Dung survey bias and elephant population estimates in southern Mozambique






African Journal of Ecology


- Maputo






We used dung surveys to estimate population size and extracted an age structure from boli diameters for the elephants living in the Maputo Elephant Reserve. Our estimate was based on published defecation rates, dung decay rates, distance-sampling techniques and 1,672 dung piles encountered on 204 line-transects. The reserve had at least 311 (95% CI: 198–490) elephants at a density of 0.60 (95% CI: 0.38–0.94) per km2. However, observer bias reduced effective strip widths and inflated estimates and their confidence limits. The age structure extrapolated from dung measurements indicated few newborn calves compared with other populations.


- Inglês


- Nenhuma restrição


- Biodiversidade Florestal


- Artigo com revisão pelos pares e teses universitárias


- Identificação, Monitoria, Indicadores e Avaliações


- Reserva Especial de Maputo



Descarregar