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Yang N, Dai X, Wang B, Wen M, Gan Z, Li Z, Duffy KJ. Mapping potential human-elephant conflict hotspots with UAV monitoring data. Glob Ecol Conserv 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
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Montero-De La Torre S, Jacobson SL, Chodorow M, Yindee M, Plotnik JM. Day and night camera trap videos are effective for identifying individual wild Asian elephants. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15130. [PMID: 37009152 PMCID: PMC10064994 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Regular monitoring of wild animal populations through the collection of behavioral and demographic data is critical for the conservation of endangered species. Identifying individual Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), for example, can contribute to our understanding of their social dynamics and foraging behavior, as well as to human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies that account for the behavior of specific individuals involved in the conflict. Wild elephants can be distinguished using a variety of different morphological traits—e.g., variations in ear and tail morphology, body scars and tumors, and tusk presence, shape, and length—with previous studies identifying elephants via direct observation or photographs taken from vehicles. When elephants live in dense forests like in Thailand, remote sensing photography can be a productive approach to capturing anatomical and behavioral information about local elephant populations. While camera trapping has been used previously to identify elephants, here we present a detailed methodology for systematic, experimenter differentiation of individual elephants using data captured from remote sensing video camera traps. In this study, we used day and night video footage collected remotely in the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand and identified 24 morphological characteristics that can be used to recognize individual elephants. A total of 34 camera traps were installed within the sanctuary as well as crop fields along its periphery, and 107 Asian elephants were identified: 72 adults, 11 sub-adults, 20 juveniles, and four infants. We predicted that camera traps would provide enough information such that classified morphological traits would aid in reliably identifying the adult individuals with a low probability of misidentification. The results indicated that there were low probabilities of misidentification between adult elephants in the population using camera traps, similar to probabilities obtained by other researchers using handheld cameras. This study suggests that the use of day and night video camera trapping can be an important tool for the long-term monitoring of wild Asian elephant behavior, especially in habitats where direct observations may be difficult.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sasha Montero-De La Torre
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
| | - Sarah L. Jacobson
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
| | - Martin Chodorow
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
| | - Marnoch Yindee
- Akkhraratchakumari Veterinary College and One Health Research Centre, Walailak University, Thasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
| | - Joshua M. Plotnik
- Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
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Martínez JE, Zuberogoitia Í, Calvo JF, Álvarez M, Margalida A. Effect of nest composition, experience and nest quality on nest-building behaviour in the Bonelli's Eagle. Sci Rep 2022; 12:4146. [PMID: 35264681 PMCID: PMC8907159 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08028-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In bi-parentally built nests, there is evidence to suggest that nests are extended phenotypic signals that accurately indicate the quality of the building parent/s. Raptors often use a variety of materials to build their nests (natural, such as branches, but also non-natural objects), presumably due to their insulating properties, their suitability to advertise occupancy of the nest, and to decrease pathogen and parasite loads. However, in raptors where both sexes collaborate in nest construction, it is unclear whether nest building (taking the amount of material carried to the nest as the potential predictor) is an indicator of parental quality, and whether the effort expended by both sexes could constitute an honest signal of parental quality to their partners. Between 2011 and 2016, we monitored 16 nests of Bonelli's Eagles (Aquila fasciata), and we examined data on sex, type of material brought to the nest, breeding experience, nest quality, timing, and nest-building investment prior to egg-laying from 32 identifiable Bonelli's Eagles during the pre-laying period to investigate the relative contribution of the sexes to the amount of nest material gathered. Our results indicate that sex is not a determining factor in nest-building effort, and that females did not increase their parental effort in response to the male's contribution, and supply of materials did not increase during the pre-laying period. In contrast, our models showed that: (1) the type of material supplied to the nest by both sexes varied significantly throughout the pre-laying period and (2) nest-building effort was determined by individual experience and nest quality. Therefore, our study suggests that male nest-building behaviour and investment by Bonelli's Eagles cannot be considered as an extended phenotypic signal. The differential use of hard and green material by both sexes in the early and late stages of nest-building period, and the fact that the more experienced individuals contributed a larger amount of material on low quality nests, are discussed in the contexts of signaling nest occupancy to conspecifics and competitors and the decrease of ectoparasite loads during the pre-laying period.
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Affiliation(s)
- José E Martínez
- Departamento de Ecología E Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
- Bonelli's Eagle Study and Conservation Group, Murcia, Spain.
