New Publication: Conservation with elevated elephant densities

Nature conservation and restoration in terrestrial ecosystems is often focused on increasing the numbers of megafauna, expecting them to have positive impacts on ecological self-regulation processes and biodiversity. In sub-Saharan Africa, conservation efforts also aspire to protect and enhance biodiversity with particular focus on elephants. However, elephant browsing carries the risk of woody biomass losses. In this context, little is known about how increasing elephant numbers affects carbon stocks in soils, including the subsoils. We hypothesized that (1) increasing numbers of elephants reduce tree biomass, and thus the amount of C stored therein, resulting (2) in a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). If true, a negative carbon footprint could limit the sustainability of elephant conservation from a global carbon perspective.

Area under study

To test these hypotheses, we selected plots of low, medium, and high elephant densities in two national parks and adjacent conservancies in the Namibian component of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Area (KAZA), and quantified carbon storage in both woody vegetation and soils (1 m). Analyses were supplemented by the assessment of soil carbon isotopic composition. We found that increasing elephant densities resulted in a loss of tree carbon storage by 6.4 t ha−1. However, and in contrast to our second hypothesis, SOC stocks increased by 4.7 t ha−1 with increasing elephant densities. These higher SOC stocks were mainly found in the topsoil (0–30 cm) and were largely due to the formation of SOC from woody biomass. A second carbon input source into the soils was megaherbivore dung, which contributed with 0.02–0.323 t C ha−1 year−1 to ecosystem carbon storage in the low and high elephant density plots, respectively. Consequently, increasing elephant density does not necessarily lead to a negative C footprint, as soil carbon sequestration and transient C storage in dung almost compensate for losses in tree biomass.

Sandhage-Hofmann, A, Linstädter, A, Kindermann, L, Angombe, S, Amelung, W 2021, ‘Conservation with elevated elephant densities sequesters carbon in soils despite losses of woody biomass’ Global Change Biology, Vol 27, Issue 19, pp 4601- 4614 DOI.

More CRC News

picture taken at a workshop

Exploring Platformization in Africa: Insights from a Workshop on Digital Transformation

By Victoria Luxen (Project C01 Future in Chains). From February 24 to 27, 2025, I participated in the workshop “Writing about Platformization from Africa” at ...
Read More »
poster for a public lecture

CRC-TRR Public Lecture: Stefan Ouma

Mon | April 7th, 2025 | 16:00 – 17:30  (CEST) Between the City and the Countryside: Centering Accumulation in African Studies Prof. Dr. Stefan Ouma ...
Read More »
a Picture of the Thwake Dam in Kenya

New Publication: Infrastructural Promises and the Non-Economy of Anticipation – Lessons from the Thwake Dam

In this article, Arne Rieber, Eric Kioko and Theo Aalders (Project C03 Green Futures) examine how the promises of large-scale infrastructure projects shape community aspirations ...
Read More »
the image shows the book "visions for an african valley" by jonathan jackson

New Monograph Explores Over a Century of Development Visions in Tanzania’s Kilombero Valley

Future Rural Africa researcher Jonathan M. Jackson (Project A02 Past Futures) recently expanded on his doctoral research in a monograph titled “Visions for an African ...
Read More »
This illustration portrays the emerging labor camp near the future Kidunda Dam construction site, highlighting the intersection of infrastructure development, precarious labor, and the yet-to-materialize promises of the dam project

New Publication: How Labour has the Potential to Make Marginalised Futures Visible and Real

In this recent publication, Theo Aalders and Detlef Müller-Mahn (Project C03 Green Futures) explore how labour shapes future-making in East African infrastructure projects, balancing between ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top