Balancing African Elephant Conservation with Human Well-Being in Rombo Area, Tanzania

The critical assessment of the nature and extent of human-elephant conflict (HEC) and its impact on conservation efforts are essential if we are to meet the challenges related to extinction of local population, as well as loss biodiversity. Conservationists need detailed information on HEC in areas where these challenges prevail to improve intervention in the face of limited funds/resources. We assessed the status of HEC at Rombo area over the last six years. Data based on household surveys, focus group discussions, spatiotemporal analysis of site observations, and reported incidents of damage within the last six years were mapped. Out of all HEC cases analyzed, the most were crop damage which took place at night and the damage was severe between May and July, when cereal crops were mature. In upland areas of Rombo, HEC hotspots were observed inside the protected forest plantation where local people cultivated their annual crops. Cold spots concentrated in upland areas outside the protected forest plantation dominated by settlement and agroforestry less preferred by elephants. In lowland areas, HEC hotspots were observed in village lands close to the PAs, within settlement and farmland dominated by seasonal crops. This suggests that HEC management efforts such as establishment of buffer zones should be directed around the areas adjacent to PAs and prevention should focus on cultivation of the alternative crops and farming systems that are less preferred by elephants. Our study highlights the importance of using a combination of data collection techniques to pinpoint fine-scale HEC hotspots in a highly conflict-prone location of Tanzania.

Spatial Distribution of Elephants versus Human and Ecological Variables in Western Ghana

An elephant survey was conducted in the Bia-Goaso Forest Block in western Ghana during the wet season month of November 2012 to determine the distribution of elephants and assess the human and ecological variables that affect them. One hundred and thirty 1-kilometre transects were systematically distributed in three strata (high, medium, and low density) based on elephant dung pile density recorded in an initial reconnaissance. Elephant activity was concentrated in southern and mid-Bia Conservation Area, the southern tip of Bia North Forest Reserve, and eastern Mpameso Forest Reserve towards the adjoining Bia Shelter belt, indicating a clumped distribution. Secondary forest, water availability, poaching activity, and proximity to roads and settlements explained a high proportion of variance in elephant distribution. Given that the Bia-Goaso Forest Block forms an important biogeographic corridor between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, more effort should be directed at mitigating the problems such as poaching activity, vehicular traffic, and impacts of settlements that hinder seasonal movements of forest elephants between western Ghana and eastern Cote d’Ivoire.

Tree Species Composition and Regeneration Status of Shitalpur Forest Beat under Chittagong North Forest Division, Bangladesh

Biodiversity erosion particularly in developing countries is a matter of great concern to the global ecological community. Species composition and regeneration indicate the health of forest. This study explored tree species composition and regeneration of natural hill forest of Shitalpur under Chittagong North Forest Division through 27 sample plots of 20 m × 20 m for trees and 2 m × 2 m for regeneration. A total of 47 tree species belonging to 29 families and 17 regenerating species belonging to 15 families were recorded. The tree stem density, basal area, and wood volume were 0.49 m2/ha, 1425 stem/ha, and 189.9 m3/ha, respectively. Mean regeneration was significantly higher in bottom hill (14374 seedlings/ha) compared to top hill (9671 seedlings/ha). Toona ciliata was highest (4444 seedlings/ha) at the bottom hill compared to other hill positions. The result shows that only 36% of the tree species (17 out of 47) are regenerating in the study area, meaning majority of the tree species (64%) are not getting favorable conditions to regenerate. This might be due to absence of mature tree species as a result of overexploitation by local people. The findings may help in monitoring the species composition changes over time and adopting specific conservation programs for Shitalpur Forest.

Estimation of Monetary Values of the Ecosystem Services Flow at the Tidal Elbe River

Most ecosystem services are regarded as free goods (i.e., priceless). This paper estimates monetary value of the ecosystem services after renaturalizing the navigation channel in the Kreetsand’s area along the tidal section of the Elbe River. The river channel is basically reconnected to its floodplain which is currently grassland. The paper used benefit transfer method whereby values from previous studies are adopted to estimate total economic value of the ecosystem services provided by the study area. The results show that total economic value of the ecosystem services flow at the Kreetsand’s shallow water area is €0.83 million/year. Nevertheless, the value seems to be underestimated due to errors inherited during valuation. After 44 years, the value will accumulate to €36.5 million, which is equal to the project investment cost estimated to be around €36.6 million. Based on the cost-benefit analysis results for the project, it is concluded that river renaturalization is the best option because it increases ecosystem services flow. The paper recommends that a similar study should be conducted to include more ecosystem services and ecosystem goods such as fish and water used for industrial purposes.

Butterfly Species Diversity in Protected and Unprotected Habitat of Ise Forest Reserve, Ise Ekiti, Ekiti State

This study investigated butterfly diversity in the protected area (PA) and unprotected area (UPA) of Ise Forest reserve, Ise Ekiti, Ekiti State, using sweep net along existing trails. Butterfly species seen in the study sites were captured and released after proper identification was made. The results indicated that a total of 837 butterflies were identified in the study sites with 661 species observed in PA and 176 species in UPA. Butterfly species diversity was significantly different (p≤0.05) between PA and UPA. Shannon diversity index was higher in PA (3.59) than UPA (3.27) as against Menhinick’s index, higher in UPA (2.11) than in PA (1.52). Likewise, 10 families of butterflies were recorded in PA and 8 families in UPA. The family with highest species occurrence was Satyridae (17.9%) in PA and Lycaenidae in UPA with 20.1%. Butterfly families’ diversity was not significant (p≥0.05) between the two study sites. Ise Forest Reserve recorded approximately 6.6% of all butterflies recorded in West Africa. The findings indicated that mature secondary and regenerated forests supported high butterfly diversity and species richness, while cultivated land and grassland had a negative impact on butterfly community suggesting the negative effect of agricultural activities on the ecosystem.

Tide Management in the Elbe River and Changes in Ecosystem Services

Flood currents (tidal pumping) have led to the increase of transportation of sediments to the river’s upper estuary. In the tidal section of the Elbe River, more sediment is transported to the upper estuary with flood currents (tidal pumping) related to tidal asymmetry. This process contributes, amongst others, to dredging in order to obtain the water depth required for navigation safety. Cognizant of the above problems, construction of shallow water area is planned in order to reduce tidal asymmetry while improving ecological integrity at the tidal Elbe areas. The study on which this paper is based was conducted to assess ecological integrity and ecosystem services before and after the shallow water creation. Habitat identification and quality ranking were conducted for current habitat, while model habitats representing future state (after shallow water creation) were designed using HEC-RAS model simulation. The assessment matrix was used to assess ecological integrity and ecosystem services provisioning of the study area’s habitats before and after the shallow water creation, using potential indicators. Results indicate that there is increase in the ecological integrity after the project implementation. Based on the above explanation, it can be concluded that the measure will increase the flow of ecosystem services after its implementation.

Carbon Sequestration in Tropical and Subtropical Plant Species in Collaborative and Community Forests of Nepal

Different plant species have different capacity of carbon sequestration but it is not assessed yet in Nepal. Therefore, this study was done to assess the species-wise carbon sequestration in two periods in forests. Three collaborative and three community forests were selected for the study. The selected forests were surveyed using GPS and mapped and stratified into tree, pole, and regeneration. Specifically 32, 33, and 31 samples were collected from Banke-Maraha, Tuteshwarnath, and Gadhanta-Bardibash collaborative forests, respectively, while 30, 25, and 22 samples were collected from Chureparwati, Buddha, and Chyandanda community forests correspondingly. The sample plots were of 25 m × 20 m for tree strata. The diameter and height of plants were measured and samples were collected for three consecutive years. The estimated carbon stock of Shorea robusta was the highest 35.93 t ha−1 in 2011 which was slightly decreased to 34.43 t ha−1 in 2012 and reached 32.02 t ha−1 in 2013 in Banke-Maraha collaborative forest but it was the least 7.97, 8.92, and 10.29 t ha−1 in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively, in Chyandanda community forest. The highest carbon sequestration was recorded about 5.02 t ha−1 of Shorea robusta in Chyandanda community forest in between t2013 and t2012.

Land-Cover Legacy Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Abundance in Human and Wildlife Dominated Systems in Tropical Savanna

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be important mutualists to plant hosts in acquiring soil nutrients. Past work has not explored whether previous land-cover history influences current AMF abundance in croplands and whether different land-cover histories in grazed but not cultivated areas influence AMF. This study was conducted to assess the effects of land-cover history in and near Serengeti National Park on AMF abundance in areas with three different land uses. The results showed that land-cover history influenced a number of soil physicochemical properties following conversion of grassland to cropland or woodland to cropland during the past 27 years. Different original land cover generally did not significantly influence current AMF abundance in croplands or livestock-grazed soils. However, livestock-grazed current grasslands that were formerly woodlands had lower AMF abundance than sites that had been grasslands since 1984. These results suggest that lower AMF abundance in livestock-grazed and cropland areas as compared to protected wildlife-grazed areas may reflect reduced total carbon inputs and higher disturbance and are not strongly influenced by the legacy of previous land cover. Given that recent studies have detected legacy effects on AMF, such effects may reflect more the impact on the taxonomic composition of AMF rather than their total abundance.

Antler and Body Size in Black-Tailed Deer: An Analysis of Cohort Effects

For long-lived species, environmental factors experienced early in life can have lasting effects persisting into adulthood. Large herbivores can be susceptible to cohort-wide declines in fitness as a result of decreases in forage availability, because of extrinsic factors, including extreme climate or high population densities. To examine effects of cohort-specific extrinsic factors on size of adults, we performed a retrospective analysis on harvest data of 450 male black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) over 19 years in central California, USA. We determined that population density of females had a more dominant effect than did precipitation on body size of males. Harvest of female deer resulted in increases in the overall size of males, even though a 6-year drought occurred during that treatment period. Body size was most influenced by female population density early in life, while antler size was highly affected by both weather early in life and the year directly before harvest. This study provides insights that improve our understanding of the role of cohort effects in body and antler size by cervids; and, in particular, that reduction in female population density can have a profound effect on the body and antler size of male deer.

The Potential Spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the Environment in the Creation of Spondylitis Tuberculosis Rabbit

Direct Mycobacterium tuberculosis inoculation on rabbit vertebral body was used in rabbit spinal infection study. The potential spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the environment will be observed in order to create the conditions fulfilling biosafety aspects. Two groups of six New Zealand rabbits were treatment group (n=4) and control group (n=2). The treatment group had injection of 0.1 mL (107 cfu/mL) suspension of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the vertebral body T12. They were incubated for 2 to 14 weeks. One rabbit per period of 2, 4, 6, and 14 weeks was euthanized to collect feces, urine, saliva, and tissue lesions. The control group had only feces, urine, and saliva to detect bacteria using AFB staining, culture, and PCR. Both two groups were kept in individual cages. They were put together in a large cage for 3 hours every day to interact with each other. AFB staining, culture, and radiological examination showed negative result, but in one rabbit, histopathological examination showed positive result and PCR examination in another rabbit of the treatment group. Spreading score was 1.05% and infected score was 0 (null). The procedure did not reveal the potential spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into the environment.