Do levels of income explain differences in game abundance? An empirical test in two Honduran villages

Although researchers have documented the role of anthropogenic huntingpressure on the abundance of game, few have measured the direct effects ofincome or economic development on game abundance. Economic theory tends topredict an ambiguous causal relation between income and the abundance of game.Here we test whether income (a standard proxy of economic development) erodesthe abundance of game in two Tawahka Amerindian villages in the rain forest ofHonduras. The two villages have similar ecologies and weather and lie 17km apart but differ in income, population size, wealth, thepresence of outside institutions, and hunting pressure. A census of animals doneover 2 continuous years suggests that the richer village had less game andrelatively fewer large-bodied animals. At the level of animal groups (e.g.,mammals) or individual species, or when we include controls for the simultaneouseffect of vegetation type, distance from the start of the hunting trail, andtime of the year through a random-effect probit model, the two villages displayno statistically significant differences in game abundance. A random-effect,multivariate tobit model, in fact, suggests that being in the more remotevillage correlated with 43.5% fewer animals seen in any one encounter; resultswere significant at the 99% confidence level. The conclusions contain adiscussion of why income might produce ambiguous effects on game abundance andthe tradeoffs of using bivariate and multivariate techniques to analyze thecovariates of game abundance in the tropical rain forests of the New World.     

Subsistence hunting and conservation issues in the game reserve of Gile, Mozambique

Ethnozoological research was conducted to gather information on the hunting activities and their relevance for the subsistence of local people in 8 villages around the game reserve of Gile, Mozambique. Two series of data were gathered by questionnaires to: (a) 510 householders from eight villages located in the outskirts of the Reserve; (b) 10 hunters from the village of Gile, the main centre of the study area. Several hunting techniques were recorded: spears, nets, traps (including gin-traps) and wildfires, while the use of guns did not appear relevant. The importance of subsistence hunting for local people was underlined by the high percentage of respondents who declared that they usually conduct this activity and sell bushmeat. The proportion of hunters per village was related to the village size but not to its geographical location of villages and the household composition. A positive relationship existed between the proportion of hunters, crop production and fishing activities, indicating that hunting is part of an integrated system of subsistence activities. Most animals harvested were mammals (89.5%, of which 46.7% were ungulates) and most were captured within the Reserve (96%). A higher percentage of animals was sold (56%), representing a relevant income source for the villagers. Small animals were mainly captured by traps during solitary hunting, medium-sized animals in collective net hunting; larger prey were captured by gin-traps adopted by both solitary and collective hunting. In the diet of the local people wild animals represented a higher protein source than domestic animals.     

Population Size and Migration of Anopheles gambiae in the Bancoumana Region of Mali and Their Significance for Efficient Vector Control

We present results of two intensive mark-release-recapture surveys conducted during the wet and dry seasons of 2008 in the villages of Fourda and Kenieroba, Mali. The former is a small fishing village by the Niger River with a moderate to high densities of Anopheles gambiae Giles s.s. (Diptera: Culicidae) throughout the year, while the latter is a large agricultural community 2 km inland that experiences strong seasonal fluctuation in An. gambiae densities. We estimate the population size of female An. gambiae in Fourda to be in less than 3,000 during the dry season. We found evidence of large population size and migration from Fourda in Kenieroba during the wet season, but very low numbers and no sign of migrants during the dry season. We suggest that malaria vector control measures aimed at adult mosquitoes might be made more efficient in this region and other seasonal riparian habitats by targeting disruption of mosquito populations by the river during the dry season. This would decrease the size of an already small population, and would be likely to delay the explosive growth in vector numbers in the larger inland villages as rainfall increases.     

Subsistence hunting among the Waimiri Atroari Indians in central Amazonia, Brazil

Subsistence hunting among the Waimiri Atroari Indians in central Amazonia, Brazil, was studied from September 1993 to October 1994 to assess the current levels of resource exploitation. Hunting effort, harvesting yields and species composition of the hunt were recorded daily in five villages varying in number of people, location and age of the settlement. The Waimiri Atroari harvested a total of 3004 individuals of 41 species in one year. Lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), collared peccary (T. tajacu) and spider monkey (Ateles paniscus) represented 87% of the total yearly game weight. Sex ratios of spider monkeys killed were heavily biased towards females indicating a stronger hunting pressure on those individuals. Harvesting yields was proportional to hunting efforts indicating no evident game depletion in the study period. However, capture per unit of effort was significantly different among villages. Differences in total game mass harvested may be explained by local resource depletion associated with age and size of the settlement. However, this relationship is confounded by the capacity of some villages to exploit distant hunting sites. Data obtained in one village showed that harvest rates were higher in hunting sites located far from settlement indicating game depletion in hunting sites surrounding the village.     

