Dynamics of Terrace Adoption, Propagation, Benefits & Challenges among Dryland Agro-Pastoralist Communities of West Pokot

Conventional approach of establishing soil conservation strategies in degraded drylands has had negligible success. This has been contributed by many constraints, including; lagging of farmers in technology adoption, inadequate resources, and lack of motivation. Thus, a study was conducted among three agro-pastoral community farmer groups in Korellach Parak, Kapkitony, and Kaporowo villages domiciled in Chepareria ward, West Pokot, Kenya, to assess contributory factors and consequences of adopting terracing as a soil conservation measure. Mixed methods comprising; one-on-one interviews, cross-sectional field measurements, and focus group discussions (FGDs), were used for data collection. Results indicate that the agro-pastoral communities are fully aware of soil degradation and its impacts. Besides terracing, farmers practice stone bands, enclosures, agroforestry, and ridges. Terracing is a recently adopted farm-level soil conservation practice achieved through organized farmer groups dubbed “Kemorokorenyo” (meaning let us reclaim our land) merry-go-round. Within the three villages, 60% of the households have their farms terraced with an average terrace volume of 103.8±21.45m3, 105.89±33.126m3, and 129.6±15.966m3 in Parak Kapkitony and Kaporowo, respectively. Rapid sedimentation of terraces dykes, which contributes to the reduced effectiveness of the terrace system was identified as the major challenge. The sediment volume significantly differs along the slope, with the highest sediment build-up experienced on high slopes as shown by the Kruskal Wallis test; H (2) =6.699, p=0.035. Terrace embankments reinforcement practice to counter sedimentation challenge has faced slow adoption. The poor reinforcement is attributable to the lack of knowledge on suitable local context multipurpose materials to meet the community’s needs.

Nutritional and Logarithmic Fungal Count of Brewers’ Grain Under Different Conservation Techniques and Brewery Sources

This study was contained two trials. The objectives of the first and the second trials were to explore variations in nutritional merits and investigate the effect of local conservation practices on nutritional and fungal load dynamics of wet brewers’ grain (WBG) received from different brewery sources, respectively. Fresh WBG samples for the first trial were obtained from four breweries (Meta Abo, Habesha, Dashen and Bedele) located in different districts of the country. Brewers’ grain sample received from Meta Abo brewery factory had superiorly higher (p<0.05) acid detergent fiber, lignin and digestible organic matter in the dry matter (DOMD), but comparable dry matter (DM), total ash, crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber with the other breweries. In the second trial, an attempt was made to evaluate three locally available WBG conservation practices, preservation of WBG using an ensiling technique maintained feed quality slightly comparable to the control sample (freeze dried ) but outperformed (p<0.05) other locally available conservational practices “soaking” and “sun drying “ with minimal loss on feed DM and other nutrients, lower total fungal, yeast and mold colony counts and above all superior CP digestion kinetics as measured through nylon bag degradability constants. If supply is not a constraint under local conditions, ensiling can fairly be recommended as a best bet WBG conservation practice for use at wider scale.

Bioacoustic monitoring of New Zealand avifauna before and after aerial 1080 operations

<p>Introduced mammalian predators, namely possums, stoats and rats, are the leading cause of decline in native avifauna in New Zealand. The control of these species is essential to the persistence of native birds. A major component of mammal control in New Zealand is carried out through the aerial distribution of the toxin sodium monofluoroacetate (otherwise known as 1080). The use of this toxin, however, is subject to significant public debate. Many opponents of its use claim that forests will ‘fall silent’ following aerial operations, and that this is evidence of negative impacts on native bird communities. With the continued and likely increased use of this poison, monitoring the outcomes of such pest control operations is necessary to both address these concerns and inform conservation practice. The recent growth in autonomous recording units (ARUs) provides novel opportunities to conduct monitoring using bioacoustics. This thesis used bioacoustic techniques to monitor native bird species over three independent aerial 1080 operations in the Aorangi and Rimutaka Ranges of New Zealand. In Chapter 2, diurnal bird species were monitored for 10-12 weeks over two independent operations in treatment and non-treatment areas. At the community level, relative to non-treatment areas, the amount of birdsong recorded did not decrease significantly in treatment areas across either of the operations monitored. At the species level, one species, the introduced chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), showed a significant decline in the prevalence of its calls in the treatment areas relative to non-treatment areas. This was observed over one of the two operations monitored. Collectively, these results suggest that diurnal native avifaunal communities do not ‘fall silent’ following aerial 1080 operations. The quantity of data produced by ARUs can demand labour-intensive manual analysis. Extracting data from recordings using automated detectors is a potential solution to this issue. The creation of such detectors, however, can be subjective, iterative, and time-consuming. In Chapter 3, a process for developing a parsimonious, template-based detector in an efficient, objective manner was developed. Applied to the creation of a detector for morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) calls, the method was highly successful as a directed means to achieve parsimony. An initial pool of 187 potential templates was reduced to 42 candidate templates. These were further refined to a 10-template detector capable of making 98.89% of the detections possible with all 42 templates in approximately a quarter of the processing time for the dataset tested. The detector developed had a high precision (0.939) and moderate sensitivity (0.399) with novel recordings, developed for the minimisation of false-positive errors in unsupervised monitoring of broad-scale population trends. In Chapter 4, this detector was applied to the short-term 10-12 week monitoring of morepork in treatment and non-treatment areas around three independent aerial 1080 operations; and to longer-term four year monitoring in two study areas, one receiving no 1080 treatment, and one receiving two 1080 treatments throughout monitoring. Morepork showed no significant difference in trends of calling prevalence across the three independent operations monitored. Longer-term, a significant quadratic effect of time since 1080 treatment was found, with calling prevalences predicted to increase for 3.5 years following treatment. Collectively, these results suggest a positive effect of aerial 1080 treatment on morepork populations in the lower North Island, and build on the small amount of existing literature regarding the short- and long-term response of this species to aerial 1080 operations.</p>

Bioacoustic monitoring of New Zealand avifauna before and after aerial 1080 operations

<p>Introduced mammalian predators, namely possums, stoats and rats, are the leading cause of decline in native avifauna in New Zealand. The control of these species is essential to the persistence of native birds. A major component of mammal control in New Zealand is carried out through the aerial distribution of the toxin sodium monofluoroacetate (otherwise known as 1080). The use of this toxin, however, is subject to significant public debate. Many opponents of its use claim that forests will ‘fall silent’ following aerial operations, and that this is evidence of negative impacts on native bird communities. With the continued and likely increased use of this poison, monitoring the outcomes of such pest control operations is necessary to both address these concerns and inform conservation practice. The recent growth in autonomous recording units (ARUs) provides novel opportunities to conduct monitoring using bioacoustics. This thesis used bioacoustic techniques to monitor native bird species over three independent aerial 1080 operations in the Aorangi and Rimutaka Ranges of New Zealand. In Chapter 2, diurnal bird species were monitored for 10-12 weeks over two independent operations in treatment and non-treatment areas. At the community level, relative to non-treatment areas, the amount of birdsong recorded did not decrease significantly in treatment areas across either of the operations monitored. At the species level, one species, the introduced chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), showed a significant decline in the prevalence of its calls in the treatment areas relative to non-treatment areas. This was observed over one of the two operations monitored. Collectively, these results suggest that diurnal native avifaunal communities do not ‘fall silent’ following aerial 1080 operations. The quantity of data produced by ARUs can demand labour-intensive manual analysis. Extracting data from recordings using automated detectors is a potential solution to this issue. The creation of such detectors, however, can be subjective, iterative, and time-consuming. In Chapter 3, a process for developing a parsimonious, template-based detector in an efficient, objective manner was developed. Applied to the creation of a detector for morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) calls, the method was highly successful as a directed means to achieve parsimony. An initial pool of 187 potential templates was reduced to 42 candidate templates. These were further refined to a 10-template detector capable of making 98.89% of the detections possible with all 42 templates in approximately a quarter of the processing time for the dataset tested. The detector developed had a high precision (0.939) and moderate sensitivity (0.399) with novel recordings, developed for the minimisation of false-positive errors in unsupervised monitoring of broad-scale population trends. In Chapter 4, this detector was applied to the short-term 10-12 week monitoring of morepork in treatment and non-treatment areas around three independent aerial 1080 operations; and to longer-term four year monitoring in two study areas, one receiving no 1080 treatment, and one receiving two 1080 treatments throughout monitoring. Morepork showed no significant difference in trends of calling prevalence across the three independent operations monitored. Longer-term, a significant quadratic effect of time since 1080 treatment was found, with calling prevalences predicted to increase for 3.5 years following treatment. Collectively, these results suggest a positive effect of aerial 1080 treatment on morepork populations in the lower North Island, and build on the small amount of existing literature regarding the short- and long-term response of this species to aerial 1080 operations.</p>

