African elephants (Loxodonta africana) utilise corridors to access limited resources, that is forage and water scattered across heterogeneous habitats they roam. The existence of small elephant metapopulations depend on the intactness of these corridors to access the scarce resources. Due to the sedentarisation of the previously nomadic Maasai people, elephant corridors have been exposed to increased fragmentation from human-induced activities across the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya. In this study, we sought to compare the scale of fragmentation between corridors and their immediate landscapes (noncorridors) in the Amboseli ecosystem, Kenya. We used a Brownian Bridge Movement Model (BBMM) to identify corridors used by elephants from global positioning system (GPS) collar data. The scale of fragmentation between corridors and noncorridors was determined using the effective mesh size fragmentation metric (m_eff). Our results showed that elephant corridors were significantly less fragmented (Wilcoxon sum rank test: W = 6,121.5, p < 0.05) when compared to the noncorridors. The presence of fragmentation geometries in the corridors remains a major cause of concern for wildlife managers as they have the potential to invade and constrict the existing corridors. Our results underscore the need to extend management of elephant habitats to migration corridors outside protected areas.

中文翻译：

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非洲象（Loxodonta africana）选择零散的景观来连接人类主导景观中的核心栖息地

非洲象（非洲象）利用走廊访问有限的资源，即饲料和水散布在它们漫游的异类生境中。小象种群的存在取决于这些走廊的完好性，以获取稀缺的资源。由于先前游牧的马赛族人久坐不动，大象走廊在肯尼亚安博塞利生态系统中的人为活动造成的碎片化加剧。在这项研究中，我们试图比较肯尼亚安博塞利生态系统中走廊及其附近景观（非走廊）之间的破碎程度。我们使用了布朗桥运动模型（BBMM）从全球定位系统（GPS）项圈数据中识别出大象所使用的走廊。使用有效的网格尺寸碎片度量（m _eff）。我们的结果表明，与非走廊相比，大象走廊的碎片化程度明显更低（Wilcoxon总秩检验：W = 6,121.5，p  <0.05）。走廊中破碎的几何形状的存在仍然是野生动植物管理者关注的主要原因，因为野生动植物管理者有可能入侵和限制现有走廊。我们的结果强调，有必要将大象栖息地的管理范围扩展到保护区以外的迁徙走廊。