Why elephants are crucial to Earth’s survival

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Elephants are the "gardeners of the forest" - and could hold the key to saving the planet, according to new research.

Earth's largest land animals slow up global warming, say scientists.

They eat low-carbon density trees - creating more space for those that store the most.

The five-ton creatures, prized for their ivory tusks, have been driven to the brink of extinction by poachers.

But they are vital for maintaining Africa's biodiversity.

Senior author Dr. Stephen Blake, of Saint Louis University in Missouri, said: "Elephants have been hunted by humans for millennia.

"As a result, African forest elephants are critically endangered.

"The argument that everybody loves elephants hasn't raised sufficient support to stop the killing.

"Shifting the argument for elephant conservation toward the role forest elephants play in maintaining the biodiversity of the forest, that losing elephants would mean losing forest biodiversity, hasn't worked either, as numbers continue to fall

"We can now add the robust conclusion that if we lose forest elephants, we will be doing a global disservice to climate change mitigation.

"The importance of forest elephants for climate mitigation must be taken seriously by policymakers to generate the support needed for elephant conservation.

"The role of forest elephants in our global environment is too important to ignore."

Populations have experienced significant declines over the last century.

There are now only about 400,000 left in Africa and an estimated 30,000 in Asia.

A century ago, they were common across both continents. Elephants face added threats from habitat loss and global warming.

The study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science documents for the first time their influence on carbon retention.

If they disappear, the rainforest of central and west Africa - the second largest on Earth - will lose six to nine percent of its ability to capture atmospheric carbon.

Some trees have light wood and others have heavy - low and high carbon respectively.

The former grow quicker - rising above other plants and trees to get to the sunlight.

The latter need less sunlight and are able to thrive in shade.

Elephants and other megaherbivores affect the abundance feeding mainly on low-carbon-density trees.

They are more palatable and nutritious. The preference 'thins' the forest - much like lumberjacks boost their favorite species.

The phenomenon reduces competition - providing more light, space and soil nutrients for high-carbon trees to flourish.

Dr. Blake said: "Elephants eat lots of leaves from lots of trees and they do a lot of damage when they eat.

"They'll strip leaves from trees, rip off a whole branch or uproot a sapling when eating and our data shows most of this damage occurs to low carbon density trees.

"If there are a lot of high carbon density trees around that's one less competitor - eliminated by the elephants."

Elephants are also excellent dispersers of the seeds of high carbon density trees which produce large nutritious fruits they eat.

Those seeds pass through the elephants' gut undamaged. When released through dung, they are primed to germinate and grow into some of the largest trees in the forest.

Dr. Blake said: "Elephants are the gardeners of the forest.

"They plant the forest with high carbon density trees and they get rid of the 'weeds' which are the low carbon density trees.

"They do a tremendous amount of work maintaining the diversity of the forest."

The pachyderms are directly tied to influencing carbon levels in the atmosphere.

High-carbon-density trees store more carbon from the atmosphere in their wood than low-carbon-density trees - combating global warming.

Dr. Blake said: "They have multiple societal benefits.

"Kids all over the world play with stuffed elephants in bedrooms.

"African forest elephants also promote rainforest diversity in a multitude of ways."

It underlines the importance of conserving forest elephants of the Congo Basin and West Africa.

Communities are already 'functionally extinct' in many areas. Numbers are so low they have no significant ecological impact.

Dr. Blake said: "The illegal killing of elephants and the illegal trade remains active.

"Ten million once roamed across Africa and now there are less than 500,000 with most populations living in isolated pockets.

"They range from endangered to critically endangered, with their numbers plummeting by more than 80 percent in the last 30-plus years."

"Elephants are protected under national and international law, and yet poaching continues.

"These illegal killings must stop to prevent forest elephant extinction. Now we have a choice.

"As a global society, we can continue to hunt these highly social and intelligent animals and watch them become extinct, or we can find ways to stop this illegal activity.

"Save the elephants and help save the planet, it really is that simple."