Elephant pathway use in a human-dominated landscape

Habitat loss and fragmentation are one of the biggest threats facing wildlife today. Understanding the role of wildlife pathways in connecting resource areas is key to maintain landscape connectivity, reduce the impacts of habitat loss and help address human-wildlife conflict. In this study, we used sign surveys and camera trapping to understand the fine scale movement of elephants moving between a protected area and agricultural zone in the Masai Mara, Kenya. We used Generalised Linear Models to determine factors driving high frequency of pathway use by elephants. Our results showed strong seasonal trends in pathway use, with peaks coinciding with the dry season. However, no correlations between rainfall and pathway use were found. Temporal patterns of pathway use indicate that elephants use risk avoidance strategies by moving between the two areas at times of low human disturbance. Spatial analysis revealed that the most frequently used pathways were closer to farms, saltlicks and for..., We identified active pathways along the escarpment with the assistance of local rangers and farmers (Figure 2). We assumed pathways were in use if the path was devoid of vegetation (Blake and Inkamba-Nkulu, 2004), marked with elephant dung or footprints and showed signs of elephant browsing on the bordering vegetation (Von Gerhardt et al., 2014). Pathways that did not show any of these signs were not included in this study. We then mapped each pathway using a Garmin Etrek30 Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS track was taken from the bottom of the escarpment on the border of the Masai Mara to the top of the escarpment. The end of the pathway was determined by the point at which the pathway widened and became open habitat. Habitat type was also recorded on each pathway using a classification system from Kindt et al., (2011). As each pathway went through a number of different habitats, we used a GPS to record the co-ordinate at which there was a change in habitat type. To determine s..., , # Elephant pathway use in a human-dominated landscape

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8q20](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ns1rn8q20)

Data includes the final clean Excel sheets containing all the variable data that was imported into R for analysis. This data was used for Spearman’s Rank Correlation tests, a linear model and descriptive statistics.

## Description of the data and file structure

The files 'SURVEY A_results' and 'SURVEY B_results' are Excel spreadsheets with a summary of the camera trap images from the pathways. Each row is one camera trap image with the processed data of the date, time, photo label, elephant group type, number of elephants and whether the elephants were traveling up or down the pathway.

The file 'Data_Analysis_1' is an Excel spreadsheet that has all the data used in the papers models. This dataset has the different pathway use variables that were tested. For example, distance to farmland, slope etc. 

The file 'conflict' is an Excel spreadsheet wit...