Elephants, woodlands and biodiversity in Southern Africa

Abstract

When elephant densities exceed approximately 0.5 per km2, savanna woodlands are generally converted to shrublands or grasslands. The impact of such elephant-mediated habitat change on biodiversity in African game reserves has seldom been measured. We examined species richness of woody plants, birds, bats, mantises and ants in reserves where elephants had destroyed the miombo woodland and in adjacent but intact miombo woodlands outside the reserves. Species richness of woodland birds and ants was significantly lower where elephants had removed the tree canopy. Our findings may have important policy implications for conserving biodiversity in many African reserves in the face of rapidly growing elephant populations (approximately 5% per annum). The problem is further compounded by international public pressures against reducing elephant densities within game reserves while, outside these protected areas, savanna woodlands and their associated faunas are being lost to agriculture. Where then will refugia for habitat-sensitive species exist if not within the region's largest protected areas?.