Title
Evidence of strong spatial segregation between elephant subpopulations in the contiguous Laikipia–Samburu ecosystem in Kenya
Author(s)
Goldenberg, Shifra Z.;Oduor, Sandy;Kinnaird, Margaret F.;Daballen, David;Douglas-Hamilton, Iain;Wittemyer, George
Published
2016
Publisher
African Journal of Ecology
Abstract
Connectivity within populations affects important ecological and evolutionary processes like gene flow, disease dynamics, and cultural exchange (Noad et al., 2000; McCallum & Dobson, 2002; Epps et al., 2005). Understanding connectivity is especially relevant in the context of conservation as landscape-level changes may alter wildlife movement. Such changes disproportionately affect wide-ranging species (Seidler et al., 2015), and those whose movement corridors are not protected (Didier et al., 2011). However, assessing connectivity across and within populations is difficult given the ephemeral and often cryptic nature of dispersal. Comparative, long-term data sets of known individuals can provide critical information and insights for wildlife managers and policymakers to determine whether and how subpopulations are connected.
The Laikipia–Samburu elephant (Loxodonta africana Blumenbach) population is the second largest in Kenya with approximately 7415 individuals, primarily relying on range outside of governmentally protected areas (Poole et al., 1992; Litoroh et al., 2010). The 34,000 km2 Laikipia–Samburu ecosystem is a complex land use mosaic comprised of private, government and community lands (Thouless, 1995), which represent varying levels of risk to the region's elephants (Ihwagi et al., 2015). The region is undergoing large-scale development projects (LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority, 2015), with unknown consequences for elephants and other wide-ranging animals. Social interactions drive spatial segregation between elephant groups at the local scale (Wittemyer et al., 2007). Social segregation may also occur at larger scales, but few opportunities to test this hypothesis exist. Understanding current levels of connectivity among elephants of the Laikipia–Samburu landscape can provide deeper insight to spatial segregation in this species as well as provide fundamental information for planners and researchers. Here, we elucidate the degree of overlap between individuals using two intensively studied areas within the spatially contiguous study ecosystem.
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