کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
4685236 1635480 2012 9 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Elephants (and extinct relatives) as earth-movers and ecosystem engineers
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه علوم زمین و سیارات فرآیندهای سطح زمین
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Elephants (and extinct relatives) as earth-movers and ecosystem engineers
چکیده انگلیسی

Modern African elephants affect habitats and ecosystems in significant ways. They push over trees to feed on upper branches and often peel large sections of bark to eat. These destructive habits sometimes transform woody vegetation into grasslands. Systems of elephant trails may be used and re-used for centuries, and create incised features that extend for many kilometers on migration routes. Elephants, digging in search of water or mineral sediments, may remove several cubic meters of sediments in each excavation. Wallowing elephants may remove up to a cubic meter of pond sediments each time they visit water sources. Accumulations of elephant dung on frequented land surfaces may be over 2 kg per square meter. Elephant trampling, digging, and dust-bathing may reverse stratigraphy at archeological localities. This paper summarizes these types of effects on biotic, geomorphic, and paleontological features in modern-day landscapes, and also describes several fossil sites that indicate extinct proboscideans had very similar effects, such as major sediment disturbances.


► Elephants are major sculptors of local land surfaces in Africa
► Elephants may transform woodlands into open mosaics or grasslands
► Elephant dung may accumulate up to 2 kg per square meter in frequented areas
► Fossil sites preserve similar evidence of mammoth behavior

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Geomorphology - Volumes 157–158, 1 July 2012, Pages 99–107
نویسندگان
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