The influence of the seasons: how the agricultural calendar impacts farmer perceptions of cover crops

Across the Midwest, substantial funding and personnel time have been allocated to encourage farmers to adopt a wide range of conservation practices but adoption rates for many of these practices remain low. Prior research focuses largely on the influence of individual-level factors (e.g., beliefs, attitudes) on conservation practice adoption rather than on contextual factors (e.g., seasons) that might also play a role. In the present study, we considered seasonal variation and its potential influence on farmer cover crop decision-making. We first established how farmer temporal and financial resources fluctuate across the year and then compared the annual agricultural decision and cover crop decision calendars. We also considered farmer cover crop perceptions and likely behaviors. To study this, we surveyed the same Midwestern farmers in the spring, summer and winter within a 12-month period. Results indicated that farmers were generally the least busy and the most financially comfortable in the winter months. Moreover, farmers perceived the benefits of cover crops differently throughout the year. These results indicate that seasonality can be a confounding factor which should be considered when designing and conducting research and farmer engagement. As researchers, it is our responsibility to understand the specific calendar experienced by our sample and how that may influence responses so we can examine theory-supported factors of interest rather than seasonality as a driver of farmer responses. As practitioners, it is important to use research findings to engage with farmers about conservation in a way that prioritizes communicating about the most salient aspects of the practice at the time of year when farmers will be most receptive.

Wetland Square, Market Pier: Rethinking Heritage in the New Zealand Regional Landscape

<p>This thesis addresses the rapid environmental degradation and socioeconomic decline to which many of New Zealand's lowland regions have succumbed. In the last 150 years, it is estimated that 90% of the country’s indigenous wetlands and swamp forests have been drained and converted to farming pastures and low-density urban sprawl. This thesis critiques existing settlement patterns, investigating innovative urban forms that work dually to reactivate the wetland environments while increasing population density to levels required for public systems to function sustainably and vitally. These objectives are explored using design-led research, investigating a site-specific scenario in Kāpiti, Wellington region. The design project identifies a squared-off suburban conservation wetland, transforming it into a new Wetland Square: a civic heart of the region’s natural and cultural heritage with reference to the town square urban type. A Market Pier extends from the urban edge of the town square towards the central lagoon. This architectural intervention connects the new urban centre with the wider agricultural activity of Kāpiti while reinstating the historic functions and cultural significance of the wetlands which indigenous Māori historically navigated by canoe in search of food and resources. The research rethinks land conservation practice in New Zealand’s settled regional landscapes. It advocates that conservation efforts should expand beyond current land protection measures to also consider conserving the historic relationship between early settlers and natural systems. The thesis stresses architecture’s responsibility to reconcile urban and ecological systems, with emphasis on celebrating the rich social and cultural heritage associated with New Zealand’s natural heritage to ensure environmental and community resilience in the regional landscape.</p>