scholarly journals Trophy Hunting and Possible Source-Sink Dynamics in Protected Areas: Insights from Trophy Size and Offtake Patterns in Southeast Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Augustine Jeke ◽  
Admire Chanyandura ◽  
Victor K. Muposhi ◽  
Daphine Madhlamoto ◽  
Edson Gandiwa
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
Harvest Management ◽  
Trophy Hunting ◽  
Minimum Score ◽  
Cape Buffalo ◽  
Greater Kudu ◽  
Over Time

Developing harvest management strategies in designated hunting areas requires systematic and robust monitoring. We assessed the trophy size, quota utilization, and distribution of kill sites of African elephant, Cape buffalo, greater kudu, and leopard for the period 2007-2014 in Malapati Safari Area, southeast Zimbabwe. Trophy sizes for African elephant significantly increased over time albeit being below the expected minimum Safari Club International (SCI) score. Cape buffalo trophy sizes declined significantly over time but were not different from the SCI minimum score. However, greater kudu trophy sizes were higher than the SCI minimum score despite being constant over time. Leopard trophy sizes were higher than the SCI minimum score and increased with time. Quota utilization for African elephant and Cape buffalo increased while that of greater kudu and leopard did not change between 2007 and 2014. Some kill sites, in particular, for the African elephant and Cape buffalo, were within the buffer area with the state protected area, i.e., Gonarezhou National Park. Increased hunting pressure likely leads to poor trophy quality and hunting within the protected buffer areas. In contrast, effective adherence to hunting ethics and scientifically and conservatively set quotas largely does not compromise the trophy quality of harvested species. The observed trophy size patterns and kill sites distribution suggest the possible existence of source and sink dynamics of trophy species occurring in a protected area complex within the Zimbabwe’s component of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park. To ensure sustainable trophy hunting in the study area and similar ecosystems the following are recommended: (i) scientifically robust, adaptable, and participatory quota setting process, (ii) enhanced adherence to good practice in terms of ethical hunting conduct, and (iii) development of a robust hunting monitoring system covering all elements of hunting for adaptive wildlife management.

scholarly journals Supporting Adaptive Connectivity in Dynamic Landscapes

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. Jennings ◽  
Katherine A. Zeller ◽  
Rebecca L. Lewison
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Landscape Connectivity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Landscape Resistance ◽  
Adaptive Planning ◽  
Dynamic Landscapes ◽  
Over Time

A central tenet of landscape conservation planning is that natural communities can be supported by a connected landscape network that supports many species and habitat types. However, as the planning environment, ecological conditions, and risks and stressors change over time, the areas needed to support landscape connectivity may also shift. We demonstrate an approach designed to assess functional and structural connectivity of an established protected area network that has experienced landscape and planning changes over time. Here we present an approach designed to inform adaptive planning for connectivity with a complementary suite of analytical techniques. Using existing occurrence, movement, and genetic data for six focal species, we create a spatially explicit connectivity assessment based on landscape resistance, paired with a landscape feature geodiversity analysis. Although factors such as cost, conservation goals, and land management strategies must be taken into account, this approach provides a template for leveraging available empirical data and robust analyses to evaluate and adapt planning for protected area networks that can preserve and promote both functional and structural connectivity in dynamic landscapes.

Influence of war on hunting patterns and pressure in Sierra Leone

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
ABU CONTEH ◽  
MICHAEL C. GAVIN
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Hunting Behaviour ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Over Time

SUMMARYBushmeat hunting poses a huge challenge for biodiversity conservation, but bushmeat is also an important source of essential protein in many locations. Although war may have substantial impacts on hunting, how these effects vary across different spatial scales and over multiple stages of warfare remain largely unknown. In addition, despite serious conflicts that may have affected hunting patterns in West Africa, no studies have examined the impacts of war on hunting in Sierra Leone. We used the randomized response technique together with semi-structured interviews to examine variations in hunting techniques and the proportion of the population that engages in hunting over three time periods (before, during and after war) among different communities bordering a protected area. At the scale of the whole protected area, the proportion of people hunting did not vary significantly over time. Similarly, the methods used for hunting were generally consistent over time and space. However, within each community, the proportion of the population hunting varied significantly over time, and the locations with the greatest participation rates in hunting changed at each time period. Access to alternative livelihood options and the severity of the war's impact shaped patterns of change in hunting participation across different communities. Our results point to the importance of adaptive management approaches that can adjust management strategies in order to account for spatial or temporal variations in hunting behaviour.

