Wildlife Management

The study assessed the effects of anthropogenic activities on the regenerative capacity of “Alibangbang” (Bauhinia malabarica Roxb.), a pioneer species with known fire-resistant and excellent coppicing qualities, in the remnant forest and grass-dominated watersheds of Carranglan, Nueva Ecija. The various uses and potentials of alibangbang as a local resource was determined through interviews, direct observations, and analysis of secondary information. Results of the study revealed that the low regeneration of alibangbang could be attributed to upland farming, pasture and grazing, and the gathering of alibangbang shoots and leaves, cogon grass, charcoal, and fuelwood in the area. High preference for alibangbang fuelwood and charcoal put pressure on the survival and growth of remaining patches in the area. Local people prefer to use the shoots of alibangbang as a food flavoring resulting in over harvesting and pruning that disturb the tree’s photosynthetic activity and inhibits growth. Escape fires from land clearing and kaingin as well as regular browsing and trampling of grazing animals further affected the species’ capacity for natural succession resulting in slow colonization, despite the abundance of good mother alibangbang trees in the watershed.

The management of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) in the Northern Territory is an important component of the State’s wildlife management policy. It encompasses saltwater crocodile control (the removal of problem crocodiles dangerous to humans and livestock), and the regulation of harvesting, farming and ranching of saltwater crocodiles for the production of commercial products. The distribution of saltwater crocodiles and their habitats often extend onto private and communal lands along the coastal belt of the Northern Territory,  and therefore are a concern of landholders both Aboriginal and pastoral. This report presents the findings of a study of managers of Northern Territory cattle properties (pastoralists). Their attitudes are surveyed towards saltwater crocodiles on their properties and their views of the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission’s saltwater crocodile management plan are outlined.

This report addresses social, economic and environmental aspects of the issue: pastoralists’ attitudes towards saltwater crocodiles in general, the impact saltwater crocodiles have on their cattle-raising business, their opinions of the Northern Territory Government’s saltwater crocodile plan and its operation, and their views of saltwater crocodile harvesting, its potential as an income earner and its contribution to the conservation of the saltwater crocodile. Opinions of pastoralists about new management schemes such as trophy hunting of saltwater crocodiles are also analysed. A concluding statement ties up the findings of the study and provides a snapshot of the current views of pastoral landholders of saltwater crocodiles and their management in the Northern Territory.

There are 195 vertebrate species occurring in mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) infested areas in interior British Columbia that will likely be impacted by beetle control measures. The effects of these measures on wildlife will depend on whether they increase or decrease the availability of critical habitat attributes such as large trees, dead and dying trees, down wood, shrubby

Forty years ago Philip M. Hauser (1962) argued that classifying all urbanites without regard to their rural origins ignored the cultural effects of rural life on recreation. A population of urbanites who grew up in rural areas should be more likely to participate in hunting, for example, than multigenerational urbanites, because of the rural cultural influences on hunting. This article

Croc attacks are not a major problem at national or provincial level in most countries, so funds and resources to mitigate them are scarce. However, for victims, attacks can be devastating. People may be killed or disabled, bringing grief, fear and - in rural areas - poverty, to victims, their families and communities. Crocodiles may be killed in retaliation. Wildlife conservation authorities and local people may have serious disagreements about how to respond to such attacks. This guide aims to help reduce these problems.

The guide includes information on the wider context of croc attacks in Africa, when and where attacks occur in the region, victim profiles, information on crocodiles involved in attacks, case studies, information on the biology and behaviour of Nile crocodiles, advice on how not to get bitten, what to do if you are bitten, how you can help prevent attacks, and an attack report form.

Printed, colour copies will be distributed free in the region, as will this pdf. Please contact me on croc.conservation@gmail.com with any queries or requests regarding use of this guide. I have made a pdf available here but it is large - 8mb at low res. I can send it to you in 2 parts of 5mb and 4mb on request.

Please cite as: Simon Pooley, How not to get eaten by a crocodile: in South Africa or Swaziland (London: Croc.Conservation, 2015).

This guide is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

This infographics in this guide were developed with funding from an ESRC / Imperial College London Impact Acceleration Grant to Dr Simon Pooley, based at ICCS, at Imperial College London. They can be viewed as interactive infographics on the CrocBITE website ( http://www.crocodile-attack.info/).

I am working with Dr Adam Britton (RIEL, Charles Darwin University) and Brandon Sideleau on a worldwide database on croc attacks.

