Conserving amphibian and reptile diversity in north Madagascar: Contributions from baseline herpetological survey work

Madagascar has long been recognized as one of the world’s priority global hotspots for biodiversity conservation. Its herpetofauna, in particular, is extremely species-rich and diverse with high levels of endemism. By far the most important threat to its continued survival is the relentless destruction of its primary habitats. Socioeconomic factors in combination with particular aspects of Malagasy culture have led to the exploitation of natural resources which have already had an impact at a national level. Conservation strategies are in place to protect this unique fauna. However, in practice they are constrained in part by a lack of information regarding the distribution, abundance, natural history, and habitat requirements of threatened species. Accessible information, generated by baseline herpetological surveys, is particularly lacking for several key regions such as the northern province of Antsiranana. The first study in this research programme represents a review of modern herpetological survey work (1994-2007) in Madagascar and serves to highlight why Antsiranana was selected as a region of focus. The following three studies are focused on baseline herpetological survey work that was conducted in several key sites of conservation importance throughout the province. A further three studies provide an account of six species (previously unknown to science) that were discovered and described as a result of this survey work. The remaining two studies provide an insight into the impact that anthropogenic habitat alteration is having on lizard abundance, diversity and community composition in the extreme north of this island. Overall, these studies represent an advancement of the knowledge regarding a threatened herpetofauna. They elucidate a number of issues pertaining to broader questions of conservation biology in Madagascar that have been traditionally confounded by a lack of evidence

Free-free and H42alpha emission from the dusty starburst within NGC 4945 as observed by ALMA

We present observations of the 85.69 GHz continuum emission and H42alpha line emission from the central 30 arcsec within NGC 4945. Both sources of emission originate from nearly identical structures that can be modelled as exponential discs with a scale length of ~2.1 arcsec (or ~40 pc). An analysis of the spectral energy distribution based on combining these data with archival data imply that 84% +/- 10% of the 85.69 GHz continuum emission originates from free-free emission. The electron temperature is 5400 +/- 600 K, which is comparable to what has been measured near the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The star formation rate (SFR) based on the H42alpha and 85.69 GHz free-free emission (and using a distance of 3.8 Mpc) is 4.35 +/- 0.25 M/yr. This is consistent with the SFR from the total infrared flux and with previous measurements based on recombination line emission, and it is within a factor of ~2 of SFRs derived from radio data. The Spitzer Space Telescope 24 micron data and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 22 micron data yield SFRs ~10x lower than the ALMA measurements, most likely because the mid-infrared data are strongly affected by dust attenuation equivalent to A_V=150. These results indicate that SFRs based on mid-infrared emission may be highly inaccurate for dusty, compact circumnuclear starbursts.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Elephant ‘selfies’: evaluating the effectiveness of Instagram’s warning of the potential negative impacts of photo opportunities with wild animals

Wildlife tourist attractions offering opportunities to observe, touch, and interact with wild animals, are visited by millions of people every year. Wildlife tourism has considerable economic value in many countries and can have positive impacts on wild animal populations (e.g. through habitat protection); it can also have negative impacts on population conservation and individual welfare (due to, e.g. habitat encroachment, disturbance, or disease). The recent phenomenon of ‘wildlife selfies’ shared on social media may seem harmless but can involve animals illegally or unsustainably captured from the wild, kept in poor conditions, or subject to cruel treatment. To address this issue, Instagram introduced a pop-up alert system that is triggered when users search for wild animal selfie hashtags (e.g. #elephantselfie), warning of the potential negative impacts of wildlife selfies on wild animals. Using elephant selfies as a case study, we found that Instagram’s alert was triggered by only 2% of 244 elephant selfie-related hashtags tested. By comparing three pairs of similar hashtags (one of each pair that triggered the warning and one that did not), we were unable to detect a consistent difference in the type of post using each of the hashtags, the popularity of posts, or the sentiment of viewer comments. The warning is not shown when posting an image, or if a post is viewed directly by a follower, only if the post is encountered via a hashtag search. Currently, what is portrayed on social media appears to be inconsistent with apparent recent shifts in social acceptibilty regarding tourism, particularly as concerns direct contact between tourists and elephants. Instagram’s wildlife selfie initiative was commendable but given its apparent lack of effect, we urge Instagram and other social platforms to do more to prevent harmful content from being posted on their platforms and to promote fair, ethical and sustainable interactions between wild animals and people

ALMA observations of 99 GHz free-free and H40α\alpha line emission from star formation in the centre of NGC 253

