Video and camera traps to investigate animal ecophysiology and enhance wildlife management: case study on bees and elephants interactions in Gabon.

Crops are often sources of conflict between humans and wildlife. Wildlife damage to crops can drastically reduce income, amplifying poverty and creating a negative perception of wild animal conservation among rural people. In this context, crop-raiding animals like elephants quickly become “problem animals”. To deter elephants from raiding crops beehives have been successfully employed in East Africa while providing honey for the farmers. Whether such a technique could work on forest elephants (Loxodonta Africana cyclotis) in Central Africa is still unknown. An ecophysiology-based trial consisting on bees and elephants interactions assessment was conducted in Gabon. It aimed to evaluate whether the presence of Apis mellifera adansonii, the African honey bee species present in Central Africa, deters forest elephants from feeding on experimental wild fruit trees. We suspected that bee physiology matters on bee defensive behavior and monitoring it through measuring bee activities can help better understand bees and elephants interactions. For this purpose video cameras were used to record activities of bees in fourteen beehives hung on seven wild trees (4 Irvingia gabonensis and 3 Sacoglottis gabonensis trees) each equipped with a camera trap to record elephants feeding behaviors on those trees. This experimental apparatus was monitored during 70 consecutive weeks from 2012 to 2013. We captured 8151 photos representing 4h31min42s of time spent by elephants at experimental trees and more than 75 videos of bees activities from where we extracted genuine results. Our results show a significant correlation between the effectiveness of beehives as deterrents of elephants and bee activity. Although elephant disturbance of hives does not inhibit honey production, there is a tradeoff between deterrence and the quantity of honey produced. More interestingly, to best achieve the dual goals of deterring elephants and producing honey colonies must maintain an optimum activity level of 40 to 60 bee movements per minute. Thus Apis mellifera adansonii bees can effectively deter elephants but beehives must be actively managed to maintain bees’ colonies at the optimum activity level