Wildlife Conservation Society Research Articles

Husbandry, morbidity, and mortality of slender‐tailed cloud rats (Phleomys pallidus)

The Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo has been housing and breeding slender-tailed cloud rats (Phleomys pallidus) since 1985. Records of 82 animals from 1985 to 2013 were reviewed for this study. The animals were kept successfully in small family groups with a single adult male, multiple adult females, and their offspring. Sexual maturity was noted at approximately 2 years of age and gestation length ranged from 52 to 55 days. Animals were fed a diet including a complete commercial pelleted feed, mixed greens, carrot or yam, mixed hard nuts, and locally sourced browse. Medical conditions requiring treatment in neonates were often fatal whereas most medical conditions in adults were survivable. The most common cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates was maternal neglect or trauma (42%, 5/12 antemortem problems; cause of death in 32%, 8/25). The most significant problems in adults were cryptococcal pneumonia and trauma. Cryptococcus sp. was the cause of death in 11 cases (34%, 11/32) and significant comorbidity in an additional three cases. Treatment with antifungal medications was attempted but was unsuccessful in four cases. Many cases of trauma were treated successfully with conservative management or limited intervention. In four cases, treatment was complicated by extensive self-mutilation after surgical repair of traumatic lesions, which resulted in death or euthanasia. Lymphoplasmacytic thyroiditis was a common postmortem finding in adults (95%, 21/22 for which the thyroid gland was examined histologically). It is unclear if thyroiditis resulted in functional hypothyroidism so the significance of this finding is undetermined.

Saving the steppes.

Mongolia9s grasslands, essential to the country9s economy and identity, are under threat. An estimated 70% of all the grazing lands are considered degraded to some degree. Climate change plays a role in the decline, but the most important cause is overgrazing. Since the fall of communism in the 1990s, Mongolia has gone from 20 million grazing livestock to 61.5 million, driven in part by the exploding global demand for cashmere wool. A project run by the Wildlife Conservation Society hopes it can help turn the tide. It uses data gathered by NASA and Stanford University to help herders find places with healthy vegetation to sustain their herds and is trying to find ways to reduce herd sizes.

Achieving forest conservation in Fiji through payment for ecosystem services schemes

Most forests in Fiji are on native land owned by communities with tenure rights that are held largely with clans. Although there are examples in Fiji of local communities setting up conservation areas to protect their valuable forest resources, many are under pressure to issue leases to logging or mining companies for much-needed income. With inadequate legislation and government resources to secure the long-term protection of natural forests, conservation practitioners are looking at alternative models for establishing forest conservation areas in Fiji. One such model is the application of a forest payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme to deliver both ecological and socioeconomic outcomes for local communities. A case study from Kilaka village, Fiji, is presented where the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has worked with traditional land owners to secure a 99-year conservation lease for 402ha of pristine native forest in Vanua Levu. The lease, which was brokered through the government iTaukei Land Trust Board, provides an alternative source of income to logging and mining. The management plan which is nested within a larger ecosystem-based management plan for the district, sets out the comanagement arrangements between the community and WCS, with the day-to-day management of the forest, enforcement, monitoring and evaluation led by the traditional landowning clan. This PES model and co-management arrangement has potential for replication to other priority forest areas to meet Fiji’s obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, but at an estimated financial cost ranging from US$69.0–287.8 million.

Coral reef fish communities, diversity, and their fisheries and biodiversity status in East Africa

