Can I afford to publish? : a dilemma for African scholars

With open-access publishing authors often pay an article processing charge and subsequently their article is freely available online. These charges are beyond the reach of most African academics. Thus, the trend towards open-access publishing will shift the business model from a pay-wall model, where access to literature is limited, to a pay-to-publish one, where African scholars cannot afford to publish. We explore the costs of publishing and the ability of African scholars to afford to publish via open access in top journals. Three-quarters of the 40 top ecology journals required payment for open-access publishing (average cost $3150). Paying such fees is a hardship for African scholars as grant funding is not available and it is not feasible to pay the fees themselves as salaries are low. We encourage funders and publishers to facilitate an equitable publishing model that allows African scholars to make their research available through open-access publishing

The future of sub-Saharan Africa’s biodiversity in the face of climate and societal change

Many of the world’s most biodiverse regions are found in the poorest and second most populous continent of Africa; a continent facing exceptional challenges. Africa is projected to quadruple its population by 2100 and experience increasingly severe climate change and environmental conflict—all of which will ravage biodiversity. Here we assess conservation threats facing Africa and consider how these threats will be affected by human population growth, economic expansion, and climate change. We then evaluate the current capacity and infrastructure available to conserve the continent’s biodiversity. We consider four key questions essential for the future of African conservation: (1) how to build societal support for conservation efforts within Africa; (2) how to build Africa’s education, research, and management capacity; (3) how to finance conservation efforts; and (4) is conservation through development the appropriate approach for Africa? While the challenges are great, ways forward are clear, and we present ideas on how progress can be made. Given Africa’s current modest capacity to address its biodiversity crisis, additional international funding is required, but estimates of the cost of conserving Africa’s biodiversity are within reach. The will to act must build on the sympathy for conservation that is evident in Africa, but this will require building the education capacity within the continent. Considering Africa’s rapidly growing population and the associated huge economic needs, options other than conservation through development need to be more effectively explored. Despite the gravity of the situation, we believe that concerted effort in the coming decades can successfully curb the loss of biodiversity in Africa.National Research Foundation (ZA, Grant 98404)Wilson Cente

Data for analyses of number of seedlings

The response is No, the number of seedlings in each plot, as described in the paper

Survival data

Data for survival analysis in the paper. The response is obs, indicating if an individual seedling was observed on the second visit

Data from: Competition, seed dispersal, and hunting: what drives germination and seedling survival in an Afrotropical forest?

Disentangling the contributions of different processes that influence plant recruitment, such as competition and seed dispersal, is important given the increased human-mediated changes in tropical forest ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that seedling communities in an Afro-tropical rainforest in Southeastern Nigeria are strongly affected by the loss of important seed dispersing primates, including Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes elioti), and drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus). Here we study how germination and survival of tree seedlings are affected by competition and reduced seed-dispersal in three contiguous forest reserves, in Southeastern Nigeria, with similar mature tree species composition and structure. We use an experimental design aimed at manipulating the effect of competition among seedlings in three protected and three hunted sites within the reserves. We use a total of sixty 5×5 m plots of three types: plots cleared of all seedlings, plots selectively cleared of all primate-dispersed seedlings and control plots. All seedlings were identified, measured, assigned to dispersal mode, and tagged, and after one year we evaluated survival, mortality and new recruits. We found that in hunted sites germination of abiotically dispersed species was over four times higher in cleared plots compared to control plots, whereas germination of primate dispersed species was the same, which indicated that dispersal limitation was the dominant force in seedling recruitment in hunted sites. This was supported by the fact that the germination of all dispersal modes in the selectively cleared plots in protected sites was similar to the control plots in the same sites, but germination of abiotically dispersed species was significantly lower than in cleared plots in hunted sites. Competition among seedlings was mostly evident from the fact that 75% more seedlings of primate dispersed species germinated in cleared compared to control plots in protected sites. We conclude that inter-seedling competition may be irrelevant to seedling recruitment in hunted sites, where dispersal limitation appears to be a much stronger force shaping the seedling plant community, and thus hunting indirectly reverses the importance of competition and dispersal limitation in structuring seedling communities

Data from: Bushmeat hunting changes regeneration of African rainforests

To assess ecological consequences of bushmeat hunting in African lowland rainforests, we compared paired sites, with high and low hunting pressure, in three areas of southeastern Nigeria. In hunted sites, populations of important seed dispersers—both small and large primates (including the Cross River gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli)—were drastically reduced. Large rodents were more abundant in hunted sites, even though they are hunted. Hunted and protected sites had similar mature tree communities dominated by primate-dispersed species. In protected sites, seedling communities were similar in composition to the mature trees, but in hunted sites species with other dispersal modes dominated among seedlings. Seedlings emerging 1 year after clearing of all vegetation in experimental plots showed a similar pattern to the standing seedlings. This study thus verifies the transforming effects of bushmeat hunting on plant communities of tropical forests and is one of the first studies to do so for the African continent

Data from: Competition, seed dispersal, and hunting: what drives germination and seedling survival in an Afrotropical forest?

Disentangling the contributions of different processes that influence plant recruitment, such as competition and seed dispersal, is important given the increased human-mediated changes in tropical forest ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that seedling communities in an Afro-tropical rainforest in Southeastern Nigeria are strongly affected by the loss of important seed dispersing primates, including Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes elioti), and drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus). Here we study how germination and survival of tree seedlings are affected by competition and reduced seed-dispersal in three contiguous forest reserves, in Southeastern Nigeria, with similar mature tree species composition and structure. We use an experimental design aimed at manipulating the effect of competition among seedlings in three protected and three hunted sites within the reserves. We use a total of sixty 5×5 m plots of three types: plots cleared of all seedlings, plots selectively cleared of all primate-dispersed seedlings and control plots. All seedlings were identified, measured, assigned to dispersal mode, and tagged, and after one year we evaluated survival, mortality and new recruits. We found that in hunted sites germination of abiotically dispersed species was over four times higher in cleared plots compared to control plots, whereas germination of primate dispersed species was the same, which indicated that dispersal limitation was the dominant force in seedling recruitment in hunted sites. This was supported by the fact that the germination of all dispersal modes in the selectively cleared plots in protected sites was similar to the control plots in the same sites, but germination of abiotically dispersed species was significantly lower than in cleared plots in hunted sites. Competition among seedlings was mostly evident from the fact that 75% more seedlings of primate dispersed species germinated in cleared compared to control plots in protected sites. We conclude that inter-seedling competition may be irrelevant to seedling recruitment in hunted sites, where dispersal limitation appears to be a much stronger force shaping the seedling plant community, and thus hunting indirectly reverses the importance of competition and dispersal limitation in structuring seedling communities

MammalData

Data on number of groups of mammals observed per transect. Numbers are given for each of four guilds (Large primates, Medium primates, Rodents, and Browsers). Six study sites are included: Forests A, B, and C are each divided into one hunted and one protected site. In each site four transects were surveyed

TreeData

Data on numbers of mature trees per transect section. Trees are divied into three dispersal modes (dispersed by primates, other animals, or by abiotic means). Each forest (A,B,C) has two study sites (one hunted, one protected), and each site has four 1 km transects divided into 200 m sections

SeedlingsClearedData

Data on number of seedlings per 5x5 m plots, one year after the plot was cleared of all vegetation. Seedling species are divied into three dispersal modes (dispersed by primates, other animals, or by abiotic means). Each forest (A,B,C) has two study sites (one hunted, one protected), and each site has four 1 km transects along which one plot is randomly placed