Mammal community structure in relation to disturbance and resource gradients in southern Africa

The arrangements of mammals differ along environmental gradients, such as of disturbance and resources. We examined how mammal community composition in the Kalahari, Botswana, varied in relation to disturbance and resource gradients. We predicted that livestock-keeping villages are disturbances and pans are resources for wildlife, that the responses of mammals to disturbance and resources depend on their functional types and that increased disturbance over time has reduced the numbers and distributions of wildlife. The methods involved road-side counts of mammals >0.2 kg and trapping of small mammals, <0.2 kg. The disturbance gradient was more important than the resource gradient for explaining the distribution of mammals >0.2 kg. Communities in low disturbance-high resource areas were most diverse regarding species and functional types. Small mammal species richness and abundances were unaffected by villages, but increased with distance from pans. Villages were particularly deterring to large wild herbivores, functionally similar to livestock. Most large wild herbivores had decreased since 1975–1983. We conclude that large and medium-sized mammals are highly affected by large-scale disturbance gradients, while small mammals are most dependent on small-scale variation in resources, probably shelter and food. Increased disturbance over time leads to decreasing ranges and numbers of the large wild herbivores.     

纳版河自然保护区橡胶和农作物种植对畜禽养殖数量的影响

为评价纳版河流域国家级自然保护区橡胶和农作物种植对畜禽养殖数量的影响,选取13个村寨、207户农户为调查对象,从种植业和养殖业两个方面进行了系统调查.结果表明:纳版河保护区饲养的畜禽主要是本地水牛、黄牛、滇南小耳猪、茶花鸡和少量版纳斗鸡,外来品种极少.1991-2008年,纳版河保护区橡胶种植面积逐年上升,影响了玉米、水稻和其他经济作物的种植和畜禽养殖数量.橡胶种植对水牛和滇南小耳猪养殖数量影响显著,未种植橡胶的家庭水牛和滇南小耳猪养殖数量显著高于种植橡胶的家庭;玉米、水稻和其他经济作物种植面积对水牛、黄牛和滇南小耳猪养殖数量产生积极影响;总种植面积对水牛和茶花鸡养殖数量有着积极的影响.橡胶的发展导致纳版河保护区土地利用方式发生明显改变,种植模式对畜禽养殖数量产生显著影响,随着橡胶种植面积的逐年上升,当地的畜牧业受到抑制.     

Numbers and presence of guarding dogs affect wolf and leopard predation on livestock in northeastern Iran

Livestock predation can pose socio-economic impacts on rural livelihoods and is the main cause of retaliatory killings of carnivores in many countries. Therefore, appropriate interventions to reduce livestock predation, lower conflict and promote coexistence are needed. Livestock guarding dogs have been traditionally used to reduce predation, yet details regarding the use of dogs, especially the number of dogs per herd effectively required, are rarely studied. In this study, we assessed how the number and presence of guarding dogs in a herd can reduce livestock losses to leopard and wolf in corrals at night and on grazing grounds in day-time. Using systematic interview surveys (2016-2019), we documented sheep/goat losses per attack (predation rates) from 139 shepherds across 32 villages around Golestan National Park, Iran. We analysed the effects of the number of dogs, presence of dogs, presence of shepherds, seasons, corral quality, livestock number, dog size, distance to villages and distance to reserve on predation rates using generalized linear models. For the leopard model, dog presence significantly decreased (β = –1.80, 95% confidence interval –2.61 to –0.81) predation rates during day-time to 1.41 individuals per attack. For wolf attacks in corrals at night, predation rates significantly decreased (β = –0.29, –0.54 to –0.04) with increasing dog numbers. Also, shepherd presence (β = –0.56, –1.10 to –0.10) and herd size (β = –0.36, –0.60 to –0.12) significantly reduced predation rates. In the wolf day-time model, shepherd presence significantly decreased (β = –0.93, –1.74 to –0.10) predation rates. Our study suggests that (1) using dogs can reduce, but not eliminate, predation by leopards during day-time; (2) with every additional dog, predation rates by wolves in corrals at night are likely to decrease on average by 25.2%; and (3) the presence of shepherds in corrals at night and during day-time can reduce predation rates.     

