Elephant population survey counts across southern Africa protected areas

The influence of protected areas on the growth of African savannah elephant populations is inadequately known. Across southern Africa, elephant numbers grew at 0.16% annually for the past quarter century. Locally, much depends on metapopulation dynamics — the size and connections of individual populations. Population numbers in large, connected and strictly protected areas typically increased, were less variable from year to year, and suffered less from poaching. Conversely, populations in buffer areas that are less protected but still connected have more variation in growth from year to year. Buffer areas also differed more in their growth rates, likely due to more threats and dispersal opportunities in the face of such dangers. Isolated populations showed consistently high growth due to a lack of emigration. This suggests that “fortress” conservation generally maintains high growth, while anthropogenic-driven source-sink dynamics within connected conservation clusters drive stability ..., Data collated from the African elephant database and additional literature. Full list of sources provided in Supplemental Material 3., , # Elephant population survey counts across southern Africa protected areas

Repository for data and supplemental material from \"Protecting and connecting landscapes stabilises populations of the Endangered savannah elephant\". Materials include individual survey counts, calculated growth rates, data sources, and detailed descriptions of elephant populations within each cluster (regional grouping).

## Description of the data tables

*Survey Estimates.csv:* Full list of extracted survey estimates of elephant populations from 1995-2020

* Cluster No: Cluster ID (see Fig 1A and Table 1 of main text)
* Cluster: Cluster name
* Population: Name of protected area
* Year: Year of survey
* Structure: Core/Buffer/Insular (see main text for definitions)
* Estimate: Reported population size
* Upper/Lower.95CL: Upper and lower confidence limits (if provided) (NA indicates data not provided by source)
* Survey Area: Reported area (NA indicates data not provided by source)

*Populatio...