The Impact of Elephants on the Woody Vegetation of Mole National Park, Ghana:

Abstract

Elephant damage on trees ≥ 2 m tall involving uprooting and main trunk breakage, as well as debarking was assessed in the upper- to middle-slope and lower-slope savannas of the elephantoccupied section of Mole National Park. Elephant damage on trees in either vegetation type was light, but varied among the different tree species and the different height classes. These differential levels of impact are likely to favour the less utilized species such as Terminalia spp., at the expense of the more commonly damaged species such as Burkea africana, Maytenus senegalensis and Vitellaria paradoxa. There is, however, no compelling evidence to suggest that irreversible changes in the vegetation are taking place in the Park. Journal of the Ghana Science Association Vol. 10 (2) 2008: pp. 28-38