Abstract
Paying resource users to preserve features of their environment could in theory better align production and conservation goals. We show, however, that across a range of conservation ...dilemmas, they might not. We conduct a synthesis of dynamic games experiments built around collective action dilemmas in conservation, played across Europe, Africa, and Asia. We find, across this range of dilemmas, that while payments can encourage pro-conservation behavior, they often fail to capitalize on the potential for jointly improving productive and environmental outcomes, highlighting the more nuanced challenge of reconciling livelihoods with conservation goals. We further find production (yield) and the joint production-environment product (i.e., a measure of agricultural production multiplied by a measure of pro-conservation practice) are better preserved in groups that are more educated, more gender diverse and that better represent women. We discuss how the design of incentive programs can better align livelihood and environment goals.
Reconciling conflicts between wildlife conservation and other human activities is a pervasive, multifaceted issue. Large carnivores, such as the African lion Panthera leo are often the focus of such ...conflicts as they have significant ecological and cultural value but impose severe social and financial costs on the communities that live alongside them.
To effectively manage human–lion conflict, it is vital to understand stakeholder decision‐making and preferences regarding mitigation techniques and coexistence strategies.
We used a novel experimental game framed around lions and livestock protection, played across eight villages in Tanzania, to examine stakeholder behaviour in response to three incentive structures: support for non‐lethal scaring, and individual‐ and community‐level subsidies for provision of wildlife habitat.
We found that non‐lethal deterrent methods were the preferred mitigation strategy and that individual subsidies most increased the provision of wildlife habitat. Subsidies that were conditional on other community members' decisions were less effective at increasing habitat choices. Player characteristics and attitudes appeared to have little influence on game behaviour. However, there was some evidence that gender, wealth, perceptions of respect, and the behaviour of other players affected decision‐making.
Achieving success in managing conservation conflicts requires genuine stakeholder participation leading to mutually beneficial results. Our findings suggest that, while incentive‐based instruments can promote pro‐conservation behaviour, these may be more effective when targeted at individuals rather than groups. We demonstrate how experimental games offer a practical and engaging approach that can be used to explore preferences and encourage discussion of conflict management.
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Globally, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered precipitous declines in population and range. Today, they must persist in increasingly isolated natural habitat patches within a human-dominated ...landscape matrix. For the African lion (Panthera leo), approximately 44% of their remaining range lies outside of protected areas and retaliatory killing in response to the negative impacts of lions on communities is a key driver of lion declines in human-modified landscapes. In this thesis, I investigate the ecological and social aspects of human-lion interactions in order to understand the viability of the landscape matrix for supporting free-roaming lion populations. My literature review reveals that lion habitat preferences are varied and context-specific. While prey abundance and proximity to water are important drivers, lions adapt their habitat use in response to anthropogenic pressures. I demonstrate the use of two modelling techniques to develop maps of livestock depredation risk in the Ruaha landscape of Tanzania, showing that lion attacks follow predictable patterns in space based on features including distance to protected areas and rivers, and net primary productivity. I then examine the transferability of my approach as a simple, scalable method for predicting livestock depredation across three additional study sites. Finally, I trial the use of a novel experimental game to examine pastoralist decision-making in response to human-lion conflict. My findings suggest that non-lethal deterrents are the preferred mitigation strategy and that while incentive-based instruments can promote pro-conservation behaviour, these may be more effective when targeted at individuals rather than groups. This work contributes to our understanding of human-lion interactions and the resulting conservation conflicts. I highlight the complexity of the system and the broad range of methods and disciplines needed to understand it. To manage Africa's changing landscapes effectively for roaming lions, future research should focus on habitat use outside of protected areas and develop collaborative approaches which lead to mutually beneficial results for both people and wildlife.
Globally, large terrestrial carnivores (Carnivora) have suffered precipitous declines in population and range. Today, they must persist in increasingly isolated natural habitat patches within a ...human‐dominated matrix. Effective conservation aimed at supporting carnivores in such landscapes requires species‐specific understanding of habitat requirements.
We present results from a review of the published literature to assess the current state of knowledge regarding habitat preferences of the African lion Panthera leo, with the aim of identifying common drivers of habitat use across contexts.
Using the Web of Science, we identified 154 usable articles and extracted information relating to study topic, location, habitats described, land‐use type, and any documented habitat preferences.
Only 31 studies documented evidence of habitat use, and collectively, they suggested that preferences for specific habitat types were varied and context‐specific. The importance of prey abundance and proximity to water was highlighted in multiple studies. Anthropogenic factors interfered with expected patterns of habitat use. There was evident bias in study locations: 83% of the habitat‐use studies were based in only three countries, and 70% were focussed on protected or managed areas.
Our synthesis suggests that lions demonstrate behavioural plasticity in habitat use in response to anthropogenic pressures. To understand the limits of this plasticity and to manage Africa’s changing landscapes effectively for roaming lions, future research should be focussed on analysis of habitat use outside protected areas, taking into account gradients of distance to water, prey abundance, and anthropogenic risk.
Room to roam for African lions Panthera leo: a review of the key drivers of lion habitat use and implications for conservation. Effective conservation aimed at supporting carnivores in increasingly human‐dominated landscapes requires species‐specific understanding of habitat requirements. For the African lion, knowledge of how the complex interplay between habitat, prey and people shapes habitat selection is lacking. Here, we present results from a review to assess the current state of knowledge regarding habitat preferences of lions across contexts. Only 31 studies documented evidence of lion habitat use. The importance of prey abundance and proximity to water was highlighted across multiple studies. Anthropogenic risk factors interfered with expected patterns of habitat use, demonstrating the need for more studies outside of protected areas. We reveal pervasive knowledge gaps that limit our ability to predict the suitability of Africa’s changing landscapes for roaming lions. Future research should focus on detailed analysis of factors such as distance to water, prey availability and anthropogenic risk, which are likely to mediate the use of different habitat types.
