Elephants boost tree losses in South Africa's largest savanna reserve

Protected areas, such as nature reserves and national parks, play a crucial role in sheltering wildlife, such as African elephants, from hunting and habitat destruction. But it's important that conservation managers understand how the vegetation in these natural protected zones is affected by the population growth that is spurred by this animal safeguarding. To this end, new work from a team led by Carnegie's Greg Asner examined the effect elephants have on the woody plant life in Kruger National Park, the largest protected area in South Africa, and showed that elephants are one of the preserve's leading causes of fallen trees.

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