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 632:175-191 (2019) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13153 Coral reef fish communities, diversity, and their fisheries and biodiversity status in East Africa Timothy R. McClanahan Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine Programs, Bronx, New York, NY 10460, USA *Corresponding author: tmcclanahan@wcs.org ABSTRACT: Coral reef fish along the East African coast were evaluated for the distinctiveness of their communities, their distributions and interactions with the environment, and their responses to management. I studied the biomass and species richness of 24 fish families at 238 unique sites in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. I identified an unfished benchmark that was associated with high biomass, high-compliance closures or low access to fishing along with 6 additional statistically different communities. In the benchmark community, biomass was dominated by snappers, surgeonfish, parrotfish, and wrasses. Of the 24 families studied, 11 declined relative to the benchmark community, with the greatest declines observed among surgeonfish, snappers, sweetlips (grunts), groupers, and triggerfish. I evaluated the community’s spatial distributions and associations of 15 of 23 environmental and human-impact variables. Fish biomass was most positively influenced by the extent of shallow water <50 m adjacent to the sites, depth, and high-compliance closures and negatively impacted by human populations within a 100 km radius of the site. Number of fish species was largely predicted by biomass with weak evidence for local environmental control. Classification of the biomass into 3 proposed management thresholds revealed that ~38% of the sites were below sustainable yields, 54% were below maximum species richness, and 92% below a proposed stable-ecosystem or conservation threshold. Therefore, increasing biomass of vulnerable taxa through fishing restrictions is recommended for maintaining sustainable fisheries, species diversity, and ecosystem services. KEY WORDS: Biodiversity conservation · Ecosystem-based management · Gear restriction · Functional ecology · Indian Ocean · Marine reserves · Sustainability Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: McClanahan TR (2019) Coral reef fish communities, diversity, and their fisheries and biodiversity status in East Africa. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 632:175-191. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13153 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 632. Online publication date: December 12, 2019 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2019 Inter-Research.

What’s going on with land-use in Cuba?: Disparate data sets and the Cuban agricultural transition

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on agricultural land-use changes in Cuba following the fall of the Soviet Union. In response to the end of Soviet subsidies, which previously underwrote Cuba’s industrial agricultural system, the government rapidly transitioned from large, centralized agricultural operations to small-scale farming and cooperatives to address local food security. This paper uses a variety of empirical data sources, including remote sensing data available from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to unpack some of the land-use implications of this radical agrarian transition. Combined, these data shed new light on the magnitude and nature of agrarian land-use changes that have occurred over the past several decades in Cuba. The paper concludes by placing these empirics in the context of shifting geopolitics and the increasing impacts of climate change, issues of great concern to Cuba and other island nations in the Caribbean.

Down to Earth: The Emerging Field of Planetary Health.

Down to Earth: The Emerging Field of Planetary Health.

REBIOMA Data Portal, Tool for Conservation Planning in Madagascar

Recognizing the abundance and the accumulation of information and data on biodiversity that are still poorly exploited and even unfunded, the REBIOMA project (Madagascar Biodiversity Networking), in collaboration with partners, has developed an online dataportal in order to provide easy access to information and critical data, to support conservation planning and the expansion of scientific and professional activities in Madagascar biodiversity. The mission of the REBIOMA data portal is to serve quality-labeled, up-to-date species occurrence data and environmental niche models for Madagascar’s flora and fauna, both marine and terrestrial. REBIOMA is a project of the Wildlife Conservation Society Madagascar and the University of California, Berkeley. REBIOMA serves species occurrence data for marine and terrestrial regions of Madagascar. Following upload, data is automatically validated against a geographic mask and a taxonomic authority. Data providers can decide whether their data will be public, private, or shared only with selected collaborators. Data reviewers can add quality labels to individual records, allowing selection of data for modeling and conservation assessments according to quality. Portal users can query data in numerous ways. One of the key features of the REBIOMA web portal is its support for species distribution models, created from taxonomically valid and quality-reviewed occurrence data. Species distribution models are produced for species for which there are at least eight, reliably reviewed, non-duplicate (per grid cell) records. Maximum Entropy Modeling (MaxEnt for short) is used to produce continuous distribution models from these occurrence records and environmental data for different eras: past (1950), current (2000), and future (2080). The result is generally interpreted as a prediction of habitat suitability. Results for each model are available on the portal and ready for download as ASCII and HTML files. The REBIOMA Data Portal address is http://data.rebioma.net, or visit http://www.rebioma.netfor more general information about the entire REBIOMA project.

Impacts of anthropogenic pressures on wildlife in the northern sector of the National Park of Mbam and Djerem, Adamaou Cameroon

