The second paragraph:

One common way in which elephants harm trees is by stripping them of their bark. Dr Wigley, who did indeed start from the obvious assumption, set off to find out how much worse bush fires would make the effects of this bark- stripping. To this end he set up a study in the Kruger National Park, a reserve on South Africa’s border with Mozambique.

strip：动词，剥去，剥夺。注意搭配的介词用of，他被判有罪，并被剥夺了头衔，He was found guilty and stripped of his title.

He set off to find out how much worse bush fires would make the effects of this bark- stripping. 他开始研究对于被剥去树皮的大树来说，一场大火是如何让情况变得更糟糕的。这里可以掌握的是这个句型的使用：how much worse A would make the effects of B. A 是如何让B 更糟糕的。比如他们在研究塑料的过度使用是如何让污染变得更糟糕的，They are setting off to find out how much worse the overuse of plastic would make the effects of the pollution.

段落大意：介绍研究者，研究地点和其研究目的：被大象拔掉树皮的树木，再遭遇一场火灾，情况会变得多糟糕。