant groups. Using a conceptual model for group size analysis in aggregation economies, I hypothesized that elephant populations subject to social disruptions due to poaching would exhibit characteristics of the free entry model, whereas more stable, closed populations would better fit the group-controlled model. I present a rare quantitative analysis of genetic relatedness and group size patterns among groups of adult female elephants in two wild populations: one in Tarangire National Park (TNP), Tanzania, and another in Addo Elephant National Park (AENP), South Africa. I demonstrate that the group size in African elephant populations is governed by genetic relatedness, and that poaching/overhunting has a significant influence upon the apparent group formation and size in elephants. I then focused on the effect of relatedness on agonistic interactions between adult females. I hypothesized that individual-based aggressive interactions among adult female African elephants would vary according to degree of kinship, with closely related dyads showing less aggression towards each other in resource-limited environments, thereby leading to indirect fitness benefits for individuals. As predicted, females did not show agonistic interactions to their close kin most often, and the frequency and intensity of aggressive interactions was inversely related to the degree of relatedness of the interactants. The effect of group relatedness and structure on reproductive success of individual female African elephant in TNP was also investigated. Adult female reproductive success was significantly influenced by within- group relatedness and structure. Higher reproductive success (with higher frequency of calf production and survival and more female calves produced) were more evident in the closely related groups than groups with low relatedness, suggesting that females from genetically disrupted groups are less likely to be reproductive than those in closely related groups. The possibility of negative effects of poaching on the subsequent generation of poached adult females and the alternative of a positive demographic response through reduced density was assessed by analysing the demographic patterns of the first generation (F1) females of prime-aged adult female African elephants in TNP using within- group relatedness and size. I also compared vital rate (age of first birth and interbirth interval) responses of first generation (F1) cows from Tarangire (poached) elephants with other females from poached (Northern Luangwa National Park, Zambia) and unpoached (Amboseli National Park, Kenya and Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa) populations. Group relatedness had no significant effect on sex ratio of the F1 cows‟ calves. There was a significant difference between the mean age of first birth and interbirth interval of F1 cows from the two (poached, Tarangire and unpoached, Amboseli National Park) elephant populations, suggesting that elephant populations reduced by poaching to low levels show an increase vigour through release from density constraints. Based on these results, the broader implications of secondary effects of poaching on elephant populations are critically evaluated. Also the importance of understanding the consequences of these effects is highlighted in light of other elephant conservation and management approaches. This understanding is useful in making conservation and management decisions for elephants and other biodiversity.

The Masai Mara Game Reserve of southwestern Kenya forms the northernmost extension of the Serengeti ecosystem and provides the critical dry season range for approximately 1.5 million migratory wildebeest. Over the past 100 years, major ecological changes have occurred. The area has experienced a transformation from open grassland to dense woodlands and back. This study addressed the transition in the Mara woodlands from both an historical and a contemporary perspective. The study focused on two central questions: 1) what factor (or factors) were responsible for the decline of the woodlands in the 1960s? And 2) what factor (or factors) are currently responsible for inhibiting woodland regeneration? In the 1880s an introduced disease, rinderpest, decimated wild and domestic ungulates in the Serengeti-Mara region. Local pastoralists, dependent on their livestock for survival, succumbed to disease and starvation. Elephant numbers had also been greatly reduced by indigenous hunters. Explorers, slave traders, and hunters described the area as an open grassland by 1900. In the following decades, conditions were conducive to the establishment of woodlands; burning rates were low and elephant browsing was negligible. By the 1930s, the area was covered by dense woodland. These woodlands began a steady decline several decades later. Unusually high rainfall, high grass productivity, and severe fires characterized the period of greatest decline (1961 1967). Although woodland