A rapid method to estimate population variables for African elephants

Journal of Wildlife Management

Volumn 72, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 822-829

  Ferreira, Sam M ^a   Van Aarde, Rudi J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Age at first calving; Calving interval; Demography; Finite population growth; Loxodonta africana; Rapid elephant population assessment (REPA); Survival rate

Indexed keywords

CENSUS; DEMOGRAPHY; ELEPHANT; POPULATION ESTIMATION; POPULATION GROWTH; SAVANNA; SURVIVAL;

ADDO ELEPHANT NATIONAL PARK; AFRICA; AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK; EAST AFRICA; EASTERN CAPE; KENYA; RIFT VALLEY; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

LOXODONTA; LOXODONTA AFRICANA;

EID: 42149134827     PISSN: 0022541X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2193/2007-151     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Altmann, J., S. C. Alberts, S. A. Altmann, and S. B. Roy. 2002. Dramatic change in local climate patterns in the Amboseli Basin, Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 40:248-251.
2. Archie, E. A., C. J. Moss, and S. C. Alberts. 2006. The ties that bind: genetic relatedness predicts the fission and fusion of social groups in wild African elephants. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273:513-522.
3. Barnes, R. F. W. 2002. The problem of precision and trend detection posed by small elephant populations in West Africa. African Journal of Ecology 40:179-185.
4. Blanc, J. J., R. F. W. Barnes, G. C. Craig, I. Douglas-Hamilton, H. T. Dublin, J. A. Hart, and C. R. Thouless. 2005. Changes in elephant numbers in major savanna populations in eastern and southern Africa. Pachyderm 38:19-28.
5. Blanc, J. J., R. F. W. Barnes, C. G. Craig, H. T. Dublin, C. R. Thouless, I. Douglas-Hamilton, and J. A. Hart. 2007. African elephant status report 2007: an update from the African Elephant Database. International Union for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission, African Elephant Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.
6. Blanc, J. J., C. R. Thouless, J. A. Hart, H. T. Dublin, I. Douglas-Hamilton, C. G. Craig, and R. F. W. Barnes. 2003. African elephant status report 2002: an update from the African Elephant Database. International Union for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission, African Elephant Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.
7. Calow, P., R. M. Sibly, and V. Forbes. 1997. Risk assessment on the basis of simplified life-history scenarios. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 16:1983-1989.
8. Caswell, H. 2001. Matrix population models: construction, analysis and interpretation. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.
9. Caughley, G. 1977. Analysis of vertebrate populations. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York, USA.
10. Conybeare, A., and G. Haynes. 1984. Observations on elephant mortality and bones in water holes. Quaternary Research 22:189-200.
11. Cowling, R. M. 1984. A syntaxonomic and synecological study in the Humansdorp region of the Fynbos Biome. Bothalia 15:175-227.
12. Damiba, T. E., and E. D. Abies. 1994. Population characteristics and impacts on woody vegetation of elephants on Nazinga Game Ranch, Burkina Faso. Pachyderm 18:46-53.
13. Douglas-Hamilton, I. 1972. On the ecology and behaviour of the African elephant: elephants of Lake Manyara. Dissertation, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
14. Dudley, J. P., G. C. Craig, D. St. C. Gibson, G. Haynes, and J. Klimowicz. 2001. Drought mortality of bush elephants in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Ecology 39:187-194.
15. Dunham, K. M. 1988. Demographic changes in the Zambezi Valley elephants (Loxodonta africana). Journal of Zoology, London 215:382-388.
16. Eberhardt, L. L. 1988. Using age structure data from changing populations. Journal of Applied Ecology 25:373-378.
17. Edwards, A. W. F. 1972. Likelihood. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
18. Gaillard, J.-M., R. Andersen, D. Delorme, and J. D. C. Linnell. 1998. Family effects on growth and survival of juvenile roe deer. Ecology 79:2878-2889.
19. Gaillard, J.-M., M. Festa-Bianchet, N. G. Yoccoz, A. Loison, and C. Toïygo. 2000. Temporal variation in fitness components and population dynamics of large herbivores. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 31:367-393.
20. Gende, J. E. 1943. Random number generation and Monte Carlo methods. Springer-Verlag, New York, New York, USA.
21. Gerrodette, T. 1987. A power analysis for detecting trends. Ecology 68:1364-1372.
22. Hanks, J. 1972. Reproduction of the elephant (Loxodonta africana) in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 30:13-26.
23. Hodges, J. K., R. J. van Aarde, M. Heisterman, and H. O. Hoppen. 1994. Progestin content and biosynthetic potential of the corpus luteum of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 102:163-168.
24. Hood, G. M. 2005. Poptools. Version 2.6.6. 〈http://www.cse.csiro.au/ poptools〉. Accessed 1 Jul 2005.
25. Jachmann, H. 1980. Population dynamics of the elephants in the Kasungu National Park, Malawi. Netherlands Journal of Zoology 30:622-634.
26. Jachmann, H. 1988. Estimating age in African elephants: a revision of Laws' molar evaluation technique. African Journal of Ecology 26:51-56.
27. Jachmann, H., and R. H. V. Bell. 1984. The use of elephant droppings in assessing numbers occupancy and age structure: a refinement of the method. African Journal of Ecology 22:127-141.
