Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

12 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Long-term trends in a forest ungulate community: park establishment increases numbers, but poaching is a constant threat.

ABSTRACT: Deforestation represents one of the greatest threats to tropical forest mammals, and the situation is greatly exacerbated by bushmeat hunting. To construct informed conservation plans, information must be gathered about responses to habitat degradation, regeneration, and hunting over a sufficiently long period to allow demographic responses. We quantified changes in the abundance of three commonly occurring ungulate species (i.e., bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus; red duiker, Cephalophus sp.; blue duiker, Cephalophus monticola) at eight sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda (old growth=3; logged=3; regenerating=2) for 23 years. Changes in abundance (363 surveys totaling 1 450 km) were considered in regard to the park's management strategy, regional economic indicators, and estimates of illegal hunting. Bushbuck abundance increased in old-growth and logged forests from 1996 to 2009, and then oscillated around this level or declined. Duiker abundance demonstrated a similar pattern, but abundance in the old-growth forests showed a general increase from 1996 to present day. Duiker abundance in the logged forests exhibited an early increase, but subsequent oscillation. Poaching signs per patrol have remained stable over the last decade, despite increases in the size of the surrounding population, cost of living, and cost of schooling, thus reflecting successful efforts in conservation education and enforcement. Our study highlights the positive impact of park establishment, patrol, and conservation efforts on ungulate populations and shows the adaptability of forest mammal populations to different management schemes.

SUBMITTER: Hou R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7995271 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

Global establishment threat from a major forest pest via international shipping: Lymantria dispar.

Project description:The global shipping network is widely recognised as a pathway for vectoring invasive species. One species of particular concern is Lymantria dispar (gypsy moth). Two subspecies, L. d. asiatica and L. d. japonica (herein referred to as Asian Gypsy Moth - AGM) are of considerable concern as ships arriving to a number of countries have been found carrying AGM egg masses. However, ships carrying AGM eggs can only threaten a country at ports located in a climatically suitable region. We present a CLIMEX model of climate suitability and combine this with international shipping to estimate the global threat from AGM. We find that for the USA more than half of international ships (approximately 18,000 ships) arrive to climatically suitable ports. Other countries with a large number of ships arriving to ports with suitable climates include Canada and Brazil. This is the first global analysis of the invasion threat from AGM, and we recommend countries focus AGM-inspection programs towards ships arriving at ports found within climatically suitable regions.

| S-EPMC6137135 | biostudies-literature

Long-term trends in fruit production in a tropical forest at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda.

Project description:Fruit production in tropical forests varies considerably in space and time, with important implications for frugivorous consumers. Characterizing temporal variation in forest productivity is thus critical for understanding adaptations of tropical forest frugivores, yet long-term phenology data from the tropics, in particular from African forests, are still scarce. Similarly, as the abiotic factors driving phenology in the tropics are predicted to change with a warming climate, studies documenting the relationship between climatic variables and fruit production are increasingly important. Here we present data from 19 years of monitoring the phenology of 20 tree species at Ngogo in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Our aims were to characterize short- and long-term trends in productivity and to understand the abiotic factors driving temporal variability in fruit production. Short-term (month-to-month) variability in fruiting was relatively low at Ngogo, and overall fruit production increased significantly through the first half of the study. Among the abiotic variables we expected to influence phenology patterns (including rainfall, solar irradiance, and average temperature), only average temperature was a significant predictor of monthly fruit production. We discuss these findings as they relate to the resource base of the frugivorous vertebrate community inhabiting Ngogo.

| S-EPMC7939021 | biostudies-literature

The constant threat from a non-native predator increases tail muscle and fast-start swimming performance in Xenopus tadpoles.

Project description:Predator-induced phenotypic plasticity is the ability of prey to adapt to their native predator. However, owing to environmental changes, encounters with unknown predators are inevitable. Therefore, study of prey and non-native predator interaction will reveal the primary stages of adaptive strategies in prey-predator interactions in the context of evolutionary processes. Here, Xenopus tadpoles exposed to a non-native predator, a larval salamander, showed a significant increase in body weight and tail length to body length ratio. The Tmax2 test indicated a significant enhancement of the tail muscle and decrease in the relative ventral fin height in tadpoles exposed to predation risk, leading to significantly higher average swimming speeds. The analysis of muscle-related metabolites revealed that sarcosine increased significantly in tadpoles exposed to non-native predators. Multiple linear regression analysis of the fast-start swimming pattern showed that the fast-start swimming speed was determined by the time required for a tadpole to bend its body away from the threat (C-start) and the angle at which it was bent. In conclusion, morphological changes in tadpoles were functionally adaptive and induced by survival behaviors of Xenopus tadpoles against non-native predators.

| S-EPMC5703619 | biostudies-literature

Oxytocin increases anxiety to unpredictable threat.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC3930442 | biostudies-literature

Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore.

