A multispecies assessment of wildlife impacts on local community livelihoods

Conflicts between the interests of agriculture and wildlife conservation are a major threat to biodiversity and human well-being globally. Addressing such conflicts requires a thorough understanding of the impacts associated with living alongside protected wildlife. Despite this, most studies reporting on human–wildlife impacts and the strategies used to mitigate them focus on a single species, thus oversimplifying often complex systems of human–wildlife interactions. We sought to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of impacts by multiple co-occurring species on agricultural livelihoods in the eastern Okavango Delta Panhandle in northern Botswana through the use of a database of 3264 wildlife-incident reports recorded from 2009 to 2015 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Eight species (African elephants [Loxodonta africana], hippopotamuses [Hippopotamus amphibious], lions [Panthera leo], cheetah [Acinonyx jubatus], African wild dogs [Lycaon pictus], hyenas [Crocuta crocuta], leopards [Panthera pardus], and crocodiles [Crocodylus niloticus]) appeared on incident reports, of which 56.5% were attributed to elephants. Most species were associated with only 1 type of damage (i.e., either crop damage or livestock loss). Carnivores were primarily implicated in incident reports related to livestock loss, particularly toward the end of the dry season (May–October). In contrast, herbivores were associated with crop-loss incidents during the wet season (November–April). Our results illustrate how local communities can face distinct livelihood challenges from different species at different times of the year. Such a multispecies assessment has important implications for the design of conservation interventions aimed at addressing the costs of living with wildlife and thereby mitigation of the underlying conservation conflict. Our spatiotemporal, multispecies approach is widely applicable to other regions where sustainable and long-term solutions to conservation conflicts are needed for local communities and biodiversity.     

Rural Ozone Across the Eastern United States: Analysis of CASTNet Data, 1988–1995

ABSTRACT

A predominantly rural ozone monitoring network was operated under the auspices of the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet) from 1988 until 1995. Ozone data from sites in the eastern United States are presented and several indices are used to describe the spatial and temporal distribution of ozone concentration and exposure. These indices are SUM06, W126, the 8-hour rolling average (MAX_8hr>80), and the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. Ozone indices were selected to illustrate the spatial and temporal distribution of ozone, and the sensitivity of this distribution to different representations of concentration or exposure.

CASTNet is unique in that a uniform set of site selection criteria and uniform procedures, including traceability to a single primary standard, provide a high degree of comparability across sites. Sites were selected to avoid undue influence from point sources, area sources, or local activities. The sites reflect a wide range of land use and terrain types including agricultural and forested, in flat, rolling, and complex terrain from the eastern seaboard across the Appalachian Mountains to the Midwest.

Results indicate that ozone concentrations varied greatly in time and space across the eastern United States. Sites in the upper northeast, upper midwest, and southern periphery subregions experienced relatively low ozone during the years of record compared to sites in the northeast, midwest, and south central subregions. Ozone exposures at an individual rural site are dependent on many factors, including terrain, meteorology, and distance from sources of precursors. Relative to the current (as of 1996) NAAQS, only a handful of CASTNet sites near major urban areas report exceedances. In contrast, the majority of CASTNet sites might exceed the proposed new primary standard for ozone.

Sites at high elevation (>900m) in the east exhibit relatively high exposure statistics (e.g., SUM06 and W126), but no exceedance of the current ozone standard from 1988 through 1995. Terrain effects explain some of the variability within subregions and are an important consideration in the design of monitoring networks for ozone and possibly other pollutants.     

Charcoal versus LPG grilling: A carbon-footprint comparison

Undoubtedly, grilling is popular. Britons fire up their barbeques some 60 million times a year, consuming many thousands of tonnes of fuel. In milder climates consumption is even higher, and in the developing world, charcoal continues to be an essential cooking fuel. So it is worth comparing the carbon footprints of the two major grill types, charcoal and LPG, and that was the purpose of the study this paper documents. Charcoal and LPG grill systems were defined, and their carbon footprints were calculated for a base case and for some plausible variations to that base case. In the base case, the charcoal grilling footprint of 998 kg CO₂e is almost three times as large as that for LPG grilling, 349 kg CO₂e. The relationship is robust under all plausible sensitivities. The overwhelming factors are that as a fuel, LPG is dramatically more efficient than charcoal in its production and considerably more efficient in cooking. Secondary factors are: use of firelighters, which LPG does not need; LPG's use of a heavier, more complicated grill; and LPG's use of cylinders that charcoal does not need.     

Morphological relationships of the Wheatears (genus Oenanthe)

The genus Oenanthe comprises approximately 22 species, of which 16 species are restricted to the desert belt of the Palaearctic and Afrotropic regions, where they are often the most conspicuous passerines. Although they have been the subjects of some morphological and ecological studies, no complete morphometrical data has been used to verify their taxonomic relationships, and, the species relationships are still debated. Overall morphometrical similarities between Wheatears and their relationships in size and shape were assessed using measurements of 27 biometrical variables on 417 museum specimens. The 22 Wheatear species comprise some morphological groups: long migratory vegetation-tolerant species (O. pleschanka, O. hispanica, O. cypriaca and O. deserti), ground-dwelling migratory (O. isabellina and O. oenanthe), and sedentary (O. bottae, O. heuglini and O. pileata) of steppe-like habitants, relatively heavy and rock-dwelling species (O. leucura and O. monticola), inhabiting the most arid areas (O. monacha, O. leucopyga and O. alboniger), and finally a central core of medium-sized partial migrants, largely overlapping in morphometric space, that do not present any evident specialization (O. lugens, O. chrysopygia, O. xanthoprymna and O. finschii). It seems Wheatear species are well distributed in a morpho-space of size and shape with moderate overlaps and few hiatuses corresponding to a morphological continuum of species. Furthermore, our results largely hiatuses corresponding to a morphological continuum of species. Furthermore, our results largely differ from previous phylogenetic hypotheses (based on ecological, behavioural, and chromatic characters), but, are in congruence with molecular data.     

