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Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Poulsen, JR; Rosin, C; Meier, A; Mills, E; Nuñez, CL; Koerner, SE; Blanchard, E; Callejas, J; Moore, S; Sowers, M
Published in: Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
June 2018

Poaching is rapidly extirpating African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) from most of their historical range, leaving vast areas of elephant-free tropical forest. Elephants are ecological engineers that create and maintain forest habitat; thus, their loss will have large consequences for the composition and structure of Afrotropical forests. Through a comprehensive literature review, we evaluated the roles of forest elephants in seed dispersal, nutrient recycling, and herbivory and physical damage to predict the cascading ecological effects of their population declines. Loss of seed dispersal by elephants will favor tree species dispersed abiotically and by smaller dispersal agents, and tree species composition will depend on the downstream effects of changes in elephant nutrient cycling and browsing. Loss of trampling and herbivory of seedlings and saplings will result in high tree density with release from browsing pressures. Diminished seed dispersal by elephants and high stem density are likely to reduce the recruitment of large trees and thus increase homogeneity of forest structure and decrease carbon stocks. The loss of ecological services by forest elephants likely means Central African forests will be more like Neotropical forests, from which megafauna were extirpated thousands of years ago. Without intervention, as much as 96% of Central African forests will have modified species composition and structure as elephants are compressed into remaining protected areas. Stopping elephant poaching is an urgent first step to mitigating these effects, but long-term conservation will require land-use planning that incorporates elephant habitat into forested landscapes that are being rapidly transformed by industrial agriculture and logging.

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Published In

Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology

DOI

EISSN

1523-1739

ISSN

0888-8892

Publication Date

June 2018

Volume

32

Issue

3

Start / End Page

559 / 567

Related Subject Headings

  • Forests
  • Elephants
  • Ecosystem
  • Ecology
  • Ecology
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Animals
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
 

Citation

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Poulsen, J. R., Rosin, C., Meier, A., Mills, E., Nuñez, C. L., Koerner, S. E., … Sowers, M. (2018). Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests. Conservation Biology : The Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 32(3), 559–567. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13035
Poulsen, John R., Cooper Rosin, Amelia Meier, Emily Mills, Chase L. Nuñez, Sally E. Koerner, Emily Blanchard, Jennifer Callejas, Sarah Moore, and Mark Sowers. “Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests.Conservation Biology : The Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology 32, no. 3 (June 2018): 559–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13035.
Poulsen JR, Rosin C, Meier A, Mills E, Nuñez CL, Koerner SE, et al. Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests. Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. 2018 Jun;32(3):559–67.
Poulsen, John R., et al. “Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests.Conservation Biology : The Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 3, June 2018, pp. 559–67. Epmc, doi:10.1111/cobi.13035.
Poulsen JR, Rosin C, Meier A, Mills E, Nuñez CL, Koerner SE, Blanchard E, Callejas J, Moore S, Sowers M. Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests. Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. 2018 Jun;32(3):559–567.
Journal cover image

Published In

Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology

DOI

EISSN

1523-1739

ISSN

0888-8892

Publication Date

June 2018

Volume

32

Issue

3

Start / End Page

559 / 567

Related Subject Headings

  • Forests
  • Elephants
  • Ecosystem
  • Ecology
  • Ecology
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Animals
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology