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Ungulate community structure and ecological processes: body size, hoof area and trampling in African savannas

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Abstract

A wide range of bioenergetic, production, life history and ecological traits scale with body size in vertebrates. However, the consequences of differences in community body-size structure for ecological processes have not been explored. We studied the scaling relationships between body mass, shoulder height, hoof area, stride length and daily ranging distance in African ungulates ranging in size from the 5 kg dik-dik to the 5,000 kg African elephant, and the implications of these relationships on the area trampled by single and multispecies herbivore communities of differing structure. Hoof area, shoulder height and stride length were strongly correlated with body mass (Pearson's r >0.98, 0.95 and 0.90, respectively). Hoof area scaled linearly to body mass with a slope of unity, implying that the pressures exerted on the ground per unit area by a small antelope and an elephant are identical. Shoulder height and stride length scaled to body mass with similar slopes of 0.32 and 0.26, respectively; larger herbivores have relatively shorter legs and take relatively shorter steps than small herbivores, and so trample a greater area of ground per unit distance travelled. We compared several real and hypothetical single- and multi-species ungulate communities using exponents of between 0.1 and 0.5 for the body mass to daily ranging distance relationship and found that the estimated area trampled was greater in communities dominated by larger animals. The impacts of large herbivores are not limited to trampling. Questions about the ecological implications of community body-size structure for such variables as foraging and food intake, dung quality and deposition rates, methane production, and daily travelling distances remain clear research priorities.

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Acknowledgements

D.H.M.C. was supported for part of this work by the WWF Multispecies Animal Productions Systems Project and G.S.C. was supported by a David H. Smith Fellowship at the Centre for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin. We thank Norman Owen-Smith and Anthony Starfield for their helpful, critical comments on an earlier version of this paper and Bob Burn, Erica Keogh and Susan Richardson-Kageler for advice on statistical matters. Astrid Huelin kindly provided body measurements from three adult female elephant of known weights. We also thank two anonymous referees and the Editor, Dr. Roland Brandl, for their contribution to improving this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tropical Resource Ecology Programme, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

    David H. M. Cumming

  2. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

    Graeme S. Cumming

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  1. David H. M. Cumming
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  2. Graeme S. Cumming
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Correspondence to David H. M. Cumming.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Morphometric data for 44 African ungulates. Common names follow Skinner and Smithers (1990)

Species

Adult female mass (kg)

Unit mass (kg)

Metabolic mass (UM^0.75)

Shoulder height (cm)

Mean hoof area (cm2)

Stride length (cm)

Elephanta

2,275

1,725

267.7

240

997.5

256

White rhino

1,500

1,500

241.0

170

607.2

210

Hippo

1,320

1,000

177.8

140

487.8

Black rhino

850

816

152.7

160

278.4

148

Giraffe

825

750

143.3

274

189.6

247

Buffalo

450

450

97.7

140

139.7

150

Eland

450

340

79.2

160

71.9

145

Cape mountain zebra

234

124

57.5

Roan

250

220

57.1

140

62.9

Burchell's zebra

302

200

53.2

134

97.5

139

Sable

200

185

50.2

135

51.9

145

Cattleb

306

180

49.1

125

85.0

Blue Wildebeest

180

165

46.0

135

31.4

157

Waterbuck

175

160

45.0

130

26.1

135

Gemsbok

225

150

42.9

120

39.4

Lichtenstein's Hartebeest

166

137

40.0

124

23.6

Kudu

160

135

39.6

130

36.9

123

Black Wildebeest

160

133

39.2

110

31.9

Red Hartebeest

136

125

37.4

125

29.6

Sitatunga

115

110

34.0

90

17.8

Tsessebe

126

110

34.0

115

26.1

150

Nyala

62

73

25.0

97

15.4

Red Lechwe

79

72

24.7

97

19.5

Puku

61

58

21.0

78

12.1

Blesbok

61

53

19.6

90

17.1

Bushpig

59

50

18.8

65

11.6

Warthog

57

45

17.4

65

12.2

85

Impala

60

45

17.4

90

15.4

100

Reedbuck

50

40

15.9

85

16.4

Mountain Reedbuck

28

25

11.2

75

7.6

Bushbuck

35

30

12.8

69

7.4

98

Sheep and Goatsb

42

30

12.8

60

14.8

Springbok

39

26

11.5

75

10.7

112

Common Duiker

20

15

7.6

50

5.8

70

Oribi

14

10

5.6

59

4.5

Steenbok

11

8

4.8

52

3.6

Grey Rhebok

20

15

7.6

75

7.3

Klipspringer

13.2

10

5.6

49

1.8

Red duiker

11.9

8

4.8

42

2.8

Sharpe's grysbok

7.5

6

3.8

47

2.6

Grysbok

10.5

6

3.8

54

3.0

Blue Duiker

4.7

4

2.8

30

1.6

Dik-Dik

5

4

2.8

40

1.9

Suni

5.4

4

2.8

35

1.5

  1. aMass, shoulder height and hoof area from three adult female elephants of known weight
  2. bMass and hoof area from Ssemakula (1983)

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Cumming, D.H.M., Cumming, G.S. Ungulate community structure and ecological processes: body size, hoof area and trampling in African savannas. Oecologia 134, 560–568 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1149-4

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