Elizabeth Le Roux

• PhD
• Assistant Professor at Aarhus University

Centring on South Africa's Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, this book synthesizes a century of insights from the ecology and conservation management of one of Africa's oldest protected wildlife areas. The park provides important lessons for conservation management, as it has maintained conservation values rivalling those of much larger parks sometimes throu...

The loss of apex consumers (large mammals at the top of their food chain) is a major driver of global change [1]. Yet, research on the two main apex consumer guilds, large carnivores [2] and megaherbivores [3], has developed independently, overlooking any potential interactions. Large carnivores provoke behavioral responses in prey [1, 4], driving...

The loss of megafauna at the terminal Pleistocene has been linked to a wide range of Earth-system-level changes, such as altered greenhouse gas budgets, fire regimes and biome-level vegetation changes. Given these influences and feedbacks, might part of the solution for mitigating anthropogenic climate change lie in the restoration of extant megafa...

Females of most taxa mate selectively. Mate selection may be: (1) pre-copulatory, involving active female choice and male-male competition, and (2) post-copulatory, with cryptic female choice and sperm competition. Because female dung beetles (Circellium bacchus) invest heavily in parental care by ball-rolling and remaining with developing larva th...

Abstract It is commonly assumed that larger species are more vulnerable to extinction because of their low population densities and slow time to recover from setbacks. We report that, contrary to this expectation, it is the smaller ungulate species that first reached the brink of local extirpation within a 950 km2 fenced protected area, the Hluhluw...

Empirical studies worldwide show that warming has variable effects on plant litter decomposition, leaving the overall impact of climate change on decomposition uncertain. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 109 experimental warming studies across seven continents, using natural and standardised plant material, to assess the overarching effect of warmin...

Wild animals can modulate ecosystem-climate feedbacks, e.g. through impacts on vegetation and associated carbon dynamics. However, vegetation cover and composition also affect land surface albedo, which is an important component of the global energy budget. We currently know very little about the influence of wild animals on land surface albedo and...

Large animal conservation and rewilding are increasingly considered to be viable climate mitigation strategies. We argue that overstating animal roles in carbon capture may hinder, rather than facilitate, effective climate mitigation and conservation efforts.

Anthropogenic eutrophication of ecosystems is an important driver of biodiversity loss. Even protected areas (PAs) may be impacted by anthropogenic nutrients, for example, from atmospheric deposition or the provision of supplementary feeding. However, the resultant nutrient patterns, and the role of local wildlife in shaping them, remain poorly und...

Empirical studies worldwide show substantial variability in plant litter decomposition responses to warming, leaving the overall impact of climate change on this process uncertain. We conducted a meta-analysis of 109 experimental warming studies across seven continents, utilizing natural and standardized plant material, to assess the overarching ef...

Across the last ~50,000 years (the late Quaternary) terrestrial vertebrate faunas have experienced severe losses of large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring in the Late Pleistocene and Early to Middle Holocene. Debate on the causes has been ongoing for over 200 years, intensifying from the 1960s onward. Here, we outline criteria t...

Freshwater megafauna, such as sturgeons, giant catfishes, river dolphins, hippopotami, crocodylians, large turtles, and giant salamanders, have experienced severe population declines and range contractions worldwide. Although there is an increasing number of studies investigating the causes of megafauna losses in fresh waters, little attention has...

Megafauna (animals ≥45 kg) have probably shaped the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems for millions of years with pronounced impacts on biogeochemistry, vegetation, ecological communities and evolutionary processes. However, a quantitative global synthesis on the generality of megafauna effects on ecosystems is lacking. Here we conducted a meta-analysi...

Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory. Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects on plants compared with native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies,...

While human-driven biological invasions are rapidly spreading, finding scalable and effective control methods poses an unresolved challenge. Here, we assess whether megaherbivores—herbivores reaching ≥1,000 kg of body mass—offer a nature-based solution to plant invasions. Invasive plants are generally adapted to maximize vegetative growth. Megaherb...

In nutrient-poor wildlife reserves it has become common-practice to provide supplemental mineral resources for wildlife. Yet, the impacts of anthropogenic mineral supplementation on large herbivore nutrition, behaviour, and subsequent impact on ecosystem processes have received little attention. Here, we examine the contribution of anthropogenic mi...

Recent studies suggest that wild animals can promote ecosystem carbon sinks through their impacts on vegetation and soils. However, livestock studies show that intense levels of grazing reduce soil organic carbon (SOC), leading to concerns that rewilding with large grazers may compromise ecosystem carbon storage. Furthermore, wild grazers can both...

In nutrient-poor wildlife reserves it has become common-place to provide supplemental mineral resources for wildlife. Yet, the impacts of anthropogenic mineral supplementation on community-wide wildlife nutrition, behaviour and subsequent impact on ecosystem processes remain poorly understood. Here, we examine the contribution of anthropogenic mine...

Evaluating how intrinsic (intraspecific density), extrinsic (interspecific density and prey density) and anthropogenic (management intervention) factors affect African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population performance is key to implementing effective conservation strategies. Lions (Panthera leo) can affect wild dog populations, and in small and highl...

Ecological restoration is critical for climate and biodiversity resilience over the coming century. Today, there is strong evidence that wildlife can significantly influence the distribution and stoichiometry of elements across landscapes, with subsequent impacts on the composition and functioning of ecosystems. Consequently, any anthropogenic acti...

Two major environmental challenges of our time are responding to climate change and reversing biodiversity decline. Interventions that simultaneously tackle both challenges are highly desirable. To date, most studies aiming to find synergistic interventions for these two challenges have focused on protecting or restoring vegetation and soils but ov...

Megaherbivores (adult body mass > 1000 kg) are suggested to disproportionately shape ecosystem and Earth system functioning. We systematically reviewed the empirical basis for this general thesis and for the more specific hypotheses that 1) megaherbivores have disproportionately larger effects on Earth system functioning than their smaller counterp...

Competitively dominant carnivore species can limit the population sizes and alter the behavior of inferior competitors. Established mechanisms that enable carnivore coexistence include spatial and temporal avoidance of dominant predator species by subordinates, and dietary niche separation. However, spatial heterogeneity across landscapes could pro...

Animals concentrate key nutrients in their bodies. In fenced wildlife reserves where nutrient input and/or retention is low, the off‐site removal of animals may constitute a significant loss of nutrients for the ecosystem. Here we add wildlife capture and removal into the phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) budget for a 121,700 ha fenced game reserve l...

Climate change is one of the main challenges facing humanity in the coming century. To understand the impact of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, we urgently require a better understanding of plant responses to climate change. To address this knowledge gap we established a full-factorial warming experiment using open-top cha...

Herbivores balance forage acquisition with the need to avoid predation, often leading to trade‐offs between forgoing resources to avoid areas of high predation risk, or tolerating increased risk in exchange for improved forage. The outcome of these decisions is likely to change with varying resource levels, with herbivores altering their response t...

Significance Herbivores influence nutrient cycling by depositing feces across the landscape. Where herbivores go in the landscape is governed by factors such as food requirements and vulnerability to predation, traits that are related to body size. We show that mammals that differ in body size not only use the landscape differently but also differ...

Optimal foraging theory predicts less diverse predator diets with a greater availability of preferred prey. This narrow diet niche should then be dominated by preferred prey, with implications for predator–prey dynamics and prey population ecology. We investigated lion (Panthera leo) diets in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa, to assess wh...

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research sp...

Landscapes of fear have become widely studied in the northern hemisphere, but are still largely understudied in the more complex, diverse carnivore-prey communities of Africa. Habitat changes brought about by a mega-herbivore, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), can modify the perceived landscape of fear by predation vulnerable prey species...

Variation in the vulnerability of herbivore prey to predation is linked to body size, yet whether this relationship is size‐nested or size‐partitioned remains debated. If size‐partitioned, predators would be focused on prey within their preferred prey size range. If size‐nested, smaller prey species should become increasingly more vulnerable becaus...

Aim Habitat loss and fragmentation is one of the main drivers of defaunation, that is the loss of large mammals. Biological invasions could be drivers of such phenomenon. However, their impact on large herbivore communities has not been studied to our knowledge. We made use of a landscape-scale control programme of one of the world's worst invaders...

1.Where large browsers are abundant, the survival of trees depends upon their ability to deploy defences, either chemical or structural. Structural defences include the arrangement of dense and intricate architecture, termed ‘cage’ architecture. Previous studies showed that trees developing in herbivore-rich environments tend to have more cage arch...

Biological invasions have increased dramatically in the past centuries and are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity today. Chromolaena odorata, a herbaceous shrub from the Americas, is one of the most widespread and problematic invasive plant species in the tropics and sub-tropics. The plant is a serious problem in South Africa, where invasi...

Centring on South Africa's Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, this book synthesizes a century of insights from the ecology and conservation management of one of Africa's oldest protected wildlife areas. The park provides important lessons for conservation management, as it has maintained conservation values rivalling those of much larger parks sometimes throu...

Questions How is woody vegetation patchiness affected by rainfall, fire and large herbivore biomass? Can we predict woody patchiness and cover over large‐scale environmental gradients? Location Hluhluwe‐ iM folozi Park, South Africa. Methods We quantified variation in local patchiness as the lacunarity of woody cover on satellite‐derived images....

Sable antelope, Hippotragus niger, populations have declined substantially in Kruger National Park, South Africa despite large-area protection from land use and poaching. Since Africa's large mammal populations are restricted to protected areas, understanding how to manage parks for biological diversity is critically important to the sustainability...

Animals that are relatively rare in local species assemblages are commonly assumed to be narrowly selective in their habitat or dietary requirements, with the latter generally assessed in terms of the range of food types consumed. We inves-tigated whether a narrow dietary range might help explain the restricted distribu-tion and low local densities...

In the Kruger National Park, sable antelope underwent a substantial decline in abundance after 1987. Our study investigated whether forage quality as reflected by faecal nutrient contents could be restricting population recovery. Faecal samples were collected from sable, zebra and buffalo in one study area and from sable only in a second study area...

Sable antelope numbers in the Kruger National Park have declined substantially since the mid-1980s and have shown little recovery despite improved rainfall conditions. We used aerial survey records to investigate how changes in herd numbers, herd sizes, calf proportions and consequent changes in the distribution range of breeding herds contributed...