Using indicator species to detect high quality habitats in an East African forest biodiversity hotspot

AbstractSpecies demanding specific habitat requirements suffer, particularly under environmental changes. The smallest owl of Africa, the Sokoke Scops Owl (Otus ireneae), occurs exclusively in East African coastal forests. To understand the movement behaviour and habitat demands of O. ireneae, we combined data from radio-tracking and remote sensing to calculate Species Distribution Models across the Arabuko Sokoke forest in southern Kenya. Based on these data, we estimated the local population size and projected the distribution of current suitable habitats. We found that the species occurs only in Cynometra woodland with large old trees and dense vegetation. Based on home range sizes and the distribution of suitable forest habitats, the local population size was estimated at < 400 pairs. Ongoing selective logging of hard-wood trees and the production of charcoal are reducing habitat quality of which will reduce the low numbers of O. ireneae, and of other specialist forest species, even further. Due to their close connection with intact Cynometra forest, O. ireneae is an excellent indicator of intact forest remnants. In addition, this species is a suitable flagship for the promotion and conservation of the last remaining coastal forests of East Africa

The risky side of inspirational appeals in personal selling : when do customers infer ulterior salesperson motives?

In personal selling, the inspirational appeal (IA) is a widely promoted tactic that aims at stimulating customers' values and ideals, thereby evoking emotions and arousing their enthusiasm for a product. However, whether IAs in fact improve or undermine salespeople's success in sales talks remains controversial. Therefore, this study examines consequences and key contingencies of IAs in customer–salesperson interactions in a retailing context, using multisource data from several retailing industries for three quantitative studies, comprising a total sample of 590 customer and 174 salesperson responses. Drawing on the Multiple Inferences Model (MIM), the authors show that an IA is likely to drive the customer's inference that the salesperson holds ulterior motives. IAs seem to be particularly detrimental for salespeople with a lack of customer orientation. Beyond expanding research on influence tactics and the ambivalent role of IAs in retailing interactions, these findings can guide practitioners about when to refrain from using an IA

When do customers get what they expect? Understanding the ambivalent effects of customers’ service expectations on satisfaction

Extant research established that customers’ expectations play an ambivalent role in the satisfaction formation process: While higher expectations are more difficult to meet and thus cause dissatisfaction, they simultaneously increase satisfaction via customers’ perceived performance owing to a placebo effect. However, to date, knowledge is scarce on the question under which conditions either the positive or negative effect of expectations on satisfaction prevails. Building on information processing theory, the authors hypothesize that an essential contingency of the indirect, placebo-based effect is the degree to which customers are able and motivated to process a service experience. Three studies with a total of over 4,000 customers in different service contexts provide strong evidence for this hypothesis. Thus, managers are well advised to provide a realistic or even understated prospect if the service context favors customers’ ability or motivation to evaluate. Conversely, if customers are neither able nor motivated to evaluate the service, increasing customer expectations represents a viable strategy to enhance satisfaction. Relatedly, if customers hold low service expectations, managers should foster customers’ ability and motivation to evaluate the service. In contrast, if service expectations are high, managers may benefit from reducing the likelihood that customers overly focus on the service performance

Biogeography of Italy revisited : genetic lineages confirm major phylogeographic patterns and a pre-Pleistocene origin of its biota

