Density-dependent habitat selection varies between male and female African elephants

Abstract

Habitat selection models are the basis of an increasing number of conservation and management programs. Decision-makers rely on accurate models to assess animal distribution over space and time, and to recommend suitable actions that can alleviate human-wildlife conflicts. Despite a rapidly growing number of field studies on habitat selection, there remains a paucity of empirical evidence that selection is a density-dependent process that can impact males and females differently. Based on 11 years of monitoring, we demonstrate that the response of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to land-cover types varied with population size, and that density-dependent adjustments differed between sexes. Specifically, our longitudinal follow-up of GPS-collared elephants revealed that elephants gradually decrease their selection for open woodlands and forests, as the population increased and the availability of palatable browse species decreased. Both sexes – though males more strongly – increased their travel rate together with their relative probability of selection of roads for travel. Also, elephants displayed a density-dependent increase in their selection of infrastructures, a response that was stronger for males than females. The risk of human-elephant conflicts thus increased with population size, with males being particularly prone to be involved in such conflicts. Overall, we provide rare empirical evidence that density-dependence in fine-grain habitat selection can differ between sexes. This information can be critical to accurately forecast potential human-wildlife conflicts, and for taking targeted and effective conservation and management actions.