Ecology,feeding competition and social structure in baboons

Predictions of the model of van Schaik (1989) of female-bonding in primates are tested by systematically comparing the ecology, level of within-group contest competition for food (WGC), and patterns of social behaviour found in two contrasting baboon populations. Significant differences were found in food distribution (percentage of the diet from clumped sources), feeding supplant rates and grooming patterns. In accord with the model, the tendencies of females to affiliate and form coalitions with one another, and to be philopatric, were strongest where ecological conditions promoted WGC. Group fission in the population with strong WGC was “horizontal” with respect to female dominance rank, and associated with female-female aggression during a period of elevated feeding competition. In contrast, where WGC was low, females’ grooming was focused on adult males rather than other females. Recent evidence suggests that group fission here is initiated by males, tends to result in the formation of one-male groups, and is not related to feeding competition but to male-male competition for mates. An ecological model of baboon social structure is presented which incorporates the effects of female-female competition, male-male competition, and predation pressure. The model potentially accounts for wide variability in group size, group structure and social relationships within the genus Papio. Socio-ecological convergence between common baboons and hamadryas baboons, however, may be limited in some respects by phylogenetic inertia. Received: 22 April 1994/Accepted after revision: 9 December 1995     

Eco-neighbourhoods: A review of projects

The recent literature on sustainable urban form has stressed the need to move away from a system of land-use segregation and towards one which intersperses land uses and facilitates localisation. The strategy of dispersed concentration gives shape to this mixed-use principle, and has been equated with the need to plan more self-sufficient neighbourhoods. There are several problematic issues raised by such a strategy, particularly in relation to the propensity of local people to use local facilities when the friction of distance is low. The image of sustainable neighbourhoods purveyed by advocates is at odds with the reality of suburban development. A review of current eco-neighbourhood projects around the world points to the varying degrees to which they have successfully overcome the implementational and behavioural difficulties. Market-led projects — particularly in semi-rural areas — have achieved rather limited success across the range of sustainability criteria. Some large-scale municipally led plans have faired better. Projects led by community non-profit trusts have been able to be most radical and demonstrate the practicability of eco-neighbourhoods in specific situations. Overall, however, the paucity of successful projects highlights the need for a more proactive central and local government stance.     

Text analysis tools for identification of emerging topics and research gaps in conservation science

Keeping track of conceptual and methodological developments is a critical skill for research scientists, but this task is increasingly difficult due to the high rate of academic publication. As a crisis discipline, conservation science is particularly in need of tools that facilitate rapid yet insightful synthesis. We show how a common text‐mining method (latent Dirichlet allocation, or topic modeling) and statistical tests familiar to ecologists (cluster analysis, regression, and network analysis) can be used to investigate trends and identify potential research gaps in the scientific literature. We tested these methods on the literature on ecological surrogates and indicators. Analysis of topic popularity within this corpus showed a strong emphasis on monitoring and management of fragmented ecosystems, while analysis of research gaps suggested a greater role for genetic surrogates and indicators. Our results show that automated text analysis methods need to be used with care, but can provide information that is complementary to that given by systematic reviews and meta‐analyses, increasing scientists’ capacity for research synthesis.