 Reference Base  The white rhino overpopulation problem and a proposed sol... |
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Owen-Smith, R.N., 1981. The white rhino overpopulation problem and a proposed solution: pp. 129-150, figs. 1-2, tables 1-3
 | In: Jewell, P.A. et al. Problems in management of locally abundant wild mammals. New York and London, Academic Press: pp. i-xiv, 1-360 |
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| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - South Africa |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
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The white rhino problem in the Umfolozi-Corridor-Hluhluwe Game Reserve Complex in South Africa encapsulates, in perhaps more acute form, the dilemmas of overabundance that have arisen with regard to elephants and hippos within the national park remnants of terrestrial ecosystems elsewhere in Africa. The impact on the vegetation of a grazing megaherbivore, such as the white rhino, is possibly more serious than that of elephants on the woody plant stratum, since it threatens the persistence of the ground cover of grasses and hence of underlying soils. While the southern white rhino was recently removed from the International Onion for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red Data Book, populations of rhinoceros elsewhere in Africa plummet toward extinction. White rhinos are bumbling, inoffensive giants, for which culling by bullet would seem especially repugnant. Much of the Umfolozi Reserve is proclaimed as a wilderness area, and such operations intrude upon the aesthetic qualities for which it was set aside. In this chapter I will analyze some of the facts of the white rhino problem based on my own research carried out between 1966 and 1971 (Owen-Smith, 1981). I will show the following: (1) The intrinsic eruption hypothesis is adequate to account for the overpopulation that has arisen. (2) Overpopulation must result from the time lags associated with age structure effects. (3) In the absence of barriers dispersal would have alleviated the biomass increase. (4) Habitat changes involve complex interactions between plant species and topographic soil/nutrient conditions.(5)In order to simulate former conditions with the least population disruption, removals should be concentrated within "vacuum zones" serving as population sinks. (6) For current predator/prey theory to be practically relevant to plant/large herbivore systems, competitive relations between plant types and their interaction with external factors such as climatic cycles, fire regimes, and nutrient recycling must be taken into account.
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