Positive environmental effects of the coronavirus 2020 episode: a review

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The outbreak of COVID-19 has made a global catastrophic situation that caused 1,039,406 deaths out of 35,347,404 infections, and it will also cause...     

Analysis of the toxicogenomic effects of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Slovakian girls: correlations between gene expression and disease risk

The chemical composition of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environment is not uniform throughout the world, and these contaminants contain many structurally different lipophilic compounds. In a well-defined study cohort in the Slovak Republic, the POP chemicals present in the peripheral blood of exposed children were chemically analyzed. The chemical analysis data revealed that the relative concentration and profile of structurally different organic pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 2,2′-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE), 2,2′-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloro-ethane (p,p′-DDT), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), may vary from individual to individual, even within the same exposure area. These chemicals can be broadly classified into two groups. The first group, the PCB congeners, primarily originated from industrial compounds and their byproducts. The second group of compounds originated from or was commonly used in the agricultural sector (e.g., DDT, HCB). The objective of this study was to examine the effects of the two POP exposure profiles on gene expression. For the study population, we selected pre-pubertal girls (mean age of 46.2 ± 1.4 months) with high POP concentrations in their blood (> 75% tile of total POP) and classified them in the high ‘PCB’ group when the total PCB concentration was significantly higher than the total concentration of other POP components and in the ‘Other Than PCB’ (OTP) group, when the total PCB concentration was significantly lower than the concentration of the other major POP constituents. A matched control group of girls (< 25% tile of total POP) was selected for comparison purpose (n = 5 per group). Our aims were to determine whether there were any common effects of high POP exposure at a toxicogenomic level and to investigate how exposure may affect physiological functions of the children in two different exposure scenarios. Global gene expression analysis using a microarray (Affymetrix Gene Chip Human genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array) platform was conducted on the total RNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the girls. The results were analyzed by Partek GS, Louis, MI, which identified twelve genes (ATAD2B, BIVM, CD96, CXorf39, CYTH1 ETNK1, FAM13A, HIRA, INO80B, ODG1, RAD23B, and TSGA14) and two unidentified probe sets, as regulated differentially in both the PCB and OTP groups against the control group. The qRT-PCR method was used to validate the microarray results. The Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software package identified the possible molecular impairments and disease risks associated with each gene set. Connective tissue disorders, genetic disorders, skeletal muscular disorders and neurological diseases were associated with the 12 common genes. The data therefore identified the potential molecular effects of POP exposure on a genomic level. This report underscores the importance of further study to validate the results in a random population and to evaluate the use of the identified genes as biomarkers for POP exposure.     

Environmental determinants of distribution and foraging behaviour of cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.) in temperate estuarine habitats

The distribution and behaviour of cormorants in estuarine environments was examined on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia, with respect to habitat associations at different spatial scales. No consistent variation in abundance was found for four species of cormorants (great Phalacrocorax carbo, pied P. varius, little black P. sulcirostris, and little pied P. melanoleucos) with state of tide (high and low) and time of day (early, middle, and late) at five estuarine locations. Differences in abundance were found among locations that were not confounded by short-term temporal variation (i.e. time of day and tide). Differences in abundance were detected among habitats (e.g. bays, creeks, and headlands) separated by hundreds of metres to kilometres in different estuaries. Cormorants of all species were rare on the open coast and near the entrance of estuaries. Abundances of cormorants varied greatly within and among creeks, bays, and river channels. Presence of seagrass beds explained much of this variation and most of the cormorants swimming and feeding were found near seagrass. Mapping of seagrass beds and the positions of cormorants at scales of metres to hundreds of metres showed a close relationship between the presence of swimming and roosting beds and the presence of seagrass beds for P. melanoleucos and for P. carbo. We argue that cormorants make decisions to visit particular estuarine habitats, especially those with seagrass, where many types of prey (e.g. fish and crustaceans) are probably most abundant. These choices must be interpreted in the context of decisions that cormorants make on scales of hundreds to thousands of kilometres during periodic excursions to the interior of Australia. Further, environmental threats to seagrass beds could impinge on these mobile visitors to the same extent as on more permanent residents. Received: 14 February 2000 / Accepted: 17 July 2000     

Aromatic Copolyester-based Nano-biocomposites: Elaboration, Structural Characterization and Properties

Biodegradable polymers are one of the most promising ways to replace non-degradable polymers. But, to be a real alternative to classical synthetic polymers and find applications, biopolymer (biodegradable polymer) properties have to be enhanced. Nano-biocomposites, which are obtained by incorporation of nanofillers into a biomatrix, are an interesting way to achieve these improvements. Modified and unmodified montmorillonites have been introduced into a biodegradable aromatic copolyester, poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). Structural characterization, thermal and mechanical tests have been carried out to understand better the relations between the nanofillers structuring and the final nano-biocomposite properties. Main results show that clay incorporation and the obtained intercalated structures improve PBAT properties (enhanced thermal stability, increased stiffness) and thus may increase the attractiveness of this biopolymer.