losses were initially viewed as "elephant problems", findings from this study suggest that fire was the primary factor in the disappearance of woodlands, while elephants merely accelerated the rate of decline. Elephants preferred open grasslands, swamps, and relict thickets in the wet season. However, in the dry season, elephants selected wooded habitats. Average group size was significantly higher in the wet season than the dry. Mara elephants fit the same feeding patterns reported for many African elephant populations. Elephants concentrated on grasses and herbs in the rainy season and browse in the dry season. In general, males browsed more than females, while females ate more diverse diets containing more herbaceous matter. Elephants utilized seedlings under 1m more than any other height class of trees throughout the year. This pattern of selective feeding significantly reduced seedling survivorship. Large-scale field experiments subjected plants to three treatments: browsed only, browsed and burned, and neither browsed nor burned. Although fire, at current fuel loadings and intensities, produced an almost total topkill, the majority of burned individuals resprouted within six months. Elephants removed a significant proportion of seedlings and severely damaged others. Wildebeest inhibited seedling growth through trampling, thrashing, and accidental browsing. Only those seedlings protected from both burning and browsing increased in height. Woodland dynamics in the Mara are currently more affected by elephants, wildebeest, and other browsers than by fire. Elephants can be considered a "keystone" species in this system. I concluded that elephants were not capable of initiating the woodland declines which started over two decades ago. However, once tree densities had been reduced by previous perturbations (such as increased burning rates following a reduction in wildebeest numbers and an increased frequency of man-made fires), elephants accelerated the rate of decline. My findings did not support Caughley's "stable limit cycle" hypothesis. Today, elephants are holding the Mara in a grassland phase, despite low burning rates. This pattern suggests that the Mara may have two locally stable states, woodland or grassland, and that an external factor such as fire is necessary to move the system between the two. Elephants, alone, apparently cannot move the system from one state to another, but once it is in the grassland phase, they can hold it there. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

Elephant management traditionally centers on reducing ecological impact and human-elephant conflict by controlling numbers. However, such an approach only deals with symptoms, and ignores the causes of the problem. Planning for cases when a species is a nuisance in some areas, but threatened in others, could benefit from the application of metapopulation theory. The theory offers a framework that is elegant, and have ecological as well as political appeal. Applying classic metapopulation theory to long-lived species that are widely distributed in stochastic environments where they can resist extinctions is problematic. However, empirical evidence for metapopulation structure may exist when applying more lenient criteria. I examined the literature for empirical support of classic criteria set by Hanski (1999) and for a more lenient sub-set of criteria proposed by Elmhagen&Angerbjörn (2001) for specifically mammals. I propose that for small mammals (≤5kg) the full complement of classic criteria must be applied to yield perspectives on population regulation and conservation. However, for large (>100kg) and medium sized (>5≤100kg) mammals only habitat discreteness, potential of demographic asynchrony and the likelihood of dispersal among sub-populations must be evaluated. Metapopulation theory could then be useful when constructing conservation plans that ensure the persistence of a species and contribute to forces that stabilize populations regionally. I evaluated the applicability of metapopulation theory to southern Africa’s elephant sub-populations. I identified 51 discrete administrative sub-populations that occurred in six conservation clusters. Population growth rates varied across space and time within and among conservation clusters. Some sub-populations and conservation clusters increased or decreased while others remained stable. Therefore, elephant populations in southern Africa were in demographic asynchrony, both on a local and regional scale. I also suggest that dispersal may occur among sub-populations within clusters. Consequently, the regional population is stabilized by emigration to, or immigration from neighboring sub-populations as a result of demographic asynchrony across an ecological gradient. Elephant populations across southern Africa thus adhered to one and could possibly adhere to all metapopulation criteria. Observed changes in elephant numbers could also be the result of survey