scholarly journals Augmenting the Clinical Data Sources for Enigmatic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study of Self-Tracking Data and Clinical Documentation in Endometriosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (05) ◽  
pp. 769-784
Author(s):  
Ipek Ensari ◽  
Adrienne Pichon ◽  
Sharon Lipsky-Gorman ◽  
Suzanne Bakken ◽  
Noémie Elhadad
Keyword(s):  
Additional Data ◽  
Intraclass Correlation ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Daily Function ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Self-tracking through mobile health technology can augment the electronic health record (EHR) as an additional data source by providing direct patient input. This can be particularly useful in the context of enigmatic diseases and further promote patient engagement. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the additional information that can be gained through direct patient input on poorly understood diseases, beyond what is already documented in the EHR. Methods This was an observational study including two samples with a clinically confirmed endometriosis diagnosis. We analyzed data from 6,925 women with endometriosis using a research app for tracking endometriosis to assess prevalence of self-reported pain problems, between- and within-person variability in pain over time, endometriosis-affected tasks of daily function, and self-management strategies. We analyzed data from 4,389 patients identified through a large metropolitan hospital EHR to compare pain problems with the self-tracking app and to identify unique data elements that can be contributed via patient self-tracking. Results Pelvic pain was the most prevalent problem in the self-tracking sample (57.3%), followed by gastrointestinal-related (55.9%) and lower back (49.2%) pain. Unique problems that were captured by self-tracking included pain in ovaries (43.7%) and uterus (37.2%). Pain experience was highly variable both across and within participants over time. Within-person variation accounted for 58% of the total variance in pain scores, and was large in magnitude, based on the ratio of within- to between-person variability (0.92) and the intraclass correlation (0.42). Work was the most affected daily function task (49%), and there was significant within- and between-person variability in self-management effectiveness. Prevalence rates in the EHR were significantly lower, with abdominal pain being the most prevalent (36.5%). Conclusion For enigmatic diseases, patient self-tracking as an additional data source complementary to EHR can enable learning from the patient to more accurately and comprehensively evaluate patient health history and status.

Protected Areas: offering security to whom, when and where?

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICE B. KELLY ◽  
A. CLARE GUPTA
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Term Management ◽  
Over Time

SUMMARYThis study considers the issue of security in the context of protected areas in Cameroon and Botswana. Though the literature on issues of security and well-being in relation to protected areas is extensive, there has been less discussion of how and in what ways these impacts and relationships can change over time, vary with space and differ across spatial scales. Looking at two very different historical trajectories, this study considers the heterogeneity of the security landscapes created by Waza and Chobe protected areas over time and space. This study finds that conservation measures that various subsets of the local population once considered to be ‘bad’ (e.g. violent, exclusionary protected area creation) may be construed as ‘good’ at different historical moments and geographical areas. Similarly, complacency or resignation to the presence of a park can be reversed by changing environmental conditions. Changes in the ways security (material and otherwise) has fluctuated within these two protected areas has implications for the long-term management and funding strategies of newly created and already existing protected areas today. This study suggests that parks must be adaptively managed not only for changing ecological conditions, but also for shifts in a protected area's social, political and economic context.

Ex Post Contract Market Structure: Implications for Performance Over Time

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 588-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia L. Carboni
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Contract Management ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Structural Embeddedness ◽  
Contract Performance ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Structural Variables ◽  
Over Time

Government increasingly relies on complex arrangements of providers to deliver public services. There is burgeoning public administration literature on contract management and performance. This literature emphasizes contract management strategies such as contract design and ex post monitoring and relationship building to promote contractor performance. The literature does not examine effects of structural variables on contract performance in ex post contract markets, though work on interorganizational networks has long established that structural factors influence individual performance. This study examines the influence of structural variables on publicly funded contract performance in networked structures of exchange using 5 years of state-level contract data. Network concepts are used to develop contracts as networked exchange structures and develop measures of structural embeddedness for individual programs. Findings include that the structural embeddedness of individual programs influences individual contract performance on quality and cost dimensions over time.

scholarly journals Fibromyalgia Impact Reduction Using Online Personal Health Informatics: Longitudinal Observational Study

10.2196/15819 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e15819
Author(s):  
William Collinge ◽  
Robert Soltysik ◽  
Paul Yarnold
Keyword(s):  
Health Informatics ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Health Diary ◽  
Over Time

Background Personal health informatics have the potential to help patients discover personalized health management strategies that influence outcomes. Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex chronic illness requiring individualized strategies that may be informed by analysis of personal health informatics data. An online health diary program with dynamic feedback was developed to assist patients with FM in identifying symptom management strategies that predict their personal outcomes, and found reduced symptom levels associated with program use. Objective The aim of this study was to determine longitudinal associations between program use and functional impact of FM as measured by scores on a standardized assessment instrument, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Methods Participants were self-identified as diagnosed with FM and recruited via online FM advocacy websites. Participants used an online health diary program (“SMARTLog”) to report symptom ratings, behaviors, and management strategies used. Based on single-subject analysis of the accumulated data over time, individualized recommendations (“SMARTProfile”) were then provided by the automated feedback program. Indices of program use comprised of cumulative numbers of SMARTLogs completed and SMARTProfiles received. Participants included in this analysis met a priori criteria of sufficient program use to generate SMARTProfiles (ie, ≥22 SMARTLogs completed). Users completed the FIQ at baseline and again each subsequent month of program use as follow-up data for analysis. Kendall tau-b, a nonparametric statistic that measures both the strength and direction of an ordinal association between two repeated measured variables, was computed between all included FIQ scores and both indices of program use for each subject at the time of each completed FIQ. Results A total of 76 users met the a priori use criteria. The mean baseline FIQ score was 61.6 (SD 14.7). There were 342 FIQ scores generated for longitudinal analysis via Kendall tau-b. Statistically significant inverse associations were found over time between FIQ scores and (1) the cumulative number of SMARTLogs completed (tau-b=–0.135, P<.001); and (2) the cumulative number of SMARTProfiles received (tau-b=–0.133, P<.001). Users who completed 61 or more SMARTLogs had mean follow-up scores of 49.9 (n=25, 33% of the sample), an 18.9% drop in FM impact. Users who generated 11 or more new SMARTProfiles had mean follow-up scores of 51.8 (n=23, 30% of the sample), a 15.9% drop. Conclusions Significant inverse associations were found between FIQ scores and both indices of program use, with FIQ scores declining as use increased. Based on established criteria for rating FM severity, the top one-third of users in terms of use had clinically significant reductions from “severe” to “moderate” FM impact. These findings underscore the value of self-management interventions with low burden, high usability, and high perceived relevance to the user. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02515552; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02515552

