African forest elephant movements depend on time scale and individual behavior.

dc.contributor.author

Beirne, Christopher

dc.contributor.author

Houslay, Thomas M

dc.contributor.author

Morkel, Peter

dc.contributor.author

Clark, Connie J

dc.contributor.author

Fay, Mike

dc.contributor.author

Okouyi, Joseph

dc.contributor.author

White, Lee JT

dc.contributor.author

Poulsen, John R

dc.date.accessioned

2022-02-01T14:35:11Z

dc.date.available

2022-02-01T14:35:11Z

dc.date.issued

2021-06-16

dc.date.updated

2022-02-01T14:35:10Z

dc.description.abstract

The critically endangered African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) plays a vital role in maintaining the structure and composition of Afrotropical forests, but basic information is lacking regarding the drivers of elephant movement and behavior at landscape scales. We use GPS location data from 96 individuals throughout Gabon to determine how five movement behaviors vary at different scales, how they are influenced by anthropogenic and environmental covariates, and to assess evidence for behavioral syndromes-elephants which share suites of similar movement traits. Elephants show some evidence of behavioral syndromes along an 'idler' to 'explorer' axis-individuals that move more have larger home ranges and engage in more 'exploratory' movements. However, within these groups, forest elephants express remarkable inter-individual variation in movement behaviours. This variation highlights that no two elephants are the same and creates challenges for practitioners aiming to design conservation initiatives.

dc.identifier

10.1038/s41598-021-91627-z

dc.identifier.issn

2045-2322

dc.identifier.issn

2045-2322

dc.identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24285

dc.language

eng

dc.publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

dc.relation.ispartof

Scientific reports

dc.relation.isversionof

10.1038/s41598-021-91627-z

dc.subject

Animals

dc.subject

Elephants

dc.subject

Behavior, Animal

dc.subject

Movement

dc.subject

Gabon

dc.subject

Female

dc.subject

Male

dc.subject

Endangered Species

dc.subject

Forests

dc.title

African forest elephant movements depend on time scale and individual behavior.

dc.type

Journal article

duke.contributor.orcid

Poulsen, John R|0000-0002-1532-9808

pubs.begin-page

12634

pubs.issue

1

pubs.organisational-group

Duke

pubs.organisational-group

Nicholas School of the Environment

pubs.organisational-group

Environmental Sciences and Policy

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

11

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Beirne et al. 2021 ScientificReports.pdf
Size:
1.27 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version