African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) strongly modify vegetation structure by creating natural clearings, yet the consequences of these habitat modifications for threatened ground-nesting species such as the endemic Mount Cameroon Francolin (Pternistis camerunensis) remain largely understood. This poorly studied galliforme faces multiple threats on Mount Cameroon, including hunting, bushfires, and vegetation modification by elephants. Few decades ago, forests on Mount Cameroon were divided by lava flows, creating a barrier that local population of forest elephants not cross until now. The scarcity of ecological information on the Cameroon Francolin prompted us to assess its altitudinal distribution and examine how elephant-induced vegetation changes, across seasons, influence its occurrence. Surveys were conducted during the rainy season (July - August 2021) and the dry season (February - March 2022) at 44 sampling stations (22 undisturbed forest sites and 22 elephant pastures) along an altitudinal gradient from 1100 to 2300 m. Francolins were surveyed using point counts combined with playback within a 300 m radius, while vegetation structure was visually estimated within 50 m of each station. Although habitat type had only a marginal effect on Francolin occurrence, Francolins were more frequently detected in elephant pastures than in forest between 1265 and 2285 m. Vegetation density in the 1 - 3 m and 5 - 10 m strata was negatively correlated with Francolin abundance, whereas the 0 - 1 m stratum showed a positive but non-significant relationship. Occurrence probability declined significantly with increasing elevation. Seasonally, Francolins were more abundant in forest during the rainy season and in elephant pastures during the dry season, though these differences were not statistically significant. Despite limited data due to the species’ rarity, our results suggest that elephant-induced habitat modification may enhance habitat suitability for the Cameroon Francolin. Long-term monitoring is needed to confirm these trends and inform conservation strategies for this range-restricted species.
Cite this paper
Guetse, F. and Angwafo, T. E. (2026). Influence of Elephant-Driven Vegetation Structure and Altitudinal Gradient on the Occurrence of the Endemic Mount Cameroon Francolin. Open Access Library Journal, 13, e14821. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1114821.
Whytock, R.C., Morgan, B.J., Awa, T., Bekokon, Z., Abwe, E.A., Buij, R., et al. (2018) Quantifying the Scale and Socioeconomic Drivers of Bird Hunting in Central African Forest Communities. Biological Conservation, 218, 18-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.11.034
Riegert, J., Chmel, K., Vlček, J., Hrázsky, Z., Sedláček, O., Grill, S., et al. (2021) Alarming Declines in Bird Abundance in an Afromontane Global Biodiversity Hotspot. Biodiversity and Conservation, 30, 3385-3408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02252-1
Su, S., Guetse, F. and Arcilla, N. (2024) A Price on Their Heads? Assessing Foreign Demand as a Driver of Hornbill Hunting in Cameroon. Global Ecology and Conservation, 51, e02905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e02905
Cardoso, A.W., Malhi, Y., Oliveras, I., Lehmann, D., Ndong, J.E., Dimoto, E., et al. (2020) The Role of Forest Elephants in Shaping Tropical Forest-Savanna Coexistence. Eco-systems, 23, 602-616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00424-3
Turkalo, A.K. and Fay, J.M. (2001) Forest Elephant Behavior and Ecology. In: Weber, W., White, L.J.T., Vedder, A., and Naughton-Treves, L., Eds., Conservation and Ecology of an Af-rican Rain Forest, Yale University Press, 207-213.
