Conflicts of human land-use and conservation areas : the case of Asian elephants in rubber-dominated landscapes of Southeast Asia

Over the last decades, expanding rubber plantations in Southeast Asia have continuously diminished natural habitat, thereby increasing conflicts between human land-uses and nature conservation. The consequences are manifold, with short-term economic benefits for smallholder farmers and long-term costs for species diversity and ecosystem services (ESS). Sustainable wildlife populations are critical for ecosystem functioning but the ongoing habitat degradation and conflicts with people threaten the survival of larger mammal populations. This trend is particularly problematic if the respective species in decline are keystone species such as the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which holds important ecological functions in maintaining tree diversity. Continuous land-use transformations increase the importance of conservation efforts for biodiversity within the agricultural matrix. The major aim of this thesis work was to analyze the potential of rubber-dominated landscapes in sustaining wild mammal populations while considering the risk of conflicts due to wildlife damage as well as the ecological importance of mammals. As a first step, the literature on wild mammals in rubber and oil palm plantations was analyzed to provide an overview on species diversity found in these systems. Our review showed that species richness was highly reduced in the plantations compared to the forest and that most species in the farms were rather visitors than residents. For a detailed assessment of species richness and presence in rubber plantations, transect and camera trap surveys were conducted in the farm-forest transition zone of the Tai Rom Yen National Park in southern Thailand. Furthermore, farmers were interviewed on the kind and extent of wildlife damage. With 35 recorded wildlife species, the forest was found to hold the highest diversity while more than 70% of these mammals were still found at the forest edge. However, a strong decline of species diversity and presence was observed in the farmland. Crop damage by wildlife affected 40% of all interviewed farmers. In 85% of all rubber damage incidents, young trees were affected, which had not yet been tapped. Elephants were most frequently named as damage causing species. Nevertheless, damage to rubber occurred only in half of the elephant visits, indicating that this crop species was not particularly attractive to wildlife. To account not only for the costs inflicted through elephant damage but also for the ecological benefits elephants provide, the potential of these megaherbivores for seed dispersal was assessed as a crucial ecological function in forest ecosystems. Feeding experiments with elephants were conducted and germination success of ingested and fresh control seeds of a tree species with characteristic mega-faunal syndrome fruits (Dillenia indica L.) was monitored. Seeds ingested by elephants showed a significantly higher and earlier likelihood for germination compared to control seeds. The exemplary tree species in our experiments did not solely depend on but benefited from elephant consumption for germination. This highlights the risks of long-term negative implications for certain tree species and entire ecosystems if elephant and other large mammal populations further decline. Biodiversity is an integral component of ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of services. However, a challenge in the evaluation of ESS is the allowance for the many facets of biodiversity assessments. We therefore developed a methodology for including multiple levels of species diversity into an ESS evaluation model. Diversity data of animal groups and plants derived from our data collections and from literature were normalized using the most diverse habitat as benchmark. Through this approach we obtained a comparable habitat suitability matrix for different land-use systems, which was then applied to different land-use scenarios. The outcomes confirmed that a conservation focused scenario scored higher habitat suitability for all species as well as for threatened ones compared to two other scenarios with no or limited conservation measures. Increasing conflicts between human land-use and nature conservation as a result of shrinking resources pose imminent risks for the diversity and resilience of ecosystems. This thesis provides an assessment of the current state of and conflicts with wildlife diversity in rubber-dominated landscapes surrounding protected areas. The results of this thesis can serve as a basis for the development of measures to consolidate farming and conservation interests. Although intensively managed plantations cannot substitute for natural forests, efforts are required to conserve multiple levels of biodiversity within the farming landscape. High species diversity will maintain ecosystem functions and services sustainably, which both human and wildlife communities rely on for their long-term persistence.In den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde der Kautschukanbau in Südostasien kontinuierlich ausgeweitet, was zu zunehmenden Konflikten zwischen menschlicher Landnutzung und Naturschutz beigetragen hat. Die Konsequenzen sind vielfältig und beinhalten sowohl wirtschaftliche Vorteile für kleinbäuerliche Betriebe als auch Kosten für die Artenvielfalt. Wildtierpopulationen nehmen essenzielle Funktionen in Ökosystemen ein, doch die Zerstörung von natürlichem Lebensraum bedroht das Überleben vieler Säugetierpopulationen. Dies ist vor allem dann problematisch, wenn eine rückläufige Art eine sogenannte Schlüsselart ist, welche wichtige ökologische Aufgaben übernimmt. Der asiatische Elefant (Elephas maximus) ist solch eine Art, die zur Erhaltung der Vegetationsvielfalt in natürlichen Wäldern beiträgt. Als Folge des Landnutzungswandels wird der Schutz von wilden Säugetieren in der Agrarlandschaft immer wichtiger. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit war es, das Potenzial von kautschukdominierten Landschaften zum Erhalt von Wildtierpopulationen unter Berücksichtigung von Konfliktrisiken durch Wildschäden zu analysieren sowie die ökologische Bedeutung von wilden Großsäugern zu untersuchen. In einem ersten Schritt wurde die Literatur zu wilden Säugetieren in Kautschuk- und Ölpalmplantagen ausgewertet. Dies zeigte, dass die Artenvielfalt in den Plantagen im Vergleich zum Wald stark reduziert war und dass die meisten Arten im Farmland eher Besucher statt Bewohner waren. Um diese Literaturergebnisse zu verifizieren und detailliertere Kenntnisse zur Artenvielfalt und -präsenz in Kautschukplantagen zu erarbeiten wurden Untersuchungen in der Übergangszone zwischen Wald und Nutzfläche anhand sogenannter Transekte und Kamerafallen in und um den Tai Rom Yen Nationalpark in Südthailand durchgeführt. Landwirte wurden zu dem Ausmaß von Wildschäden befragt. Mit insgesamt 35 dokumentierten Wildtierarten war der Wald am artenreichsten. Während immerhin noch mehr als 70% der Arten an der Waldgrenze gefunden wurden, war deren Anzahl und Präsenz in der Nutzlandschaft stark reduziert. Wildschäden betrafen 40% aller befragten Landwirte. In 85% der Fälle von Kautschukschäden waren junge, nicht gezapfte Bäume betroffen. Elefanten wurden am häufigsten als schadenverursachende Wildart genannt. Dennoch traten Schäden an Kautschukbäumen nur in der Hälfte der Fälle auf, in denen Elefanten Plantagen aufsuchten. Daraus lässt sich ableiten, dass Kautschuk keine besonders attraktive Futterquelle darstellt. Elefanten liefern allerdings auch umfassende ökologische Nutzen. Um solche Vorteile zu berücksichtigen wurde das Potenzial der Tiere für die Samenverbreitung als Beispiel für wichtige ökologische Funktionen untersucht. Hierfür wurden Fütterungsexperimente durchgeführt und der Keimerfolg verfütterter Samen der Baumart Dillenia indica L. und Kontrollsamen beobachtet. Verfütterte Samen wiesen eine signifikant höhere und frühere Keimwahrscheinlichkeit auf als die Kontrollsamen. Die exemplarische Baumart war nicht allein auf Elefanten für die Keimung angewiesen, profitierte aber von dem Konsum durch die Tiere. Dies verdeutlicht die langfristigen Risiken für bestimmte Baumarten und Ökosysteme, falls Elefantenpopulationen und andere Gruppen an Großsäugern weiter abnehmen. Biodiversität ist eine integrale Komponente in Ökosystemfunktionen und -dienstleistungen. Eine Herausforderung in der Evaluation dieser Services ist jedoch die Berücksichtigung der vielen Facetten von Biodiversitätsanalysen. Aus diesem Grund wurde eine Methode entwickelt um verschiedenste Ebenen der Artenvielfalt in ein Evaluationsmodel einzubeziehen. Daten zur Artenvielfalt verschiedener Tiergruppen und Pflanzen wurden normalisiert, mit dem jeweils artenreichsten Lebensraum als Referenz. Durch diesen Ansatz wurde eine vergleichbare Matrix zur Habitatseignung verschiedener Landnutzungssysteme geschaffen, welche wiederum auf zukünftige Szenarien angewandt werden konnte. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten, dass ein Naturschutz-Szenario eine höhere Eignung als Lebensraum erzielte als andere Szenarien ohne bzw. mit begrenzten Naturschutzkomponenten. Zunehmende Konflikte zwischen menschlicher Landnutzung und Naturschutz als Folge abnehmender Ressourcen stellen große Risiken für die Vielfalt und Stabilität von Ökosystemen dar. Diese Dissertation liefert eine Analyse des derzeitigen Zustandes der Artenvielfalt von Wildtieren sowie der Mensch-Tier Konflikte in Kautschuk-Landschaften um Schutzgebiete. Die Ergebnisse können als Grundlage für die Entwicklung von Maßnahmen dienen um landwirtschaftliche und ökologische Interessen zu vereinbaren. Obwohl Plantagen keine natürlichen Wälder ersetzen können, bedarf es dennoch Anstrengungen um Biodiversität auf landwirtschaftlichen Nutzflächen zu erhalten. Eine hohe Artenvielfalt ermöglicht den nachhaltigen Schutz von Funktionen und Dienstleistungen von Ökosystemen, auf welche sowohl Menschen als auch Wildtiere langfristig angewiesen sind

