preview

Ecological Roles Of African Forest Elephants

Decent Essays
Open Document

Also, The African forest elephants are, similar to Maxwell’s duikers, “important dispersers of seeds through their consumption of fruit” [4]. Forest dates in particular are thought of as elephant-dependent, since the seed develops superiorly after going through an elephant’s system and moreover, “the decline of elephant populations in West African rain forests in Upper Guinea is correlated with forest date population declines” [4]. Figs are known to be a large food source for many animal species throughout the rainforest, giving the ability for a wider range of biodiversity for both plants and animals. This makes the dispersal of seeds by African forest elephants a crucial part of Ghana’s fig population, also creating an impact on other …show more content…

African forest elephants can also provide ivory for economic profit if maintained in a well-structured system to boost the numbers in its population. Moreover, both species provide their hides and skins for marketable products for Ghana’s consumers. But, for these species of animal to be useful and have a positive impact for our human population as well, management preparation and action is needed to be taken to prevent any negative forthcomings.
Policies need to be put into place to effectively change the management of these tropical forest inhabitants. One option of policy that I strongly recommend would be to change the logging and deforestation rates along with a different structural aspect to the process. An idea by the Biodiversity of West African Forests explains that, “Many large animals have large home ranges as a result of fragmentation of forest, the resulting forest patches may be too small to sustain a viable animal population. Thus for effective protection of plant species and their related animals sizeable forest tracts are needed. An alternative is a combination of smaller patches connected to each other with corridors, forming ecological networks” [6]. These networks would link the forest reserves and other cataloged forests. This type of networking strategy is needed so that the passageways can be used as linkages for both animals and plants to travel throughout more land area so that they can maintain

Get Access