El presente estudio consistió en el registro de especies de aves que han presentado colisiones contra
ventanas o puertas de vidrio en Costa Rica. Los datos se obtuvieron a partir de una revisión de
especímenes del Museo Nacional de Costa Rica y del Museo de Zoología de la Universidad de Costa
Rica, además, datos de colectas realizadas por biólogos y de información enviada por científicos
ciudadanos del grupo de redes sociales de la Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica. Como resultado
se compiló un listado de 131 especies de aves que han presentado colisiones contra ventanas en
Costa Rica. Entre ellas se encuentran aves con poblaciones reducidas como el pájaro campana
Procnias tricarunculatus (n=4) y el loro cabecipardo Pyrilia haematoti. También se encontró que
individuos de especies con poblaciones decrecientes como la de los jilgueros Myadestes melanops
y el quetzal Pharomachrus mocinno (n=1) han presentado colisiones contra ventanas. Entre las 74
especies residentes encontradas, se hallaron especies típicas de bosques tropicales, como el jacamar,
tucanes, carpinteros y trepatroncos. Algunas de las familias con mayor número de especies que
presentan colisiones es la de los colibríes (Trochilidae), zorzales, (Turdidae) y saltarines (Pipridae).
Por otra parte, se encontró a 24 especies migratorias y a ocho especies residentes con algún grado
de endemismo. Los resultados son preliminares, ya que la forma de obtener los datos implica un
sesgo pues algunos lugares de Costa Rica, como Monteverde, la Estación La Selva de Sarapiquí, y San
Vito de Coto Brus, son favorecidos por la presencia de biólogos o naturalistas en zonas que facilitan
mayor cantidad de información que otras zonas del país.

Livestock diseases can result in reduced farm productivity. The bacterial diseases tuberculosis (TB) and
brucellosis may share some transmission characteristics which, if managed in common, would result in
more cost-effective management. Here, we identify risk factors shared between these diseases using a
case-control approach and information theoretic modelling. One-hundred cattle farmers in Atlantic Spain
were interviewed about farm characteristics and management practices. The risk factor shared between
both diseases was intra- and inter-herd contact between cattle. Disease-specific risk factors were the presence
of wildlife for TB, and cattle movement between farms for brucellosis. An integrated approach to
disease management needs to consider cattle movement and farm biosecurity, reinforced by an education
campaign to increase farmer awareness. This would be likely to bring benefits in reducing both diseases
and improve the efficiency of any interventions.

To my mind one of the most telling tests of someone's bushcraft ability is whether they can consistently provide food for themselves in the wilderness. In the UK we aren't free to use some of the primitive skills which we might practice as bushcrafters to pursue game for consumption, such as archery or trapping, but what I hope to show in this article is how a deer stalker uses bushcraft skills to successfully hunt, kill and process a deer.

Comprehensive volume on all aspects of protected areas (including community conserved areas, private protected areas) including ecological, social, economic, political issues. With 169 authors and 5 editors, possibly largest number of contributors to a conservation book ever.

Se clasificaron 30 especies de aves rapaces de Chile utilizando la técnica diseñada por Reca et al. (1994) y las categorías propuestas por Grigera y Úbeda (2000). Los resultados se obtuvieron mediante un índice que considera 12 variables que representan factores para la importancia para la sobrevivencia o para la conservación de las especies. Se clasificaron ocho especies (27%) en la categoría de prioridad máxima, nueve (30%) en la categoría de atención especial y 13 (43%) como no prioritarias. Strix rufipes y Buteo exsul fueron consideradas como las especies con mayor prioridad de conservación, y junto con Accipiter chilensis, Buteo albigua, Buteo ventralis, Phalcobenus australis, Vultur gryphus, y Phalcobenus alboguaris conforman la categoría de prioridad máxima de conservación. Las aves rapaces diurnas (Falconiformes) poseen una mayor prioridad de conservación que las nocturnas (Strigiformes). A nivel de familia, Accipitridae fue de la mayor riqueza de especies y también lo que se presentó los mayores problemas de conservación. Se concluye que la técnica es una herramienta útil y de aplicación simple que permite orientar las decisiones públicas de conservación sobre este grupo taxonómico. PALABRAS CLAVE: aves rapaces, Chile, criterios de conservación, Falconiformes, Strigiformes.

Interference competition between predators strongly influences the structure and composition of ecological communities. These interactions are usually asymmetrical as larger predators dominate in aggressive encounters. Smaller predators are forced to balance the conflicting demands of obtaining food while reducing the risk of a confrontation. We tested the behavioural responses of 16 wild captured stoats (Mustela erminea) to the presence of a feral cat (Felis catus) and a ferret (Mustela furo), which we refer to as “larger predators” due to their superior body size. Stoats were released individually into an outdoor arena and nocturnal activities were recorded on infra-red video cameras. On treatment nights, one of the larger predators was placed inside a segregated holding cage on one side of the arena, while an empty cage was placed on the opposite side as a control. A stoat’s daily food allocation was divided into two equal portions, one placed in front of each holding cage to form a food “patch”. Stoats’ perception of risk was assessed by comparing behaviour in the risky patch (close to the caged predator) versus the safe patch (close to the empty cage). Stoats harvested less food at the risky patch. They avoided the area containing the larger predator, both spatially and temporally, and increased vigilance at the risky patch. The results show that stoats alter their foraging behaviour due to perceived interference competition when they encounter larger predators. Understanding trophic interactions between invasive species will help to inform conservation decisions and maximise the effectiveness of management intervention.