Conflicts of human land-use and conservation areas : the case of Asian elephants in rubber-dominated landscapes of Southeast Asia

Over the last decades, expanding rubber plantations in Southeast Asia have continuously diminished natural habitat, thereby increasing conflicts between human land-uses and nature conservation. The consequences are manifold, with short-term economic benefits for smallholder farmers and long-term costs for species diversity and ecosystem services (ESS). Sustainable wildlife populations are critical for ecosystem functioning but the ongoing habitat degradation and conflicts with people threaten the survival of larger mammal populations. This trend is particularly problematic if the respective species in decline are keystone species such as the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which holds important ecological functions in maintaining tree diversity. Continuous land-use transformations increase the importance of conservation efforts for biodiversity within the agricultural matrix. The major aim of this thesis work was to analyze the potential of rubber-dominated landscapes in sustaining wild mammal populations while considering the risk of conflicts due to wildlife damage as well as the ecological importance of mammals. As a first step, the literature on wild mammals in rubber and oil palm plantations was analyzed to provide an overview on species diversity found in these systems. Our review showed that species richness was highly reduced in the plantations compared to the forest and that most species in the farms were rather visitors than residents. For a detailed assessment of species richness and presence in rubber plantations, transect and camera trap surveys were conducted in the farm-forest transition zone of the Tai Rom Yen National Park in southern Thailand. Furthermore, farmers were interviewed on the kind and extent of wildlife damage. With 35 recorded wildlife species, the forest was found to hold the highest diversity while more than 70% of these mammals were still found at the forest edge. However, a strong decline of species diversity and presence was observed in the farmland. Crop damage by wildlife affected 40% of all interviewed farmers. In 85% of all rubber damage incidents, young trees were affected, which had not yet been tapped. Elephants were most frequently named as damage causing species. Nevertheless, damage to rubber occurred only in half of the elephant visits, indicating that this crop species was not particularly attractive to wildlife. To account not only for the costs inflicted through elephant damage but also for the ecological benefits elephants provide, the potential of these megaherbivores for seed dispersal was assessed as a crucial ecological function in forest ecosystems. Feeding experiments with elephants were conducted and germination success of ingested and fresh control seeds of a tree species with characteristic mega-faunal syndrome fruits (Dillenia indica L.) was monitored. Seeds ingested by elephants showed a significantly higher and earlier likelihood for germination compared to control seeds. The exemplary tree species in our experiments did not solely depend on but benefited from elephant consumption for germination. This highlights the risks of long-term negative implications for certain tree species and entire ecosystems if elephant and other large mammal populations further decline. Biodiversity is an integral component of ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of services. However, a challenge in the evaluation of ESS is the allowance for the many facets of biodiversity assessments. We therefore developed a methodology for including multiple levels of species diversity into an ESS evaluation model. Diversity data of animal groups and plants derived from our data collections and from literature were normalized using the most diverse habitat as benchmark. Through this approach we obtained a comparable habitat suitability matrix for different land-use systems, which was then applied to different land-use scenarios. The outcomes confirmed that a conservation focused scenario scored higher habitat suitability for all species as well as for threatened ones compared to two other scenarios with no or limited conservation measures. Increasing conflicts between human land-use and nature conservation as a result of shrinking resources pose imminent risks for the diversity and resilience of ecosystems. This thesis provides an assessment of the current state of and conflicts with wildlife diversity in rubber-dominated landscapes surrounding protected areas. The results of this thesis can serve as a basis for the development of measures to consolidate farming and conservation interests. Although intensively managed plantations cannot substitute for natural forests, efforts are required to conserve multiple levels of biodiversity within the farming landscape. High species diversity will maintain ecosystem functions and services sustainably, which both human and wildlife communities rely