Recent clinical evidence indicates that the broad spectrum anticonvulsant drug lamotrigine is effective against the depressive phase of bipolar illness and the difficult to treat rapid cycling form ...of the disorder. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this therapeutic action remains uncertain. Given that inhibition of the A-type of monoamine oxidase (MAO) is a proven antidepressant mechanism, we investigated the effects of lamotrigine on MAO activities in vitro and on monoamine disposition in vivo.
In vitro, lamotrigine inhibited rat brain MAO activities with
K
i values (MAO-A, 15 μM; MAO-B, 18 μM) potentially within the therapeutic range for this drug. The effects of lamotrigine on the MAO-A activities of rat brain and human liver preparations were almost identical suggesting minimal species or tissue variation. In contrast, there was no (MAO-A) or minimal (MAO-B) reduction in brain MAO activities when assayed ex vivo following the administration of lamotrigine to rats. In vivo brain microdialysis failed to detect meaningful alterations in extracellular hippocampal or frontal cortex monoamine concentrations. Furthermore, lamotrigine did not modulate oral tyramine-induced hypertension in rats or 5-hydroxytryptophan-induced head shaking in mice, providing strong evidence that the drug does not perturb monoamine metabolism in vivo. The absence of observable effects of lamotrigine on monoamine disposition in vivo may be explained by the competitive and highly reversible nature of the interaction of lamotrigine with MAO isoforms. Thus, altered monoamine metabolism in vivo is unlikely to account for the antidepressant action of the drug in bipolar depression.
Religion has been described as an opiate, a reversion to tradition, and a method of coping with modern life. Drawing on case studies of contemporary prosperity-based religious movements in Indonesia, ...Malaysia, The Philippines and Vietnam, this paper shows that religion can play a dynamic and facilitative role in contemporary social and material relations. Writers who address the social and economic upheavals of the late modernity tend to describe religion as a passive, static, traditional, even nostalgic refuge from modern demands, and as a deliberate turn away from the increasing “individualization” of responsibility for lifestyle choices and economic circumstances. This paper will show that emerging religious forms and practices in South East Asia can be characterized as modern institutions which actually constitute personal ethics of responsibility, transparency, individual choice, and autonomy. These ethics, in turn, enable individuals to participate more fully in modern market practices.
The novel putative anticonvulsant drug 1-2,6-difluorophenyl)-methyl-1
H-1,2,3-triazolo4,5-
c) pyridine-4-amine monohydrochloride (BW534U87) effectively reduced seizures induced in rodents by ...threshold maximal and supramaximal electroshock, electrical kindling, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) infusion and by vestibular stimulation in the genetically seizure-prone epilepsy-like (EL) mouse. The range of animal seizure models in which BW534U87 was effective is consistent with a broad spectrum anticonvulsant profile. In the EL mouse, the activity of BW534U87 was partially reversed by predosing with the selective adenosine A1 receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX), suggesting that an adenosine-dependent mechanism contributed to the antiseizure activity of the drug. BW534U87 inhibited rat brain homogenate adenosine deaminase activity, thus, raising the possibility that, by blocking the metabolism of endogenous adenosine by this route, BW534U87 limited seizure activity by promoting the inhibitory tone mediated by endogenous adenosine in the brain. The seizure protection conferred by the selective adenosine deaminase inhibitor
erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine (EHNA) in EL mice and mice infused with PTZ confirms that inhibition of adenosine metabolism by deamination is an effective antiseizure strategy in these models.
The aim of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that reducing the distance that the pig must travel to feed in a deep-litter, large group system will result in shorter, more frequent feeding ...bouts, thus improving pig growth performance (feed intake, growth rate and feed:gain). The experiment studied pigs from 9 to 22 weeks of age, using 720 crossbred pigs. There were two trials conducted, utilising 360 pigs each time. The two treatments were: (A) maximum distance to travel to the feeder (MAX) – one feeder located on the north end of the pen and (B) minimum distance to travel to feeder (MIN) – two feeders: one located on the north end of the pen and one at the south end. Feeding behaviour was observed at 14 and 22 weeks of age. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that reducing the distance that the pigs had to travel to feed, by placing a second feeding station in the pen, produced shorter and more frequent feeding events (
P
>
0.05) and improved growth performance (
P
>
0.05).
Housing pigs in large pens using a floor base of deep litter has been developed as an alternative to conventional, indoor, intensive methods. Deep-litter, group housing systems are cheaper to ...establish and are perceived as being more “welfare and environmentally friendly” for pigs compared to conventional intensive systems. However, recent industry records have shown that pigs housed in deep-litter systems have growth performance problems. In general, pigs are 10 percent less efficient in converting feed to live weight gain, are 1 to 2 mm fatter and exhibit more carcass damage (carcass bruising and non-infectious arthritis stifle joint damage) compared to conventionally housed pigs. It is possible that the growth performance problems in deep-litter systems are largely behavioural and possibly stress related, and pose a barrier to adoption of these systems by industry. This PhD program examined the social and feeding behaviour of entire male growing pigs in deep-litter systems in relation to growth performance and stress physiology.
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