Towards equitable conservation: Social capital, fear and livestock loss shape perceived benefit from a protected area.

Providing sufficient benefits to local people can be an important component of effective and equitable conservation, especially where local communities face substantial opportunity costs or disbenefits from conservation. However, the distribution of benefits to local people is often inadequate or inequitable. In this study we investigated the heterogeneity in the extent to which people living near Hwange National Park (HNP), Zimbabwe, perceive benefit from the presence of the park. Specifically, we examined the relationships between a diverse set of candidate predictor variables and perceived benefit from HNP. Our candidate predictor variables broadly relate to personal assets, social capital, value orientation, fear of lions, and belief and participation in human-wildlife conflict mitigation schemes. One third of respondents reported that their household experienced at least some benefits from HNP. Of all respondents, 6% perceived their household to benefit strongly from HNP and 2% very strongly. Livestock loss to wildlife was the most important factor for predicting perceived benefit, with those suffering more loss less likely to perceive benefit. Multiple demographic factors predicted perceived benefit with, for instance, older people and those with less education perceiving less benefit. Employment in conservation-related work positively affected perceived benefit, whereas fear of lions had a negative impact. Social capital appeared to have a positive influence on perceived benefit from HNP. The relationship between social capital and perceived benefit was positive and plateauing, which suggests that social capital is especially impactful on the benefit perceived by individuals reporting the least social capital. We also found a positive association between belief in compensation schemes and perceived benefit from HNP. We posit hypotheses for this association but are unable to determine the underlying drivers of this relationship. Finally, participation in the community guardians programme, a human-lion conflict mitigation programme, was positively related to perceived benefit from HNP. Thus, our findings emphasise the value of considering a diverse array of factors when investigating park-people relationships and yield insights for improving the equitability of conservation in and around HNP and similar systems.

Review: Using physiologically based models to predict population responses to phytochemicals by wild vertebrate herbivores.

To understand how foraging decisions impact individual fitness of herbivores, nutritional ecologists must consider the complex in vivo dynamics of nutrient-nutrient interactions and nutrient-toxin interactions associated with foraging. Mathematical modeling has long been used to make foraging predictions (e.g. optimal foraging theory) but has largely been restricted to a single currency (e.g. energy) or using simple indices of nutrition (e.g. fecal nitrogen) without full consideration of physiologically based interactions among numerous co-ingested phytochemicals. Here, we describe a physiologically based model (PBM) that provides a mechanistic link between foraging decisions and demographic consequences. Including physiological mechanisms of absorption, digestion and metabolism of phytochemicals in PBMs allows us to estimate concentrations of ingested and interacting phytochemicals in the body. Estimated phytochemical concentrations more accurately link intake of phytochemicals to changes in individual fitness than measures of intake alone. Further, we illustrate how estimated physiological parameters can be integrated with the geometric framework of nutrition and into integral projection models and agent-based models to predict fitness and population responses of vertebrate herbivores to ingested phytochemicals. The PBMs will improve our ability to understand the foraging decisions of vertebrate herbivores and consequences of those decisions and may help identify key physiological mechanisms that underlie diet-based ecological adaptations.

Mercury concentrations in deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) tissues from Isle Royale National Park.

We used deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) to investigate variation in mercury exposure across the terrestrial ecosystem of Isle Royale National Park (Michigan, USA). Although previous work suggested that mercury (Hg) levels may be higher inside the Sargent Lake watershed of Isle Royale than outside the watershed, Hg concentrations in livers were higher outside the Sargent Lake watershed (100.13 ng Hg/g dry tissue) than inside the watershed (35.50 ng Hg/g dry tissue; P = 0.06). Mercury levels in kidneys did not differ significantly (P = 0.57) between samples collected outside (443.23 ng Hg/g dry tissue) and inside (360.62 ng Hg/g dry tissue) the Sargent Lake watershed. Mean Hg concentrations in the livers of mice at some sites in Isle Royale are not significantly lower (P = 0.62) than Hg concentrations considered by some government agencies to be unhealthy for human consumption. Although Hg concentrations in mouse tissues were not remarkably high (compared to heavily polluted sites), concern is warranted because: (1) Isle Royale National park is a protected area in a remote location; (2) any exposure in deer mice represents a path for biomagnification in the terrestrial food web; and (3) the source of this mercury remains unidentified.

Genetic (RAPD) diversity in Peromyscus maniculatus populations in a naturally fragmented landscape.

We assessed the effects of long-term habitat fragmentation on genetic (random amplified polymorphic DNA) diversity in 11 Peromyscus maniculatus populations in the Lake Superior watershed. We analysed genetic structure at two spatial scales and the effect of island size and isolation on genetic diversity. At the regional scale, island populations differed from mainland populations (FST = 0.36), but mainland populations did not differ from each other (FST = 0.01). At the local scale, populations of the main island of Isle Royale differed from adjacent islet populations (P < 0.001; Monte Carlo approximation of Fisher's exact test), but not from each other (combined P = 0.63). Although geographical distance and genetic distance were positively correlated (P < 0.01; Mantel test), cluster analysis revealed some inconsistencies. Finally, genetic diversity was inversely related to isolation (P = 0.01), but had an unexpectedly negative relationship with island area (P = 0.03). The genetic structure of P. maniculatus populations in portions of the Lake Superior watershed appears to have been affected by long-term habitat fragmentation.