Another Continental Vulture Crisis: Africa's Vultures Collapsing toward Extinction
- D. Ogada, Phil Shaw, A. Sinclair
- Environmental Science
- 1 March 2016
Vultures provide critical ecosystem services, yet populations of many species have collapsed worldwide. We present the first estimates of a 30‐year Pan‐African vulture decline, confirming that…
Opposing Rainfall and Plant Nutritional Gradients Best Explain the Wildebeest Migration in the Serengeti
- R. Holdo, R. Holt, J. Fryxell
- Environmental ScienceAmerican Naturalist
- 25 February 2009
The potentially key role of strong and countervailing seasonally driven rainfall and fertility gradients—a consistent feature of African savanna ecosystems—as drivers of long‐distance seasonal migrations in ungulates is highlighted.
Elephants, fire, and frost can determine community structure and composition in Kalahari Woodlands.
- R. Holdo
- Environmental ScienceEcological Applications
- 1 March 2007
It is suggested that elephant and fire management may be critical for the persistence of certain woodland communities within dry-season elephant habitats in the eastern Kalahari, particularly those dominated by Brachystegia spiciformis and other palatable species.
Termite Mounds as Nutrient-Rich Food Patches for Elephants1
- R. Holdo, L. Mcdowell
- Biology
- 1 June 2004
Trees growing on termite mounds had higher concentrations of all nutrients except sodium and crude protein, and were subjected to more intense feeding by elephants than trees from the surrounding vegetation matrix.
A Disease-Mediated Trophic Cascade in the Serengeti and its Implications for Ecosystem C
- R. Holdo, A. Sinclair, R. Holt
- Environmental SciencePLoS Biology
- 1 September 2009
The removal of rinderpest had cascading effects on herbivore populations, fire, tree density, and even ecosystem carbon in the Serengeti ecosystem of East Africa.
Why are wildebeest the most abundant herbivore in the Serengeti
- J. Hopcraft, R. Holdo, A. Sinclair
- Environmental Science
- 1 May 2015
Grazers, browsers, and fire influence the extent and spatial pattern of tree cover in the Serengeti.
- R. Holdo, R. Holt, J. Fryxell
- Environmental ScienceEcological Applications
- 2009
Grazers can modulate the impact of fire and the strength of the interaction between fire and browsers by altering fuel loads and responding to the distribution of grass across the landscape, and thus exert strong effects on spatial patterns of tree cover in open migratory ecosystems such as the Serengeti.
Woody plant damage by African elephants in relation to leaf nutrients in western Zimbabwe
- R. Holdo
- Environmental ScienceJournal of Tropical Ecology
- 6 February 2003
Elephant damage may suppress recruitment in preferred tree species in Kalahari sand woodlands, supported by the fact that 44% of all trees surveyed had had their main stems broken by elephants, and the negative correlation between the height of damaged trees and elephant damage across species.
Revisiting the Two-Layer Hypothesis: Coexistence of Alternative Functional Rooting Strategies in Savannas
- R. Holdo
- Environmental SciencePLoS ONE
- 12 August 2013
It is shown that, as long as rainfall inputs are stochastic, coexistence based on rooting differences is viable under a wide range of conditions, even when these differences are subtle.
Predicted Impact of Barriers to Migration on the Serengeti Wildebeest Population
- R. Holdo, J. Fryxell, A. Sinclair, A. Dobson, R. Holt
- Environmental SciencePLoS ONE
- 25 January 2011
Simulation results suggest that a barrier to migration—even without causing habitat loss—could cause the wildebeest population to decline by about a third, and these findings have potentially important ramifications for ecosystem biodiversity, structure, and function in the Serengeti.
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