The study on the assessment of the scale of human pressure on wildlife in the Mbam and Djerem National Park was conducted between December 2012 and April 2013. This evaluation has relied on a review of seven reports ecological monitoring produced by Wildlife Conservation Society between 2006 and 2012, and direct observations. Results show that: the main causes of the reduction of wildlife are poaching (60.5%), transhumance (16.5%), illegal fishing (10.9%) and uncontrolled bush fires (1.5%). In terms of relative abundance of human activities, it was found that the number of human indexes droped from 232 in 2006 to 109 in 2009 and 109 to 82 in 2012 as well as wildlife or encounter rate per kilometer species activity signs indicated a high relative abundance of elephants has increased from 1,008 in 2006 to 2.18 in 2009 and 2.18 to 5.80 in 2012 followed by buffalo and hocheur general, activities anthropogenic influences negatively but very weak wildlife (r = -0.06). This influence is positive and is higher among Loxodonta africana (r = 0.9), Pan troglodytes (r = 0.6), Greater spot-nosed monkey (r = 0.4), low in Syncerus caffer (r = 0.1) and Red river hog (r = 0.05) between 2006 and 2012, a reduction of human activities 64.7% was observed. To reduce the impact of human activities on wildlife, it is desirable to strengthen the monitoring of livestock in the park and the fight against poaching device. Key words: Human activities, Wildlife, Mbam and Djerem National Park, ecological monitoring.

Biodiversity of the Sebangau tropical peat swamp forest, Indonesian Borneo

We thank the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) and UPT LLG CIMTROP UPR for research permissions in the NLPSF. Collection of the species records described here has been made possible through financial support from a large number of sources over the years, among which we are particularly indebted to The Orangutan Project, Arcus Foundation, US Fish & Wildlife Service Great Apes Conservation Fund, the StOLT fund of SaveTheOrangutan and the Orangutan Land Trust, Orangutan Appeal UK, EAZA, Bioparcs Foundation, Orangutan Outreach, Orangutan Conservancy, Taronga Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Wallace Global Fund, Ocean Parks Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, Wildlife Conservation Society, Primate Conservation Inc., IFAW, Karen Hanssen Trust, the Rufford Foundation, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Clouded Leopard Project, Fresno Chafee Zoo, and Panthera and Robertson Foundation (through WildCRU, University of Oxford). A large number of staff, students, volunteers and other visitors from Borneo Nature Foundation and other organisations have contributed to this work, both generally and byWe thank the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) and UPT LLG CIMTROP UPR for research permissions in the NLPSF. Collection of the species records described here has been made possible through financial support from a large number of sources over the years, among which we are particularly indebted to The Orangutan Project, Arcus Foundation, US Fish & Wildlife Service Great Apes Conservation Fund, the StOLT fund of SaveTheOrangutan and the Orangutan Land Trust, Orangutan Appeal UK, EAZA, Bioparcs Foundation, Orangutan Outreach, Orangutan Conservancy, Taronga Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Wallace Global Fund, Ocean Parks Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, Wildlife Conservation Society, Primate Conservation Inc., IFAW, Karen Hanssen Trust, the Rufford Foundation, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Clouded Leopard Project, Fresno Chafee Zoo, and Panthera and Robertson Foundation (through WildCRU, University of Oxford). A large number of staff, students, volunteers and other visitors from Borneo Nature Foundation and other organisations have contributed to this work, both generally and byWe thank the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) and UPT LLG CIMTROP UPR for research permissions in the NLPSF. Collection of the species records described here has been made possible through financial support from a large number of sources over the years, among which we are particularly indebted to The Orangutan Project, Arcus Foundation, US Fish & Wildlife Service Great Apes Conservation Fund, the StOLT fund of SaveTheOrangutan and the Orangutan Land Trust, Orangutan Appeal UK, EAZA, Bioparcs Foundation, Orangutan Outreach, Orangutan Conservancy, Taronga Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Wallace Global Fund, Ocean Parks Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, Wildlife Conservation Society, Primate Conservation Inc., IFAW, Karen Hanssen Trust, the Rufford Foundation, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Clouded Leopard Project, Fresno Chafee Zoo, and Panthera and Robertson Foundation (through WildCRU, University of Oxford). A large number of staff, students, volunteers and other visitors from Borneo Nature Foundation and other organisations have contributed to this work, both generally and by contributing records; we express our sincere gratitude to all of them.

Assessing the impact of seasonality on Cross River Gorilla Nest Construction at Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, North-West Cameroon