Mills, E.C., Poulsen, J.R., Fay, J.M., Morkel, P., Clark, C.J., Meier, A., et al. (2018) Forest Elephant Movement and Habitat Use in a Tropical Forest-Grassland Mosaic in Gabon. PLOS ONE, 13, e0199387. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199387
Metsio Sienne, J., Buchwald, R. and Wittemyer, G. (2013) Differentiation in Mineral Constituents in Elephant Selected versus Unselected Water and Soil Resources at Central African Bais (Forest Clearings). European Journal of Wildlife Research, 60, 377-382. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-013-0781-0
Maicher, V., Sáfián, S., Murkwe, M., Delabye, S., Przybyłowicz, Ł., Potocky, P., et al. (2019) Seasonal Shifts of Biodiversity Patterns and Species’ Elevation Ranges of Butterflies and Moths along a Complete Rainforest Elevational Gradient on Mount Cameroon. Journal of Biogeography, 47, 342-354. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13740
Kamga, S.M., Tamungang, S.A., Awa, T., Ewome, F.L., Motombi, F.N., Hořák, D., et al. (2022) The Importance of For-est Elephants for Vegetation Structure Modification and Its Influence on the Bird Community of a Mid-Elevation Forest on Mount Cameroon, West-Central Africa. Diversity, 14, Article 227. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14030227
Vanthomme, H., Kolowski, J., Korte, L. and Alonso, A. (2013) Distribution of a Community of Mammals in Relation to Roads and Other Human Disturbances in Gabon, Central Africa. Conservation Biology, 27, 281-291. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12017
Bakermans, M.H., Rodewald, A.D. and Vitz, A.C. (2012) Influence of Forest Struc-ture on Density and Nest Success of Mature Forest Birds in Managed Land-scapes. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 76, 1225-1234. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.349
O’Connor, T.G., Goodman, P.S. and Clegg, B. (2007) A Functional Hypothesis of the Threat of Local Extir-pation of Woody Plant Species by Elephant in Africa. Biological Conservation, 136, 329-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.12.014
O’Connor, T.G. and Page, B.R. (2014) Simplification of the Composition, Diversity and Structure of Woody Vegetation in a Semi-Arid African Savanna Reserve Following the Re-Introduction of Elephants. Biological Conservation, 180, 122-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.09.036
Beuchner, H.K. and Dawkins, H.C. (1961) Vegetation Change Induced by Elephants and Fire in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Ecology, 42, 752-766. https://doi.org/10.2307/1933504
Cumming, D.H.M. (1981) The Man-agement of Elephant and Other Large Mammals in Zimbabwe. In: Jewell, P.A. and Holt, S., Eds., Problems in Management of Locally Abundant Wild Mam-mals, Elsevier, 91-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-385280-9.50012-3
Holvoet, J. (2021) écorcement des espèces ligneuses par l’éléphant de forêt (Loxodonta cyclotis Matschie, 1900) dans le Parc National de la Lopé (Gabon). Mémoire, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/297481
Jansen, R., Little, R.M. and Crowe, T.M. (1999) Implications of Grazing and Burning of Grasslands on the Sustainable Use of Francolins (Francolinus spp.) and on Overall Bird Con-servation in the Highlands of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Biodiversity & Conservation, 8, 587-602. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1008817415103
hattacharya, D., Archibald, J.M., Weber, A.P.M. and Reyes-Prieto, A. (2007) How Do Endosymbionts Be-come Organelles? Understanding Early Events in Plastid Evolution. BioEssays, 29, 1239-1246. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.20671
Ssemmanda, R. and Fuller, R.A. (2005) Assessing the Status of Handsome Francolin Francolinus nobilis in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Western Uganda. Scopus, 25, 41-50.
Arlettaz, R., Patthey, P. and Braunisch, V. (2013) Impacts of Out-door Winter Recreation on Alpine Wildlife. In: Rixen, C. and Rolando, A., Eds., The Impacts of Skiing and Related Winter Recreational Activities on Mountain Environments, Bentham eBooks, 137-154.
Blake, S., Deem, S.L., Mossim-bo, E., Maisels, F. and Walsh, P. (2009) Forest Elephants: Tree Planters of the Congo. Biotropica, 41, 459-468. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00512.x
Djomo Nana, E. and Ngameni Tchamadeu, N. (2014) So-cio-Economic Impacts of Protected Areas Near Mount Cameroon National Park. Parks, 20, 129-137. https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.ch.2014.parks-20-2.edn.en
Fotso, R., Dowsett-Lemaire, F., Dowsett, R.J., Scholte, P., Languy, M. and Bowden, C. (2001) Cameroon. In: Fishpool, L.D.C. and Evans, M.I., Eds., Important Bird Areas of Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation, BirdLife International, 133-159.