Assessment of the impacts of hydrological fluctuations and salt pans abandonment on Greater flamingos in the Camargue, South of France

Flamingos forage in both commercial salt pans and natural marshes and lagoons along the French Mediterranean coast. In order to assess the impact of changes in management of commercial salt pans and hydrological fluctuations on this flagship species, we evaluated the foraging areas of breeding flamingos using the resightings of 283 breeding flamingos marked with dye at the colony in 1987 and 1989, two years with contrasting hydrological conditions. Teams of observers searched all suitable habitats within 80 km of the colony during the four days following marking and recorded presence of off-duty flamingos. About one-third of the birds were found within 10 km of the colony, but some were seen up to 70 km away. About 24–54% of the birds were found in permanent brackish lagoons and 18–60% in the salt pans, the two most important habitats. In 1989, a dry year with lower water levels in the natural wetlands, the proportion of breeding flamingos using salt pans was twice as high [53%, range (47–60%)] as in 1987 [26%, range (18–29%)], this habitat thus acting as a refuge. Most of the feeding areas shown to be important for flamingos breeding in the Camargue are thus susceptible to variations according to rainfall and to transformations or drying out if the salt pans are abandoned. Our results provide essential benchmarks to reconsider the conservation of this flagship species when management of commercial salt pans changes.     

吉林珲春自然保护区野生东北虎捕食家畜的状况

2002 年5 月至2004 年10 月通过跟踪调查,我们搜集到野生东北虎捕食珲春自然保护区居民家畜的数据,共计38 起捕食事件,有51 头家畜遭到捕食。这些数据包括:捕食事件发现时间、被捕食家畜的数量、类型、年龄、性别、虎痕迹照片和捕食点的GPS 数据。运用Mann-Whitney U 检验对数据的差异性进行了检验;结合ArcView GIS和MapIn fo 分析,对捕食点的空间属性进行了量化,用多个生态因子对其进行了表征;运用PCA 分析了多因子中的主要成分。这些数据表明:在珲春,东北虎主要捕食牛和马,对猪和羊没有捕食,对牛和马的捕食也不存在偏好。东北虎倾向捕食成年个体,并且,大多数情况下只捕食1～2 个个体。成功的捕食事件中,多为1 头遭捕食;该捕食策略为虎权衡后的选择。捕食家畜事件多发生在3 ～11 月的非冰冻期。影响捕食地的生态变量重要性排序为:距最近居民区距离> 海拔> 距最近道路距离> 土地利用(Ⅱ型)类型> 坡度> 坡向> 距最近水源距离> 植被类型> 道路类型> 土地利用(I 型)类型。距最近居民区距离为:3 666 ± 2 308 m,极显著地近于休息卧迹、警戒卧迹和刨痕。该距离更多地集中在4 000 m以下区域。海拔为280 ± 114 m,极显著地低于休息卧迹,显著低于警戒卧迹和刨痕。由于当地居民区多集中在海拔较低的区域,因此,这种显著的不同可以看成是一个伴生的结果。距最近道路距离为:522 ± 543 m,极显著地近于刨痕,显著近于休息卧迹和警戒卧迹。上述2 个人为干扰因子,对捕食的影响具有相似性。对上述3 个生态因子的详细研究说明,虎并不愿意有意识地如此接近人类聚居区,而是家畜食物的诱惑,令虎冒险前往。在26 个捕食点中,14 个在用材林,6 个在特护林,3 个在农田,2 个在灌木林,1个在居民区。被调查的当地居民共损失了 11 851 kg家畜,合人民币116 126元。     

The Role of Livestock Mobility in the Livelihood Strategies of Rural Peoples in Semi-Arid West Africa