on for their long-term persistence.In den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde der Kautschukanbau in Südostasien kontinuierlich ausgeweitet, was zu zunehmenden Konflikten zwischen menschlicher Landnutzung und Naturschutz beigetragen hat. Die Konsequenzen sind vielfältig und beinhalten sowohl wirtschaftliche Vorteile für kleinbäuerliche Betriebe als auch Kosten für die Artenvielfalt. Wildtierpopulationen nehmen essenzielle Funktionen in Ökosystemen ein, doch die Zerstörung von natürlichem Lebensraum bedroht das Überleben vieler Säugetierpopulationen. Dies ist vor allem dann problematisch, wenn eine rückläufige Art eine sogenannte Schlüsselart ist, welche wichtige ökologische Aufgaben übernimmt. Der asiatische Elefant (Elephas maximus) ist solch eine Art, die zur Erhaltung der Vegetationsvielfalt in natürlichen Wäldern beiträgt. Als Folge des Landnutzungswandels wird der Schutz von wilden Säugetieren in der Agrarlandschaft immer wichtiger. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit war es, das Potenzial von kautschukdominierten Landschaften zum Erhalt von Wildtierpopulationen unter Berücksichtigung von Konfliktrisiken durch Wildschäden zu analysieren sowie die ökologische Bedeutung von wilden Großsäugern zu untersuchen. In einem ersten Schritt wurde die Literatur zu wilden Säugetieren in Kautschuk- und Ölpalmplantagen ausgewertet. Dies zeigte, dass die Artenvielfalt in den Plantagen im Vergleich zum Wald stark reduziert war und dass die meisten Arten im Farmland eher Besucher statt Bewohner waren. Um diese Literaturergebnisse zu verifizieren und detailliertere Kenntnisse zur Artenvielfalt und -präsenz in Kautschukplantagen zu erarbeiten wurden Untersuchungen in der Übergangszone zwischen Wald und Nutzfläche anhand sogenannter Transekte und Kamerafallen in und um den Tai Rom Yen Nationalpark in Südthailand durchgeführt. Landwirte wurden zu dem Ausmaß von Wildschäden befragt. Mit insgesamt 35 dokumentierten Wildtierarten war der Wald am artenreichsten. Während immerhin noch mehr als 70% der Arten an der Waldgrenze gefunden wurden, war deren Anzahl und Präsenz in der Nutzlandschaft stark reduziert. Wildschäden betrafen 40% aller befragten Landwirte. In 85% der Fälle von Kautschukschäden waren junge, nicht gezapfte Bäume betroffen. Elefanten wurden am häufigsten als schadenverursachende Wildart genannt. Dennoch traten Schäden an Kautschukbäumen nur in der Hälfte der Fälle auf, in denen Elefanten Plantagen aufsuchten. Daraus lässt sich ableiten, dass Kautschuk keine besonders attraktive Futterquelle darstellt. Elefanten liefern allerdings auch umfassende ökologische Nutzen. Um solche Vorteile zu berücksichtigen wurde das Potenzial der Tiere für die Samenverbreitung als Beispiel für wichtige ökologische Funktionen untersucht. Hierfür wurden Fütterungsexperimente durchgeführt und der Keimerfolg verfütterter Samen der Baumart Dillenia indica L. und Kontrollsamen beobachtet. Verfütterte Samen wiesen eine signifikant höhere und frühere Keimwahrscheinlichkeit auf als die Kontrollsamen. Die exemplarische Baumart war nicht allein auf Elefanten für die Keimung angewiesen, profitierte aber von dem Konsum durch die Tiere. Dies verdeutlicht die langfristigen Risiken für bestimmte Baumarten und Ökosysteme, falls Elefantenpopulationen und andere Gruppen an Großsäugern weiter abnehmen. Biodiversität ist eine integrale Komponente in Ökosystemfunktionen und -dienstleistungen. Eine Herausforderung in der Evaluation dieser Services ist jedoch die Berücksichtigung der vielen Facetten von Biodiversitätsanalysen. Aus diesem Grund wurde eine Methode entwickelt um verschiedenste Ebenen der Artenvielfalt in ein Evaluationsmodel einzubeziehen. Daten zur Artenvielfalt verschiedener Tiergruppen und Pflanzen wurden normalisiert, mit dem jeweils artenreichsten Lebensraum als Referenz. Durch diesen Ansatz wurde eine vergleichbare Matrix zur Habitatseignung verschiedener Landnutzungssysteme geschaffen, welche wiederum auf zukünftige Szenarien angewandt werden konnte. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten, dass ein Naturschutz-Szenario eine höhere Eignung als Lebensraum erzielte als andere Szenarien ohne bzw. mit begrenzten Naturschutzkomponenten. Zunehmende Konflikte zwischen menschlicher Landnutzung und Naturschutz als Folge abnehmender Ressourcen stellen große Risiken für die Vielfalt und Stabilität von Ökosystemen dar. Diese Dissertation liefert eine Analyse des derzeitigen Zustandes der Artenvielfalt von Wildtieren sowie der Mensch-Tier Konflikte in Kautschuk-Landschaften um Schutzgebiete. Die Ergebnisse können als Grundlage für die Entwicklung von Maßnahmen dienen um landwirtschaftliche und ökologische Interessen zu vereinbaren. Obwohl Plantagen keine natürlichen Wälder ersetzen können, bedarf es dennoch Anstrengungen um Biodiversität auf landwirtschaftlichen Nutzflächen zu erhalten. Eine hohe Artenvielfalt ermöglicht den nachhaltigen Schutz von Funktionen und Dienstleistungen von Ökosystemen, auf welche sowohl Menschen als auch Wildtiere langfristig angewiesen sind