Mayaka, T.B., Guetse, F., Chemura, A., Tamungang, R. and Hořák, D. (2021) A Wake-Up Call: Playback Attraction Data Link Numbers of Mount Cameroon Francolin pternistis Camerunensis to Abundance and Debarking of Red Stinkwood prunus Africana. Bird Conservation International, 32, 43-52. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270921000058
Ekobo, A. (2003) Survey of Large Mammals in the Mount Cameroon Forest. Unpublished Report, GTZ Mount Cameroon Project, Environmental Information and Documentation Cen-tre, Buea, Cameroon.
Soh, M.C.K., Mitchell, N.J., Ridley, A.R., Butler, C.W., Puan, C.L. and Peh, K.S.-. (2019) Impacts of Habitat Degradation on Tropical Montane Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: A Systematic Map for Identifying Future Research Priori-ties. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2, Article No. 83. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00083
Fraser, P., Hall, J.B. and Healey, J.R. (1998) Climate of the Mount Cameroon Region: Long and Medium Term Rainfall, Temperature and Sunshine Data. School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences Publication No. 16. University of Wales, Bangor.
Maurice, M.E., Bumtu, K.P., Chembonui, T.E., et al. (2023) The Dy-namics of Crop-Raiding Activity of African Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) at the Periphery of Mount Cameroon National Park, Southwest Region, Cameroon. In-ternational Journal of Zoology and Animal Biology, 6, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.23880/izab-16000484
Reif, J., Sedláčk, O., Hořák, D., Riegert, J., Pešata, M., Hrázsky, Z., et al. (2007) Habitat Preferences of Birds in a Montane Forest Mosaic in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon. Ostrich, 78, 31-36. https://doi.org/10.2989/ostrich.2007.78.1.5.49
Mills, M.S.L., Olmos, F., Melo, M. and Dean, W.R.J. (2011) Mount Moco: Its Importance to the Conservation of Swierstra’s Francolin pternistis Swierstrai and the Af-romontane Avifauna of Angola. Bird Conservation International, 21, 119-133. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270910000493
Bibby, C.J., Burgess, N.D., Hill, D.A. and Mustoe, S. (2000) Bird Census and Livelihoods around Mount Cameroon. Biodiversity and Conserva-tion, 16, 2401-2427.
Sutherland, W.J., Pullin, A.S., Dolman, P.M. and Knight, T.M. (2004) The Need for Evidence-Based Conserva-tion. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 19, 305-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.018
Fuller, R., Akite, P., Amuno, J., Fuller, C., Ofwono, J., Proaktor, G., et al. (2012) Using Playback of Vocalisa-tions to Survey the Nahan’s Francolin, a Threatened African Forest Galliform. Ostrich, 83, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2012.677510
Johnson, D.H. (1995) Point Counts of Birds. In: Ralph, C.J. and Scott, J.M., Eds., Monitoring Bird Pop-ulations by Point Counts, Forest Service, 117-124.
Savini, T. and Dowell, S.D. (2010) 5th International Galliformes Symposium (November 7-10, 2010: Chiang Mai, Thailand): Abstract Book. World Pheasant Association. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/galliformes_conferences/24
Fjeldså, J., Bowie, R.C.K. and Rahbek, C. (2012) Mountain Ranges and Bird Diversification. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 43, 249-265. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102710-145113
Kim, J., Lee, S., Shin, M., Lee, C., Seo, C. and Eo, S.H. (2018) Altitudinal Patterns in Breeding Bird Species Richness and Density in Relation to Climate, Habitat Heterogeneity, and Migration Influence in a Temperate Montane Forest (South Korea). PeerJ, 6, e4857. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4857
Binda, V.A. and Mayaka, T.B. (2019) Occupancy and Conservation Prospects of Endemic Banded Wattle-Eye Platysteira laticincta in the Kilum-Ijim Community Forest, Northwestern Came-roon. Tropical Conservation Science, 12, 1-7.