Project description:Quantifying environmental crime and the effectiveness of policy interventions is difficult because perpetrators typically conceal evidence. To prevent illegal uses of natural resources, such as poaching endangered species, governments have advocated granting policy flexibility to local authorities by liberalizing culling or hunting of large carnivores. We present the first quantitative evaluation of the hypothesis that liberalizing culling will reduce poaching and improve population status of an endangered carnivore. We show that allowing wolf (Canis lupus) culling was substantially more likely to increase poaching than reduce it. Replicated, quasi-experimental changes in wolf policies in Wisconsin and Michigan, USA, revealed that a repeated policy signal to allow state culling triggered repeated slowdowns in wolf population growth, irrespective of the policy implementation measured as the number of wolves killed. The most likely explanation for these slowdowns was poaching and alternative explanations found no support. When the government kills a protected species, the perceived value of each individual of that species may decline; so liberalizing wolf culling may have sent a negative message about the value of wolves or acceptability of poaching. Our results suggest that granting management flexibility for endangered species to address illegal behaviour may instead promote such behaviour.

| S-EPMC4874699 | biostudies-other

Comparative cognition in three understudied ungulate species: European bison, forest buffalos and giraffes.

Project description:BackgroundComparative cognition has historically focused on a few taxa such as primates, birds or rodents. However, a broader perspective is essential to understand how different selective pressures affect cognition in different taxa, as more recently shown in several studies. Here we present the same battery of cognitive tasks to two understudied ungulate species with different socio-ecological characteristics, European bison (Bison bonasus) and forest buffalos (Syncerus caffer nanus), and we compare their performance to previous findings in giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis). We presented subjects with an Object permanence task, Memory tasks with 30 and 60 s delays, two inference tasks based on acoustic cues (i.e. Acoustic inference tasks) and a control task to check for the use of olfactory cues (i.e. Olfactory task).ResultsOverall, giraffes outperformed bison and buffalos, and bison outperformed buffalos (that performed at chance level). All species performed better in the Object permanence task than in the Memory tasks and one of the Acoustic inference tasks (which they likely solved by relying on stimulus enhancement). Giraffes performed better than buffalos in the Shake full Acoustic inference task, but worse than bison and buffalos in the Shake empty Acoustic inference task.ConclusionsIn sum, our results are in line with the hypothesis that specific socio-ecological characteristics played a crucial role in the evolution of cognition, and that higher fission-fusion levels and larger dietary breadth are linked to higher cognitive skills. This study shows that ungulates may be an excellent model to test evolutionary hypotheses on the emergence of cognition.

| S-EPMC8218502 | biostudies-literature

Using an occupancy approach to identify poaching hotspots in protected areas in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Project description:Poaching activity has been described in the literature as harmful due to impacts on biodiversity, especially in protected areas. Although the main reason for this activity is subsistence, in many regions motivation goes beyond the limits of food necessity. We applied single-species, single season occupancy models to evaluate the spatial distribution of poachers and identify potential poaching hotspots in a mosaic of protected areas in the Caatinga domain, northeastern Brazil. We used camera-traps over a period of 200 days at 60 sites randomly selected. We used distances from human settlements, roads and the nearest water holes, frequency of game species and sampling effort as covariables that could influence poachers' occupancy and detectability and to identify potential poaching areas. Occupancy poachers were higher in sites with higher frequency of game species. Frequency of game species and distance from roads had a negative effect on the detectability of poachers. Spatial analysis indicated three critical poaching areas within and around the Boqueirão da Onça National Park, associated with roads and some isolated cattle and goat farms. In this study, we provided an assessment of poaching spatial patterns in relation to different landscape elements and biotic influences, indicating critical areas where enforcement efforts should be focused. Hotspots are clearly concentrated within and on the edge of National Park. The approach presented here to identify poaching hotspots is effective and economical, and therefore may be applied in other protected and non-protected areas throughout the world. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The game species abundance is a strong predictor of poacher's occupancy.• Road opening in natural areas increases poaching intensity.• Synergistic effects of roads, game species frequency, and proximity to farms create poaching hotspots

| S-EPMC7536534 | biostudies-literature

Comment on: 'Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore'.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC5378070 | biostudies-literature

Correction to 'Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore'.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC5204176 | biostudies-literature

Experimentally induced social threat increases paranoid thinking.

Project description:The ability to attribute intentions to others is a hallmark of human social cognition but is altered in paranoia. Paranoia is the most common positive symptom of psychosis but is also present to varying degrees in the general population. Epidemiological models suggest that psychosis risk is associated with low social rank and minority status, but the causal effects of status and group affiliation on paranoid thinking remain unclear. We examined whether relative social status and perceived group affiliation, respectively, affect live paranoid thinking using two large-N (N?=?2030), pre-registered experiments. Interacting with someone from a higher social rank or a political out-group led to an increase in paranoid attributions of harmful intent for ambiguous actions. Pre-existing paranoia predicted a general increase in harmful intent attribution, but there was no interaction with either type of social threat: highly paranoid people showed the same magnitude of increase as non-paranoid people, although from a higher baseline. We conclude social threat in the form of low social status and out-group status affects paranoid attributions, but ongoing paranoia represents a lowered threshold for detecting social threat rather than an impaired reactivity to it.

| S-EPMC6124070 | biostudies-literature

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data