Mammalian wildlife diversity in rubber and oil palm plantations.

This research article published by CABI, 2016In the face of globally diminishing natural habitats in biodiversity-rich regions, agricultural landscapes around protected areas have increasingly gained importance as extended habitat for wildlife species. Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and oil palm (Elais guineensis) plantations are two of the dominant land-use systems in Southeast Asia that have seen a tremendous expansion over the last decades. Despite far-reaching ecological consequences of these intensively cropped monocultures on natural ecosystems, relatively little is known about their utilization by wildlife populations. With this review we want to give an overview of mammalian diversity in rubber and oil palm plantations with reference to human-wildlife conflicts occurring as a result of overlapping resource use. We searched the literature for studies on wild mammalian diversity in rubber and oil palm plantations and found 17 publications. We considered 29 additional publications that provided information on single species in such plantations. We discuss the potential of 'wildlife-friendly' farming for mammalian assemblages in plantations and its importance in the case of rubber and oil palm production. Our review showed that most wild mammal species found in these plantations were likely to be visitors that use cultivated landscapes as fringe habitat but some adapted well to plantations and few even became resident. We conclude that although plantations in the tropics and subtropics cannot substitute for forests and the preservation of natural habitats is indispensable, the reality of ongoing forest degradation and transformation into plantations will make wildlife-friendly farming a key strategy in maintaining mammalian diversity, particularly in land-use matrices surrounding natural habitats

Seed dispersal potential of Asian elephants

This research article published by Elsevier, 2016Elephants, the largest terrestrial mega-herbivores, play an important ecological role in maintaining forest ecosystem diversity. While several plant species strongly rely on African elephants (Loxodonta africana; L. cyclotis) as seed dispersers, little is known about the dispersal potential of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). We examined the effects of elephant fruit consumption on potential seed dispersal using the example of a tree species with mega-faunal characteristics, Dillenia indica L., in Thailand. We conducted feeding trials with Asian elephants to quantify seed survival and gut passage times (GPT). In total, 1200 ingested and non-ingested control seeds were planted in soil and in elephant dung to quantify differences in germination rates in terms of GPT and dung treatment. We used survival analysis as a novel approach to account for the right-censored nature of the data obtained from germination experiments. The average seed survival rate was 79% and the mean GPT was 35 h. The minimum and maximum GPT were 20 h and 72 h, respectively. Ingested seeds were significantly more likely to germinate and to do so earlier than non-ingested control seeds (P = 0.0002). Seeds with the longest GPT displayed the highest germination success over time. Unexpectedly, seeds planted with dung had longer germination times than those planted without. We conclude that D. indica does not solely depend on but benefits from dispersal by elephants. The declining numbers of these mega-faunal seed dispersers might, therefore, have long-term negative consequences for the recruitment and dispersal dynamics of populations of certain tree species

