4 research outputs found
Burrow fractal dimension and foraging success in subterranean rodents: a simulation
For animals that forage underground, the success with which food items are located may be closely related to burrow architecture. Fractal dimension, which describes how a burrow explores the surrounding area in a way that is independent of burrow length, is an obvious choice for a single metric describing burrow shape. Although it is often assumed that burrows of high fractal dimension will be associated with greater foraging success, this has not previously been demonstrated. In this study, we use computer simulations to study the success with which burrows of different fractal dimensions locate randomly distributed food items. In addition, we examine the effect of different patterns of food distribution (in particular the patchiness with which food items are distributed) and consider how using different criteria for locating food items affects the relationship between fractal dimension and foraging success. We conclude that, under a wide range of plausible assumptions about the ways in which subterranean rodents forage, burrows of high fractal dimension are more successful at locating food items than burrows of lower fractal dimension. Copyright 2006.burrow architecture; computer model; food distribution; food patchiness; shape
Ecological and financial impacts of illegal bushmeat trade in Zimbabwe
Under conditions of political instability and
economic decline illegal bushmeat hunting has emerged
as a serious conservation threat in Zimbabwe. Following
settlement of game ranches by subsistence farming communities,
wildlife populations have been eradicated over
large areas. In several areas still being managed as game
ranches illegal hunting is causing further declines of
wildlife populations (including threatened species such as
the wild dog Lycaon pictus and black rhinoceros Diceros
bicornis), threatening the viability of wildlife-based land
uses. From August 2001 to July 2009 in Save´ Valley
Conservancy 10,520 illegal hunting incidents were recorded,
84,396 wire snares removed, 4,148 hunters caught,
2,126 hunting dogs eliminated and at least 6,454 wild
animals killed. Estimated future financial losses from illegal
hunting in the Conservancy exceed USD 1.1 million year-1.
Illegal hunters’ earnings account for 0.31–0.52% of the
financial losses that they impose and the bushmeat trade is
an inefficient use of wildlife resources. Illegal hunting
peaks during the late dry season and is more frequent
close to the boundary, near areas resettled during land
reform and close to water. Illegal hunting with dogs peaks
during moonlight periods. Our study highlights several
management and land-use planning steps required to
maximize the efficacy of anti-poaching and to reduce the
likelihood of high impacts of illegal hunting. Anti-poaching
efforts should be aligned with the regular temporal and
spatial patterns of illegal hunting. Leases for hunting and
tourism concessions should ensure minimum adequate
investment by operators in anti-poaching. Reserve designers
should minimize the surface area to volume ratio of parks.
Fences should not be constructed using wire that can be
made into snares. Land reform involving game ranches
should integrate communities in wildlife-based land uses and ensure spatial separation between land for wildlife and
human settlement. Means are required to create stakeholdings
for communities in wildlife and disincentives for
illegal hunting.TRAFFIC Southern and East Africa, the
European Union, Wilderness Trust, Chicago Board of
Trade and the supporters of the African Wildlife Conservation
Fund.http://journals.cambridge.orgab201
Dynamics and underlying causes of illegal bushmeat trade in Zimbabwe
The prevalence and impacts of the illegal trade in
bushmeat are under appreciated in Southern Africa, despite
indications that it constitutes a serious conservation
threat in parts of the region. Bushmeat trade has emerged
as a severe threat to wildlife conservation and the viability
of wildlife-based land uses in Zimbabwe during a period of
political instability and severe economic decline. We
conducted a study around Save´ Valley Conservancy in
the South-East Lowveld of Zimbabwe to investigate the
dynamics and underlying causes of the bushmeat trade,
with the objective of developing solutions. We found that
bushmeat hunting is conducted mainly by unemployed
young men to generate cash income, used mostly to
purchase food. Bushmeat is mainly sold to people with
cash incomes in adjacent communal lands and population
centres and is popular by virtue of its affordability and
availability. Key drivers of the bushmeat trade in the
South-East Lowveld include: poverty, unemployment and
food shortages, settlement of wildlife areas by impoverished
communities that provided open access to wildlife
resources, failure to provide stakes for communities in
wildlife-based land uses, absence of affordable protein
sources other than illegally sourced bushmeat, inadequate
investment in anti-poaching in areas remaining under
wildlife management, and weak penal systems that do
not provide sufficient deterrents to illegal bushmeat hunters.
Each of these underlying causes needs to be addressed
for the bushmeat trade to be tackled effectively. However,
in the absence of political and economic stability, controlling
illegal bushmeat hunting will remain extremely difficult
and the future of wildlife-based land uses will remain
bleak.TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa, the
European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development, Wilderness Trust,
Chicago Board of Trade, and the supporters of the African
Wildlife Conservation Fund.http://journals.cambridge.orgab201