scholarly journals Biodiversity of Forest Elephants (Loxodonta Cyclotis) Diet in the Ogooué Leketi National Park, Congo Brazzaville

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Clement Inkamba-Nkulu ◽  
Jean Malekani Mukulire ◽  
Corneille Ewango Ndomba ◽  
Julien Punga Kumanenge ◽  
Jonas Nagahuedi Sodi Mbongu ◽  
...  

The Ogooué Leketi National Park (OLNP) is located within the Batéké-Léconi-Léfini Landscape in the central basin of the Congo River. The Ogooué Leketi Elephant Project (OLEP) area is important for biodiversity conservation from its significant populations of forest species (forest elephant, gorillas, chimpanzees, duikers, monkeys, etc.) combined with savanna species (Grimm’s duiker, side-striped jackal, etc). Elephant sign is highest 0.9/km in the northwest of the Landscape in the border area of the Batéké Plateau National Park in Gabon where a number of mineral-rich clearings, or bais, attract forest elephants and others wildlife. Elephants travel a long distance and consume diverse plants and occasionally animals’ species from one clearing to others throughout the forest. This paper intends to provide an overall preliminary list of plants consumed by forest elephants across their feeding trials. The results of the study points to the fact that, elephants were found to be feeding on 258 different vegetal species and three animal species recorded from twenty-six elephants feeding trials from March 2013 to December 2014 through different methods. Among these plant species, 156 were identified by us and checked by botanists in both the CERVE at Brazzaville and herbarium of Kinshasa University. Elephants were not only eating plants but they were also consuming occasionally some invertebrate such as bees, termites and ants. An analysis of 53 dung piles revealed that 43 dung piles had traces of 26 species of fruit consumed by elephants while 10 dung piles had no traces of fruits. The OLNP is among the least described protected areas in the Republic of Congo, despite its speculated high potential biodiversity. This lack of ground-truth knowledge is attributed to the status of the protected area that Congolese government classified as park in 2018 after 14 years of existence.

Mammalia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brugière ◽  
Bakary Magassouba ◽  
Amidou Sylla ◽  
Halimou Diallo ◽  
Mamadou Sow

AbstractThe Republic of Guinea is thought to contain the largest population of common hippopotamus in West Africa. However, no systematic field survey has been carried out recently and the information available is limited to informal observations. To clarify the status of the common hippopotamus in Guinea, we carried out a biannual population survey along the section of the Niger River (the largest river in Guinea) within the Haut Niger National Park. We counted 93 hippopotamuses in 28 groups in the dry season and 77 hippopotamuses in 23 groups in the wet season. Mean group size and number of neonates did not change between the seasons. Hippopotomuses were more numerous along the river sections bordering uncultivated floodplains. This underlines the significance of this habitat (which is used as a grazing area) for conservation of this species. Haut Niger National Park is the most important protected area in Guinea for conservation of the common hippopotamus. Hippopotamus-human and -cattle conflicts in terms of floodplain use in the park's buffer zone should be closely monitored. Floodplain conversion to rice fields represents one of the most important threats to the long-term conservation of hippopotamus populations in Guinea.


Mammalia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brugière ◽  
Bakary Magassouba ◽  
Amidou Sylla ◽  
Halimou Diallo ◽  
Mamadou Sow

AbstractThe Republic of Guinea is thought to contain the largest population of common hippopotamus in West Africa. However, no systematic field survey has been carried out recently and the information available is limited to informal observations. To clarify the status of the common hippopotamus in Guinea, we carried out a biannual population survey along the section of the Niger River (the largest river in Guinea) within the Haut Niger National Park. We counted 93 hippopotamuses in 28 groups in the dry season and 77 hippopotamuses in 23 groups in the wet season. Mean group size and number of neonates did not change between the seasons. Hippopotomuses were more numerous along the river sections bordering uncultivated floodplains. This underlines the significance of this habitat (which is used as a grazing area) for conservation of this species. Haut Niger National Park is the most important protected area in Guinea for conservation of the common hippopotamus. Hippopotamus-human and -cattle conflicts in terms of floodplain use in the park's buffer zone should be closely monitored. Floodplain conversion to rice fields represents one of the most important threats to the long-term conservation of hippopotamus populations in Guinea.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Guillem Molina‐Vacas ◽  
Rafael Muñoz‐Mas ◽  
Francisco Martínez‐Capel ◽  
José Domingo Rodriguez‐Teijeiro ◽  
Guillaume Le Fohlic

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbuzeni Mathenjwa

The history of local government in South Africa dates back to a time during the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. With regard to the status of local government, the Union of South Africa Act placed local government under the jurisdiction of the provinces. The status of local government was not changed by the formation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 because local government was placed under the further jurisdiction of the provinces. Local government was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa arguably for the first time in 1993. Under the interim Constitution local government was rendered autonomous and empowered to regulate its affairs. Local government was further enshrined in the final Constitution of 1996, which commenced on 4 February 1997. The Constitution refers to local government together with the national and provincial governments as spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. This article discusses the autonomy of local government under the 1996 Constitution. This it does by analysing case law on the evolution of the status of local government. The discussion on the powers and functions of local government explains the scheme by which government powers are allocated, where the 1996 Constitution distributes powers to the different spheres of government. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the legal status of local government within the new constitutional dispensation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-348
Author(s):  
V. N. Tarasova ◽  
T. Ahti ◽  
O. Vitikainen ◽  
A. V. Sonina ◽  
L. Myllys

This is a report of a revision of 565 herbarium specimens of lichens, lichenicolous or non-lichenized fungi and additional locality records of common species produced from a visit of the Russian-Finnish expedition to Vodlozersky National Park right after its foundation in 1991. The analyzed collection and field records represent the earliest information about the lichen flora of the territory of the park. In total, 177 species are listed including 173 lichens, 3 non-lichenized and 1 lichenicolous fungi. Xylographa rubescens is new to the Republic of Karelia. Twenty two species are reported for the first time for biogeographic province Karelia transonegensis; 47 species for the Karelian part of Vodlozersky National Park; and 17 species for the whole territory of the park.