Over the past 10 years, mobility of livestock has been portrayed as increasing the resilience of rural households in semi-arid Africa to climate change and variability. With this recognition, there has been important work characterizing livestock mobility and the barriers to it. This paper adds to this work by addressing two gaps in the literature: 1. An understanding in the variation of livestock mobility practices among communities; and 2. An understanding of rural peoples’ views of the advantages and disadvantages of livestock mobility as well as the factors affecting their decisions about herd movements. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to analyze data collected by household survey and group interviews conducted in 32 multi-ethnic villages in Mali and Niger spanning the 12.5° N to 16.5° N latitudinal range. The results of regression and qualitative analyses show that: 1. A large fraction of rural households rely on livestock as part of their livelihood strategies; 2. Grazing management of a large majority of village livestock depends on movements outside of the village territory, especially during the rainy season; 3. The mobility of village livestock is not strongly influenced by the village’s sociprofessional composition (farmer, herder, fisher, artisan..etc.); and 4. The prevalence of extra-village movements of village livestock (sheep and cattle) is higher in areas of higher population density. Despite the advantages of livestock mobility cited by informants, longer-distance movements are inhibited by risks associated with climatic, land-use, and sociopolitical change. Herd managers make decisions using diverse information about potential destinations with greater trust of information gathered by themselves or close kin. The implications of these findings for livestock management and policy in the region are discussed.     

Factors affecting the diversity of flora and vegetation in central European settlements

Published data on the number of plant species and/or communities were gathered for 77 European cities and 85 villages. The relationships between the floristic and vegetation diversity and some environmental variables were analysed. Species number in cities showed log linear increase with city size (expressed as the population size or city area). A linear increase in the species number with size was found in the village flora. The richness of both city and village flora was not significantly related to any climatic variable. On the contrary, the number of communities in both villages and cities was correlated not only with settlement size but also with altitude and mean annual temperature. The diversity of village vegetation was closely related to the climax type of the respective region. The features of human settlements that make it possible to consider them as landscape islands are discussed.     

水与村落关系的生态学思考

村落是地表突出且普遍的景观。从生态学角度而言 ,村落系以农村人群为中心 ,伴生生物为主要生物群落 ,建筑设施为重要栖息环境的人工生态系统。村落具有景观、分布、结构、功能、生命过程、新陈代谢和分类区划等生态学特征。从生态学角度对村落生态系统进行研究 ,形成具有特色的生态学分支村落生态学 (ｖｉｌｌａｇｅｅｃｏｌｏｇｙ) ,村落生态学具有确定性定义和研究内容[1 ] 。我国是一个农业大国 ,目前全国分布有 5 0 0多万个村落 ,6万多个集镇 ,市镇人口约占 30 % ,农村人口约占 70 % ,是农村生态系统的重要组成部分。我国 5 5个少数民…     

Carrying capacity in arid rangelands during droughts: the role of temporal and spatial thresholds

Assessing the carrying capacity is of primary importance in arid rangelands. This becomes even more important during droughts, when rangelands exhibit non-equilibrium dynamics, and the dynamics of livestock conditions and forage resource are decoupled. Carrying capacity is usually conceived as an equilibrium concept, that is, the consumer density that can co-exist in long-term equilibrium with the resource. As one of the first, here we address the concept of carrying capacity in systems, where there is no feedback between consumer and resource in a limited period of time. To this end, we developed an individual-based model describing the basic characteristics of a rangeland during a drought. The model represents a rangeland composed by a single water point and forage distributed all around, with livestock units moving from water to forage and vice versa, for eating and drinking. For each livestock unit we implemented an energy balance and we accounted for the gut-filling effect (i.e. only a limited amount of forage can be ingested per unit time). Our results showed that there is a temporal threshold above which livestock begin to experience energy deficit and burn fat reserves. We demonstrated that such a temporal threshold increases with the number of animals and decreases with the rangeland conditions (amount of forage). The temporal threshold corresponded to the time livestock take to consume all the forage within a certain distance from water, so that the livestock can return to water for drinking without spending more energy than they gain within a day. In this study, we highlight the importance of a time threshold in the assessment of carrying capacity in non-equilibrium conditions. Considering this time threshold could explain contrasting observations about the influence of livestock number on livestock conditions. In case of private rangelands, the herd size should be chosen so that the spatial threshold equals (or exceeds) the length of the drought.     

