207 research outputs found
Walking with lions: why there is no role for captive-origin lions Panthera leo in species restoration
Despite formidable challenges and few successes in reintroducing large cats from captivity to the wild, the release of captives has widespread support from the general public and local governments, and continues to occur ad hoc. Commercial so-called lion Panthera leo encounter operations in Africa exemplify the issue, in which the captive breeding of the lion is linked to claims of reintroduction and broader conservation outcomes. In this article we assess the capacity of such programmes to contribute to in situ lion conservation. By highlighting the availability of wild founders, the unsuitability of captive lions for release and the evidence-based success of wild-wild lion translocations, we show that captive-origin lions have no role in species restoration. We also argue that approaches to reintroduction exemplified by the lion encounter industry do not address the reasons for the decline of lions in situ, nor do they represent a model that can be widely applied to restoration of threatened felids elsewher
No science, no success and still no need for captive-origin lion reintroduction: a reply to Abell & Youldon
Failure of research to address the rangewide conservation needs of large carnivores : leopards in South Africa as a case study
Science and conservation are often driven by different agendas, partly because many researchers are reluctant to tackle
applied topics perceived to be less competitive for publishing or too impractical to study. Consequently, research often
fails to contribute meaningfully to conservation outcomes. We use leopards Panthera pardus in South Africa to illustrate
this mismatch between research and conservation priorities. A review of the scientific literature showed that leopard
studies in South Africa focused disproportionately on basic research, particularly on leopard feeding ecology inside
protected areas. Academics were responsible for most articles but avoided applied studies, even though they were
published in higher impact journals and took less time to undertake. An assessment of active leopard projects further
demonstrated that studies were clumped in areas of low conservation concern and most failed to publish their findings.
Many projects were also funded by commercial volunteer programs with financial incentives for conducting research.
We recommend that leopard researchers in South Africa and carnivore researchers more widely engage with
practitioners to ensure the most pressing issues are addressed. Scientists must also situate their research in a broader
conservation context and evaluate the outcomes of management decisions. Finally, continued funding and
permissions for research should at a minimum be contingent on research outputs being published in the peer-reviewed
literature.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-263Xhb201
The importance of refugia, ecological traps and scale for large carnivore management
Management zones feature prominently in conservation planning, particularly at
large spatial scales, but prioritization of areas of concern is required to focus efforts and
limited resources. Human-mediated mortality constitutes a major threat to species persistence,
particularly for widespread carnivores that undergo harvest and population control,
such as the leopard (Panthera pardus). In this study, we evaluated the extent and
spatial distribution of legal anthropogenic offtake of leopards to identify de facto refugia
and ecological traps across Limpopo Province, South Africa. We defined refugia as
management units with offtake levels below an established sustainable harvest rate, and
ecological traps as management units with offtake exceeding the sustainable harvest rate.
We assessed offtake at three geographical scales using trophy hunting permit records alone,
and then in combination with problem leopard permit records to investigate the
compounding effect of additional forms of offtake and the potential for management scale
mismatching. Across Limpopo Province, high leopard offtake created fewer areas of refuge
than ecological traps. Refugia were smaller in size and within close proximity of ecological traps. Human-mediated leopard mortality occurred mostly in prime leopard habitat. Finerscaled
management units resulted in fewer ecological traps and more refugia, and enables
authorities to focus conservation attention in areas of concern. Human-mediated leopard
mortality exceeded the annual offtake rate considered sustainable. Our study highlights the
importance of assessing both the scale and distribution of the harvest, whilst also considering
alternative forms of offtake, when devising harvest management strategies.
Management scale mismatching and high human-mediated leopard mortality is of particular
concern in Limpopo Province, as such, we propose an adaptive, science-based
regulatory framework aimed at improving leopard harvest strategies.Panthera Kaplan Graduate Award and a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) bursary (#83690) and NRF post-doctoral fellowship (#88179).http://link.springer.com/journal/105312016-08-31hb201
Life after Cecil : channelling global outrage into funding for conservation in Africa
Trophy hunting is widely used in Africa to generate funding for wildlife areas.
In 2015, a global media frenzy resulted from the illegal killing of a radiocollared
lion, “Cecil,” by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe. Trophy hunting is contentious
and much of the media discourse is emotional and polarized, focusing
on animal welfare and debating the value of hunting as a conservation tool.
