Desafios para conservação de elefantes na África

• Ano de defesa: 2017
• Autor(a) principal: Zacarias, Daniel Augusta
• Orientador(a): Loyola, Rafael Dias
• Banca de defesa: Loyola, Rafael Dias, Fernandez, Fernando António dos Santos, Machado, Ricardo Bonfim, Diniz Filho, José Alexandre Felizola, Ribeiro, Matheus de Souza Lima
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Goiás
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Evolução (ICB)
• Departamento: Instituto de Ciências Biológicas - ICB (RG)
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Extinção de espécies; Conservação da biodiversidade; Fragmentação de habitats; Governança; Nicho climático; Rewilding; Elefantes africanos
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Habitat fragmentation; Governance; Climate niche; Rewilding; African elephants; Connectivity; Conectividade; Species extinction; Biodiversity conservation
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/8107

Biodiversity conservation is in crisis and urgent responses are needed to reverse the extinction of species, the proliferation of invasive species and the fragmentation of habitats. Among several approaches being implemented, the protection of species with great dispersal capacity and that play important ecological role has been advocated as a solution, since the protection of their habitat in parallel contributes to the protection of other species and habitats. The elephant, a megagardener of forests and savannahs, represents this type of species in the sense that it inhabits vast areas, has a high dispersal capacity and guarantees the dispersion and growth of plant species in extensive areas. Unfortunately, the current situation of the elephant is not positive and international efforts have been developed to reverse the current scenarios of reduction of its abundance and the protection of its habitat. This thesis focuses on African elephant species (Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis) and aims to contribute to the knowledge of the main challenges that must be embraced for their protection, using an interdisciplinary approach involving scientometric analysis, climate niche modelling, multi-scale modelling of habitat connectivity, quasi-linear regression models and structural equations and knowledge syntheses. Chapter I presents a systematic review of conservation genetics studies of the African savannah elephant and discusses the main research areas, the elephant populations involved and the main lines of research addressed. Chapter 2 presents the modelling of the climatic niche response to multi-temporal climate change and determines the potential for connectivity between remaining elephant habitats and chapter 3 presents the interaction between environmental, socioeconomic and governance indicators to explain abundance of elephants in Africa, based on the most recent IUCN estimates. The fourth chapter discusses the main challenges associated with the introduction of African elephants as a strategy for the recovery of lost ecological functions with the extinction of megafauna in the Pleistocene, and the fifth chapter, which concludes, presents the synthesis of challenges and opportunities for the conservation of African elephants.