Wildlife Groups Research Articles

Using social networks to explore the social flexibility of urban vervet monkeys

Increasing urbanisation reduces available habitat and increases human-wildlife interactions, presenting social and ecological challenges for many species; however, flexible generalist species, such as the vervet monkey, Chlorocebus pygerythrus, thrive under these pressures. In the urban mosaic, human-food sources represent clumped, monopolisable food that can increase contest competition. Social network analysis (SNA) is a powerful tool to monitor changes in social structure, yet it has rarely been used to study urban wildlife. Using SNA, we investigated the effect of anthropogenic food and human-wildlife interactions on social cohesion in five vervet monkey groups in urban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Over six months, we conducted group scan samples every 30-min on each group and recorded all humans-vervet monkey interactions during dawn to dusk follows. We analysed the effect of foraging on natural and human-related food sources and human-vervet monkey interactions on social network metrics for grooming and aggression at group (density, clustering coefficient and distance) and individual (eigenvector centrality and degree) levels, using linear mixed models. Anthropogenic food influenced almost all social metrics. At the group level, foraging on anthropogenic food was related to increased density and cohesion in both grooming and aggression networks. At the individual level, increasing anthropogenic food affected high-ranking monkeys most: eigenvector centrality and outdegree in aggression networks increased with rank. Social network analysis can be a useful tool to document urban effects on wildlife groups, and aids our understanding of wildlife behavioural flexibility, a key tool in developing educated and effective management strategies.

Large language models debunk fake and sensational wildlife news

AbstractIn the current era of rapid online information growth, distinguishing facts from sensationalized or fake content is a major challenge. Here, we explore the potential of large language models as a tool to fact‐check fake news and sensationalized content about animals. We queried the most popular large language models (ChatGPT 3.5 and 4, and Microsoft Bing), asking them to quantify the likelihood of 14 wildlife groups, often portrayed as dangerous or sensationalized, killing humans or livestock. We then compared these scores with the “real” risk obtained from relevant literature and/or expert opinion. We found a positive relationship between the likelihood risk score obtained from large language models and the “real” risk. This indicates the promising potential of large language models in fact‐checking information about commonly misrepresented and widely feared animals, including jellyfish, wasps, spiders, vultures, and various large carnivores. Our analysis underscores the crucial role of large language models in dispelling wildlife myths, helping to mitigate human–wildlife conflicts, shaping a more just and harmonious coexistence, and ultimately aiding biological conservation.

Host‐, Environment‐, or Human‐Related Effects Drive Interspecies Interactions in an Animal Tuberculosis Multi‐Host Community Depending on the Host and Season

In many Mediterranean ecosystems, animal tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is maintained by multi‐host communities in which cattle and different wildlife species establish interaction networks contributing to M. bovis transmission and persistence. Most studies have addressed wildlife–cattle disease‐relevant interactions, focusing on reservoir hosts, while disregarding the potential contribution of the so‐called accidental hosts and/or neglecting wildlife–wildlife interactions. In this work, we aimed to characterise interspecies interactions in an endemic TB risk area and identify the ecological drivers of interaction patterns regardless of the pre‐attributed role of host species on TB epidemiology. For that purpose, spatial–temporal indirect interactions between wildlife mammals and cattle, and between different wildlife species, were investigated through camera trapping. Second, five ecological hypotheses potentially driving species pair interactions in the wet and dry seasons were tested covering water and control sites: human presence (H1), landscape composition (H2), topography (H3), weather (H4), and natural food and water resources (H5). Wild boar (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) were the wildlife species mostly involved in indirect interactions. We found that indirect wildlife–cattle interactions were more frequent than wildlife interactions and, for certain species pairs, interaction rates were higher in the wet season in both wildlife–cattle and wildlife groups. Natural food and water resources (H5) was the most supported hypothesis that influenced the abundance of wildlife–cattle interactions, with positive effects during the dry season and negative effects during the wet season. In contrast, the abundance of indirect interactions between wildlife species was mainly supported by the human disturbance hypothesis (H1), with negative effects exerted on the dry season and variable effects on the wet season. Other tested hypotheses also influenced wildlife–cattle and wildlife–wildlife interactions, depending on the season and host species. These results highlight that indirect interactions, and thus conditions potentially favouring the transmission of M. bovis in shared environments, are determined by different ecological backgrounds.

