Soil nutrient status determines how elephant utilize trees and shape environments

1. Elucidation of the mechanism determining the spatial scale of patch selection by herbivores has been complicated by the way in which resource availability at a specific scale is measured and by vigilance behaviour of the herbivores themselves. To reduce these complications, we studied patch selec...

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Veröffentlicht in:	The Journal of animal ecology Jg. 80; H. 4; S. 875 - 883
Hauptverfasser:	Pretorius, Yolanda, de Boer, Willem F., van der Waal, Cornelis, de Knegt, Henjo J., Grant, Rina C., Knox, Nicky M., Kohi, Edward M., Mwakiwa, Emmanuel, Page, Bruce R., Peel, Mike J. S., Skidmore, Andrew K., Slotow, Rob, van Wieren, Sipke E., Prins, Herbert H. T.
Format:	Journal Article
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing 01.07.2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Blackwell
Schlagworte:	african savannas analysis Animal and plant ecology Animal ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Bark Biological and medical sciences Colophospermum mopane Coppicing east-africa Ecosystem Elephants Elephants - physiology Fabaceae Fabaceae - metabolism field experimentation Food Preferences food quality forage quality Foraging Foraging behavior Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects habitat selection Herbivores Indexing in process large herbivores Leaves Loxodonta africana metabolism national-park Nitrogen Nitrogen - metabolism nitrogen content NPK fertilizers Nutrient availability Nutrient concentrations Nutrient content nutrient load Nutrient loading Nutrient status Nutrient utilization Nutrients patch selection patch structure phosphorus Phosphorus - metabolism physiology Plant Leaves Plant Leaves - metabolism Plant nutrition Plant species Plants pollution load predation Resource availability reuse risk roots Soil Soil - analysis Soil nutrients Soils South Africa Spatial distribution Spatial ecology spatial scale Trees Trees - metabolism Wildlife ecology woody vegetation South Africa Status Soils Load Colophospermum mopane Reuse Tree Environment Nutrient Spatial scale Nitrogen patch selection nutrient load
ISSN:	0021-8790, 1365-2656, 1365-2656
Online-Zugang:	Volltext
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Zusammenfassung:	1. Elucidation of the mechanism determining the spatial scale of patch selection by herbivores has been complicated by the way in which resource availability at a specific scale is measured and by vigilance behaviour of the herbivores themselves. To reduce these complications, we studied patch selection by an animal with negligible predation risk, the African elephant. 2. We introduce the concept of nutrient load as the product of patch size, number of patches and local patch nutrient concentration. Nutrient load provides a novel spatially explicit expression of the total available nutrients a herbivore can select from. 3. We hypothesized that elephant would select nutrient-rich patches, based on the nutrient load per 2500 m 2 down to the individual plant scale, and that this selection will depend on the nitrogen and phosphorous contents of plants. 4. We predicted that elephant would cause more adverse impact to trees of lower value to them in order to reach plant parts with higher nutrient concentrations such as bark and root. However, elephant should maintain nutrient-rich trees by inducing coppicing of trees through re-utilization of leaves. 5. Elephant patch selection was measured in a homogenous tree species stand by manipulating the spatial distribution of soil nutrients in a large field experiment using NPK fertilizer. 6. Elephant were able to select nutrient-rich patches and utilized Colophospermum mopane trees inside these patches more than outside, at scales ranging from 2500 down to 100 m 2 . 7. Although both nitrogen and phosphorus contents of leaves from C. mopane trees were higher in fertilized and selected patches, patch choice correlated most strongly with nitrogen content. As predicted, stripping of leaves occurred more in nutrient-rich patches, while adverse impact such as uprooting of trees occurred more in nutrient-poor areas. 8. Our results emphasize the necessity of including scale-dependent selectivity in foraging studies and how elephant foraging behaviour can be used as indicators of change in the availability of nutrients.
Bibliographie:	SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 14 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2
ISSN:	0021-8790 1365-2656 1365-2656
DOI:	10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01819.x