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of 99.02 GHz free-free and H40$\alpha$ emission from the centre of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. We calculate electron temperatures of 3700-4500 K for the photoionized gas, which agrees with previous measurements. We measure a photoionizing photon production rate of $(3.2\pm0.2)\times10^{53}$ s$^{-1}$ and a star formation rate of $1.73\pm0.12$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ within the central 20$\times$10 arcsec, which fall within the broad range of measurements from previous millimetre and radio observations but which are better constrained. We also demonstrate that the dust opacities are ~3 dex higher than inferred from previous near-infrared data, which illustrates the benefits of using millimetre star formation tracers in very dusty sources.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Envenomation by the Malagasy colubrid snake Langaha madagascariensis

This report documents a case of envenomation by a Malagasy opisthoglyphous snake, Langaha madagascariensis. The snake bit the finger of a healthy adult man who was attempting to record its morphological measurements as part of a biodiversity survey which was being conducted in the extreme north of Madagascar. Symptoms of this case included severe local pain accompanied by observable swelling which lasted for several days. The present observations indicate that bite by L. madagascariensis potentially causes notable physiological effects in humans although the snake is generally calm and reluctant to bite unless provoked

The viewer doesn't always seem to care—response to fake animal rescues on YouTube and implications for social media self-policing policies

Animal-related content on social media is hugely popular but is not always appropriate in terms of how animals are portrayed or how they are treated. This has potential implications beyond the individual animals involved, for viewers, for wild animal populations, and for societies and their interactions with animals. Whilst social media platforms usually publish guidelines for permitted content, enforcement relies at least in part on viewers reporting inappropriate posts. Currently, there is no external regulation of social media platforms. Based on a set of 241 ‘fake animal rescue’ videos that exhibited clear signs of animal cruelty and strong evidence of being deliberately staged (i.e. fake), we found little evidence that viewers disliked the videos and an overall mixed response in terms of awareness of the fake nature of the videos, and their attitudes towards the welfare of the animals involved. Our findings suggest, firstly, that, despite the narrowly defined nature of the videos used in this case study, exposure rates can be extremely high (one of the videos had been viewed over 100 million times), and, secondly, that many YouTube viewers cannot identify (or are not concerned by) animal welfare or conservation issues within a social media context. In terms of the current policy approach of social media platforms, our findings raise questions regarding the value of their current reliance on consumers as watch dogs. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog

Disseny i desenvolupament d'una aplicació mòbil per crear, planejar i gestionar viatges

Aquest projecte consisteix a desenvolupar un software per a totes aquelles persones que tenen dificultats a l'hora d'organitzar o planejar un viatge. L'objectiu és poder disminuir el temps i els recursos que gasta la gent a l'hora d'organitzar els viatges i fer que aquesta tasca deixi de ser tan estressant. Per complir la finalitat s'ha construït una aplicació Android connectada a una base de dades no relacional. En aquesta memòria s'inclou tota la documentació necessària per al desenvolupament del sistema, des de la planificació, la gestió i la metodologia fins a la implementació, validació i conclusions.This project consists in developing software for all those who have difficulty in organizing or planning a trip. The aim is to be able to reduce the time and resources that people spend in organizing travel and to make this task no longer as stressful. An Android app connected to a non-relational database has been built to serve the purpose. This memory includes all the documentation needed for the development of the system, from planning, management and methodology to implementation, validation and conclusions

Tests of star formation metrics in the low metallicity galaxy NGC 5253 using ALMA observations of H30α\alpha line emission

We use Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of H30$\alpha$ (231.90 GHz) emission from the low metallicity dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 to measure the star formation rate (SFR) within the galaxy and to test the reliability of SFRs derived from other commonly-used metrics. The H30$\alpha$ emission, which originates mainly from the central starburst, yields a photoionizing photon production rate of (1.9$\pm$0.3)$\times$10$^{52}$ s$^{-1}$ and an SFR of 0.087$\pm$0.013 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ based on conversions that account for the low metallicity of the galaxy and for stellar rotation. Among the other star formation metrics we examined, the SFR calculated from the total infrared flux was statistically equivalent to the values from the H30$\alpha$ data. The SFR based on previously-published versions of the H$\alpha$ flux that were extinction corrected using Pa$\alpha$ and Pa$\beta$ lines were lower than but also statistically similar to the H30$\alpha$ value. The mid-infrared (22 $\mu$m) flux density and the composite star formation tracer based on H$\alpha$ and mid-infrared emission give SFRs that were significantly higher because the dust emission appears unusually hot compared to typical spiral galaxies. Conversely, the 70 and 160 $\mu$m flux densities yielded SFR lower than the H30$\alpha$ value, although the SFRs from the 70 $\mu$m and H30$\alpha$ data were within 1-2$\sigma$ of each other. While further analysis on a broader range of galaxies are needed, these results are instructive of the best and worst methods to use when measuring SFR in low metallicity dwarf galaxies like NGC 5253.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA