The Customer Isn't Always Right—Conservation and Animal Welfare Implications of the Increasing Demand for Wildlife Tourism

Tourism accounts for 9% of global GDP and comprises 1.1 billion tourist arrivals per annum. Visits to wildlife tourist attractions (WTAs) may account for 20–40% of global tourism, but no studies have audited the diversity of WTAs and their impacts on the conservation status and welfare of subject animals. We scored these impacts for 24 types of WTA, visited by 3.6–6 million tourists per year, and compared our scores to tourists’ feedback on TripAdvisor. Six WTA types (impacting 1,500–13,000 individual animals) had net positive conservation/welfare impacts, but 14 (120,000–340,000 individuals) had negative conservation impacts and 18 (230,000–550,000 individuals) had negative welfare impacts. Despite these figures only 7.8% of all tourist feedback on these WTAs was negative due to conservation/welfare concerns. We demonstrate that WTAs have substantial negative effects that are unrecognised by the majority of tourists, suggesting an urgent need for tourist education and regulation of WTAs worldwide.     

THE ORCHID PAINTINGS OF MARIANNE NORTH

Summary. The Marianne North Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew includes many orchid paintings. The orchids depicted in the paintings, and Marianne North's travels in search of them, are described.     

Ecological and social determinants of association and proximity patterns in the fission–fusion society of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)

Some social species exhibit high levels of fission–fusion dynamics (FFD) that improve foraging efficiency. In this study, we shed light on the way that FFD allows animal groups to cope with fluctuations in fruit availability. We explore the relative contribution of fruit availability and social factors like sex in determining association and proximity patterns in spider monkeys. We tested the influence of fruit availability and social factors on the association and proximity patterns using three-year data from a group of spider monkeys in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. We identified subgroup members and estimated their Interindividual distances through instantaneous scan sampling. We evaluated fruit availability by monitoring the phenology of the 10 most important food tree species for spider monkeys in the study site. Social network analyses allowed us to evaluate association and proximity patterns in subgroups. We showed that association patterns vary between seasons, respond to changes in fruit availability, and are influenced by the sex of individuals, likely reflecting biological and behavioral differences between sexes and the interplay between ecological and social factors. In contrast, proximity patterns were minimally affected by changes in fruit availability, suggesting that social factors are more important than food availability in determining cohesion within subgroups.     

Biogeographical network analysis of plant species distribution in the Mediterranean region

The delimitation of bioregions helps to understand historical and ecological drivers of species distribution. In this work, we performed a network analysis of the spatial distribution patterns of plants in south of France (Languedoc‐Roussillon and Provence‐Alpes‐Côte d'Azur) to analyze the biogeographical structure of the French Mediterranean flora at different scales. We used a network approach to identify and characterize biogeographical regions, based on a large database containing 2.5 million of geolocalized plant records corresponding to more than 3,500 plant species. This methodology is performed following five steps, from the biogeographical bipartite network construction to the identification of biogeographical regions under the form of spatial network communities, the analysis of their interactions, and the identification of clusters of plant species based on the species contribution to the biogeographical regions. First, we identified two sub‐networks that distinguish Mediterranean and temperate biota. Then, we separated eight statistically significant bioregions that present a complex spatial structure. Some of them are spatially well delimited and match with particular geological entities. On the other hand, fuzzy transitions arise between adjacent bioregions that share a common geological setting, but are spread along a climatic gradient. The proposed network approach illustrates the biogeographical structure of the flora in southern France and provides precise insights into the relationships between bioregions. This approach sheds light on ecological drivers shaping the distribution of Mediterranean biota: The interplay between a climatic gradient and geological substrate shapes biodiversity patterns. Finally, this work exemplifies why fragmented distributions are common in the Mediterranean region, isolating groups of species that share a similar eco‐evolutionary history.     

Resistance to radial expansion limits muscle strain and work

The collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) of skeletal muscle functions to transmit force, protect sensitive structures, and generate passive tension to resist stretch. The mechanical properties of the ECM change with age, atrophy, and neuromuscular pathologies, resulting in an increase in the relative amount of collagen and an increase in stiffness. Although numerous studies have focused on the effect of muscle fibrosis on passive muscle stiffness, few have examined how these structural changes may compromise contractile performance. Here we combine a mathematical model and experimental manipulations to examine how changes in the mechanical properties of the ECM constrain the ability of muscle fibers and fascicles to radially expand and how such a constraint may limit active muscle shortening. We model the mechanical interaction between a contracting muscle and the ECM using a constant volume, pressurized, fiber-wound cylinder. Our model shows that as the proportion of a muscle cross section made up of ECM increases, the muscle’s ability to expand radially is compromised, which in turn restricts muscle shortening. In our experiments, we use a physical constraint placed around the muscle to restrict radial expansion during a contraction. Our experimental results are consistent with model predictions and show that muscles restricted from radial expansion undergo less shortening and generate less mechanical work under identical loads and stimulation conditions. This work highlights the intimate mechanical interaction between contractile and connective tissue structures within skeletal muscle and shows how a deviation from a healthy, well-tuned relationship can compromise performance.