Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Question: Discuss about the Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Answer: Introduction: Conflicts between human activities and conservation of wildlife are at the root of endangered Asian elephants. Human beings and animals live in a shared environment. They human are causing changes in the environment to capture more space on earth for homes thereby hurting animal species (Lakshminarayanan et al. 2015). Asian elephants are one of the endangered species whose population is decreasing and they are on the verge of extinction (Redpath et al. 2013). In addition to that, the elephant population has been dramatically declined due to excessive demand of ivory along with the wild habitat loss from urbanization. In this context, it has been identified that African elephants are going extinct in rapid speed. It has been observed that in last five decades the elephant population in Africa has been reduced to mere 600,000 from over 10 million. The major factors behind the elephant population reduction are exploitation along with habitat loss. Research Question Is the most important solution to the threat to the Indian elephant is the prevention of poaching for ivory or habitat conservation? Significance of the Research According to World Wild Life, elephants are one of the most important cultural icons in Asia. Currently, their population is 40,000-50,000 and they face the status of being endangered (Worldwildlife.org, 2016). This research is significant for the human population as it is important to main biodiversity in the planet. The eco-systems are becoming vulnerable and would eventually fall apart as the food chain link would break. Moreover, the elephant in Asian landscape greatly helps to forging trails, digging waterholes, creating salt licks, breaking up bushes as well as pulling down trees. The droppings of the elephant are also play a significant role in the environment. The undigested seeds and nuts are often picked from the dung by birds and baboons. Furthermore, several seeds need to pass through elephants digestive system in order to germinate. In addition to that, the elephant dung contains extensive amount of nutrient-reach manure, which is a significant element of replenishing th e depleted soil. Thesis Statement The study raises the argument that elephant extinction is a huge loss for the environment and attempts to investigate the ways to prevent the declining slope of Asian elephant survival. Scholarly Sources The main point of the article is to indicate that the Asian elephants are more resilient to climate change and there is a need to address the issues for minimizing the adverse effect of climate change on their survival. The evidence that supports the above point is the statistical data and the bioclimatic and environmental variables. The article has been successful to indicate that climate change will be able to influence the Asian elephant habitat. It suggests taking an immediate approach of Trans-boundary conversation program regarding the reservation of numerous species. The article is useful to the thesis statement as it provides conservation methods to save endangered Asian elephants.The main point of this article is to address the issues of translocation of problem-elephants as the mitigation and conservation strategy as they are being killed. The evidence is collected through research method by using radio-collars on problem elephants and studying the them. The study has been able to study the elephant behavior by observing 16 translocations with GPS collars in Sri Lanka. The article is useful as it provides translocation as one of the reasons of increasing mortality rates of Asian elephants. The article also indicates that the Human-elephant conflict is the most critical factor of low survival rate of endangered Asian elephants. The main point of the article is to reconcile wildlife conservation and restrict land use for humans. The evidence is supported by studying in a heterogeneous landscape and statistical sampling methods. This particular study is also focused on identifying the importance of extending the wildlife-friendly land in order to fulfil the basic function of protected areas. The article is useful as it helps in resolving human-animal conflict by evaluating the role of wildlife-friendly land. It has been identified by the study that wildlife friendly land use cannot serve as a substitute of protected area (PA) program due to heavy presence of human. References Alamgir, M., Mukul, S. and Turton, S., 2015. Modelling spatial distribution of critically endangered Asian elephant and Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh forest ecosystems under a changing climate.Applied Geography, 60, pp.10-19. Fernando, P., Leimgruber, P., Prasad, T. and Pastorini, J., 2012. Problem-Elephant Translocation: Translocating the Problem and the Elephant?.PLoS ONE, 7(12), p.e50917. Goswami, V., Sridhara, S., Medhi, K., Williams, A., Chellam, R., Nichols, J. and Oli, M., 2014. Community-managed forests and wildlife-friendly agriculture play a subsidiary but not substitutive role to protected areas for the endangered Asian elephant.Biological Conservation, 177, pp.74-81. Lakshminarayanan, N., Karanth, K., Goswami, V., Vaidyanathan, S. and Karanth, K., 2015. Determinants of dry season habitat use by Asian elephants in the Western Ghats of India.J Zool, 298(3), pp.169-177. Redpath, S., Young, J., Evely, A., Adams, W., Sutherland, W., Whitehouse, A., Amar, A., Lambert, R., Linnell, J., Watt, A. and Gutirrez, R., 2013. Understanding and managing conservation conflicts.Trends in Ecology Evolution, 28(2), pp.100-109. Worldwildlife.org, 2016.Asian Elephant | Species | WWF. [online] Worldwildlife.org. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/asian-elephant [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].