Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Determinants of dry season habitat use by Asian elephants in the Western Ghats of India
Author(s)
Lakshminarayanan, N.; Karanth, K. K.; Goswami, V. R.; Vaidyanathan, S.; Karanth, K. U.
Published
2016
Publisher
Journal of Zoology
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12298
Abstract
Large herbivores respond to seasonal changes in resource availability through habitat selection. Understanding variations in habitat choice is crucial for targeting conservation efforts, particularly for endangered, wide-ranging species, such as the Asian elephant. We assessed patterns and determinants of elephant habitat use during the dry season, a period of resource limitation in tropical deciduous forests, in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. We collected detection/non-detection data on elephant signs under an occupancy sampling framework, using spatially replicated surveys on foot along forest trails to estimate probabilities of habitat use by elephants. Each of our 97 sites (sampling units) was a grid cell of 11.75 km2 area. Data were analysed using an occupancy model, which estimated detection probabilities for signs, while explicitly addressing the potential spatial dependence between sign detections on adjacent replicates. Using covariates that are likely to influence resource use, we made ecological predictions about dry season habitat use by elephants across the study area of 1850 km2. The site-level probabilities of habitat use by elephants ranged from ψ^(SE^[ψ^])=0.04(0.15)to0.99(0.01). The estimated replicate level detection probability was p^t(SE^[p^t])=0.67(0.06). We found that distance to rivers was the best predictor of elephant habitat use, in dry season, demonstrating the overarching importance of riparian habitats in the landscape for the species. Artificial water holes established by wildlife managers do not appear to influence elephant habitat use, which is likely a result of abundant and near-uniform distribution of such water holes across the study area. The sign survey-based occupancy modelling approach provides a basis for reliable cost-effective assessment of spatial distribution and habitat use by elephants and other large herbivores. Such assessments are essential for effective conservation management of large herbivores.
Keywords
occupancy modelling, correlated detections, Bandipur, Nagarahole, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, large herbivores, dry season
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB19242