| | - Íñigo Zuberogoitia
- Estudios Medioambientales Icarus, S.L. C/ San Vicente, 8. 6ª Planta. Dpto 8. Edificio Albia I, 48001, Bilbao, Spain
| | - José F Calvo
- Departamento de Ecología E Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Mario Álvarez
- Departamento de Ecología E Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Antoni Margalida
- Institute for Game and Wildlife Research, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
- Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Vasudev D, Goswami VR, Srinivas N, Syiem BLN, Sarma A. Identifying important connectivity areas for the wide‐ranging Asian elephant across conservation landscapes of Northeast India. DIVERS DISTRIB 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Divya Vasudev
- Conservation Initiatives Guwahati Assam India
- Centre for Wildlife Studies Bengaluru Karnataka India
- Wildlife Conservation Trust Mumbai Maharashtra India
| | - Varun R. Goswami
- Conservation Initiatives Guwahati Assam India
- Centre for Wildlife Studies Bengaluru Karnataka India
| | | | - Biang La Nam Syiem
- Conservation Initiatives Guwahati Assam India
- Centre for Wildlife Studies Bengaluru Karnataka India
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Melbourne VIC Australia
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Goswami VR, Vasudev D, Joshi B, Hait P, Sharma P. Coupled effects of climatic forcing and the human footprint on wildlife movement and space use in a dynamic floodplain landscape. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 758:144000. [PMID: 33338787 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2020] [Revised: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
With climate change, terrestrial fauna in riparian floodplain ecosystems must adapt to a predicted increase in frequency and magnitude of fluvial perturbations. Seasonal migration to seek refuge from floodwaters represents a central adaptation strategy, but may entail risky navigation of anthropogenic spaces in heterogeneous landscapes. Here, we demonstrate the opportunities and constraints large-bodied mammalian herbivores face during an adaptive response of obligatory flood-driven refuge migration, across a human-dominated environment. Our study system, centred around a productive protected area--Kaziranga National Park in Assam, Northeast India--on the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River, is home to an abundance of large herbivores that undertake seasonal migrations in response to floods. We contrast species distribution data during a major flood event with those from the dry season to illustrate season-specific movement and space use decisions of large herbivores ranging in body mass from the 3000-kg Asian elephant Elephas maximus to the 20-kg muntjac Muntiacus muntjak. In the dry season, most large herbivores--a majority of which are endangered and threatened by anthropogenic pressures--avoided areas with a strong human footprint, while preferring spaces with high land-use diversity. During the floods, such species were pushed out of inundated habitats within the protected area, and they chose to move through woodlands and areas under bamboo cover on private lands, as they migrated to forested refugia on higher ground. Our results show how seasonal environmental constraints shaped by floods determine the internal motivation of animals to risk traversing a human-dominated space to seek refuge, which contextually defines how animals view and navigate the landscape. Such insights underscore the importance of dynamic and adaptive planning, and participatory conservation efforts, to facilitate connectivity in the changing environment and climate of the present Anthropocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varun R Goswami
- Conservation Initiatives, Guwahati 781022, Assam, India; Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru 560042, Karnataka, India.
| | - Divya Vasudev
- Conservation Initiatives, Guwahati 781022, Assam, India; Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru 560042, Karnataka, India; Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mumbai 400021, Maharashtra, India
| | - Bhavendu Joshi
- Conservation Initiatives, Guwahati 781022, Assam, India; Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru 560042, Karnataka, India
| | - Prity Hait
- Conservation Initiatives, Guwahati 781022, Assam, India; Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru 560042, Karnataka, India
| | - Pragyan Sharma
- Conservation Initiatives, Guwahati 781022, Assam, India; Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru 560042, Karnataka, India
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Conservation opportunities and challenges emerge from assessing nuanced stakeholder attitudes towards the Asian elephant in tea estates of Assam, Northeast India. Glob Ecol Conserv 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e00936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
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Brand CM, Johnson MB, Parker LD, Maldonado JE, Korte L, Vanthomme H, Alonso A, Ruiz-Lopez MJ, Wells CP, Ting N. Abundance, density, and social structure of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in a human-modified landscape in southwestern Gabon. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231832. [PMID: 32348354 PMCID: PMC7190099 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Population monitoring is critical to effective conservation, but forest living taxa can be difficult to directly observe. This has been true of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), for which we have limited information regarding population size and social behavior despite their threatened conservation status. In this study, we estimated demographic parameters using genetic capture-recapture of forest elephants in the southern Industrial Corridor of the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas in southwestern Gabon, which is considered a global stronghold for forest elephants. Additionally, we examined social networks, predicting that we would find matrilineal structure seen in both savanna and forest elephants. Given 95% confidence intervals, we estimate population size in the sampled area to be between 754 and 1,502 individuals and our best density estimate ranges from 0.47 to 0.80 elephants per km2. When extrapolated across the entire Industrial Corridor, this estimate suggests an elephant population size of 3,033 to 6,043 based on abundance or 1,684 to 2,832 based on density, approximately 40–80% smaller than previously suggested. Our social network analysis revealed approximately half of network components included females with different mitochondrial haplotypes suggesting a wider range of variation in forest elephant sociality than previously thought. This study emphasizes the threatened status of forest elephants and demonstrates the need to further refine baseline estimates of population size and knowledge on social behavior in this taxon, both of which will aid in determining how population dynamics in this keystone species may be changing through time in relation to increasing conservation threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M. Brand
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
| | - Mireille B. Johnson
- Gabon Biodiversity Program, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gamba, Gabon
| | - Lillian D. Parker
- Department of Biosciences, School of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States of America
- Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Jesús E. Maldonado
- Department of Biosciences, School of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States of America
- Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Lisa Korte
- Gabon Biodiversity Program, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gamba, Gabon
| | - Hadrien Vanthomme
- Center for Conservation and Sustainability, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Alfonso Alonso
- Center for Conservation and Sustainability, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | | | - Caitlin P. Wells
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States of America
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
| | - Nelson Ting
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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