Warm-adapted species survived the cold stages of the past glacial-interglacial cycles in southern European peninsulas and recolonized major parts of Central and Northern Europe in the wake of postglacial warming. However, many of the genetic lineages which differentiated within these refugia predate even the Pleistocene. One of these refugia is the Italian Peninsula with its surrounding islands. In this meta-analysis, we compiled phylogeographic patterns of multiple species across this region. We transformed existing geographic information on 78 animal and plant species (with a total of 471 genetic lineages) within 17 predefined areas into presence/absence matrices. We elaborated three matrices: (i) only old lineages exclusively distinguished by deep splits, (ii) only young lineages distinguished by shallow (i.e. recent) splits, and (iii) presence/absence of the respective species. To infer biogeographic relationships between the predefined areas, we performed bootstrapped neighbour joining cluster analyses on these three matrices. In addition, we reviewed the geological history of Italy to identify causes of the observed biogeographic patterns. We found Sardinia and Corsica to be biogeographically closely linked with each other, and that they diverge strongly from all other regions. Sicily also diverges strongly from all other regions, while the intra-island differentiation was comparatively low. On the Italian mainland, Calabria exhibited the most pronounced biogeographic differentiation, often with several lineages present, resulting from old vicariance events within the region. Furthermore, southern Apulia and the Po Plain with adjoining areas of northern peninsular Italy displayed considerable distinctiveness. Admixture prevailed in the areas between these three regions. The ancient isolation of Sicily, as well as Sardinia plus Corsica, resulted in endemic lineages with only moderate recent exchange with adjacent mainland regions. Pronounced diversification occurs within the Italian Peninsula. The complex tectonic activities, such as shifting (micro)plates, submergence of major parts of peninsular Italy with the genesis of numerous Pliocene islands, in combination with the climatic cycles during the Pleistocene have most likely generated the current biogeographic pattern of species. Immigrations from the Balkan Peninsula into northern Italy partly accounted for the distinctiveness of this region

Palaearctic biogeography revisited: evidence for the existence of a North African refugium for Western Palaearctic biota

Aim: In contrast to the attention given to southern Europe both as a centre of speciation and differentiation and as a Pleistocene refugium of Western Palae- arctic taxa, North Africa has been relatively neglected. In this paper, we set out to address this shortfall. Location North-West Africa and the Mediterranean. Methods We reviewed the existing literature on the biogeography of North Africa, and carried out analyses of species distribution data using parsimony, nestedness and co-occurrence methods. Results In many cases, distribution patterns of non-flying mammals, bats, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, zygaenid moths and odonates demonstrated important biogeographical affinities between Europe and North Africa at the species level. On the other hand, species co-occurrence, nestedness and parsi- mony analysis also revealed some deep splits between the Maghreb and Europe; yet even in these cases the closest affinities were found between the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb. Furthermore, North Africa harbours the highest proportion of endemic taxa (13.7%) across all groups analysed. Many molecu- lar studies demonstrated a strong genetic cohesiveness between North Africa and Europe despite the potential barrier effect of the Mediterranean Sea. In other taxa, however, remarkable splits were detected. In addition, southern European genetic lineages were often nested within North African clades, and many taxa showed exceptionally high genetic variability and differentiation in this region. Main conclusions The Maghreb was an important differentiation and specia- tion centre for thermophilic organisms during the Pliocene and Pleistocene with high relevance as a colonization source for Europe. The regions around the sea straits of Gibraltar and Sicily have acted as important biogeographical links between North Africa and Europe at different times

When do customers get what they expect? Understanding the ambivalent effects of customers’ service expectations on satisfaction

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. Extant research established that customers’ expectations play an ambivalent role in the satisfaction formation process: While higher expectations are more difficult to meet and thus cause dissatisfaction, they simultaneously increase satisfaction via customers’ perceived performance owing to a placebo effect. However, to date, knowledge is scarce on the que stion under which conditions either the positive or negative effect of expectations on satisfaction prevails. Building on information processing theory, the authors hypothesize that an essential contingency of the indirect, placebo-based effect is the degree to which customers are able and motivated to process a service experience. Three studies with a total of over 4,000 customers in different service contexts provide strong evidence for this hypothesis. Thus, managers are well advised to provide a realistic or even understated prospect if the service context favors customers’ ability or motivation to evaluate. Conversely, if customers are neither able nor motivated to evaluate the service, increasing customer expectations represents a viable strategy to enhance satisfaction. Relatedly, if customers hold low service expectations, managers should foster customers’ ability and motivation to evaluate the service. In contrast, if service expectations are high, managers may benefit from reducing the likelihood that customers overly focus on the service performance

Evolution along the Great Rift Valley: phenotypic and genetic differentiation of East African white-eyes (Aves, Zosteropidae)