Modern Approaches to the Monitoring of Biоdiversity (MAMBO)

EU policies, such as the EU biodiversity strategy 2030 and the Birds and Habitats Directives, demand unbiased, integrated and regularly updated biodiversity and ecosystem service data. However, efforts to monitor wildlife and other species groups are spatially and temporally fragmented, taxonomically biased, and lack integration in Europe. To bridge this gap, the MAMBO project will develop, test and implement enabling tools for monitoring conservation status and ecological requirements of species and habitats for which knowledge gaps still exist. MAMBO brings together the technical expertise of computer science, remote sensing, social science expertise on human-technology interactions, environmental economy, and citizen science, with the biological expertise on species, ecology, and conservation biology. MAMBO is built around stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange (WP1) and the integration of new technology with existing research infrastructures (WP2). MAMBO will develop, test, and demonstrate new tools for monitoring species (WP3) and habitats (WP4) in a co-design process to create novel standards for species and habitat monitoring across the EU and beyond. MAMBO will work with stakeholders to identify user and policy needs for biodiversity monitoring and investigate the requirements for setting up a virtual lab to automate workflow deployment and efficient computing of the vast data streams (from on the ground sensors, and remote sensing) required to improve monitoring activities across Europe (WP4). Together with stakeholders, MAMBO will assess these new tools at demonstration sites distributed across Europe (WP5) to identify bottlenecks, analyze the cost-effectiveness of different tools, integrate data streams and upscale results (WP6). This will feed into the co-design of future, improved and more cost-effective monitoring schemes for species and habitats using novel technologies (WP7), and thus lead to a better management of protected sites and species.

Social-ecological drivers of metropolitan residents’ comfort living with wildlife

IntroductionHuman-wildlife coexistence in cities depends on how residents perceive and interact with wildlife in their neighborhoods. An individual’s attitudes toward and responses to wildlife are primarily shaped by their subjective cognitive judgments, including multi-faceted environmental values and perceptions of risks or safety. However, experiences with wildlife could also positively or negatively affect an individual’s environmental attitudes, including their comfort living near wildlife. Previous work on human-wildlife coexistence has commonly focused on rural environments and on conflicts with individual problem species, while positive interactions with diverse wildlife communities have been understudied. MethodsGiven this research gap, we surveyed wildlife attitudes of residents across twelve neighborhoods in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ to ask: how do the environments in which residents live, as well as their values, identities, and personal characteristics, explain the degree to which they are comfortable living near different wildlife groups (coyotes, foxes, and rabbits)? ResultsWe found that residents who were more comfortable living near wildlife commonly held pro-wildlife value orientations, reflecting the expectation that attitudes toward wildlife are primarily driven be an individual’s value-based judgements. However, attitudes were further influenced by sociodemographic factors (e.g., pet ownership, gender identity), as well as environmental factors that influence the presence of and familiarity with wildlife. Specifically, residents living closer to desert parks and preserves were more likely to have positive attitudes toward both coyotes and foxes, species generally regarded by residents as riskier to humans and domestic animals. DiscussionBy improving understanding of people’s attitudes toward urban wildlife, these results can help managers effectively evaluate the potential for human-wildlife coexistence through strategies to mitigate risk and facilitate stewardship.

Human-Water Monitor Conflicts in Indonesia: Spatial Patterns and Mitigation Alternatives

The exponential growth of the human population in the last few decades has had an impact on the exponential increase of agricultural land. One of the consequences arising from the forest land conversions is the increasing number of conflicts between wildlife and humans. Although human-wildlife conflicts are also common in Indonesia, efforts to inventory and monitor the types of conflicts and their distribution are still limited. Mammals and birds are the only two groups of wildlife that are widely studied. This study tries to collect data on the incidences of human-water monitor interactions that are often reported by online news. The collection of news from online media (web scraping) is done automatically using the python package GoogleNews. The collected news articles were stored in a spreadsheet format and processed to obtain information on the location and type of conflict. The scraping process collected 1,838 news articles related to water monitors that represented 189 cases of human-water monitor conflicts. However, there were only 172 conflict cases that had detailed information of the location. The spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed a significant clustering pattern in the Jakarta Metropolitan area. The most common incident was water monitors coming into a house or neighborhood. The reports also uncovered that at least eight people lost their lives and seven water monitors were killed or sold. In addition, there were about 81 captured water monitors with uncertain or untraceable status. Commercially harvesting water monitors, particularly in highly urbanized cities, can be a reasonable solution for this problem.

