ArticleScience advances2025
Declines of ebony and ivory are inextricably linked in an African rainforest.
Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review
- A global phylogenetic framework for Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae, Ericales): enhanced taxon and sample coverage through NGS, Sanger sequencing and herbariomics.Annals of botany · 2026Article
- Seed dispersal and predation of the African walnut tree, Coula edulis Baill. (Coulaceae): contrasting fates in intact and hunted rainforests.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Congo Basin Carbon Cycle Responses to Global Change.Global change biology · 2026Review
- Short-distance seed and pollen dispersal in both hunted and intact forests in the lower canopy African rainforest tree, Coula edulis Baill. (Coulaceae).BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Critically endangered African forest elephants preferentially eat fruits and disperse seeds of carbon-dense trees, including the highly valued and threatened African ebony. The illegal ivory trade has led to severe declines in elephant populations, but the long-term impacts on tree species are poorly understood. Using a comprehensive dataset including age-class, spatial, genetic, and experimental data, across a hunting pressure gradient, we show how paired declines in elephant and ebony populations are linked by a previously unrecognized mutualism in which elephant dung protects ebony seeds against seed predators. Disruption of this mutualism by poaching exacerbates seed predation by herbivores and was associated with a 68% reduction in small sapling recruitment. This threat to the survival of a valuable and iconic tree species raises concerns about the far-reaching consequences of forest elephant extermination.
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Registered trials
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.