scholarly journals Towards Eradication of Phytophthora cinnamomi Using a Fallow Approach in a Mediterranean Climate

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1101
Author(s):  
William A. Dunstan ◽  
Kay Howard ◽  
Andrew Grigg ◽  
Christopher Shaw ◽  
Treena I. Burgess ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Climate ◽  
Phytophthora Cinnamomi ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Soil Fumigation ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Recent Success ◽  
Root Barriers ◽  
Western Australian ◽  
Over Time

While eradication from haul roads was achieved, more work is required to eradicate P. cinnamomi from stockpiles and bunds. We can now implement different management strategies to the construction of bunds and stockpiles to facilitate eradication. Infestation by Phytophthora cinnamomi results in large financial and management constraints to environmental managers. This pathogen was considered impossible to eradicate until recent success with treatments including host removal, herbicide and fungicide application, soil fumigation and physical root barriers. We investigated the most benign of these treatments; keeping the area devoid of living host material. In a Western Australian mine site within a Mediterranean climate, haul roads, stockpiles and roadside bunds had P. cinnamomi colonised Pinus stem plugs buried at multiple depths. Over time, we examined the effects of soil moisture and temperature in different soil conditions and types to compare the recovery of the pathogen. Results: Within 12 months, the pathogen could not be recovered from the haul roads. In the stockpiles, depth produced significantly different results. In 3 of the 4 sites, the pathogen was not recovered at 10 cm after 20 months. By 12 months, at 50 cm, there was an 80% reduction in recovery, but only one stockpile had no recovery from 50 cm, which occurred by 36 months. Bunds were up to 1.75 m high and had variable results for plugs buried at 30 cm, influenced by height, the types of soils and shading. One of the smallest bunds was the only bund where the pathogen was not recoverable (by 22 months). This study provides strong support for using a fallow period to reduce or eliminate P. cinnamomi inoculum.

Tracking the development of co-management: using network analysis in a case from the Canadian Arctic

Polar Record ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
John-Erik Kocho-Schellenberg ◽  
Fikret Berkes
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Joint Management ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Functional Problem ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Indigenous Land

ABSTRACTTo understand the interplay of factors that shape changes in management strategies, we tracked the evolution of beluga whale co-management involving the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Fisheries Joint Management Committee (FJMC), and the Tuktoyaktuk Hunter and Trapper Committee from its beginnings in the mid-1980s to the present. The objective was to analyse changes over time in the communication network involved in dealing with the Husky Lakes beluga entrapment issue, using social network analysis (SNA). Along with qualitative information, the use of SNA provided quantitative data to document the development of co-management over time. According to both government and indigenous parties, a fully functional problem-solving partnership developed over the course of two decades. Using the beluga case as the illustration, we traced the development of joint management processes, overcoming some of the initial obstacles and accommodating the needs of the various parties. This case demonstrates the importance of legal arrangements (the indigenous land claims agreement), the role of key individuals and the bridging organisation (FJMC) created by the agreement, and the maturation of co-management over time.

The Problem of Chronic Refugee Communities: Applying Complexity Theory to the Situation Along the Thai–Myanmar Border

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora-Orn Poocharoen ◽  
Jeffrey D. Straussman ◽  
David E. Guinn
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Time Dynamic ◽  
Adaptive Techniques ◽  
Dynamic Development ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Intractable long-term or chronic refugee communities present serious challenges to common refugee-management strategies. We argue that they are best understood and managed by using adaptive techniques drawn from complexity theory. To illustrate this strategy, we use the refugee communities situated along the Thai–Myanmar border as a case study. The article outlines the key elements of complexity theory, the complexity lens, for use in analysis of the problem. It then applies the complexity lens to the case study: identifying and describing the actors and networks that compose the complex system of the Thai–My refugees (the complex system) and the dynamic developments within that community over time (dynamic development). Based on this analysis, the article utilizes the complexity lens to evaluate the policy options commonly offered for the management of this ongoing refugee situation.

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