Logo image
Land-use change is associated with multi-century loss of elephant ecosystems in Asia
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Land-use change is associated with multi-century loss of elephant ecosystems in Asia

Shermin de Silva, Tiffany Wu, Philip Nyhus, Ashley Weaver, Alison Thieme, Josiah Johnson, Jamie Wadey, Alexander Mossbrucker, Thinh Vu, Thy Neang, …
Scientific reports, Vol.13(1), Art. 5996
2023
PMID: 37105960
pdf
Published3.54 MBDownloadView
CC BY V4.0 Open Access

Abstract

Animals Asia Biodiversity Conservation of Natural Resources Ecosystem Elephants
Understanding historic patterns of land use and land cover change across large temporal and spatial scales is critical for developing effective biodiversity conservation management and policy. We quantify the extent and fragmentation of suitable habitat across the continental range of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) based on present-day occurrence data and land-use variables between 850 and 2015 A.D. We found that following centuries of relative stability, over 64% (3.36 million km2) of suitable elephant habitat across Asia was lost since the year 1700, coincident with colonial-era land-use practices in South Asia and subsequent agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia. Average patch size dropped 83% from approximately 99,000–16,000 km2 and the area occupied by the largest patch decreased 83% from ~ 4 million km2 (45% of area) to 54,000 km2 (~ 7.5% of area). Whereas 100% of the area within 100 km of the current elephant range could have been considered suitable habitat in the year 1700, over half was unsuitable by 2015, driving potential conflict with people. These losses reflect long-term decline of non-forested ecosystems, exceeding estimates of deforestation within this century. Societies must consider ecological histories in addition to proximate threats to develop more just and sustainable land-use and conservation strategies.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Metrics

5 File views/ downloads
167 Record Views

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
3.35.274 Wildlife Ecology
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
Logo image