Seasonal variation in alkalinity in pans in Central Africa

Summary The alkalinity and pH of lakes (pans) in Central Africa on Kalahari Sand, varies with the physical nature of the pan. Natural pans show a range of pH from 6.1 to 8.7, and of total alkalinity from 10 mg/l to 580 mg/l. This range is attributable to local soil differences. Some pans have been deepened or have had water pumped into them to provide drinking points for game animals. The alkalinity of pumped pans is determined by the alkalinity of the water pumped into the pan and the time during which this has taken place. All these types of pan show cyclic seasonal variation in alkalinity and pH. The range in these factors is similar from one year to the next. Animals living either in permanent (deepened or pumped) pans or in temporary (natural) pans have to withstand a wide range of alkalinity fluctuation in the course of the year.     

Wolf pack rendezvous site selection in Greece is mainly affected by anthropogenic landscape features

In wolves, most offspring mortality occurs within the first 6–8 months of their life. As wolf pups pass this entire period at either the den or rendezvous sites, their selection by wolf packs may affect pup survival and recruitment. Rendezvous sites are important for pup survival as they are used during summer and early autumn, when intense human activity may increase pup mortality. Adult wolves and pups can be killed by livestock guarding dogs during summer and intentionally or accidentally during large game hunting in autumn. This study describes factors related to rendezvous site selection in order to enhance their protection and management. We studied the rendezvous site selection of 30 wolf packs in central and northern Greece between 1998 and 2010, after locating 35 sites using the simulated howling survey method and telemetry. We considered a series of environmental and anthropogenic predictors of wolf rendezvous site selection at two spatial scales. At the landscape-population scale, wolves selected rendezvous sites below 1,200 m asl, with large inter-site distance (mean, 12.9 km), and avoided partially forested or open habitats, indicating preference for covered, spaced areas with seasonally stable resources. At the home range scale, wolves selected rendezvous sites away from forest roads and villages, close to water sources, and in areas with low forest fragmentation, indicating avoidance of human presence and disturbance. In the summer of 2011, we used an ensuing resource selection model (RSF, AUC?=?0.818) to successfully locate seven new rendezvous sites outside our previous survey area, verifying the utility of prediction maps (all new sites were at areas with 0.8–1 model probability). Rendezvous prediction maps can be used to reduce field effort when monitoring wolf populations, assess livestock predation risk, design protected areas, and reduce human disturbance on reproductive wolf packs.     

野外黑叶猴对人类的攻击行为

2002 年8 月17 日, 对在广西弄岗国家级自然保护区附近楞垒自然屯发生的黑叶猴攻击人的事件进行实地考察。当小车发出鸣笛后, 一只亚成体雄性黑叶猴从保护区边缘的丛林中冲出来。十分冲动或激怒地冲到了汽车旁,后来在路边的树上、石头、矮墙上不停地跳来跳去。围观群众躲到很远的地方观望, 其中一人被扑到身上, 幸好逃得及时而没有被咬伤。据访问了解, 这只亚成体公猴从2001 年初开始在保护区边界村庄附近已连续伤害了15 个人和2 只狗。分析和探讨这种攻击人类行为的形成是十分有意义的。     

The Analysis of Homegarden Plant Diversity at the Mongolian Household Level in Horqin Sandy Land——A Case Study in Horqin Left Wing Real Banner of Inner Mongolia

In order to show the function of agricultural protection of biodiversity at the level of homegarden, comparative analysis was operated between 20 farmer households through random sampling and farmers recommended in Horqin Left Wing Real Banner Tongliao city Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and 10 farmer households of the Han nationality in the neighborhood. Thirty sampling plots of homegardens are investigated. The result indicates there are 100 homegarden plants in Bashou village, 84 in Hariwusu livestock farm, and 87 in Gongjihao village. It involves the cultivated and wild vegetables, fruits, and plants used for ornamental, medicine and forage. The comparative analysis of species richness demonstrates, among these villages the species richness of Bashou village is highest, while Hariwusu livestock farm is lowest. The former village contributes greatly to the conservation of plant biodiversity. These differences result from their respectively different natural conditions, homegarden areas, homegarden history, homegarden management conditions, traditional knowledge and culture understanding of homegarden manager, local farmers and herdsmen on homegarden plants.The homegarden plants from the three investigated villages are cataloged preliminary in the end of the paper.     