The Cross River gorilla, one of the most endangered subspecies of western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is endemic to 12 to 14 sites at the Cameroon-Nigeria border, where it is facing enormous threats from habitat loss, bush meat trade and minor climate changes (seasonal changes). In a strive to reduce the enormous stressors on this subspecies, this study assesses the impact of seasonality on nest construction by Cross River gorillas in the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary with the objective of evaluating the impact of seasonal changes on the nest construction. To achieve this goal, the study employed a hunter guided survey team, as well as guides/trackers of the Wildlife Conservation Society. This team regularly tracks and searches the forest for gorilla signs using vegetation trails, food prints, dung, and feeding signs which are subsequently followed onwards to the nesting site. Data were collected from January to December 2014. A total of 268 fresh gorilla nest sites were observed containing 1813 individual nests. Out of the 1813 nests recorded, 39.6% (N=718) of the nests were on the ground and 60.4% (N=1095) on trees. The frequency of each nest type varied significantly among months (P =0.4433). There was a significant effect of season on nest category. Ground categories (bare earth, herbaceous, woody and mixed) were more common in the dry season (74.9%) than in the wet season (25.1%). On the other hand, tree nests were more common in the wet season (77.4%) than in the dry season (22.6%). Mean nest diameter for the two seasons (dry and wet) was 1.1 and 1.3 m, respectively. The mean nest height was 12.5 m for both seasons. Cross River gorillas showed higher preferences for tree nests within the height class interval of 11 to 15 m (49.6%). The distribution of nests across gradient of altitudes did not vary significantly between seasons (P>0.05), and nests were most common on steep slopes (n=810). Seasonality did not significantly affect the choice of slope (P>0.05). There was a significant difference in the habitat types (primary forest, light gap, secondary forest and rock) used for nesting, with primary forest being most preferred. Nest site distribution was predominant in the northern section of the sanctuary. This study reveals that, both temperature and rainfall play an important role in nest construction by Cross River gorilla at Kagwene. Key words: Cross River gorilla, nest, seasonality, Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary.

Birdwatching in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, Including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Eds: Robert S.Ridgely, John A.Gwynne, GuyTudor, and MarthaArgelCornell University Press, 2016 Reviewed by Juliana Menger Paper, 432 pp., $35, paperback. ISBN: 978‐1‐5017‐0453‐6

BiotropicaVolume 50, Issue 1 p. 187-187 Book Review Birdwatching in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, Including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Eds: Robert S. Ridgely, John A. Gwynne, Guy Tudor, and Martha Argel Cornell University Press, 2016 Reviewed by Juliana Menger Paper, 432 pp., $35, paperback. ISBN: 978-1-5017-0453-6 First published: 22 December 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12508Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume50, Issue1January 2018Pages 187-187 RelatedInformation

Husbandry protocols for the Band‐tailed pigeon, Patagioenas fasciata albilinea, at the WCS, Bronx Zoo for future conservation management programs

From 2015 to 2016 we determined the husbandry protocols involved in the captive rearing of the Band-tailed Pigeon (BTPI), Patagioenas fascinate albilinea, for use as a tool in the future management of like extant and extinct avian taxa. Current and historical ex-situ conservation management of BTPIs and the closely related Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, is limited in scope and required further examination. Focus on the BTPI within zoos and private aviculture facilities is currently lacking. New pressures on the wild populations and future examination of the parameters involved in the possible restoration of the Passenger Pigeon may rely on a complete understanding of these conservation management techniques. Here we report on the establishment of a colony of BTPIs, at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and detail the progress attained. A confiscated group of BTPIs was presented to WCS and allowed us to set up the colony, document the husbandry involved, and monitor neonatal development and the factors that influence that development. The information has provided a better understanding of the BTPI and has implications for the future conservation management of this and like species.

野生生物保護学会第 3 回大会シンポジュウム「生態系の破壊と回復に向けて」に参加して : 自然-人間領域配分論からのコメント

野生生物保護学会第 3 回大会シンポジュウム「生態系の破壊と回復に向けて」に参加して : 自然-人間領域配分論からのコメント

Changes in coral sensitivity to thermal anomalies

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 570:71-85 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12150 Changes in coral sensitivity to thermal anomalies T. R. McClanahan* Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine Programs, Bronx, NY 10460-1099, USA *Corresponding author: tmcclanahan@wcs.org ABSTRACT: The 1998 and 2016 thermal anomalies were among the 2 most severe global-scale anomalies in recent history, with broad-scale impacts on reef condition. In 2 Kenyan fully protected national park reef lagoons, the water flow, light, and temperature exposure severity of these 2 events was grossly similar at 7.3 cm s–1, ~50 Einsteins m-2 d-1 and ~85 degree-days above summer baseline. Yet, despite similarities in the coral communities’ metrics over this time, the bleaching responses were diminished considerably across this 17 yr period. For example, the numbers of pale and bleached colonies declined from 73 to 27% and from 96 to 60% in the low and high thermal exposure reefs, respectively. A metric that weights bleaching by the intensity of the response and the number of individuals of each taxon also found a decline from 35 to 10% and from 65 to 33%. Of the 21 most common coral taxa, 11, including major contributors to coral cover such as Porites and Acropora, showed declines in their sensitivity. Ten taxa, including Montipora and Pocillopora, showed either little or weak evidence for change in sensitivity, and 1 taxon, Acanthastrea, was more sensitive to the exposure in 2016 than in 1998. Sampling limitations and qualitative differences in the pre-peak temperature conditions did not allow separating the influences of genetic adaptation, acclimatization, and community change. KEY WORDS: Africa · Climate change · El Niño Southern Oscillation · ENSO · Indian Ocean · Stress · Time series · Vulnerability Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: McClanahan TR (2017) Changes in coral sensitivity to thermal anomalies. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 570:71-85. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12150 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 570. Online publication date: April 27, 2017 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.

Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Robert S. Ridgely, John A. Gwynne, Huy Tudor, and Martha Argel, 2016. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. xv + 415 pages, hund

Journal of Field OrnithologyVolume 88, Issue 1 p. 94-95 Book Review Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Robert S. Ridgely, John A. Gwynne, Huy Tudor, and Martha Argel, 2016. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. xv + 415 pages, hundreds of plates. ISBN 9781501704536. $35 (Paperback). Also available in Portuguese. Glaucia Del-Rio, Glaucia Del-Rio glaucia.ornito@gmail.com Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USASearch for more papers by this author Glaucia Del-Rio, Glaucia Del-Rio glaucia.ornito@gmail.com Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 17 March 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12190Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume88, Issue1March 2017Pages 94-95 RelatedInformation

Association of Male Inguinal Patch Size with Mate Assortment in the Kihansi Spray Toad,Nectophrynoides asperginis

Abstract Nectophrynoides asperginis (Bufonidae) is a small toad endemic to the spray zone of the Kihansi River waterfall in Tanzania, Africa. This species was declared extinct-in-the-wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) following construction of a hydroelectric dam that reduced the flow of the waterfall. The species is now limited to ex situ populations at the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Bronx Zoo, New York, the Toledo Zoo, Ohio, and two newer facilities in Tanzania. Much of the natural history of N. asperginis remains unknown, though it is known they are a sexually dimorphic species. Typically, males are smaller than females and possess distinctive dorsolateral inguinal patches (IP). Males appear to display these patches to conspecifics, but their function remains unknown. We created a five-grade schema to categorize the IPs by visual prominence accounting for both patch size and color, with Grade 1 being the least and Grade 5 being the most prominent. We hypothesiz...

English

Mangrove stands in the Western and Central African countries especially that of Cameroon are declining due to diverse drivers. Actually, Rhizophora racemosa stands in the Cameroon Estuary have been degraded through over-exploitation for fish smoking, pole-wood extraction and fuel wood harvesting by local people in the midst where there is no specific law protecting this ecosystem. Recently, community-based mangrove replanting efforts facilitated by the Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society in the Douala-Edea Reserve (DER), all dominated by over 80% foreigners was carried for the period of 14 months. These communities out-planted only close to 4 ha (40%) of degraded mangrove compare to the initiate target of 10 ha. In a bid to understand the reason for not meeting the targeted goal, the perceptions of local communities geared towards mangrove restoration were assessed through a questionnaire survey, which was administered to a stratified random sample of 400 people, with 100 individual per village (Mbiako, Youme II, Yoyo I and II). The outcome revealed different levels of perception. Overall, a significant proportion that is, 34.5% (P<0.005, Rs=0.155) rated mangrove forest as very “little degraded”; 52.5% (P<0.005, Rs = -0.099) favoured its restoration; while 60.8% (P<0.005, Rs=-0.199) were not aware that mangrove could be nursed to restore degraded areas. Participation in nursery-out planting activities was significantly varied as 89.8% (P<0.005, Rs=-0.210) never participated in the process, of which 78.8% (P<0.05, Rs=0.161) conditioned their participation on some factors which includes greater sensitisation, more training and incentives. Recommendations ranged from putting in place a community day for mangrove, delineation of roles and responsibilities of members in committee, to graduated sanctions for disturbance of restored sites by guided rules. Key words: Cameroon wildlife conservation society (CWCS), foreign nationals, communities out-plant, mangrove (Rhizophora racemosa), Douala-Edea Reserve (DER).

Last of the wild revisited: assessing spatial patterns of human impact on landscapes in Southern Patagonia, Chile

Human activities are continuously expanding at a global scale and having an increasing effect on the remaining natural ecosystems in remote areas, such as the Magellan Region of southern Patagonia, Chile. In addition to extensive livestock holdings, aquaculture and tourism are advancing into formerly undisturbed areas, and insufficient information on the spatial scope and intensity of these alterations is available to inform and support conservation policies. The aim of this study was to spatially analyse the degree, scope and spatial distribution of anthropogenic alterations. Accordingly, two spatially explicit indexes, the degree of anthropogenic alteration (DAA) and human influence index (HII), have been applied. The results show a significant spatial overestimation of the remaining undisturbed natural areas. Despite low population densities and extensive conservation designations, a major share of the total area has been anthropogenically altered. Depending on the measure type, between 53.1 % (DAA) and 68.1 % of the area (HII) needs to be considered as influenced by human activity in some way. Our findings challenge previous studies by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS and CIESIN in Last of the wild project, version 2, 2005 (LWP-2): last of the wild dataset (Geographic), NASA socioeconomic data and applications center (SEDAC), Palisades, 2005). Their worldwide assessment of pristine natural environments indicated that a much smaller part of the Magellan region has been subject to human influence. The chosen methodologies represent an opportunity to detect and monitor human influence at small spatial scales, which has heretofore remained unnoticed. Because such alterations are becoming more frequent in remote regions, the assessment approaches presented here provide important information on human–environment interactions to support land-use and nature conservation policy design. In addition, small-scale structures and different types of economic activities are considered to support policies that can protect the remaining natural areas from human encroachment. Moreover, implications of the proposed methodology for biodiversity conservation policy are discussed.

Husbandry and propagation of the Chinese big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Prospect Park Zoo

Turtles worldwide are facing increasing pressures on their wild populations and many are listed as endangered or critically endangered. Chinese big-headed turtles (Platysternon megacephalum) are currently listed on IUCN's Red List as endangered and on Cites Appendix II. As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society's initiative on turtle and tortoise conservation, this species became a focus for propagation at Prospect Park Zoo (PPZ) in 2008. PPZ successfully bred and obtained eggs, with successful hatchings in 2013 and 2014. The staff fluctuated water and ambient temperatures along with photoperiod in order to simulate seasonal changes. Each May, the female was placed in the male's enclosure daily for at least 15 min for breeding. Once two confirmed copulations were observed, breeding introductions were discontinued. The female laid her eggs in July and August, and clutch sizes ranged from 5 to 6 eggs. Eggs were successfully incubated in a RCOM Juragon reptile incubator at 23.3°C with 90-95% humidity. The eggs hatched after an average incubation period of 102 days (98-105 days, n = 9). Hatchlings had a mean body mass of 8.84 g (8.11-10 g) and average carapace length × width of 36.17 × 32.20 mm. This article aims to share the team's experiences working with this species as well as build upon previous publications and successes. Our hope is that with continued efforts to increase our knowledgebase a future viable, sustainable North American captive population will become a reality for this species.

Group compositional changes impact the social and feeding behaviors of captive hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas).

The formation and modification of social groups in captivity are delicate management tasks. The ability for personnel to anticipate changes in group dynamics following compositional changes can increase the likelihood of successful management with minimized injury or social instability. Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas) have a distinctive multi-level social system comprising of one-male units (OMUs) that can make it difficult to apply knowledge from other primates' multi-female/multi-male social structure to changes imposed onto captive hamadryas baboon groups. We conducted an observational study of the behavioral impacts following the introduction of two females into the group of hamadryas baboons at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Prospect Park Zoo in NY to test hypotheses about the relationships between changes in group composition and social and feeding behavior. Generalized linear mixed models demonstrated that social interactions significantly increased following the compositional changes, even in groups that only experienced member removals. The increase in affiliative social behavior observed suggests that during times of social stress or uncertainty, hamadryas baboons may employ social behavior as a tension-reducing mechanism to negotiate relationships as opposed to using aggression to engage in competitions for ranks and resources. The observed response to compositional changes implies that hamadryas baboons may respond with less aggression than do other Old World monkey species and that levels of affiliative behavior may be a more accurate metric for evaluating introduction success in hamadryas baboons.