Hořák, D., Ferenc, M., Sedláček, O., Motombi, F.N., Svoboda, M., Altman, J., et al. (2019) Forest Struc-ture Determines Spatial Changes in Avian Communities along an Elevational Gradient in Tropical Africa. Journal of Biogeography, 46, 2466-2478. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13688
Waterhouse, J., Edwards, B., Nevill, A., Carvalho, S., Atkinson, G., Buckley, P., et al. (2002) Identifying Some Deter-minants of “Jet Lag” and Its Symptoms: A Study of Athletes and Other Travel-lers. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 36, 54-60. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.36.1.54
Freeman, B.G., Lee‐Yaw, J.A., Sunday, J.M. and Hargreaves, A.L. (2018) Expanding, Shifting and Shrinking: The Impact of Global Warming on Species’ Elevational Distributions. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27, 1268-1276. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12774
Otto Poulsen, B. and Krabbe, N. (1998) Avifaunal Diversity of Five High‐Altitude Cloud Forests on the Andean Western Slope of Ecuador: Testing a Rapid Assessment Method. Journal of Bio-geography, 25, 83-93. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.1998.251174.x
Waltert, M., Bobo, K.S., Sainge, N.M., Fermon, H. and Mühlenberg, M. (2005) From Forest to Farmland: Habitat Effects on Afrotropical Forest Bird Diversity. Ecological Ap-plications, 15, 1351-1366. https://doi.org/10.1890/04-1002
Nijman, V. (2003) Distribution, Habitat Use and Conservation of the Endemic Chestnut-Bellied Hill-Partridge (Arborophila javanica) in Fragmented Forests of Java, Indonesia. Emu-Austral Ornithology, 103, 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1071/mu02022
Campos-Arceiz, A. and Blake, S. (2011) Megagardeners of the Forest: The Role of Elephants in Seed Dispersal. Acta Oecologica, 37, 542-553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2011.01.014
Madge, S., and McGowan, P.J.K. (2002) Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse: A Guide to the Pheasants, Par-tridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the World. London & Princeton: Christopher Helm/Princeton University Press.
Monadjem, A. and Garcelon, D.K. (2005) Nesting Distribution of Vultures in Relation to Land Use in Swaziland. Biodiversity and Conservation, 14, 2079-2093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-004-4358-9
Stratford, J.A. and Şekercioğlu, Ç.H. (2015) Birds in Forest Ecosystems. In: Corlett, R., Peh, K. and Bergeron, Y., Eds., Handbook of Forest Ecology, Routledge, 279-294.
Ahmed, I. and Sheikh, Z.A. (2017) Study on the Seasonal Variation in the Chemical Composition, Hematological Profile, Gonado-Somatic Index and Hepato-Somatic Index of Snow Trout, Schiz-othorax Niger from the Freshwater Dal Lake, Kashmir. American Journal of Food Technology, 12, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3923/ajft.2017.1.13
Janzen, D.H. (1973) Sweep Samples of Tropical Foliage Insects: Effects of Seasons, Vegetation Types, Eleva-tion, Time of Day, and Insularity. Ecology, 54, 687-708. https://doi.org/10.2307/1935359
Fjeldså, J. and Bowie, R.C.K. (2021) Evolutionary and Ecological Explanations for the Elevational Flexibility of Sever-al East African Bird Species Complexes. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, Article ID: 768062. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.768062
Chmel, K., Riegert, J., Paul, L. and Novotny, V. (2016) Vertical Stratification of an Avian Community in New Guinean Tropical Rainforest. Population Ecology, 58, 535-547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-016-0561-2