吉林珲春自然保护区东北虎捕食家畜研究

东北虎在中国已经极度濒危,随着位于中俄朝三国边境地区的吉林珲春自然保护区在2001 年底的建成,对虎的保护初见成效。然而保护区内虎频繁捕食家畜,引发了当地居民的不满。为了减缓人虎冲突,寻找东北虎捕食家畜的有关规律,作者开展了东北虎捕食家畜的相关研究。从2001 年12 月至2007 年底,共计有126 起,204 头家养动物被虎袭击,且呈现逐年上升的趋势。家畜被袭击主要发生在每年的4 ～ 9 月,没有发现明显的对家畜种的偏好。利用GIS 和回归分析表明:1)虎通常不袭击离开村庄小于1 km 的家畜;2)人为干扰对家畜的被食用率和虎移动家畜尸体的行为都有显著影响;3)共计有约16 079 kg 的家养动物肉被虎食用,造成损失76084 美元;4)对虎袭击地点生态变量的分析表明,东向和南向有更多的家畜被袭击;5)此外,虎多在较低的海拔和坡度、较高的郁闭度,靠近村庄和河流,远离道路等区域捕食家畜。清除套子和防止下套以增加有蹄类的密度对于减少虎捕食家畜非常重要。此外,减少虎袭击地点的人为干扰和改善对家畜的看护也非常关键。     

科尔沁沙地蒙古族户级水平庭园植物多样性分析——以内蒙古通辽市科尔沁左翼后旗的研究为例

为了表明农户庭园在户级水平上对农业生物多样性保护的作用,在内蒙古通辽市科尔沁左翼后旗采用随机抽样和农户推荐选择20个农户,同时在邻近地区的汉族地区选择10个农户作为对比分析。在此基础上对其家庭庭园采用典型取样法设立30个样方进行调查。结果表明：巴首嘎查庭园植物有100种、哈日乌苏种畜场共有84种、公济号村有87种,包括栽培及野生蔬菜、水果、观赏、药用、饲用等植物。三个村庄庭园植物物种丰富度分析比较发现巴首嘎查的物种丰富度相对最高,而哈日乌苏种畜场的相对最低,反映巴首村对庭园物种多样性保护的贡献相对最大。这些差异是由于自然条件、庭园面积、庭园历史、庭园管理条件及庭园管理者、当地农牧民对庭园植物的传统知识和文化的认识的差异所造成。文末还对调查的三个村庄的庭园植物进行了初步编目。     

Rift Valley fever knowledge,mitigation strategies and communication preferences among male and female livestock farmers in Eastern Province,Rwanda

The Government of Rwanda reported an outbreak of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in the Eastern Province in 2018. To respond to the outbreak, vaccination and education campaigns about the disease were carried out. Because RVF cases continue to be detected in Rwanda and the disease impacts livelihoods and health, accurate knowledge and communication are imperative. The objectives of this study were to evaluate knowledge and risk perceptions of RVF transmission among livestock farmers in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province, Rwanda, and to compare RVF knowledge, risk perceptions, and farming practices between male and female livestock farmers. This cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted in selected sectors of Nyagatare District in the Eastern Province of Rwanda in June 2019. A 34-question survey was used to ask about demographics, livestock ownership, risk perceptions about zoonotic diseases and livestock management, RVF knowledge, preferred communication sources and information sharing strategies, and protective strategies for RVF mitigation while working with livestock. Livestock farmers were interviewed at three milk collection centers, two village meeting points, a farm cooperative meeting, and during door-to-door visits in villages. In total, 123 livestock farmers were interviewed. The survey found that most livestock farmers lacked knowledge about epizootic and zoonotic transmission of RVF, more male livestock farmers were familiar with RVF and risk mitigation strategies, and female livestock farmers are not viewed as reliable sources of information. Additionally, most livestock farmers had not vaccinated their animals against RVF despite past vaccination campaigns. Radio was the most popular communication channel. These findings show that RVF knowledge and information sharing are inadequate among livestock farmers in Eastern Province. Therefore, vaccination and education campaigns may need to be reevaluated within the context of these trends in order to prepare for future RVF outbreaks.