Elephant-induced damage drives spatial isolation of the dioecious palm Borassus aethiopum Mart. (Arecaceae) in the Pendjari National Park, Benin.

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AuteurSALAKO, KOLAWOLE VALERE
AuteurAZIHOU, AKOMIAN FORTUNE
AuteurASSOGBADJO, ACHILLE EPHREM
AuteurHOUEHANOU, THIERRY DEHOUEGNON
AuteurKASSA, DAHOGA BARTHELEMY
AuteurGLELE KAKAI, ROMAIN LUCAS
Date d'ajout2026-06-02T16:06:57Z
Date de disponibilite2026-06-02T16:06:57Z
Date de publication2015
ResumeSpatial patterns (SP) of treefall by elephants is known to be clustered across landscapes as a result of food selection and group foraging. Yet, few studies have explicitly elucidated how elephant pressure (EP) alters SP and tree-to-tree distance of tree species especially for dioecious plant species, at stand scale. Using the pair-correlation function and distance to the nearest neighbour on spatial data from five plots of 1–1.5 ha, this article compared SP of damaged and undamaged individuals and tree-to-tree distance of the dioecious palm Borassus aethiopum Mart. in stands of low versus high EP in the Pendjari National Park. We tested the hypothesis that high EP would modify SP and results into isolated adults. Nested ANOVAs were used to compare distances. The overall SP of individuals did not vary, but distance among living adults was twofold extended in stands of high EP. The Janzen–Connell escape hypothesis is supported by our data for ungrazed saplings. The study concluded that increasing EP reduces density and induces spatial isolation of adults that may increase pollination failure and threat persistence of B. aethiopum.
DOI10.1111/aje.12253
Autre identifiantBECDB-11420
URIhttps://dspace.uac.bj/handle/123456789/10050
Languefr
Fait partie deAfrican Journal of Ecology
SujetBénin
SujetBorassus aethiopum Mart
Sujetdamages
SujetLoxodonta africana Blumenbach
Sujetpair-correlation function
Sujetspatial pattern
TitreElephant-induced damage drives spatial isolation of the dioecious palm Borassus aethiopum Mart. (Arecaceae) in the Pendjari National Park, Benin.
TypeArticle

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