Figure 1.
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolite values of elephants in each reserve.
Average (with 95% confidence intervals) fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations (in dry weight ng/g) for each year samples were collected. Basal FGM concentrations for elephants (15–40 ng/g) are shaded grey.
Figure 2.
Home range size of elephants in each reserve.
Average (with 95% confidence interval) home range size (km2) during the wet (squares) and dry (circles) seasons (top graph). Horizontal lines indicate the size of each reserve. The bottom graph depicts the average (with 95% confidence interval) proportion of each reserve occupied by elephant home ranges. Solid symbols represent mean average home range sized based on utilization distributions (UDs) calculated from nighttime locations and hollow symbols represent UDs calculated from daytime locations.
Figure 3.
Space use patterns by elephants in each reserve.
The distribution of habitat types within iSimangaliso Wetland Park (A), Phinda Private Game Reserve (B), and Pilanesberg National Park (C). The star within each reserve represents the location of the boma (or preconditioning enclosure) that was also the initial release site of elephants. Inset on the right are 95%fixed kernel seasonal utilization distributions (UDs) for a select adult female elephant in each of our study areas based on daytime (top) and nighttime (bottom) locations. Areas in red within the UD represent areas of high intensity use, which fade to blue in areas of low use, and reserve boundaries are demarcated by solid lines. Space use was restricted and differed between day and night at iSimangaliso Wetland Park (A), compared to Phinda Private Game Reserve (B) and Pilanesberg National Park (C).
Figure 4.
Day vs. night space use overlap by elephants in each reserve.
Mean (with 95% confidence interval) volume of intersection index scores for elephant based on comparisons between day and night home range (grey) and core area (white) space use patterns. Volume of intersection index statistic measures the amount of overlap between two utilization distributions. Index values range from 0 to 1, where higher scores indicate a higher degree of overlap.
Figure 5.
Compositional analysis of habitat use by elephants between day and night among reserves.
Mean (with 95% confidence intervals) weighted day and night time use (calculated by summing UD fixed kernel scores by habitat type), compared to availability of habitat types at the reserve level. Habitat names are followed by their compositional analysis rank (Aebischer et al. 1993). Graphs are separated by dry (left column) and wet (right column) season as well as by reserve in rows: iSimangaliso Wetland Park (A), Phinda Private Game Reserve (B), and Pilanesberg National Park (C).