Abundance, density, and social structure of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in a human-modified landscape in southwestern Gabon.

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 ar

SUBMITTER: Brand CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7190099 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature