Hugo Jachmann

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Director at Elephant Protection Initiative

The United Nations (UN) System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA – EA, UN 2021) has the potential to provide decision-makers with valuable information about the economic value of ecosystems and their components. However, the system has several shortcomings that must be addressed. The need for hard data, the focus on...

The primary objective of the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme is to monitor worldwide trends in elephant poaching. MIKE has been employing in its analyses the proportion of illegally killed elephants (PIKE) as a relative indicator of poaching levels. PIKE is subject to a number of potential biases that need to be understo...

Performance and adaptive management systems were introduced in all protected areas in Ghana to stop the decline in wildlife and the further loss of biodiversity. The competitive management system resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of wildlife at seven sites where the system had been in operation for 4 years (2004–2008). We examined t...

Starting in 2004, a system to monitor patrol staff performance, illegal wildlife use and trends in large-mammal populations was established in nine protected areas in Ghana. The main objectives were to use monitoring feedback as the foundation for informed decisions to aid adaptive and performance management, and to identify the most important fact...

Aerial sample survey, foot survey, vehicle survey, dry-season droppings count and wet-season droppings count were used for estimating elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) densities on the Nazinga Game Ranch, Burkina Faso and evaluated against the results of an aerial total count. Results of all survey techniques except the dry-season dropping cou...

Photogrammetric methods were used to obtain data on the age structure of the separate groups of elephants in Kasungu National Park, Malawi, and of the population as a whole. The age structure is that of a young population with a high reproductive capacity. The mean calving interval between surviving calves is currently estimated as 3‐3 years, while...

Estimation of elephant numbers by means of dropping counts in the Kasungu National Park, Malawi appeared to be heavily biased in the direction of overestimation according to a series of aerial surveys. Over‐estimation errors in the counting technique were due to the boli of one dropping being spread over a considerable distance and to double counti...

Utilization by elephants of the trees of the Brachystegia woodlands of Kasungu National Park, Malawi, was investigated. Of forty-one common species thirtyfive species were eaten, of which thirteen species were selected by elephants. The chemical composition of the leaf material was analysed and a significant correlation was found between the utiliz...

In Africa the usual method of obtaining information on numbers and occupance patterns of large herbivores is aerial survey. In many areas this method is unsatisfactory because of the density of woodland, uneven topography and uneven distribution of animals. Most of the conservation areas in Malawi show one or more of these features. For this reason...

The hypothesis has been put forward that elephants tend to avoid burnt areas and that in consequence the impact of elephant on woodland in burnt areas is reduced. Evidence is presented from Brachystegia woodland in Kasungu National Park, Malawi which supports this hypothesis, firstly with respect to the amount of browsing by elephants in fire trial...

In Ghana, budgetary allocations for protected area management have been consistently low. To improve cost-effectiveness and performance of law enforcement, monitoring feedback was used to provide the foundation for informed management decisions. Between 2004 and 2006, a system to monitor staff performance, patrol effort, illegal wildlife use, and t...

Summary • Over the past 50 years, aerial counts have been widely used in African wildlife management; however, the accuracy of the resulting estimates has rarely been questioned. The reliability of aerial counts of large African herbivores was examined by comparing the results of a series of systematic aerial sample counts with those from a series...

The technique and the field procedures relating to aerial total counts were first summarised by Norton-Griffiths (1975). Although the concept is simple, the design of an aerial census requires careful consideration to minimise error and bias. The main objective of an aerial census is to describe accurately the total number of a particular target sp...

In the late 1950s, scientists and wildlife managers began using light aircraft to count animals on large tracts of African savanna rangeland. At first they were doing total counts, but then they realised that it would be far more cost-efficient to use some form of sampling. It was also becoming apparent that for management purposes trends in wildli...

The use of dropping counts in ecological studies is not always accepted by laymen as a valid method. The lack of credence for the method stems from the fact that laymen and many professionals alike feel that counting excrement is a trivial and banal activity, in addition to the fact that no live animals need to be observed, which makes it even more...

Animal spoor or footprints per unit area can be used as an index of abundance (Van Dijke et al., 1986; Koster and Hart, 1988), while footprint measurements can be used to approximate the age-structure of an elephant population (Western et al., 1983), or to determine absolute density and distribution of elephant and black rhino (Kelly and Beer, 1994...

Counting techniques discussed in previous chapters produce absolute estimates of density, whereas index counts yield relative densities or density indices. Relative densities can be defined as the density of one population relative to another, or the density of a population at time t relative to its density at time t + 1. Thus, relative densities a...

This subject was briefly introduced in the first chapter (see section 1.2), but now needs to be expanded to relate the different techniques for estimating animal abundance to conditions commonly found in practice.

The line-transect technique is relatively easy to apply in the field, but the underlying theory and the mathematics involved are complicated, and consequently a computer and appropriate software are essential tools. The underlying theory has been described in a series of papers. The two most important papers were a monograph by Burnham et al. (1980...

Certain indirect techniques, such as the mark/recapture method, or estimating abundance through radio tracking or by using DNA analysis, are special cases. Although these methods are used when only part of a population is visible to the observers, they do not come under the category of index techniques, because they lead to estimates of population...

In previous chapters we have shown that the spatial and temporal distribution of animals has a major influence on the results of sample counts. Therefore, knowledge of seasonal movements and distribution patterns, and the environmental factors that govern these, is important to improve on survey designs.

Estimating animal abundance is central to sound management and is an important part of most wildlife research programs. Counting animals is a challenging task that will take you to many fascinating places that you would not otherwise see. I myself have spent many years in the bush trying to figure out how many animals were in my survey areas, and I...

Aerial sample counting is the most frequently used method to assess the abundance of large ungulate species on the African continent. Since its first use in the 1950s, the technique has changed in many aspects. The accuracy has improved beyond recognition, mainly as a result of the introduction of the GPS as an aid in navigation, and a better under...

Ground count techniques can be divided into total counts and sample counts, carried out on foot or by vehicle. Sample counts by vehicle can be divided into terrain counts, following the same principles as sample counts on foot, and road counts, whereby the sample count is restricted to the existing road-system. The same principles apply to total gr...

1. In the central Luangwa Valley in Zambia, the relationship between the illegal killing of elephants and resource allocation to law enforcement in terms of manpower and budget was investigated for the period 1988-95. 2. Five out of nine predictor variables related to resource allocation, i.e. bonuses paid (cash rewards on arrest of poachers or con...

In the South Luangwa National Park and the adjacent Lupande Game Management Area, located in Zambia's Eastern Province, the fraction of adult tuskless female elephants increased from 10·5% in 1969 to 38·2% in 1989, apparently as a direct result of selective illegal ivory hunting. From 1989 to 1993, the fraction of adult tuskless females declined fr...

Describes the survey methodology and compares the data focussing on the observer bias from aerial surveys undertaken in 1993. A estimated population of 6,000 elephants occupy the South Luangwa National Park and Lupande Game Management area including the Nsefu area along the Luangwa River in the northwest corner of the Upper Lupande section.

Reviews the effectiveness of law enforcement against poaching in the Luangwa Valley during two periods when funds were available. There was a decline, but not a halt in elephant and rhino populations in 1979-1982 when up to 22 effective wildlife scouts were engaged under the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) funds providing an operating budget of US$15 pe...

Elephant-woodland interactions at the Nazinga Game Ranch in south-central Burkina Faso, West Africa, were studied. The ranch covers 940 km2 of tallgrass Combretum/Terminalia woodland. The density of tree and shrub stems abobe 1 m tall averaged approximately 800/ha, and remained relatively unchanged at densities from 0 to 0·6 elephants/km2. At highe...

Data on woodland utilization, habitat preference, and elephant distribution show that at the Nazinga Game Ranch in southern Burkina Faso, elephants prefer areas that are left unburned during the dry season. Comparison with elsewhere in Africa shows that resprouting of the vegetation after fire is likely to be the most important factor in determinin...

Mature foliage selected by elephants in Brachystegial Julbernardia woodlands was characterized by high mineral and sugar content. Tree species avoided were high in total phenols and steroidal saponins, and often were poorly digestable due to high concentrations of lignin. In general, food selection appeared to be unrelated to protein content, which...

"Outlines methods of getting information on elephant occupance and suggests both direct aerial counts and ground surveys are inaccurate due to limited visibility and uneven distribution. An alternative method of faecal dropping counts was used to assess elephant occupance on the Nazinga Ranch. Field procedures are outlined and analysis and the resu...

The paper clarifies and expands on ideas relating to the interaction between elephants and woodlands. Aspects of elephant dietary requirements and woodland response to elephant damage are discussed. Instability of woodlands in arid eutrophic areas is the outcome between a number of factors, including seed germination, amount of browsing, season dur...

Pheromone production in courtship by a male Nasonia decreases with age, either in quantity or in activity. The female becomes more sensitive with age for one or more courtship stimuli produced by the male. This latter process appears to overrule the loss in pheromone production or activity in the male.

The increase in the number of elephants in some of the conservation areas was followed by a decline in woodland density due to a combination of the destruction by elephants and burning by man. The article addresses the issue of whether modification of woodland by elephants is a natural phenomenon that is part of a cyclical relationship existing bet...

Using a recognition file that was compiled during the study, information on movements of individually known elephants was collected over two periods, one of three and one of eight months, in 1978 and 1981/82, respectively. There appeared to be a relationship between the number of animals in the family unit and the size of the home range/activity ar...

Ionic composition of the haemolymph and electrophysiological responses of tarsal taste hairs were determined for individual flies of the species Calliphora vicina, in order to test the hypothesis that electrophysiological response values of individual flies are correlated with the ionic composition. Instead of flame photometry we used isotachophore...

By using an elephant recognition file that was compiled during the study, data on group structures were obtained. A photogrammetric method was used to obtain data on the age-structure of the separate groups and the population as a whole. The age-structure is that of a young, healthy and rapidly increasing population. Peaks and troughs in the age-st...

Thesis (Ph.D)--Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen, [1984?]