<
https://theconversation.com/ebony-and-ivory-why-elephants-and-forests-rise-and-fall-together-in-the-congo-basin-264500>
"The forest elephants of the Congo Basin are critically endangered and face
extinction.
They live in Africa’s largest forest, extending over the continent’s west and
central regions. Large populations are found in Gabon and the Republic of Congo
and smaller groups in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra
Leone and Nigeria.
But ivory poaching means their numbers have plummeted by 86% over the past
three decades.
The sharp reduction of their population has a knock-on effect on the Congo
Basin forest itself. This is because African forest elephants are the
rainforest’s gardeners. They disperse more plant species than any other animal,
regenerating and reshaping plant communities.
I’m a conservation scientist and part of a research team of international and
Cameroonian scientists who set out to examine how forest elephants interact
with West African ebony trees.
We wanted to know if the decline of elephants had negative, cascading effects
on other Congo Basin forest species. We focused on ebony because it was known
to be a food for elephants and its wood is prized for numerous uses."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