Characteristics of Large Environmental Nonprofits That Identify Climate Change and Social Justice as Focal Concerns

This article examines the uptake of social justice and climate change as focal issues among the largest U.S. environmental nonprofits. We use 2016 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings to identify 5,413 large environmental nonprofits of which 8% attend to issues of climate and 10% to issues of social justice. Larger organizations are more likely to attend to issues of climate change and social justice, as are groups founded more recently. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling of organizational mission statements and descriptions of major activities is used to assign groups to six distinct issue categories. Results highlight the divide between wildlife groups that are decidedly unlikely to attend to issues of either climate or justice, and the rest of the national environmental movement. Energy and natural resource groups, while strongly vested in climate issues, rarely attend to social justice. These findings have clear implications for climate and justice advocates seeking change in the environmental advocacy sector.

An evaluation of detection methods for the plains spotted skunk

AbstractResearch on rare or understudied species often benefits from employing multiple survey techniques to ensure highest efficacy in detecting individuals. The plains spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius interrupta) is an uncommon mephitid historically distributed throughout much of Texas, USA. To inform the current distribution of plains spotted skunks in Texas, we integrated occurrence data from natural history collections and field surveys with data from academic, wildlife, and citizen scientist groups, resulting in 286 verified occurrence records from 1892 through 2018. We modeled historic species distribution using 64 records from natural history collections to direct surveying efforts in 13 counties using live traps, camera traps, and track plates. Field surveys and citizen science camera trap surveys resulted in 16 records while crowdsourcing resulted in 23 verified reports detailing 78 unique plains spotted skunk records. Our efforts resulted in a 49% increase in occurrence records from 1892 to 2018 (186–286) and a 1,000% increase in records since 2000 (10–110). Using our methods, researchers and managers can optimize collection of plains spotted skunk occurrence data to better understand the species, produce more robust datasets for future management, and help ensure the best science is used when drafting conservation plans for plains spotted skunks.

Use of native animals by local communities in Madagascar

Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, yet its wildlife is under immense threat from habitat loss and other anthropogenic pressures. To tackle this, Madagascar has implemented new environmental legislation, including rapid expansion of the protected area network. Many new protected areas permit sustainable extraction of natural resources by local communities, but little is known about how and why local people use biodiversity, particularly animal wildlife. We conducted a rapid appraisal of animal use by 236 households across Madagascar's rural Moramanga district to explore which wild faunal species are used by local people and for what purpose. Our results document a wide range of uses attributed to familiar wildlife groups, including lemurs, tenrecs, birds, geckos, chameleons, frogs and invertebrates. Uses include food, trade, medicine, and pest control among others. We conclude that conservation decisions concerning sustainable use in relation to livelihoods require an understanding of both the diversity of species used and the diversity of uses of species by local communities.

Baseline Assessments of Wildlife Biodiversity Within Selected Areas of Central Visayas, Philippines

A comprehensive inventory of faunal biodiversity was conducted within three Key Biodiversity Areas of Central Visayas. Mt. Bandilaan Natural Park (MBNP), Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park (BTLNP), and Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape (RSPL). Three primary wildlife groups were surveyed: bats, birds and amphibians. Species diversity and population trends were then analyzed to assess areas of biodiversity importance. RSPL generally had the highest species richness and diversity index while MBNP consistently had the lowest. When pooled. The surveyed areas resulted in a high diversity index and rate of endemicity showing the importance of multiple areas of protection. These findings can be utilized to prioritize habitat protection as well as to serve as a baseline information for future biodiversity inventories. J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2020, 6(2): 27-34

Land use influence on distribution and abundance of herbivores in Samburu-Laikipia, Kenya

The distribution and abundance of different wildlife herbivores was studied in Samburu-Laikipia landscape. The study sites included; Mpala and Oljogi, both commercial ranches in Laikipia district; Oldonyiro and Kipsing community areas in Isiolo district; West Gate Conservancy, Ngaroni Community area, Kalama Community area and Sessia-Barsalinga Community area in Samburu district; and Buffalo Spring National Reserve and Samburu National Reserve both protected areas in the landscape. The objectives of the study were: 1) Determine the influence of different land use on seasonal abundances and distribution wildlife species and 2) Examine the influence of livestock, human settlements and water on wildlife species in Samburu-Laikipia landscape. Distance sampling was used to estimate wildlife, livestock and bomas densities. Distance to nearest water was projected from GPS coordinates for both wildlife and livestock sighting using ARCGIS. Our analysis showed non-uniform distributions of wildlife groups across the Samburu-Laikipia ecosystem largely driven by seasonal rainfall patterns and land use types. Like predicted, most wildlife groups occurred in higher abundances on protected areas, Laikipia commercial ranches and community conservancies unlike in community grazing areas in both dry and wet season. However, large grazers increased substantially in community grazing areas over the wet season when livestock grazing was heavy, stimulating growth of short annuals plants of high-quality nutrients. Human activities had negative influences on all wildlife groups. Our findings indicate that the type of land -use influenced herbivore distribution and abundance in Samburu-Laikipia landscape. This suggests that human activities, including pastoralism, in conjunction with season rainfall patterns and land-use shape herbivore distribution and abundance in the area. Conservation strategies for successfully increasing survival of wildlife therefore, requires maintenance of a mixture of land-use types with well controlled and sustainable development.

Species misidentification in local markets: Discrepancies between reporting and molecular identification of bushmeat species in northern Uganda

Bushmeat hunting and consumption, although widely utilized as necessary supplement to household income and nutrition in many regions, presents threats to public health and wildlife conservation efforts. In northern Uganda, consumption of bats and primates, two wildlife groups often implicated in zoonotic disease emergence, is not widely culturally accepted; however, these species are reported by hunters to often be hunted and sold as culturally desirable species, like antelope and warthog. To investigate the prevalence of market bushmeat misidentifiction, we collected 229 bushmeat samples from 23 communities adjacent to Murchison Falls National Park. Reported species was recorded on acquisition for each sample. PCR targeting mammalian cyt b and 12 s rRNA genes and sequencing were performed to identify samples to the lowest taxonomic unit using NCBI BLAST. Overall, 27.9% (61/219) of samples had disparate results between species reported and BLAST analysis. Thirty-four species were identified, with the most frequent wildlife being waterbuck (31.5%), warthog (13.7%), and black rat (5.9%). These data reveal a public health risk for bushmeat consumers in northern Uganda as they cannot assess species-related risk when purchasing bushmeat and take appropriate precautions against zoonotic pathogen exposure. These data also provide insight into regional hunter prey preference and market preference of local community members which may inform conservation strategy in the region.

Recognition of Forest Rights of Scheduled Tribes: In Context of Community Forest Rights

In 2005, the ministry of tribal affairs mandated to formulate comprehensive legislation to redress the historical injustice done to the tribal community. Accordingly, the Forest Rights Bill was introduced in the Parliament. Due to protests both from environmentalists and wildlife groups the Bill was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). As many tribal forest dwellers had been served with eviction notices in May 2002 for being encroachers and they could not produce residential evidence in the forest, the JPC recommended that a caught update for the settlement of rights’ be extended to 13th December 2005. It also recommended the inclusion of on scheduled tribe ‘traditional’ forest dwellers (OTFDs) living in the forest for three generations within its ambit. It also recommended multiple uses for shifting cultivators and removed the land ceiling of 2.5 hectares for land rights. The other recommendation of JPC included ensuring of minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produces (MFP) and the Gram Sabha as the final authority for settlement of rights. The Gram Sabha was recommended to be the center stage with PESA as a reference point. But when the Bill was introduced in the Parliament, the pre-eminence position of PESA in relation to Gram Sabha was ignored. Finally, in 2006, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (or simply Forest Rights Act - FRA), was enacted with the notification of its administrative rules. The Act inherently recognizes that a healthy ecosystem is compatible with social justice technically holds precedence over all other forest and wildlife-related laws. It provides for restitution of traditional forest rights to forest dwellers across India, including individual rights to cultivated land in forested landscapes and collective rights to control, manage and use forests and its resources as common property. It also stipulates the conditions for the relocation of forest dwellers from ‘critical wildlife habitations’ with their ‘free informed consent’ and their rehabilitation in alternative land. This article deals with the forest rights in general and community forest resources rights envisaged in the said Act in particular. For this purpose, this article begins by elaborating the contributing factors in the enactment of the said Act and discusses the historical background in detail. Further, it elaborates on the provisions pertaining to the community forest resource rights envisaged in the Act and explains the types of forest resources used by the communities in the States covered under Schedule V of the Constitution.

The spread of exotic fish species in Italian rivers and their effect on native fish fauna since 1990

ABSTRACT The introduction of exotic fish species into Italian river systems presents an additional threat to freshwater native fish species, a wildlife group already under conservation pressure from myriad other anthropogenic factors. Few large-scale and long-term monitoring programmes exist that adequately describe the impact of exotic fish species on native fish. To fill this gap, we analysed the bulk of available data (1985–2014) on fish collected at a national level within the BioFresh Project with the aim of investigating the effects of human-introduced exotic fish species on native species. The results showed that both the Continental and Mediterranean biogeographic regions are home to fish communities which, in conservation terms, are a cause for concern, while Alpine Regions are less so. Generally, the richness of exotic species is still growing in Italy, with about 50% of them having a positive trend while native species’ trends are in the opposite direction – that is, the spread of many exotic species is positively correlated with the decline in many co-occurring native species. Key policy insights Worrying increase in the richness of exotic species between the 1985 and the 2014. A large segment of the current exotic fish contingent is self-sustaining. Common bream, Black bullhead, Goldfish, Largemouth bass, Rainbow trout, Roach, Pike perch and European catfish negatively affect the presence probability of at least 50% of co-occurring native species over time. The restoration of habitat characteristics and native fish assemblages as well as more rigorous controls during population reinforcement for recreational fishing are needed to prevent or counteract the further spread of exotic fishes.

Linking biological monitoring and wildlife ecotourism: a call for development of comprehensive community-based projects in search of sustainability

Rural and indigenous communities are increasingly acknowledged as main actors of both wildlife ecotouristic and biological monitoring programs. Still, little consideration has been paid to the impacts of engaging in both types of community-based programs simultaneously. Here we discuss the connection that exists between biological monitoring and wildlife ecotourism and highlight the relevance of linking both activities through comprehensive community-based projects. We rely on birds and two emblematic experiences from indigenous communities of Mexico for setting up our recommendations. Then, we explore the relationships that exist among several components of wildlife ecotouristic and biological monitoring activities. Monitoring efforts might have positive impacts on wildlife ecotourism. Some areas of significance include the assessment of the effects of wildlife ecotourism on biodiversity, the determination of the spatial and temporal variation of the target biological populations, the estimation of the probabilities of observing target species, and the definition of management guidelines for conserving populations. In turn, wildlife ecotourism might benefit biological monitoring programs by providing funding, self-employment opportunities, contextualized objectives, and promoting the autonomy of communities. Our recommendations could be adjusted to different wildlife groups and diverse cultural contexts. We encourage the collaboration between wildlife ecotouristic and biological monitoring practitioners to foster comprehensive and self-sustaining community-based projects.

Quantifying biodiversity trade-offs in the face of widespread renewable and unconventional energy development

The challenge of balancing biodiversity protection with economic growth is epitomized by the development of renewable and unconventional energy, whose adoption is aimed at stemming the impacts of global climate change, yet has outpaced our understanding of biodiversity impacts. We evaluated the potential conflict between biodiversity protection and future electricity generation from renewable (wind farms, run-of-river hydro) and non-renewable (shale gas) sources in British Columbia (BC), Canada using three metrics: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, electricity cost, and overlap between future development and conservation priorities for several fish and wildlife groups - small-bodied vertebrates, large mammals, freshwater fish – and undisturbed landscapes. Sharp trade-offs in global versus regional biodiversity conservation exist for all energy technologies, and in BC they are currently smallest for wind energy: low GHG emissions, low-moderate overlap with top conservation priorities, and competitive energy cost. GHG emissions from shale gas are 1000 times higher than those from renewable sources, and run-of-river hydro has high overlap with conservation priorities for small-bodied vertebrates. When all species groups were considered simultaneously, run-of-river hydro had moderate overlap (0.56), while shale gas and onshore wind had low overlap with top conservation priorities (0.23 and 0.24, respectively). The unintended cost of distributed energy sources for regional biodiversity suggest that trade-offs based on more diverse metrics must be incorporated into energy planning.

Eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus and the Wildlife-Livestock Interface.

