Home Range Use and Movement Patterns of Non-Native Feral Goats in a Tropical Island Montane Dry Landscape

Advances in wildlife telemetry and remote sensing technology facilitate studies of broad-scale movements of ungulates in relation to phenological shifts in vegetation. In tropical island dry landscapes, home range use and movements of non-native feral goats (Capra hircus) are largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the conservation and restoration of some of the world’s most critically endangered ecosystems. We hypothesized that feral goats would respond to resource pulses in vegetation by traveling to areas of recent green-up. To address this hypothesis, we fitted six male and seven female feral goats with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with an Argos satellite upload link to examine goat movements in relation to the plant phenology using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Movement patterns of 50% of males and 40% of females suggested conditional movement between non-overlapping home ranges throughout the year. A shift in NDVI values corresponded with movement between primary and secondary ranges of goats that exhibited long-distance movement, suggesting that vegetation phenology as captured by NDVI is a good indicator of the habitat and movement patterns of feral goats in tropical island dry landscapes. In the context of conservation and restoration of tropical island landscapes, the results of our study identify how non-native feral goats use resources across a broad landscape to sustain their populations and facilitate invasion of native plant communities

Primary and secondary home ranges of long-distance movement feral goats.

<p>Adaptive kernel home ranges for 5 non-native feral goats that moved between non-overlapping home ranges in Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island, 2010–2011. Red areas indicate 50% (dark red) and 95% (light red) primary ranges and blue areas indicate 50% (dark blue) and 95% (light blue) primary ranges. All individuals moved WNW to the only region of the study area that experienced significant vegetation green-up.</p

Location of the study area: Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island (PTA).

<p>The PTA is a tropical island montane dry landscape that lies at approximately 1900 meters in the saddle of three volcanoes. We captured and collared 13 non-native feral goats in the northern section, 2010–2011.</p

One-tailed probabilities for differences in relative NDVI values between primary and secondary ranges of feral goats in Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island, 2010–2011.

<p>One-tailed probabilities for differences in relative NDVI values between primary and secondary ranges of feral goats in Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island, 2010–2011.</p

The UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: the health of a world on the move.

With one billion people on the move or having moved in 2018, migration is a global reality, which has also become a political lightning rod. Although estimates indicate that the majority of global migration occurs within low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), the most prominent dialogue focuses almost exclusively on migration from LMICs to high-income countries (HICs). Nowadays, populist discourse demonises the very same individuals who uphold economies, bolster social services, and contribute to health services in both origin and destination locations. Those in positions of political and economic power continue to restrict or publicly condemn migration to promote their own interests. Meanwhile nationalist movements assert so-called cultural sovereignty by delineating an us versus them rhetoric, creating a moral emergency