28. Lang, E. M. 1980. Observations on growth and molar change in African elephants. African Journal of Ecology 18:217-234.
29. Laws, R. M. 1966. Age criteria for the African elephant. East African Wildlife Journal 4:1-37.
30. Laws, R. M. 1969. Aspects of reproduction in the African elephant, Loxodonta africana. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility Supplement 6:193-217.
31. Lee, P. C. 1987. Allomothering among African elephants. Animal Behaviour 35:278-291.
32. Lee, P. C., and C. J. Moss. 1986. Early maternal investment in male and female African elephant calves. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 18:353-361.
33. Leuthold, W. 1976. Age structure of elephants in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Journal of Applied Ecology 13:435-444.
34. Lewis, D. M. 1984. Demographic changes in the Luangwa Valley elephants. Biological Conservation 29:7-14.
35. Lindeque, M. 1991. Age structure of the elephant population in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. Madoqua 18:27-32.
36. Lombardt, A. T., C. F. Johnson, R. M. Cowling, and R. L. Pressey. 2001. Protecting plants from elephants: botanical reserve scenarios within the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Biological Conservation 102:191-203.
37. Mackey, R. L., B. R. Page, K. J. Duffy, and R. Slotow. 2006. Modelling elephant population growth in small, fenced, South African reserves. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 36:33-43.
38. McKnight, B. 2000. Changes in elephant demography, reproduction and group structure in Tsavo East National Park (1966-1994). Pachyderm 29:15-24.
39. Michod, R. E., and W. W. Anderson. 1980. On calculating demographic parameters from age frequency data. Ecology 61:265-269.
40. Moss, C. J. 1988. Elephant memories: thirteen years in the life of an elephant family. William Morrow, New York, New York, USA.
41. Moss, C. J. 2001. The demography of an African elephant (Loxodonta africana) population in Amboseli, Kenya. Journal of Zoology, London 255:145-156.
42. Moss, C. J., and J. H. Poole. 1983. Relationships and social structure of African elephants. Pages 315-325 in R. A. Hinde, editor. Primate social relationships: an integrated approach. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, United Kingdom.
43. Owen-Smith, N. 1996. Ecological guidelines for waterpoints in extensive protected areas. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 26:107-112.
44. Perry, J. S. 1953. The reproduction of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 237:93-149.
45. Poole, J. H. 1999. Signals and assessment in African elephants: evidence from playback experiments. Animal Behaviour 58:185-193.
46. Shrader, A. M., S. M. Ferreira, M. McElveen, P. C. Lee, C. J. Moss, and R. J. van Aarde. 2006a. Structural growth and age determination of savanna elephants. Journal of Zoology, London 270:40-48.
47. Shrader, A. M., S. M. Ferreira, and R. J. van Aarde. 2006b. Digital photogrammetry and laser rangefinder techniques to measure African elephants. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 36:1-7.
48. Sibly, R. M., J. Hone, and T. H. Clutton-Brock. 2003. Wildlife population growth rates. The Royal Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
49. Sibly, R. M., and R. H. Smith. 1998. Identifying key factors using λ-contribution analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology 67:17-24.
50. Sikes, S. K. 1966. The African elephant, Loxodonta africana: a field method for the estimation of age. Journal of Zoology, London 150:279-295.
51. Sikes, S. K. 1968. The African elephant, Loxodonta africana: a field method for the estimation of age. Journal of Zoology, London 154:235-248.
52. Smuts, G. L. 1975. Reproduction and population characteristics of elephants in the Kruger National Park. Journal of the South African Wildlife Management Association 5:1-10.
53. Sokal, R. R., and F. J. Rohlf. 1995. Biometry: the principles and practice of statistics in biological research. Third edition. W. H. Freeman, New York, New York, USA.
54. Udevitz, M. S., and B. E. Ballachey. 1998. Estimating survival rates with age-structure data. Journal of Wildlife Management 62:779-792.
55. Western, D., C. J. Moss, and N. Georgiadis. 1983. Age estimation and population age structure of elephants from footprint dimensions. Journal of Wildlife Management 47:1192-1197.
56. Whitehouse, A. M., and A. J. Hall-Martin. 2000. Elephants in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa: reconstruction of the population's history. Oryx 34:46-55.
57. Whyte, I. J. 2001. Conservation management of the Kruger National Park elephant population. Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
58. Whyte, I. J., R. J. van Aarde, and S. L. Pimm. 1998. Managing the elephants of Kruger National Park Animal Conservation 1:77-83.
59. Wiese, R. J., and K. Willis. 2004. Calculation of longevity and life expectancy in captive elephants. Zoo Biology 23:365-373.
60. Wittemyer, G., D. Daballen, H. Rasmussen, O. Kaindi, and I. Douglas-Hamilton. 2005a. Demographic status of elephants in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves, Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 43:44-47.
61. Wittemyer, G., I. Douglas-Hamilton, and W. M. Getz. 2005b. The socioecology of elephants: analysis of the processes creating multitiered social structures. Animal Behaviour 69:1357-1371.