A range’s core should not only be important in research

Abstract

This is my second Editorial since I became Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Ecology (AJE). As I did with my previous Editorial (Luiselli, 2023), I will continue in this case (and in the case of future Editorials) to emphasise the aspects of African ecology that, in my opinion, are still underdeveloped and the role that AJE can play in their development. In the previous Editorial (Luiselli, 2023), I addressed the general “themes” of greatest importance for the development of a fully “modern” ecological science in Africa. Starting from this “Editorial” I will deal with more specific “hot” topics that will be of particular interest to our journal over the next few years. For each of these “hot” topics, I will invite specific contributions from prominent authors in the form of “Reviews”, “Perspectives”, and “Interdisciplinary Perspectives”, and I will even explore the potential for having special issues dedicated to them. I'm going to start this series of more specific contributions with addressing one of the hottest topics in contemporary conservation ecology: the habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation is widely acclaimed as one of the main threats to biodiversity (Fahrig, 2017, 2019). Over the last two decades, literally rivers of (scientific) ink have been poured in the “northern world” (Europe and North America) to describe the importance of matrix permeability to allow animals to cross between forest patches (e.g., Anderson et al., 2022; Erős & Campbell Grant, 2015; Luque et al., 2012; Neuschulz et al., 2013; Watts & Handley, 2010). As a result, a dynamic theory around the phenomenon of habitat fragmentation has rapidly developed as well as how to maintain valid ecological connectivity between fragments. Analytical software has also been created to assess the resistance of fragment matrices and other parameters of management interest (e.g., Fardila et al., 2017; Leonard et al., 2017). A unifying point of several of these studies is that the matrix is the functionally dominant unit of the landscape (Forman & Godron, 1986). In Africa, habitat fragmentation is not less a threat to biodiversity than in temperate regions, particularly for forest species (e.g., Bloomfield et al., 2020; Curry et al., 2021; Davis & Philips, 2005; Dendi et al., 2023; Newmark & McNeally, 2018). For example, the Guinean forests of West Africa are considered among the most fragmented forest habitats in the world, a biodiversity hotspot, currently comprising no more than 5%–10% of its original extension. Habitat fragmentation processes in Africa are also characterised by dynamics that are almost unknown in other continents. For instance, Africa contains the largest number of refugees in the world (about 34% of the total), and there is a massive agricultural expansion and habitat loss in refugee-hosting areas (for instance, in some areas of Uganda) (Maystadt et al., 2020). The “refugee-induced” habitat fragmentation effect has remained virtually scientifically unstudied but is certainly a very promising field of investigation in the years to come. A “Google Scholar” search (12 December 2022) revealed that there are very few articles focusing on Africa on: (i) ecological connectivity between forest patches, sacred grooves, and protected reserves (e.g., Alohou et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2019) or (ii) modelling the distribution of threatened faunas in relation to the spatial distribution and the connectivity of the forested patches (Freeman et al., 2019). It seems evident to me that the issue of how to recreate invaluable ecological connectivity between isolated forest patches (or well-preserved savannahs) is currently rather forgotten in the African ecological literature, albeit being extremely important. Instead, the emphasis is virtually always on protected areas (the “core”) and the management of faunas within these core habitats. However, recent work in the Dahomey Gap, West Africa, suggests that the management of the altered “matrix” is as important as maintaining forest patches in a savannah-forest mosaic landscape. This is because it is essential to allow many mammal species to be able to move between patches during certain seasons (Matshisela et al., 2021; Segniagbeto et al., 2022). Moreover, such matrix studies are also important for the development of community-controlled hunting areas that can enhance the conservation value of well-preserved buffer zones (Atsri et al., 2020), together with promoting sustainable agricultural production systems in degraded areas. Such an approach can help stabilise the agricultural front and reduce land pressure on the forests themselves (Atsri et al., 2020). Scrolling down recent contents of AJE, we can notice that we published many excellent articles that were directly or indirectly important for addressing aspects of habitat loss and fragmentation, but with a clear substantial attention to the “core” and not to “what surrounds it” (the matrix). For instance, we published several demographic studies and other interesting observations/data focusing on wildlife species within protected pristine areas (e.g., Amin et al., 2022; Gush et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2023; Meheretu et al., 2022; Sonhaye-Ouyé et al., 2022; Turikunkiko et al., 2022; Uwizelimana et al., 2022), whereas those focusing on the matrix areas surrounding pristine protected areas were much less (Kifle & Bekele, 2022; Kisingo et al., 2021; Ncube & Tarakini, 2022). Changing the paradigm, i.e., shifting at least partially the focus away from core areas as biodiversity hotspots to the surrounding matrix, could constitute a great opportunity for conservation (and for ecological research as well). In fact, it will bring to the fore also the ‘minor’ environmental mosaics, often underestimated and ignored but ecologically relevant both structurally (as habitat for biodiversity), and functionally (as role in species dispersal; Poiani et al., 2000). For instance, the fragmented island forests of Africa and their surroundings will become promising field scenarios for ecological research (e.g., see Segniagbeto et al., 2022). Core areas are undoubtedly a priority as they not free from human threats, although most are protected to some degree. Nevertheless, focusing research and conservation efforts only on them can be a serious mistake, since distracting oneself from what is happening in the surrounding landscape matrices means starting a progressive isolation of the core areas and interrupting fundamental connective processes (Salerno et al., 2018; Segniagbeto et al., 2022). ‘Tunnel vision’ and ‘functional cognitive fixedness’ must be overcome (Ward et al., 2019). Cognitive biases (i.e., the systematic pattern of deviation from rationality in judgement and perception; Barnes, 1984) can influence decisions also in nature conservation (Catalano et al., 2018). In this sense, it is important that conservation managers do not automatically anchor themselves only to hotspots following charismatic perceptions (an ‘anchoring bias’; Cinner, 2018) and initiate a change of vision by focusing on still neglected landscape matrices. Therefore, I am inviting potential contributors to submit to AJE original articles or reviews and meta-analysis on the phenomenon of habitat fragmentation and the role of matrix management for the conservation of animals and plants in Africa. I would seek especially those studies documenting the field data into a theoretical framework that, as for the African studies, has never been properly and deeply analysed. This article has been improved through constructive discussions with Dr C. Battisti (Rome), Dr M. Behangana (Kampala), Prof. G.H. Segniagbeto (Lomé), and Prof. J.E. Fa (Manchester).