Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38303081›Full record

ArticleMovement ecology2024

Land use drives differential resource selection by African elephants in the Greater Mara Ecosystem, Kenya.

Jake Wall, Nathan Hahn, Sarah Carroll, Stephen Mwiu, Marc Goss, Wilson Sairowua, Kate Tiedeman, Sospeter Kiambi, Patrick Omondi, Iain Douglas-Hamilton and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Movement ecology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Contrasting African elephant movescapes across xeric and mesic savannas.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Long-term vegetation changes in elephant-related areas of concern in Kruger National Park, South Africa.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. A spatially explicit assessment of factors shaping attitudes toward African elephant conservation.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Jake WallMara Elephant Project, Nairobi, Kenya. jake@maraelephantproject.org.
Nathan HahnColorado State University, Fort Collins, USA.
Sarah CarrollColorado State University, Fort Collins, USA.
Stephen MwiuKenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Naivasha, Kenya.
Marc GossMara Elephant Project, Nairobi, Kenya.
Wilson SairowuaMara Elephant Project, Nairobi, Kenya.
Kate TiedemanMax Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Constance, Germany.
Sospeter KiambiKenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Naivasha, Kenya.
Patrick OmondiKenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Naivasha, Kenya.
Iain Douglas-HamiltonSave the Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya.
George WittemyerColorado State University, Fort Collins, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding drivers of space use by African elephants is critical to their conservation and management, particularly given their large home-ranges, extensive resource requirements, ecological role as ecosystem engineers, involvement in human-elephant conflict and as a target species for ivory poaching. In this study we investigated resource selection by elephants inhabiting the Greater Mara Ecosystem in Southwestern Kenya in relation to three distinct but spatially contiguous management zones: (i) the government protected Maasai Mara National Reserve (ii) community-owned wildlife conservancies, and (iii) elephant range outside any formal wildlife protected area. We combined GPS tracking data from 49 elephants with spatial covariate information to compare elephant selection across these management zones using a hierarchical Bayesian framework, providing insight regarding how human activities structure elephant spatial behavior. We also contrasted differences in selection by zone across several data strata: sex, season and time-of-day. Our results showed that the strongest selection by elephants was for closed-canopy forest and the strongest avoidance was for open-cover, but that selection behavior varied significantly by management zone and selection for cover was accentuated in human-dominated areas. When contrasting selection parameters according to strata, variability in selection parameter values reduced along a protection gradient whereby elephants tended to behave more similarly (limited plasticity) in the human dominated, unprotected zone and more variably (greater plasticity) in the protected reserve. However, avoidance of slope was consistent across all zones. Differences in selection behavior was greatest between sexes, followed by time-of-day, then management zone and finally season (where seasonal selection showed the least differentiation of the contrasts assessed). By contrasting selection coefficients across strata, our analysis quantifies behavioural switching related to human presence and impact displayed by a cognitively advanced megaherbivore. Our study broadens the knowledge base about the movement ecology of African elephants and builds our capacity for both management and conservation.

Indexed as

BayesianEarthRangerEcoscopeGPS trackingHome-rangeINLALand coverLandscape dynamicsLoxodonta africanaResource selection

Identifiers

PMID38303081
PMCPMC10832223

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.