We use the Cecil incident to urge a change in the focus of discussion and make
a call for global action.We highlight the dual challenge to African governments
posed by the need to fund vast wildlife estates and provide incentives for conservation
by communities in the context of growing human populations and
competing priorities. With or without trophy hunting, Africa’s wildlife areas
require much more funding to prevent serious biodiversity loss. In light of this,
we urge a shift away from perpetual debates over trophy hunting to the more
pressing question of “How do we fund Africa’s wildlife areas adequately?” We
urge the international community to greatly increase funding and technical
support for Africa’s wildlife estate. Concurrently, we encourage African
governments and hunters to take decisive steps to reform hunting industries
and address challenges associated with that revenue generating option.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-263Xam2017Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog
Climate change adaptation in agriculture: Ex ante analysis of promising and alternative crop technologies using DSSAT and IMPACT
Achieving and maintaining global food security is challenged by changes in population, income, and climate, among other drivers. Assessing these challenges and possible solutions over the coming decades requires a rigorous multidisciplinary approach. To answer this challenge, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has developed a system of linked simulation models of global agriculture to do long-run scenario analysis of the effects of climate change and various adaptation strategies. This system includes the core International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), which is linked to water models (global hydrology, water basin management, and water stress on crops) and crop simulation models. The Global Futures and Strategic Foresight program, a CGIAR initiative led by IFPRI in collaboration with other CGIAR research centers, is working to improve these tools and conducting ex ante assessments of promising technologies, investments, and policies under alternative global futures. Baseline projections from IMPACT set the foundation with the latest outlook on long-term trends in food demand and agricultural production based on projected changes in population, income, technology, and climate. On top of the baseline, scenarios are developed for assessing the impacts of promising climate-adapted technologies for maize, wheat, rice, potatoes, sorghum, groundnut, and cassava on yields, area, production, trade, and prices in 2050 at a variety of scales. Yield gains from adoption of the selected technologies vary by technology and region, but are found to be generally comparable in scale to (and thus able to offset) the adverse effects of climate change under a high-emissions representative concentration pathway (RCP 8.5). Even more important in this long-term climate change scenario are effects of growth in population, income, and investments in overall technological change, highlighting the importance of linked assessment of biophysical and socioeconomic drivers to better understand climate impacts and responses. For all crops in the selected countries, climate change impacts are negative with the baseline technology. All new technologies have beneficial effects on yields under climate change, with combined traits (drought and heat tolerance) showing the greatest benefi
Creating larger and better connected protected areas enhances the persistence of big game species in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot
Peer reviewe
The Physics of Cluster Mergers
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller
clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the
Universe since the Big Bang. Some of the basic physical properties of mergers
will be discussed, with an emphasis on simple analytic arguments rather than
numerical simulations. Semi-analytic estimates of merger rates are reviewed,
and a simple treatment of the kinematics of binary mergers is given. Mergers
drive shocks into the intracluster medium, and these shocks heat the gas and
should also accelerate nonthermal relativistic particles. X-ray observations of
shocks can be used to determine the geometry and kinematics of the merger. Many
clusters contain cooling flow cores; the hydrodynamical interactions of these
cores with the hotter, less dense gas during mergers are discussed. As a result
of particle acceleration in shocks, clusters of galaxies should contain very
large populations of relativistic electrons and ions. Electrons with Lorentz
factors gamma~300 (energies E = gamma m_e c^2 ~ 150 MeV) are expected to be
particularly common. Observations and models for the radio, extreme
ultraviolet, hard X-ray, and gamma-ray emission from nonthermal particles
accelerated in these mergers are described.Comment: 38 pages with 9 embedded Postscript figures. To appear in Merging
Processes in Clusters of Galaxies, edited by L. Feretti, I. M. Gioia, and G.
Giovannini (Dordrecht: Kluwer), in press (2001
Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2
A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is
reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and
quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated
luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV
and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172
GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95%
confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2,
depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and
quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited
fermio
Search for lightest neutralino and stau pair production in light gravitino scenarios with stau NLSP
Promptly decaying lightest neutralinos and long-lived staus are searched for
in the context of light gravitino scenarios. It is assumed that the stau is the
next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and that the lightest
neutralino is the next to NLSP (NNLSP). Data collected with the Delphi detector
at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 183 \GeV are analysed. No evidence of
the production of these particles is found. Hence, lower mass limits for both
kinds of particles are set at 95% C.L.. The mass of gaugino-like neutralinos is
found to be greater than 71.5 GeV/c^2. In the search for long-lived stau,
masses less than 70.0 to 77.5 \GeVcc are excluded for gravitino masses from 10
to 150 \eVcc . Combining this search with the searches for stable heavy leptons
and Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model staus a lower limit of 68.5 \GeVcc
may be set for the stau mas
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