On February 22, 2018, Dr. Blandine
Marie Ivette Nacoulma - a Fulbright Scholar from University Ouaga 1 Professor
Joseph KI-ZERBO serving at University of California, Davis as an Assistant
Professor of Environmental Science – presented “Why do elephants attack Baobab
trees in protected areas of Burkina Faso? Toward the elaboration of a strategy
for species conservation.” This
presentation was a join presentation of SUNY ESF’s Advaptive Peaks Seminar
Series and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.
The Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Department sponsored the
seminar with the Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund and the ESF Women’s
Caucus.
Dr. Nacoulma discussed a variety of
characteristics of Baobab trees that may indicate a high likelihood of elephant
attack, in which the tree is debarked to some degree, including bark texture,
bark color, tree shape, and diameter at breast height (dbh). The research area consisted of a group of
protected areas or parks with various management plans in Eastern Burkina Faso. As this research is ongoing, final
conclusions were not presented.
The presentation began with
extensive background information regarding the setting of this research: Dr.
Nacoulma’s home country, Burkina Faso, which is a landlocked country in Western
Africa. Dr. Nacoulma also provided a primer on the country’s “Big Two” species. Elephants and Baobab trees are “charismatic
flagship and keystone species” important to ecology and economy of the region,
and “indirectly in conflict.” The
Baobab trees surveyed for Dr. Nacoulma’s research were found within three
adjacent protected areas in Eastern Burkina Faso, each within a different ecological
zone and with a corresponding management plans: Arli National Park, W Burkina
Faso National Park, and Pama Reserve. In
these areas, debarking of Baobab trees by elephants has been observed
repeatedly. Only one other study
exploring this phenomenon has been completed in Western Africa.
Dr. Nacoulma’s research utilized feedback and
input from local people to identify distinct characteristics of Baobab trees,
including bark texture (smooth, rough, and cracked), bark color (pink, white,
dark, and intermediate), tree shape (“broom”, flattened, round, and
“sunshade”), and tree size (dbh). Tree
size was the only characteristic that had a noticeable correlation to
debarking, in that larger trees were more likely to have been attacked. No other measured characteristics had significant
correlation to elephant attacks, indicating that these characteristics do not
predispose the trees to attack. Nutrient analyses are still underway.
Local
people provided potential reasons that elephants attack Baobab trees, including
for a nutritional supplement, as a source of water, because of a need to
destroy, and because elephants compete with Baobab trees to be the largest
organism on the landscape. Finally,
local people gave suggestions on how to address the problem and protect the
trees, including fencing in each tree, providing additional water holes for
elephants, planting more Baobab trees, and culling the elephant
population.
During
the discussion the day prior and the reception following her presentation, Dr.
Naclouma shared many interesting stories about her country’s economy and the
financial benefits of Baobab trees. It is obvious that Baobab trees facing
threats from the unsustainable tourism and illegal hunting which very common in
Africa.
Dr.
Nacoulma holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology and Ecology from the University of
Ouagadougou, where she focuses on the diversity, production, uses,
ethno-ecology, ethnobotany and conservation of indigenous trees important for
the livelihood of rural communities in Burkina Faso. Dr. Nacoulma is studying
the functional traits of the baobab as a baseline for its conservation.
The next presentation in the WiSE Professions series will be March 27, 2018 with Dr. Christine O’Connell of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
“Communicating science to the public.”
For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/Speakers.htm
or the SUNY ESF’s Women’s Caucus at http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/.
As part of the requirements of FOR496/797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by: Xue Dong, PhD student in Environmental and Forest Biology; Megan Gorss, a BS student majoring in Natural Resources Management, in the Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management Department; and Colin Mettey, a MS student focusing on Ecology in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology.