Pangolins in global camera trap data: Implications for ecological monitoring

Despite being heavily exploited, pangolins (Pholidota: Manidae) have been subject to limited research, resulting in a lack of reliable population estimates and standardised survey methods for the eight extant species. Camera trapping represents a unique opportunity for broad-scale collaborative species monitoring due to its largely non-discriminatory nature, which creates considerable volumes of data on a relatively wide range of species. This has the potential to shed light on the ecology of rare, cryptic and understudied taxa, with implications for conservation decision-making. We undertook a global analysis of available pangolin data from camera trapping studies across their range in Africa and Asia. Our aims were (1) to assess the utility of existing camera trapping efforts as a method for monitoring pangolin populations, and (2) to gain insights into the distribution and ecology of pangolins. We analysed data collated from 103 camera trap surveys undertaken across 22 countries that fell within the range of seven of the eight pangolin species, which yielded more than half a million trap nights and 888 pangolin encounters. We ran occupancy analyses on three species (Sunda pangolin Manis javanica, white-bellied pangolin Phataginus tricuspis and giant pangolin Smutsia gigantea). Detection probabilities varied with forest cover and levels of human influence for P. tricuspis, but were low (<0.05) for all species. Occupancy was associated with distance from rivers for M. javanica and S. gigantea, elevation for P. tricuspis and S. gigantea, forest cover for P. tricuspis and protected area status for M. javanica and P. tricuspis. We conclude that camera traps are suitable for the detection of pangolins and large-scale assessment of their distributions. However, the trapping effort required to monitor populations at any given study site using existing methods appears prohibitively high. This may change in the future should anticipated technological and methodological advances in camera trapping facilitate greater sampling efforts and/or higher probabilities of detection. In particular, targeted camera placement for pangolins is likely to make pangolin monitoring more feasible with moderate sampling efforts

Pangolins in Global Camera Trap Data: Implications for Ecological Monitoring

Despite being heavily exploited, pangolins (Pholidota: Manidae) have been subject to limited research, resulting in a lack of reliable population estimates and standardised survey methods for the eight extant species. Camera trapping represents a unique opportunity for broad-scale collaborative species monitoring due to its largely non-discriminatory nature, which creates considerable volumes of data on a relatively wide range of species. This has the potential to shed light on the ecology of rare, cryptic and understudied taxa, with implications for conservation decision-making. We undertook a global analysis of available pangolin data from camera trapping studies across their range in Africa and Asia. Our aims were (1) to assess the utility of existing camera trapping efforts as a method for monitoring pangolin populations, and (2) to gain insights into the distribution and ecology of pangolins. We analysed data collated from 103 camera trap surveys undertaken across 22 countries that fell within the range of seven of the eight pangolin species, which yielded more than half a million trap nights and 888 pangolin encounters. We ran occupancy analyses on three species (Sunda pangolin Manis javanica, white-bellied pangolin Phataginus tricuspis and giant pangolin Smutsia gigantea). Detection probabilities varied with forest cover and levels of human influence for P. tricuspis, but were low (M. javanica and S. gigantea, elevation for P. tricuspis and S. gigantea, forest cover for P. tricuspis and protected area status for M. javanica and P. tricuspis. We conclude that camera traps are suitable for the detection of pangolins and large-scale assessment of their distributions. However, the trapping effort required to monitor populations at any given study site using existing methods appears prohibitively high. This may change in the future should anticipated technological and methodological advances in camera trapping facilitate greater sampling efforts and/or higher probabilities of detection. In particular, targeted camera placement for pangolins is likely to make pangolin monitoring more feasible with moderate sampling efforts

Land use change and its impact on the conservation of wild Elephas maximus in China during the past 40 years

International audienceIn the past four decades, China has undergone major economic changes, most notably in the tea and rubber industries, as well as experienced considerable variation in wildlife populations and habitats. We used vegetation sample points to classify the Landsat images of Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) distribution areas in China in 1975, 1990, 2005, and 2014. We then used the land use transfer matrix method to analyze changes in the distribution of the Asian elephant in the last 10 years. Results showed that rubber cultivation areas increased the most from 202 km2 to 4,930 km2, and tea plantations increased from 3,389 km2 to 8,539 km2. Forest area declined by 4,355 km2, and farmland area was reduced by 5,661 km2. Given these trends, balancing Asian elephant conservation and rural development has become challenge to conservationists. In addition, the effectiveness of forest conservation policies during the past 20 years is questionable because the expansion of cash forest was mistaken as afforestation. New strategies should be explored, including the eco-compensation mechanism for reforestation and the mixed agroforestry system. Restoring elephant habitat and establishing ecological corridors are critical for the survival of elephants in this region