error. To gain an understanding of how survey error could affect estimates, I used dung counts and measurements to estimate population size and construct an age structure for the elephants living in the Maputo Elephant Reserve in Mozambique. I suggest that dung surveys can yield population estimates with known precision and can be used in monitoring programmes aimed at assessing population trends - despite the fact that it can be affected by observer bias. In this thesis I show that metapopulation theory provides the opportunity of applying a spatio-temporal approach to elephant conservation that is not obsessed with numbers. When implementing metapopulation theory, management no longer have to centre on elephants, but can focus on the landscape as a spatially and temporally dynamic area. Local fluctuations in elephant numbers could be construed within a regional context, rather than implementing management strategies on a local scale. Such an approach will focus on the causes rather than the symptoms of the elephant problem and may contribute to the persistence of elephants as well as other components of southern African biodiversity. AFRIKAANS : Die ekologiese impak van olifante en konflik tussen mense en olifante word tradisioneel hanteer deur olifant getalle te beheer. Ongelukkig los so ʼn benadering net die simptome en nie die oorsaak van die problem op nie. Gevalle waar ʼn spesie ʼn problem is in sommige areas maar bedreig is in ander, kan baat vind by die toepasing van die metabevolkings teorie. Die teorie bied ʼn elegante raamwerk wat op ekologiese en politieke gebiede aanklank vind. Die toepasing van die klassieke metabevolkings teorie op lang lewende spesies wat wyd versprei voorkom in stochastiese omgewings waar hulle weerstand kan bied teen uitsterwings skep egter probleme. Emperiese bewyse vir ʼn metabevolkings struktuur kan egter voorkom waneer meer gematigde kriteria ondersoek word. Ek het die literatuur ondersoek vir emperiese ondersteuning vir die klassieke kriteria wat Hanski (1999) voorgestel het, asook vir ʼn meer gematigte sub-groep van kriteria wat deur Elmhagen&Angerbjörn (2001) vir spesifiek soogdiere voorgestel is. Ek stel voor dat die klassieke kriteria aangewend kan word om bevolkings van klein soogdiere (5≤kg) te reguleer, beter te kan verstaan en dan te bewaar. Vir groot (>100kg) en medium groot (>5≤100kg) soogdiere kan die metabevolkings teorie net gebruik word as die bestaan van aparte habitate, demografiese asinkronie en die potensiaal van verstrooing tussen tussen subbevolkings bewys kan word. Die metabevolkings toerie kan dan gebruik word om bewarings inisiatiewe in te stel wat spesies in staat sal stel om voort te bestaan en oor die streek te stabiliseer. Ek het die toepasbaarheid van die metabevolkings teorie vir suidelike Afrika se olifant sub-bevolkings ondersoek. Ek het 51 aparte administratiewe sub-bevolkings geidentifiseer wat in ses ‘bewaringsklosse’ voorkom. Bevolkings groeitempos het binne in en tussen bewaringsklosse gewissel. Sommige het of toegeneem of afgeneem terwyl ander stabiel gebly het. Olifant sub-bevolkings in Suider Afrika was dus in demografiese asinkronie, op ʼn lokale sowel as op ʼn streeks vlak. Ek het ook voorgestel dat verstrooing kan voorkom tussen sub-bevolkings binne in bewarings klosse. Die olifant bevolking van die streek word dus deur emigrasie na, of immigrasie van naburige sub-bevolkings as gevolg van demografiese asinkronie oor ʼn ekologiese gradient gestabiliseer. Olifant bevolkings in Suider Afrika het dus voldoen aan een, en kan potensieel voldoen aan alle metabevolkings kriteria. Opmerklike veranderinge in olifant getalle kan ook wees as gevolg van foute wat tydens tellings gemaak word. Om beter te verstaan hoe sulke foute bevolking skattings affekteer, het ek olifant mis tellings en metings gebruik om ʼn bevolking skatting en ouderdomsstruktuur vir olifante in die Maputo Olifant Reservaat in Mosambiek saam te stel. Ek stel voor dat mis opnames bevolking skattings kan lewer wat bekende presiesie het en dat dit gebruik kan word in moniterings programme wat neigings in olifiant bevolkings ondersoek - alhoewel sulke skattings beinvloed kan word deur die vooroordeel van waarnemers. In hierdie tesis toon ek aan dat die metabevolkings teorie ʼn geleentheid skep vir ʼn ruimtelike-tydelike benadering in olifant bewaring wat nie net op getalle fokus nie. Wanneer die metabevolkings teorie toegepas word, kan bestuur op die landskap as ʼn ruimtelike en tydsgebonde dinamiese area fokus, in plaas van net op olifant getalle. Lokale wisselings in olifant getalle kan binne in ʼn streek konteks geinterpreteer word, eerder as om bestuurs inisiatiewe net op ʼn lokale vlak in te stel. So ʼn benadering sal fokus op die oorsprong in plaas van die simptome van die olifant problem en mag bydra tot die voorbestaan van nie net olifante nie, maar ook tot die biologiese diversiteit van Suider Afrika. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted