Impenetrable Forest Research Articles

Predictive mapping of tree species assemblages in an African montane rainforest

AbstractConservation of mountain ecosystems can benefit from knowledge of habitats and their distribution patterns. This benefit is particularly true for diverse ecosystems with high conservation values such as the “Afromontane” rainforests. We mapped the vegetation of one such forest: the rugged Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda—a World Heritage Site known for its many restricted‐range plants and animal taxa including several iconic species. Given variation in elevation, terrain and human impacts across Bwindi, we hypothesized that these factors influence the composition and distribution of tree species. To test this, detailed surveys were carried out using stratified random sampling. We established 289 georeferenced sample sites (each with 15 trees ≥20 cm dbh) ranging from 1320 to 2467 m a.s.l. and measured 4335 trees comprising 89 species that occurred in four or more sample sites. These data were analyzed against 21 digitally mapped biophysical variables using various analytical techniques including nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and random forests. We identified six tree species assemblages with distinct compositions. Among the biophysical variables, elevation had the strongest correlation with the ordination (r2 = 0.5; p < 0.001). The “out‐of‐bag” (OOB) estimate of the error rate for the best final model was 50.7% meaning that nearly half of the variation was accounted for using a limited set of variables. We demonstrate that it is possible to predict the spatial pattern of such a forest based on sampling across a highly complex landscape. Such methods offer accurate mapping of composition that can guide conservation.

Abundant dsRNA picobirnaviruses show little geographic or host association in terrestrial systems.

Picobirnaviruses are double-stranded RNA viruses known from a wide range of host species and locations but with unknown pathogenicity and host relationships. Here, we examined the diversity of picobirnaviruses from cattle and gorillas within and around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (BIFNP), Uganda, where wild and domesticated animals and humans live in relatively close contact. We use metagenomic sequencing with bioinformatic analyses to examine genetic diversity. We compared our findings to global Picobirnavirus diversity using clustering-based analyses. Picobirnavirus diversity at Bwindi was high, with 14 near-complete RdRp and 15 capsid protein sequences, and 497 new partial viral sequences recovered from 44 gorilla samples and 664 from 16 cattle samples. Sequences were distributed throughout a phylogenetic tree of globally derived picobirnaviruses. The relationship with Picobirnavirus diversity and host taxonomy follows a similar pattern to the global dataset, generally lacking pattern with either host or geography.

Apologetics and Antiquity: Book of Mormon Reception, 1830–1844

Apologetics and Antiquity: Book of Mormon Reception, 1830–1844

Mitigating Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gorilla Conservation: Lessons From Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.

The COVID-19 pandemic, affecting all countries, with millions of cases and deaths, and economic disruptions due to lockdowns, also threatens the health and conservation of endangered mountain gorillas. For example, increased poaching due to absence of tourism income, led to the killing on 1st June 2020 of a gorilla by a hungry community member hunting duiker and bush pigs. Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a grassroots NGO and non-profit founded in 2003 promotes biodiversity conservation by enabling people to co-exist with wildlife through integrated programs that improve animal health, community health, and livelihoods in and around Africa's protected areas and wildlife rich habitats. Through these programs, we have helped to mitigate these impacts. CTPH worked with Uganda Wildlife Authority and other NGOs to improve great ape viewing guidelines and prevent transmission of COVID-19 between people and gorillas. Park staff, Gorilla Guardians herding gorillas from community land to the park and Village Health and Conservation Teams were trained to put on protective face masks, enforce hand hygiene and a 10-meter great ape viewing distance. To reduce the communities' need to poach, CTPH found a UK-based distributor, for its Gorilla Conservation Coffee social enterprise enabling coffee farmers to earn revenue in the absence of tourism and provided fast growing seedlings to reduce hunger in vulnerable community members. Lessons learned show the need to support non-tourism dependent community livelihoods, and more responsible tourism to the great apes, which CTPH is advocating to governments, donors and tour companies through an Africa CSO Biodiversity Alliance policy brief.

Subsidized Regional Airlines as a Sustainable Development Mechanism for Remote Locations Heavily Dependent on Air Transportation

The understanding that air transport induces the economic development of a region has motivated studies on regional air transport and the necessary subsidies for its implementation. Several countries have implemented specific subsidy plans with a focus on integrating their territories through a network of air routes, depending on the funding methods and the results of the investments that were made. However, few studies summarize the geographical conditions of the locations served that justify their dependence on air transport as the only viable means of accessibility. This article seeks to identify the geographical characteristics of these locations to illustrate the conditions that justify the need for subsidies for the operationalization of air transport as a mechanism to promote the minimum sustainability conditions for such locations. We collected socioeconomic data of a set of 1365 subsidized routes of 28 countries from the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania and tracing a profile of localities, classified in nine different clusters. The results indicated that isolated locations in islands, in the polar regions and areas of impenetrable forests have an almost exclusive dependence on air transport as a means of access and that justify the maintenance of subsidies to air routes as a fundamental requirement for the accessibility of the population to services of a social and humanitarian nature.

‘We don't use the same ways to treat the illness:’ A qualitative study of heterogeneity in health-seeking behaviour for acute gastrointestinal illness among the Ugandan Batwa

ABSTRACT The Batwa (Twa), an Indigenous People of southwest Uganda, were evicted from their ancestral forest lands in 1991 due to establishment of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This land dispossession forced Batwa to transition from a semi-nomadic, hunting-gathering livelihood to an agricultural livelihood; eliminated access to Indigenous food, medicines, and shelter; and shifted their healthcare options. Therefore, this exploratory study investigated why Batwa choose Indigenous or biomedical treatment, or no treatment, when experiencing acute gastrointestinal illness. Ten gender-stratified focus groups were conducted in five Batwa settlements in Kanungu District, Uganda (n = 63 participants), alongside eleven semi-structured interviews (2014). Qualitative data were analysed thematically, using a constant comparative method. Batwa emphasised that health-seeking behaviour for acute gastrointestinal illness was diverse: some Batwa used only Indigenous or biomedical healthcare, while others preferred a combination, or no healthcare. Physical and economic access to care, and also perceived efficacy and quality of care, influenced their healthcare decisions. This study provides insight into the Kanungu District Batwa's perceptions of biomedical and Indigenous healthcare, and barriers they experience to accessing either. This study is intended to inform public health interventions to reduce their burden of acute gastrointestinal illness and ensure adequate healthcare, biomedical or Indigenous, for Batwa.

ANESTHESIA WITH MEDETOMIDINE-KETAMINE AND DEXMEDETOMIDINE-KETAMINE IN MOUNTAIN GORILLAS (GORILLA BERINGEI BERINGEI).

Between December 2002 and September 2017, 125 anesthetic procedures involving free-living and orphaned captive mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) were performed in the Virunga Massif and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in East-Central Africa. Of these 125 immobilizations, 114 records were complete enough for inclusion into this study. Anesthetic and physiologic data from these 114 cases were analyzed, of which 57 used medetomidine-ketamine and 57 used dexmedetomidine-ketamine administered intramuscularly. With the use of estimated weights, the mean induction dosage (mg/kg ± SD) for medetomidine was 0.033 ± 0.003 (n = 42), for dexmedetomidine 0.018 ± 0.005 (n = 53), and for ketamine 3.66 ± 0.95 (n = 95). Mean time from injection of induction dose to recumbency was 6.8 ± 3.1 min (n = 74). Atipamezole was administered intramuscularly to reverse anesthesia. First signs of recovery occurred at 5.0 ± 4.0 min, and full recovery was 19.0 ± 17.0 min after administration of the reversal agent. No significant differences in physiologic parameters or anesthetic time variables were noted between healthy and unhealthy individuals. Mean heart rate was 72.0 ± 17.6 beats/min (n = 83) and mean oxygen saturation was 96.5% ± 4.2 (n = 62). Mean respiratory rate was 27 ± 9 breaths/min (n = 84) and mean body temperature 36.6°C ± 1.2 (n = 61). The current protocol has several advantages for field use in this species given its quick induction, few observed side effects, and ability to reverse so that the animal can return more quickly to its social group.

The Challenges of Reconstructing Tropical Biodiversity With Sedimentary Ancient DNA: A 2200-Year-Long Metagenomic Record From Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

Sedimentary ancient DNA has been proposed as a key methodology for reconstructing biodiversity over time. Yet, despite the concentration of Earth’s biodiversity in the tropics, this method has rarely been applied in this region. Moreover, the taphonomy of sedimentary DNA, especially in tropical environments, is poorly understood. This study elucidates challenges and opportunities of sedimentary ancient DNA approaches for reconstructing tropical biodiversity. We present shotgun-sequenced metagenomic profiles and DNA degradation patterns from multiple sediment cores from Mubwindi Swamp, located in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda), one of the most diverse forests in Africa. We describe the taxonomic composition of the sediments covering the past 2200 years and compare the sedimentary DNA data with a comprehensive set of environmental and sedimentological parameters to unravel the conditions of DNA degradation. Consistent with the preservation of authentic ancient DNA in tropical swamp sediments, DNA concentration and mean fragment length declined exponentially with age and depth, while terminal deamination increased with age. DNA preservation patterns cannot be explained by any environmental parameter alone, but age seems to be the primary driver of DNA degradation in the swamp. Besides degradation, the presence of living microbial communities in the sediment also affects DNA quantity. Critically, 92.3% of our metagenomic data of a total 81.8 million unique, merged reads cannot be taxonomically identified due to the absence of genomic references in public databases. Of the remaining 7.7%, most of the data (93.0%) derive from Bacteria and Archaea, whereas only 0-5.8% are from Metazoa and 0-6.9% from Viridiplantae, in part due to unbalanced taxa representation in the reference data. The plant DNA record at ordinal level agrees well with local pollen data but resolves less diversity. Our animal DNA record reveals the presence of 41 native taxa (16 orders) including Afrotheria, Carnivora, and Ruminantia at Bwindi during the past 2200 years. Overall, we observe no decline in taxonomic richness with increasing age suggesting that several-thousand-year-old information on past biodiversity can be retrieved from tropical sediments. However, comprehensive genomic surveys of tropical biota need prioritization for sedimentary DNA to be a viable methodology for future tropical biodiversity studies.

Prevention of Cryptosporidium and GIARDIA at the Human/Gorilla/Livestock Interface.

Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are critically endangered and found in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Virunga Volcanoes. Habitat destruction, high human population growth rates, poverty, and disease are threatening the survival of mountain gorillas. A study implemented in 2010 investigated the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia sps., as part of a long-term gorilla health-monitoring program at Bwindi through regular fecal sample collection, and comparative pathogen analysis at the human/gorilla/livestock interface. Samples collected from habituated and non-habituated gorillas, community-owned livestock herds and people at Bwindi were screened for Cryptosporidium and Giardia sps. using ImmunoSTAT Commercial Field Kit and doubtful samples confirmed with Direct Fluorescence Antibody Test (DFA). Giardia was found in 5.5% of livestock, 40% of symptomatic humans from the local hospital and 9.5% of asymptomatic park staff, but not in gorillas. Cryptosporidium was found in 3.1% of habituated gorillas, 4.7% of livestock, and 62.4% of park staff. Whereas, previous studies have compared Cryptosporidium and Giardia sps. in gorillas and livestock, this is the first study making a comparison in humans, gorillas and livestock. Unlike previous studies in Bwindi and Virungas, no Giardia sp. was found in gorillas. The improving hygiene and sanitation of local communities sharing a habitat with gorillas through Village Health and Conservation Teams (VHCTs) established in 2007, could have contributed to the decreased prevalence of Giardia in this mountain gorilla population. Cryptosporidium sp. only found in the habituated gorillas could be associated with human interaction, similar to previous studies. A subsequent VHCT was selected for each village with positive human samples and where gorillas often range, local health centers were mobilized to educate patients on the health risks of collecting water from unprotected sources and cattle water troughs were built. This paper describes a One Health approach to reducing cross species disease transmission at the human/gorilla/livestock interface.

Albertine Rift Valley endemics: three new species of freshwater crabs (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae) from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda

ABSTARCTThree new species of potamonautid freshwater crabs are described from the Albertine Rift Valley, Eastern Africa. One of the new species is from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, the second is from Lake Kivu in Rwanda, and the third is from the Rwenzori Mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Diagnoses, illustrations and distribution maps are provided for these taxa, and they are compared to similar species from Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa.www.zoobanl.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FC681BD6-6FB2-4A14-B068-89FC3EB26605

Suspected Exposure to Filoviruses Among People Contacting Wildlife in Southwestern Uganda.

Human and filovirus host interactions remain poorly understood in areas where Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreaks are likely to occur. In the Bwindi region of Uganda, a hot spot of mammalian biodiversity in Africa, human livelihoods are intimately connected with wildlife, creating potential for exposure to filoviruses. We tested samples from 331 febrile patients presenting to healthcare facilities near Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and Western blot, using recombinant glycoprotein antigens for Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), and Marburg virus. Behavioral data on contact with wildlife were collected to examine risk factors for filovirus seropositivity. All patients were negative for active filovirus infection, by PCR analysis. However, patients were seroreactive to SUDV (4.7%), EBOV (5.3%), and BDBV (8.9%), indicating previous exposure. Touching duikers was the most significant risk factor associated with EBOV seropositivity, while hunting primates and touching and/or eating cane rats were significant risk factors for SUDV seropositivity. People in southwestern Uganda have suspected previous exposure to filoviruses, particularly those with a history of wildlife contact. Circulation of filoviruses in wild animals and subsequent spillover into humans could be more common than previously reported.

Interview: Paul Williams: MP and GP.

Paul Williams is the Labour Member of Parliament for Stockton South, where he overturned a Tory majority of 5046 at the 2017 election. Until then he was a GP partner and head of a GP federation. Paul qualified from Newcastle upon Tyne, where he joined the Labour Party, and did house jobs in Bishop Auckland and Carlisle. He trained as a GP on the Cleveland vocational training scheme. His medical career was always going to be general practice, and it has been driven, he says, by an appreciation of the meaning of health and the determinants of health and illness, and a keen awareness of the Inverse Care Law. After spells in a number of practices around Teesside, Paul and his partner Vicky travelled to Africa with VSO to spend almost 5 years in Bwindi, Uganda, where the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to half of the world’s mountain gorillas and the Batwa Pygmies, the ‘first people of …

Урал романтический и готический в травелоге Т. У. Аткинсона

The aim of this article is to show how the image of the Urals is created in T. W. Atkinson’s (1799–1861) travelogue Oriental and Western Siberia: a Narrative of Seven Years’ Explorations and Adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and Part of Central Asia (1858). Despite the practical purposes of this journey, the travelogue is first of all a literary work without chronology. An artist and architect, Atkinson was one of the adepts of the European Gothic Revival of the 19 th century, cultivating Neogothic and Romantic visual and verbal sensibility. First nine chapters of the book are about factories (“zavod”) and scenery of the Urals. Visiting iron, gold, lapidary, armory factories one by one or sailing down the Chusovaya river, Atkinson not only describes the technologies but also examines the neighborhood, especially mountains dominating the terrain, and sketches the most picturesque scenery. He is interested in everything that is considered in English preromanticism and romanticism to be “picturesque”: wild, interminable, striking, broken, rugged etc. The traveler shows Gothic and Romantic taste for the sublime, grand, great, various and irregular in Nature. He prefers to describe high cliffs, steep banks, deep gorges, impenetrable forests, snowstorms and thunderstorms. In the Urals, Atkinson is primarily fascinated by the variety of different kinds of stones, precious stones, minerals, both in terms of practical use and esthetics. In the shattered mountains of the Urals, he discovers caverns and “geological” ruins. His Gothic architectural taste is focused on the “perpendicular style” of the Ural mountains – highly elevated rugged crags, summits of “great height”. A set of his tropes reveals some influence of the Gothic architectural style in such details as “buttresses”, “towers”, “pinnacles”.

Camera Traps, Bird Song, and Creatures of Darkness

Camera Traps, Bird Song, and Creatures of Darkness

MAKNA FILOSOFIS BANGUNAN KRATON SURAKARTA

This article will describe about symbolic meaning and phylosophy value in Kraton Surakarta.In 1745 Sunan Paku Buwono II moved his court to nearby Surakarta where he had built a new palace. When the king ordered to move the capital city of Kartasura eastward to the banks of Javas longest river, it was certainly not without reasons. At that time over land communica­tion was scarce because of inaccesible swamps, high mountain ranges and impenetrable forests. But the city must have its outlet, its contact with outer islands and Bengawan then was the only economic and social life line. Keyword: Kraton Surakarta, phylosophy, symbolic

Rainfall, leafing phenology and sunrise time as potential Zeitgeber for the bimodal, dry season laying pattern of an African rain forest tit (Parus fasciiventer)

Recent studies have documented a mismatch between the phenology of leaf production, prey availability and the nestling food requirements of north temperate songbirds, attributed to climate change effects. Although tropical forest species have often been regarded as relatively aseasonal breeders, similar disruptive effects can be expected at equatorial latitudes, where comparatively little is known of the links between weather, leafing phenology, food availability and bird breeding activity, particularly in complex rain forest habitats. During a 19-year study at 1°S in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, Stripe-breasted Tits Parus fasciiventer showed a strongly bimodal laying pattern, breeding mainly in the two dry seasons, with 50 % of breeding activity occurring in January–February and 19 % in June–July. Individual females bred in both dry seasons, laying their first and last clutches up to 28 weeks apart. Breeding activity was linked to leaf production, which peaked mainly in November–December, following the September–November wet season. Increased leaf production is likely to have stimulated a rise in caterpillar numbers during December–February, coinciding with peak food demands by nestling tits. Laying was thus positively correlated with increased leaf production in the preceding calendar month, but was also linked to day length and a change in sunset time. To investigate possible links between egg laying and photic cues I compared the median date of first clutches laid by marked females in each half of the breeding year (October–March and April–September), with annual changes in photoperiod (varying by 7 min p.a.) and sunrise time (varying bimodally, by 31 min p.a.). The two median laying dates fell 138–139 days after the last date on which sunrise had occurred at 07:05 in August and January, suggesting the potential for sunrise time to act as a cue, or Zeitgeber, for breeding in tropical birds. Further work is required to establish whether the relationship is causative or coincidental.

Juvenile gorilla smile, framed by vegetation

Juvenile Gorilla Smile, Framed by Vegetation. Taken August 2015 at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Photograph by Cindy Bitter, MD, MA.

Modern pollen deposition in relation to vegetation and climate of Balpakram valley, Meghalaya, northeast India: Implications for Indo-Burma palaeoecological contexts

Balpakram valley, the sacred grove of the Garo tribe in Meghalaya, is world famous for its tropical unique biodiversity, physiography, seismically active zone, and proximity to Cherrapunjee. The area was not previously approached for palynological study due to its remoteness, impenetrable forest and wildlife. A modern pollen database of 120 surface samples from Balpakram valley indicates a good correlation of modern pollen, extant vegetation, and climate. Five pollen zones (forest types) have been recorded based on the regional pollen marker taxa corresponding to the ratio of evergreen and deciduous forest elements (>30% signifies the forest type). The present vegetation is similar to the Indo-Burmese vegetation except for a unique Duabanga–Schima–Nepenthes assemblage due to high monsoonal activity with a strong perennial river and streamlet system. The evergreen woody taxa in abundance along with Dendropthoe, Piperaceae and Impatiens in the assemblage are significant and suggestive of dense forest with high monsoonal activity. The abundance of Poaceae along with an Artemisia–Chenopodiaceae assemblage shows a savanna forest type, attributed to seasonal dryness and a poor water system in a restricted region. The absence of Dipterocarpaceae pollen, a characteristic taxon of the Indo-Malayan forest, is indicative of a regional effect. The poor representation of bamboo pollen may be attributed due to low pollen production (one-time flowering) and preservation. Pollen of Nepenthes khasiana in sediment signifies high precipitation, and is also indicative of this high pollen producer with good preservation status. No medicinal plants, specifically Costus speciosus and Swertia chirata, are observed despite their luxuriant growth in the region, which may be due to poor pollen production. Abundance of Cyathea (tree fern) along with Lycopodium and Pyrrosia signifies high rainfall and humid climate. The presence of coprophilous fungi including Sordaria and Cercophora is indicative of wildlife habitation in the area. The unique forest vegetation of Balpakram valley is mainly controlled by annual precipitation with perennial rivers and streamlets, moisture availability, and altitudinal variation in the region. This study will be helpful to generate palaeoecological data for surrounding ecozones including eastern Himalaya and Indo-Malayan regions, to trace migratory routes for flora and fauna in the Indo-Burma ranges.

Tolkien’s Japonisme: Prints, Dragons, and a Great Wave

The original September 1937 George Allen & Unwin edition of The Hobbit features artwork by J.R.R. Tolkien along with an accompanying dust jacket. This latter work is a modern, stylized graphic design composed of a not entirely symmetrical view of a Middle-earth landscape (night to the left, day to the right), with the Lonely Mountain rising in the distant center, flanked by steeply sloped, snow-covered Misty Mountains and in the foreground Mirkwood’s dense, impenetrable forests. Additional features include a crescent moon, the sun, a dragon, eagles, a lake village, and a rapier-like path—a straight road— heading toward a darkened, megalithic trapezoidal door at the base of the mountain.1 The runes which form the border read: “The Hobbit or There and Back Again, being the record of a year’s journey made by Bilbo Baggins; compiled from his memoirs by J.R.R. Tolkien and published by George Allen & Unwin.”

Park Gazettement and Integrated Conservation and Development as Factors in Community Conflict at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

Conflicts between protected-area managers and local people are common, but the drivers of conflict are rarely analyzed. This limits opportunities to identify strategies that reduce conflict and the magnitude of resulting threats to conservation. Integrated conservation and development (ICD) was adopted at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, to reduce conflict during gazettement of the national park, but the success of this approach remains contested. We retrieved documents of conflict written by park staff and local people from 1986 through 2000 (before, during, and after gazettement). We extracted data on 48 incidences of violent conflict and categorized them by gazettement period, area, instigator, and type to undertake a historical analysis of the triggers of violent conflict at Bwindi. Before and during gazettement, local villagers instigated most of the conflict incidents when law-enforcement efforts sought to halt commercial activities within Bwindi. No conflict arose from the arrest of villagers collecting subsistence resources during these periods. After gazettement, prohibitions on commercial activities continued to drive conflict even though villagers collecting subsistence resources were arrested more frequently than before gazettement, and local attitudes toward the park had improved following receipt of ICD benefits. Law-enforcement efforts targeted commercial activities to reduce this threat to Bwindi's mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), although the activities remained important income sources for people in villages near Bwindi. Losing commercial income following gazettement therefore appeared to be their primary motivation for instigating conflict with park rangers. Prohibitions on subsistence resource use triggered conflict less often. Our use of typologies for a multivariate conflict analysis demonstrates that by identifying differences between effects of conservation as drivers of conflict, conflict analysis can enable a more strategic deployment of conflict-resolution measures that could further conservation efforts. At Bwindi targeting ICD toward individuals who lost benefits from commercial activities may strengthen the role of ICD in conflict resolution and conservation.