Population viability is driven by individual survival, which in turn depends on individuals balancing energy budgets. As carnivores may function close to maximum sustained power outputs, decreased food availability or increased activity may render some populations energetically vulnerable. Prey theft may compromise energetic budgets of mesopredators, such as cheetahs and wild dogs, which are susceptible to competition from larger
carnivores. We show that daily energy expenditure (DEE) of cheetahs was similar to
size-based predictions and positively related to distance traveled. Theft at 25% only requires cheetahs to hunt for an extra 1.1 hour per day, increasing DEE by just 12%. Therefore, not all mesopredators are energetically constrained by direct competition.
Other factors that increase DEE, such as those that increase travel, may be more important for population viability.

On  September 24, 1982, Héctor E. Colón-Rodríguez (HECR) gave a talk entitled "La importancia de la Laguna Cartagena para la preservación de aves amenazadas en Puerto Rico", to the academic public gathered at El Cuarto Simposio sobre la Faund de Puerto Rico y del Caribe at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus.  The lagoon, then was termed "the most important breeding ground for waterbirds in Puerto Rico" was itself endangered, and had lost 95% of it lagoon condition.  This letter was signed by almost all the people present at the talk, and was sent to the Governor.  The letter was received and HECR was called to make a presentation to the the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, Hon. Hilda Díaz Soltero, a meeting that started the movement to save the lagoon and the creation of a State Natural Reserve and later to the Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge, run by US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Declines in long-lived and geographically widespread forest animals, such as the case with Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), warrants investigation. Despite declines, this species’ ability to endure in a range of available habitat and its physiological ties to environmental flux make it ideal for study of habitat use and selection amid anthropogenic disturbances. For my thesis work, I focused on investigating the ecology and behavior of Eastern Box Turtles following timber harvests. As part of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment, I used nine experimental forest management sites to investigate the effects of clearcut harvest openings and group selection harvest openings on box turtles. I used standard homing radiotelemetry to collect GPS location, morphometric, temperature, and behavior data on 50 adult Eastern Box Turtles. I conducted the majority of this work during the active seasons (May – October) but during the winter of 2010 I investigated the hibernal thermal ecology within clearcut harvest openings. Combined with the radiotelemetry data previously collected on these turtles from 2007-08, I was able to measure the effects of the harvests by analyses of movement parameters and temperatures. I found that timber harvests had no effect on the typical measurement of home range size, 100% Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP), however the MCPs here are 33% larger than any other published report for this species. Additionally, I found that turtles decreased the daily distances they traveled by approximately 30%, but their thermal optima increased by 8% following the harvests. Microclimates inside the timber harvests were significantly warmer (29%) in the summer and colder (31%) in the winter than forested habitats, effectively excluding many animals from consistently using them. Instead of leaving the harvested areas, however, turtles continued to use them differently. During the active season, box turtles used the edges of harvest areas apparently for behavioral thermoregulation and possibly for foraging. Turtles that used the harvest areas maintained 9% higher body temperatures during the active season than those that did not. During the winter, turtles generally burrowed to 10 cm for overwintering, but depth varied by slope and gender. I found that the depth influenced the emergence timing, which was also correlated with a soil-surface temperature inversion. A single female turtle that hibernated in a group-selection harvest opening had an estimated burrowing depth of nearly 30 cm to maintain her hibernal body temperature. Moreover, I estimated the annual survival rate (96.2%) of box turtles in our population, the first for the Midwest.

The investigation of ecological mechanisms underlying species declines has become paramount in conservation literature. Simply reporting the extirpation of populations without testing mechanistic causes does little to promote conservation management. Herein, I investigated temporal thermal habitat availability, habitat use, thermal behavior, survival, and intersexual differences among Eastern Box Turtles within the framework of a managed forest setting.

El aprovechamiento comercial de pieles de lagartos (Crocodylus moreletii) en el pasado por parte de los mayas del ejido Xhazil y Anexos, se incorporó como una actividad económica alternativa en el sistema productivo maya. Ello dio lugar a que los ejidatarios desarrollaran un conjunto de conocimientos ecológicos sobre el lagarto y esquemas de aprovechamientos hasta el momento no analizados por la ciencia. Corrientes actuales de pensamiento consideran que los problemas relacionados al manejo y conservación de recursos naturales requieren una mayor flexibilidad epistemológica y la integración de diferentes tipos de conocimientos. Con base en ello nos propusimos integrar los conocimientos mayas sobre el lagarto con información obtenida a partir de métodos y criterios científicos utilizados en investigaciones sobre cocodrilianos. Los objetivos del trabajo fueron: cuantificar y caracterizar los humedales del ejido Xhazil y Anexos; recopilar los conocimientos de cazadores mayas acerca del lagarto a través de un estudio etnozoológico; conocer la densidad y estructura de tallas de lagartos en los cuerpos de agua del ejido; analizar las diferencias y complementariedades de los conocimientos mayas y el conocimiento científico. Los resultados nos permitieron obtener una comprensión global, a diferentes escalas de análisis y desde diferentes perspectivas, sobre la ecología del lagarto en el contexto local. Ello dio lugar conocimientos sobre ambientes, hábitat y comportamientos del lagarto poco explorados por científicos y a una seria de nuevas hipótesis que permiten guiar la indagación científica a futuro.