Search Results

Jul

31

2007
 
 

Dog days for evidence



Knowing what went right and what went wrong are key to better practice packWhen you’ve got a self-sustaining, minimally managed population, your reintroduction project has been a success. Sadly, most fail, yet we haven’t learned much from our mistakes. What we need, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Applied Ecology, is a methodology based on evidence and not belief. To illustrate what they mean, the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Markus Gusset, the University of California, Berkeley’s Sadie Ryan and a pack of colleagues analysed the intensive efforts to restore populations of wild dogs Lycaon pictus to an increasingly fragmented South African landscape. Looking at a wide range of factors that might affect the survival of introduced dogs and their ability to produce pups, the researchers found just two of major importance. The length of time dogs spend social bonding in a boma -- their cohesiveness is crucial to survival -- and the boundary security of the area into which they are released should be foremost among management decisions. Minimal management might be some way off, but in the meantime at least we can concentrate on what’s important. Source: Gusset M, Ryan SJ, Hofmeyr M, Van Dyk G, Davies-Mostert HT, Graf JA, Owen C, Szykman M, Macdonald DW, Monfort SL, Wildt DE, Maddock AH, Mills MGL, Slotow R & Somers MJ (2007) Efforts going to the dogs? Evaluating attempts to re-introduce endangered wild dogs in South Africa. Journal of Applied Ecology DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01357.x Related story in Conservation magazine: Where the Wild Things Were Image © Peter Malsbury

Filed Under Community-based conservation, Economics and conservation, Endangered species, Monitoring, Restoration, Socio-political issues | 1 Comment

Email This Post Email This Post

Jun

18

2007
 
 

Ecosystem (bodily) functions past



Evolutionary ties echo down the centuries as one extinct species endangers another Going through the motionsThe extinction of the dodo Raphus cucullatus and other large herbivores might still be influencing the wildlife of Mauritius, according to preliminary data published in the African Journal of Ecology. Seeds of the endemic, critically endangered ebony Diospyros egrettarum don’t germinate well, it seems, unless they’ve passed through the digestive tract of an animal such as the long-gone giant tortoises Geochelone inepta and G. triserrata. Manchester University PhD student Adam Moolna found that when he fed ebony seeds to another giant tortoise G. gigantea, which acted as an analog for the extinct species, the seed's germination rate shot up. The plant coevolved to survive herbivory – in fact, to use it as a means of dispersal – to the point where without undergoing the 18-day passage through the tortoise’s gut, a seed is much less likely to break through its own shell. Source: Moolna A (2007) Preliminary observations indicate that giant tortoise ingestion improves seed germination for an endemic ebony species in Mauritius. African Journal of Ecology DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2007.00807.x Related story in Conservation magazine: Dig Deeper Image © Milos Sekot

Filed Under Endangered species, Habitat, Restoration | Leave a Comment

Email This Post Email This Post