Using drones and sirens to elicit avoidance behaviour in white rhinoceros as an anti-poaching tactic.

Poaching fuelled by international trade in horn caused the deaths of over 1000 African rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum and Diceros bicornis) per year between 2013 and 2017. Deterrents, which act to establish avoidance behaviours in animals, have the potential to aid anti-poaching efforts by moving at-risk rhinos away from areas of danger (e.g. near perimeter fences). To evaluate the efficacy of deterrents, we exposed a population of southern white rhinos (C. simum simum) to acoustic- (honeybee, siren, turtle dove), olfactory- (chilli, sunflower), and drone-based stimuli on a game reserve in South Africa. We exposed rhinos to each stimulus up to four times. Stimuli were considered effective deterrents if they repeatedly elicited avoidance behaviour (locomotion away from the deterrent). Rhinos travelled significantly further in response to the siren than to the honeybee or turtle dove stimulus, and to low-altitude drone flights than to higher altitude flights. We found the drone to be superior at manipulating rhino movement than the siren owing to its longer transmission range and capability of pursuit. By contrast, the scent stimuli were ineffective at inciting avoidance behaviour. Our findings indicate that deterrents are a prospective low-cost and in situ method to manage rhino movement in game reserves

Negligible hormonal response following dehorning in free-ranging white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)

The white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is experiencing unsustainable poaching losses fuelled by a demand for horn. Increasingly, private and state reserves are dehorning their rhinoceros populations in an attempt to reduce poaching pressure. Rhinoceroses use their horns in social interactions as well as during resource access and so its partial removal as part of reserve management practices may adversely influence these behaviours. Physiological stress can correlate with animal welfare, reproductive state and health and thus acts as a useful indicator of these parameters. To establish whether dehorning causes a physiological stress response, glucocorticoid and gonadal steroid profiles of free-ranging white rhinoceroses were determined through the collection and analysis of faecal steroid metabolites before and after dehorning. Faecal corticoid profiles were not influenced by the number of occasions a rhinoceros had been dehorned or by the number of days that had elapsed since dehorning. Furthermore, there was no apparent suppression in the concentrations of testosterone or progesterone metabolites in males and females, respectively, after exposure to multiple dehorning procedures. These findings should increase wildlife managers' confidence that dehorning does not negatively impact white rhinoceros physiology as measured hormonally

Changes in social dominance in a group of subadult white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) after dehorning

In many social species physical attributes correlate with dominance rankings and influence the outcomes of dyadic interactions. We investigated the processes that affect white rhinoceros’ social behaviour in response to a reduction in horn size asymmetries within a group of subadult individuals. We monitored agonistic social interactions and the orderliness of social rankings between six free ranging rhinoceroses before and after they underwent a second dehorning procedure. We used a modified version of Landau’s h’ to measure linearity, a score of steepness to measure power asymmetry, and a measure of triangle transitivity to assess relationships in the presence of null dyads. Agonistic social interactions were significantly greater after the monitored dehorning procedure. Hierarchies possessed significant steepness and transitivity prior to the procedure, but not after. Linearity was non-significant and rank order did not correspond with changes in horn size or age. Our results provide the first evidence of a dominance hierarchy among free-ranging white rhinoceroses outside of reproductive competition, but indicate that physical attributes alone do not explain social rankings. Rhinoceroses transitioned to a more egalitarian dominance structure than a despotic one after the procedure, but dominance ranks were only weakly differentiated within the group. Although a reduction in horn asymmetries may increase agonistic behaviours via psychosocial or behavioural changes, drier climatic conditions cannot be ruled out as the causative factor and because the subadult group stayed together, rather than dispersing, any increased fitness costs are likely to be minimal and outweighed by the benefits of group membershi

Teaching and learning in ecology: a horizon scan of emerging challenges and solutions

We currently face significant, anthropogenic, global environmental challenges, and the role of ecologists in mitigating these challenges is arguably more important than ever. Consequently there is an urgent need to recruit and train future generations of ecologists, both those whose main area is ecology, but also those involved in the geological, biological, and environmental sciences. Here we present the results of a horizon scanning exercise that identified current and future challenges facing the teaching of ecology, through surveys of teachers, students, and employers of ecologists. Key challenges identified were grouped in terms of the perspectives of three groups: students, for example the increasing disconnect between people and nature; teachers, for example the challenges associated with teaching the quantitative skills that are inherent to the study of ecology; and society, for example poor societal perceptions of the field of ecology. In addition to the challenges identified, we propose a number of solutions developed at a workshop by a team of ecology teaching experts, with supporting evidence of their potential to address many of the problems raised. These proposed solutions include developing living labs, teaching students to be ecological entrepreneurs and influencers, embedding skills-based learning and coding in the curriculum, an increased role for learned societies in teaching and learning, and using new technology to enhance fieldwork studies including virtual reality, artificial intelligence and real-time spoken language translation. Our findings are focused towards UK higher education, but they should be informative for students and teachers of a wide range of educational levels, policy makers, and professional ecologists worldwide

Fine-scale population genetic structure and sex-biased dispersal in the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) in southern England

Human-induced alteration of natural habitats has the potential to impact on the genetic structuring of remnant populations at multiple spatial scales. Species from higher trophic levels, such as snakes, are expected to be particularly susceptible to land-use changes. We examined fine-scale population structure and looked for evidence of sex-biased dispersal in smooth snakes (Coronella austriaca), sampled from 10 heathland localities situated within a managed coniferous forest in Dorset, United Kingdom. Despite the limited distances between heathland areas (maximum <6 km), there was a small but significant structuring of populations based on eight microsatellite loci. This followed an isolation-by-distance model using both straight line and ‘biological’ distances between sampling sites, suggesting C. austriaca's low vagility as the causal factor, rather than closed canopy conifer forest exerting an effect as a barrier to dispersal. Within population comparisons of male and female snakes showed evidence for sex-biased dispersal, with three of four analyses finding significantly higher dispersal in males than in females. We suggest that the fine-scale spatial genetic structuring and sex-biased dispersal have important implications for the conservation of C. austriaca, and highlight the value of heathland areas within commercial conifer plantations with regards to their future management