Optimised germination protocol for jackfruit seeds and evaluation of methods for extraction of DNA suitable for genetic analysis

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is an underutilised plant that is promising in curbing food and nutritional security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, high level of secondary metabolites in its tissues significantly hampers its genetic characterisation for breeding purposes. Primarily, the compounds react with DNA during the extraction process, thus reducing its yield and quality. The utilisation of leaves from jackfruit seedlings is a potentially effective approach of addressing the challenge, however, limited information is available on efficient jackfruit seed germination procedures. Elucidating effective methods of jackfruit seed germination, and optimising protocols for DNA extraction is crucial in promoting its genetic characterisation studies for identification of superior varieties for propagation. The objective of this study was to evaluate methods of jackfruit seed germination, and DNA extraction procedures using jackfruit leaves. Pre-treatment of seeds with 3% hydrogen peroxide was effective in enhancing seed germination within a short time, compared to distilled water and 3% hydrochloric acid. We optimised a DNA extraction technique by combining CTAB-SDS based approach with an enhanced solvent extraction method. The technique yielded high quantity and quality of DNA from jackfruit leaves, which was appropriate for downstream polymerase chain reaction analysis. The sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) amplifications confirmed the effectiveness of the optimised CTAB-SDS based protocol for extraction of high quality DNA. &nbsp

Extreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: What are the causes?

There is growing evidence of escalating wildlife losses worldwide. Extreme wildlife losses have recently been documented for large parts of Africa, including western, Central and Eastern Africa. Here, we report extreme declines in wildlife and contemporaneous increase in livestock numbers in Kenya rangelands between 1977 and 2016. Our analysis uses systematic aerial monitoring survey data collected in rangelands that collectively cover 88% of Kenya’s land surface. Our results show that wildlife numbers declined on average by 68% between 1977 and 2016. The magnitude of decline varied among species but was most extreme (72–88%) and now severely threatens the population viability and persistence of warthog, lesser kudu, Thomson’s gazelle, eland, oryx, topi, hartebeest, impala, Grevy’s zebra and waterbuck in Kenya’s rangelands. The declines were widespread and occurred in most of the 21 rangeland counties. Likewise to wildlife, cattle numbers decreased (25.2%) but numbers of sheep and goats (76.3%), camels (13.1%) and donkeys (6.7%) evidently increased in the same period. As a result, livestock biomass was 8.1 times greater than that of wildlife in 2011–2013 compared to 3.5 times in 1977–1980. Most of Kenya’s wildlife (ca. 30%) occurred in Narok County alone. The proportion of the total “national” wildlife population found in each county increased between 1977 and 2016 substantially only in Taita Taveta and Laikipia but marginally in Garissa and Wajir counties, largely reflecting greater wildlife losses elsewhere. The declines raise very grave concerns about the future of wildlife, the effectiveness of wildlife conservation policies, strategies and practices in Kenya. Causes of the wildlife declines include exponential human population growth, increasing livestock numbers, declining rainfall and a striking rise in temperatures but the fundamental cause seems to be policy, institutional and market failures. Accordingly, we thoroughly evaluate wildlife conservation policy in Kenya. We suggest policy, institutional and management interventions likely to succeed in reducing the declines and restoring rangeland health, most notably through strengthening and investing in community and private wildlife conservancies in the rangelands

Impact of severe climate variability on lion home range and movement patterns in the Amboseli ecosystem, Kenya

In this study, we were interested in understanding if droughts influence the home range of predators such as lions, and if it does, in what ways the droughts influenced lions to adjust their home range, in response to prey availability. We monitored movements of ten lions fitted with GPS-GSM collars in order to analyze their home range and movement patterns over a six year period (2007–2012). We assessed the impact of a severe drought on the lion home range and movement patterns in the Amboseli ecosystem. There was a strong positive correlation between the home range size and distance moved in 24 h before and during the drought (2007–2009), while after the drought there was a significant negative correlation. A weak positive correlation was evident between the lion home range and rainfall amounts (2010–2012). The male and female home ranges varied over the study period. The home range size and movement patterns coincided with permanent swamps and areas of high prey density inside the protected area. Over the course of the dry season and following the drought, the ranges initially shrank and then expanded in response to decreasing prey densities. The lions spent considerable time outside the park boundaries, particularly after severe the drought. We conclude that under conditions of fragmented habitats, severe climate conditions create new challenges for lion conservation due to effects on prey availability and subsequent influences on carnivore species ranging patterns. Stochastic weather patterns can force wide-ranging species beyond current reserve boundaries, into areas where there will be greater conflicts with humans. Keywords: Climate change, African lion, Panthera le

Adventism, society & sustainable development: tackling tough societal issues in today's Adventist generation

The provocative and ground-breaking peer reviewed chapters of this book respond to adventism, society and sustainable development thematic thrusts born out of the robust conference hosted by the Adventist-laymen's services and industries of the southern Africa union conference.