The moist and cool cloud forests of East Africa represent a network of isolated habitats that are separated by dry and warm lowland savannah, offering an opportunity to investigate how strikingly different selective regimes affect species diversification. Here, we used the passerine genus Zosterops (white-eyes) from this region as our model system. Species of the genus occur in contrasting distribution settings, with geographical mountain isolation driving diversification, and savannah interconnectivity preventing differentiation. We analyze (1) patterns of phenotypic and genetic differentiation in high- and lowland species (different distribution settings), (2) investigate the potential effects of natural selection and temporal and spatial isolation (evolutionary drivers), and (3) critically review the taxonomy of this species complex. We found strong phenotypic and genetic differentiation among and within the three focal species, both in the highland species complex and in the lowland taxa. Altitude was a stronger predictor of phenotypic patterns than the current taxonomic classification. We found longitudinal and latitudinal phenotypic gradients for all three species. Furthermore, wing length and body weight were significantly correlated with altitude and habitat type in the highland species Z.poliogaster. Genetic and phenotypic divergence showed contrasting inter- and intraspecific structures. We suggest that the evolution of phenotypic characters is mainly driven by natural selection due to differences in the two macro-habitats, cloud forest and savannah. In contrast, patterns of neutral genetic variation appear to be rather driven by geographical isolation of the respective mountain massifs. Populations of the Z.poliogaster complex, as well as Z.senegalensis and Z.abyssinicus, are not monophyletic based on microsatellite data and have higher levels of intraspecific differentiation compared to the currently accepted species

Behind the fog : Forest degradation despite logging bans in an East African cloud forest

Habitat destruction and deterioration are amongst the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Increasing demand for agricultural products, timber and charcoal has caused the rapid destruction of natural forests, especially in the tropics. The Taita Hills in southern Kenya are part of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot and represent a highly diverse cloud forest ecosystem. However, the cloud forest suffers extremely from wood and timber exploitation and transformation into exotic tree plantations and agricultural fields. Existing conservation regulations and moratoriums aim to prevent further forest destruction. In this study, we analyzed land cover change and shifts in landscape configuration for a fraction of the Taita Hills, based on satellite imageries for the years 2003, 2011 and 2018. We found that the coverage of natural cloud forest further decreased between 2003 and 2018, despite the effort to conserve the remaining cloud forest patches and to reforest degraded areas by various conservation and management initiatives. In parallel, the proportion of exotic tree plantations and bushland strongly increased. Moreover, mean natural forest patch size decreased and the degree of interspersion with other land cover types increased notably. Logging bans for indigenous trees seem to have resulted in local opposition to the planting of indigenous trees and thereby hindered the recovering of the cloud forest. We suggest to enhance local awareness on the ecological value of the natural forest by community-based Conservation Forest Associations and to encourage the planting of indigenous tree species in farmer-owned woodlots. Besides, bottom-up management systems that allow for local participation in decision-making and benefit-sharing related to forest resources would be a way forward to achieve the sustainable use and conservation of the last remaining natural forest patches in the Taita Hills. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

East African coastal forest under pressure

The Arabuko Sokoke dryland coastal forest along the East African coastline provides a unique habitat for many endangered endemic animal and plant species. High demographic pressure with subsequent land-splitting, soil depletion in combination with erratic rainfalls and the collapse of the tourism industry are negatively affecting food security and human livelihood quality in this region. Food crops were originally produced by subsistence farming, but have now to be purchased at local-and super-markets, constituting a major financial burden for the local people. In consequence, overexploitation of natural resources from Arabuko Sokoke forest (illegal logging, charcoal burning, poaching of wild animals) increased during the past years. In this commentary we document ecosystem heterogeneity leading to high species richness. We discuss direct and indirect drivers of habitat degradation of the Arabuko Sokoke forest, and critically reflect current and future solutions. Key drivers of habitat destruction and biodiversity loss are (i) illegal timber logging and removal of woody biomass, (ii) poaching of bush-meat, (iii) exceeding of the carrying capacity by the local elephant population, restricted to Arabuko Sokoke by an electric fence, and (iv) weak governance structures and institutional confusion exacerbating illegal exploitation of natural resources. Potential solutions might be: Provisioning of additional income sources; reforestation of the surrounding areas in the framework of REDD+ activities to create a buffer around the remaining primary forest; improving governance structures that formulates clear guidelines on future usage and protection of natural resources within the Arabuko Sokoke forest; and family planning to counteract human demographic pressure and the exploitation of natural resources