Growing evidence suggests that multiple wildlife species can be infected with peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), with important consequences for the potential maintenance of PPRV in communities of susceptible hosts, and the threat that PPRV may pose to the conservation of wildlife populations and resilience of ecosystems. Significant knowledge gaps in the epidemiology of PPRV across the ruminant community (wildlife and domestic), and the understanding of infection in wildlife and other atypical host species groups (e.g., camelidae, suidae, and bovinae) hinder our ability to apply necessary integrated disease control and management interventions at the wildlife-livestock interface. Similarly, knowledge gaps limit the inclusion of wildlife in the FAO/OIE Global Strategy for the Control and Eradication of PPR, and the framework of activities in the PPR Global Eradication Programme that lays the foundation for eradicating PPR through national and regional efforts. This article reports on the first international meeting on, “Controlling PPR at the livestock-wildlife interface,” held in Rome, Italy, March 27–29, 2019. A large group representing national and international institutions discussed recent advances in our understanding of PPRV in wildlife, identified knowledge gaps and research priorities, and formulated recommendations. The need for a better understanding of PPRV epidemiology at the wildlife-livestock interface to support the integration of wildlife into PPR eradication efforts was highlighted by meeting participants along with the reminder that PPR eradication and wildlife conservation need not be viewed as competing priorities, but instead constitute two requisites of healthy socio-ecological systems.

Rural Wage-Earners’ Attitudes Towards Diverse Wildlife Groups Differ Between Tropical Ecoregions: Implications for Forest and Savanna Conservation in the Brazilian Amazon

Understanding people’s attitudes towards wildlife species is key for developing and effectively implementing conservation initiatives. Although attitudes towards different wildlife classes have been examined separately within a variety of regions, there have been no comprehensive comparisons of attitudes towards wildlife between different tropical ecoregions over large spatial scales. Here, we examined attitudes of 106 rural wage-earners from two ecoregions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We used generalized Linear Models (GLMs) to examine the influence of socioeconomic variables and ecoregion type on attitudes towards wildlife species, grouped into three classes (liked, disliked, and damage income). Overall we obtained attitudes regarding 57 wildlife species that were organized into 11 faunal groups (amphibians, ants, bats, birds, fishes, medium-bodied mammals, large-bodied mammals, primates, snakes, tortoises and turtles, and other invertebrates). Ecoregions where wage-earners lived was the strongest predictor of the total number of liked and disliked wildlife species. The total number of species damaging income was explained by socioeconomic variables related to the number of people living in the property and level of education. Medium and large-bodied mammals were most frequently reported both as liked and causing damage, while snakes were most frequently reported as disliked in both ecoregions. Although socioeconomic variables were important predictors to wage-earners’ attitudes towards wildlife species, the environment (ecoregion) was the strongest predictor affecting human-wildlife attitudes. Our findings contribute with information about the importance of considering differences in local attitudes across a representative spectrum of wildlife species to inform the identification of effective focal species in different tropical regions.

Suburbanization Increases Echinostome Infection in Green Frogs and Snails.

An important contribution to infectious disease emergence in wildlife is environmental degradation driven by pollution, habitat fragmentation, and eutrophication. Amphibians are a wildlife group that is particularly sensitive to land use change, infectious diseases, and their interactions. Residential suburban land use is now a dominant, and increasing, form of land cover in the USA and globally, contributing to increased pollutant and nutrient loading in freshwater systems. We examined how suburbanization affects the infection of green frog (Rana clamitans) tadpoles and metamorphs by parasitic flatworms (Echinostoma spp.) through the alteration of landscapes surrounding ponds and concomitant changes in water quality. Using sixteen small ponds along a forest-suburban land use gradient, we assessed how the extent of suburban land use surrounding ponds influenced echinostome infection in both primary snail and secondary frog hosts. Our results show that the degree of suburbanization and concurrent chemical loading are positively associated with the presence and burden of echinostome infection in both host populations. This work contributes to a broader understanding of how land use mediates wildlife parasitism and shows how human activities at the household scale can have similar consequences for wildlife health as seemingly more intensive land uses like agriculture or urbanization.

Rehabilitating and releasing badgers in England

Wildlife groups and Defra have worked together to update the Badger Rehabilitation Protocol, which was first published in 2003, in response to recent interest in badger translocations from vets and...