Questioning Development Orthodoxy

This paper traces the history and current state of international economic development through its institutions and attempts to reassess these institutions and their processes in a heterodox manner. There are many stereotypes and clichés to the foreign assistance industry: that it takes from the poor in rich countries and gives to the rich in poor countries; that it provides laboratories for economists and other social scientists to apply theories abroad that they would never attempt at home (the most obvious examples of these are population control programs and the privatization of pension funds); and that development creates “brain drain” from indigenous 2 institutions to the very institutions of development itself. Although a brief summary of the major research programs in development is given, the paper does not attempt to falsify or confirm any of these or other research programs and their corresponding policy recommendations. The purpose of the paper is to question the very nature of international economic development itself through an historical and philosophical re-examination of its institutional constructs. The Hegelian dialectical method of analysis is applied to the institutions of economic development and is used to ask, “what next and why

Spatial behavior and habitat use in widely separated breeding and wintering distributions across three species of long-distance migrant <i>Phylloscopus</i> warblers

Aim: To investigate the ecological relationship between breeding and wintering in specialist and generalist long-distance migratory species, and the links between densities and range sizes. Location: Denmark, Senegal and Ghana. Methods: We use radio tracking to study spatial behavior and habitat use in three morphologically and ecologically similar and closely related Phylloscopus species on their widely separated breeding and wintering distributions. During wintering and breeding, willow warblers P. trochilus (winter: n = 9, breeding: n = 13), chiffchaffs P. collybita (n = 11, n = 7), and wood warblers P. sibilatrix (n = 17, n = 14) were tracked. Results: Willow warblers P. trochilus increased home range sizes in winter, whereas it was similar in chiffchaffs P. collybita and wood warblers P. sibilatrix, in both seasons. Home ranges overlapped more in winter than in the breeding season. In winter, home range overlap was similar among species but larger overlap during breeding was indicated for willow warblers. Tree cover was unrelated to home range size but significantly higher in breeding than in winter in all species. However, whereas willow warblers and wood warblers maintained some degree of tall tree cover inside their home ranges in winter, chiffchaffs changed from more than 80% to <1% tree cover, indicating a niche shift. Main conclusions: Individuals of all three species showed changes between breeding and wintering areas in spatial behavior and habitat availability, with larger overlap in winter. The differences in patterns were potentially related to being generalist (willow warbler) or specialist (chiffchaff and wood warbler). These ecological relationships are important for the conservation of migrants and for understanding the link between breeding and wintering distributions and ecology

Spatial behaviour and density of three species of long-distance migrants wintering in a disturbed and non-disturbed woodland in northern Ghana

Changes in land-use and climate are threatening migratory animals worldwide. In birds, declines have been widely documented in long-distance migrants. However, reasons remain poorly understood due to a lack of basic information regarding migratory birds’ ecology in their non-breeding areas and the effects of current environmental pressures there. We studied bird densities, spatial and territorial behaviour and habitat preference in two different habitat types in northern Ghana, West Africa. We study three common Eurasian-African songbirds (Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus, Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta and Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca) in a forested site, heavily disturbed by agricultural activities, and a forest reserve with no agriculture. The three species differed in non-breeding spatial strategies, with Willow Warblers having larger home ranges and being non-territorial. Home ranges (kernel density) of the three species were on average 1.5–4 times larger in the disturbed site than in the undisturbed site. Much of the birds’ tree species selection was explained by their preference for tall trees, but all species favoured trees of the genus Acacia. The overall larger home ranges in the disturbed site were presumably caused by the lower density of tall trees. Density of Pied Flycatchers was 24% lower in disturbed habitat (not significantly different from undisturbed) but Willow Warbler density in the disturbed habitat was more than 2.5 times the density in undisturbed. This suggests that the disturbed habitat was less suitable for Pied Flycatcher but not for Willow Warbler. This difference is possibly related to differences in tree species preferences and suggests that at least for some species, presence of preferred tree species is more important than overall tree abundance. Such information is crucial for predicting consequences of habitat changes on larger scales and population levels, as well as for planning potentially migrant-friendly farming practices

Winter site use by Afro-Palearctic migrants in Ghana: site persistence and densities of Willow Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Melodious Warbler and Common Redstart

Little is known about the variation within and among species of long-distance migrants in behavioural strategies and habitat choice on their non-breeding grounds. We report results from regular ringing operations carried out during the winter seasons 2009–2013 and transect counts in 2013, 2015 and 2016 in the Sudan Savanna Zone in Ghana. The best supported capture–mark–recapture model included species-specific probabilities of stay between within-season periods but no differences in resighting probability among species or sites. This model indicated that less than one-third of the Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus and half of the Melodious Warblers Hippolais polyglotta stayed at wintering sites during more than 10 d, whereas for Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus up to 90% stayed for more than 10 d, indicating itinerant wintering behaviour in the warblers and longer non-breeding residency in Pied Flycatcher and Common Redstart. Densities varied among years, but Pied Flycatchers were consistently most numerous in well-matured woodland habitat and Willow Warblers in disturbed habitat. Recaptures among years were too low for meaningful estimates of winter site fidelity, yet recurrence was recorded in three species. We speculate that habitat use is directly related to degree of territory defence and itinerancy.Keywords: Afro-Palearctic migrants, density, Ghana, itinerancy, recurrence, winterin