Author(s):  
Ryo Sakamoto ◽  
Ryo Sakamoto ◽  
Satoquo Seino ◽  
Satoquo Seino ◽  
Hirokazu Suzaki ◽  
...  

A construction of breakwaters and other shoreline structures on part of a coast influences drift sand transport in the bay, and causes comprehensive topographic changes on the beach. This study investigated shoreline and coastal changes, taking as an example of Shiraragahama Beach in Miiraku on the northwestern end of Fukue Island, Nagasaki Prefecture (Kyushu, Japan). Miiraku, adjacent to Saikai National Park, appears in the revered 8th century poetry collection “Manyoshu” and served as a port for a ship taken by the Japanese envoy to China during the Tang Dynasty (618-709). Because of the recent development of breakwaters for a fishing harbor, the shore environments of this beach have changed significantly. In this study, the status of silt deposits and topographic changes on this beach arising from the construction of a harbor breakwater were evaluated by comparing aerial photographs taken in different years. Next, the changes in the shoreline visible from aerial photographs from 1947 to 2014 were analyzed. Lastly, the altitude of the beaches was measured using accurate survey methods. The following results were obtained: 1) coastal erosion made rock cliffs to fall off along the shore and deposited sand on this beach; 2) the more serious advances or retreats of the shoreline took place around shoreline structures; 3) sandbars and beach cliffs were formed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Simões ◽  
Luís Miguel Carolino

ArgumentThis paper analyses a process of co-construction of knowledge and its multiple forms of communication in a country of the European periphery in the early twentieth century. It focuses on Lieutenant Manuel Soares de Melo e Simas, a politically engaged Portuguese astronomer, who moved from amateur to professional during the political transition from the monarchy to the republic. Melo e Simas paralleled his professional career in continuous activity of communicating science to the public in the context of republicanism in a double way, by responding to the agenda of republicanism and by playing an active role in shaping it. He aimed at educating lay audiences in the various ways of astronomy, and he reached out to as many people as possible by exploring a multitude of communication channels, from lectures to articles in newspapers and journals. Voiced often within newly created republican institutions, the praxis and the ideas of Melo e Simas helped to mold the new republican scientific ethos. By going beyond mere emphasis on scientism and positivism, usually taken to be the defining characteristics of the new republican ethos, this paper argues that science and the specificities of its multiple forms of communication were central to the way Melo e Simas shaped the republican ideology. Furthermore, popularization of science was used to legitimize the status of professional scientists at the same time that it helped reinforce their institutional setting, still to be negotiated in the forthcoming decades through a complex process which deserves further historical analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizuki Sata ◽  
Renzhe Cui ◽  
Chifa Chiang ◽  
Singeru Travis Singeo ◽  
Berry Moon Watson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aimed to describe the status of alcohol consumption and drug use among young adults as well as their determinants. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of 356 young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) living in Palau in 2013. The prevalence of self-reported alcohol and marijuana usage were compared within and between sexes, age groups, ethnicities, and education levels. Results The proportion of current drinking was higher in people aged 21–24 than in those aged 18–20 (73.2% vs. 60.9%, p = 0.09 in men and 48.3% vs. 30.0%, p = 0.02 in women), while that of marijuana use did not differ between the age groups. The proportions of current drinking and marijuana use were higher in Palauan than in other ethnicities (current drinking: 70.6% vs. 40.6%, p = 0.005 in men and 38.8% vs. 16.6%, p = 0.04 in women; lifetime marijuana use: 80.0% vs. 52.9%, p = 0.02 in men and 56.1% vs. 30.6%, p = 0.09 in women). The proportion of frequent (3 times or more) marijuana users was higher for the lower educated than for the higher educated (62.5% vs. 32.1%, p < 0.001 in men and 33.9% vs. 24.4%, p = 0.12 in women). Conclusions Sex, age, ethnicity, and education were significant determinants of alcohol and marijuana use.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Cleves Nkie Mongo

This article provides insight into the “brown envelope journalism” in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville). Through in-depth interviews with journalists from four major Congolese news outlets, this research reveals how financial difficulties result in reporters justifying their violations of journalism ethics and standards. While two news outlets accept bribes to compensate for their precarious financial situation, two other news organizations pretend that they oppose envelope journalism although this research shows that their reporters also secretly accept bribes.


1934 ◽  
Vol 30 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 801-801

The meeting held on 29/V of this year under the Health Sector of the USSR State Planning Committee heard reports from the Tatnar Health Committee on the status and prospects of the development of sanitation in the Republic of Tatarstan.


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