Jornal de Biodiversidade e Espécies Ameaçadas

Human-elephant interactions occur in the areas where people coexist with elephants. It happens in the communities neighbouring core wildlife protected areas. Human and elephants have coexisted since the beginning of agriculture. The relationship between humans and elephants has deteriorated since humans have increased their dependence on domesticated herbivores and encroached into elephant habitats. The interactions usually result in human deaths, elephant deaths, house demolitions, crop damage and secondary impacts. However, crop damage is the most reported negative impacts from the interactions. In this article, we reviewed the current situation of humanelephant interactions, extent, and nature of elephants' destruction, the contribution of elephants to ecological restorations and players in rural poverty alleviation. We also provided a conclusion on whether elephants are disastrous pests or agents of ecological restoration. Due to the exceptional anatomical, physiological and behavioural features, people perceive elephants as the most disastrous pests and merciless killers. In a similar way, secondary impacts, such as the unfairness of compensation schemes and intangible conservation benefits, influence negative perceptions and attitudes of people towards elephants. Elephants as agents of ecological restoration provide socio-economic benefits to humans through forest management because the seed dispersal of about 400 species of timber and nontimber forest species depend on the digestive tract of elephants. The livelihoods of about 1 billion poor people in the world depend on forests. On the other hand, elephants are not as destructive as other pests such as rodents, wild boars, and starlings, and they are not as killers as hippopotamus and crocodiles. When the positive and negative impacts of human-elephant interactions are summed up, conservation benefits provided to humans usually exceed conservation costs. The mismanagement of elephants leads to increasing negative impacts, if properly managed; elephants may provide significant contributions to environmental conservation and rural poverty alleviation.

We have studied the parasitic flies of wildlife of Haftad-Gholleh Protected Area, Iran, for the first time and report here the three hematophagous fly species of birds: the louse fly Ornithophila metallica (Schiner) (Hippoboscidae), and bird nest flies Trypocalliphora braueri (Hendel) and Protocalliphora azurea (Fallen) (Calliphoridae). The genera and species O. metallica and T. braueri are new to Iran.

Benthic environments are dynamic habitats where the sediments, the functional building blocks of the habitat, are continually structured by both the organisms living in and on the seabed as well as by the local physical regime. Benthic animals are an important component of the marine ecological realm and play a large part in marine food chains, organic production and the turnover of sediments and nutrients on the ocean floor. Because the sub-littoral seabed is less subject to variations in tides, swell and wind driven surface currents, the soft sediments of this environment are relatively stable (i.e., unchanging) compared to intertidal and shallow near shore substrates. Similarly, their populations are also more stable and diverse. These biological processes are also inextricably linked with physical variables, thus benthic communities are very susceptible to both natural and anthropogenic changes in the topography and sediment matrix.

Inorder to understand the association between environmental variables and benthic communities, the distribution of benthic organisms in the dynamic mixing zone of Pulicat and the surrounding coastal waters has been studied. The sediment samples obtained from Pulicat were analyzed for sediment composition and total organic carbon. Further the benthic organisms were sorted, enumerated and grouped into different communities. Based on the analysis; it was found that the distribution of benthic organisms varied with the differences in sediment composition and total organic carbon. The mixing of wastewaters from Buckingham canal with the waters of the dynamic zone of Pulicat could be a significant factor influencing the distribution of benthic communities.

The West African manatee Trichechus senegalensis (LINK, 1795) is the least studied Sirenian species, with both old and fragmentary literature on the population in the Congo River estuary. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, T. senegalensis occurs up to 60 km upstream around Boma town, a zone under partial protection of the Marine Mangrove Park. In order to develop efficient conservation actions, there is an urgent need to revise the state of knowledge on the species in the Congolese part of its distribution range. This paper reviews the current status and distribution of T. senegalensis populations in the Congo River estuary based on geolocated observations (N=33), and provides a summary of local communities’ knowledge, attitude and practices of the manatees ’ecosystem services (e.g.: river dredging, touristic potential). The reported potential threats-poaching, habitat loss, risk of genetic drift-show that the T. senegalensis population of the Congo River estuary is in danger and that its survival requires specific conservation measures.

Ethiopia had practiced Judaism before Christianity. This church is unique in the continent of Africa and glob in holding judo-Christian sect. In the church tradition forests are considered as shelter of the earth crust which provides enormous scenery to the world. Most of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church and monasteries are built on hills, mountains and high places which are covered with densely forests. This practice and tradition was comes from Eden, the place had all the best and choicest trees and plant, God a tender Father, provide not only for Adam’s needs, but also his pleasure. The church on the earth signifies the new heaven, the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, Adam. Therefore, gardening was the first kind of employment on record in which man was engaged. Though trees and plants produced the necessary flower and fruits by the will of God, dressing and keeping are necessary to maintain in their perfection. The greenery in Eden is the underlying principles on which Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church dwell to conserve nature. Existing literatures on the nature conservation role of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is not the detail. Therefore, published articles and Holy Scriptures were reviewed and presented in a more coherent manner. The main objective of the paper is to explore past and present work on sacred grove role in general, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in particular in mountain ecology management and biodiversity conservation. The result shows that unreplaceable role of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in conserving forest and mountain biodiversity in Ethiopia by indicating large scale forests and ecosystem is currently under the custodianship of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido church and its role on carbon emission reduction in the changing world. Therefore, recognizing the indigenous knowledge in biodiversity and mountain conservation and customizing the best practice from it would help global efforts on remnant resource conservation. It is a win-win scenario for diversity management and mountain conservation policy formulation effort too.

The potentials of the horticulture sub-sector in solving the prevailing food crisis in Nigeria remain largely untapped because of inefficient use of production resources. The study examined socio-economic determinant of sweet melon production in Balanga local government area of Gombe state. A two stage sampling procedure was used in drawing a sample size of sixty sweet melon farmers from three communities. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and multiple regression models. The result revealed that the majority of the farmers were male, married, and literate, with small holding. A coefficient of multiple determinants, R2 of 0.765 indicated a high relevance of the input in explaining the observed variation in melon production. The regression co-efficient of experiences, farm size and house hold size were significant at 5% level of probability, therefore, making the three factors important determinant of output from sweet melon production. Based on findings from the study, it is recommended that government should provide credit facilities with less bureaucracy and low interest rate to producers; this will enable farmers to increase their farm size and in turn increase output.

Large carnivores are experiencing massive decline in their population and abundance due to loss of habitat and loss of prey species. The present study was carried out in Mundanthurai Pleateu of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India. In Mundanthurai Plateau, Tiger Panthera tigris has been absent in past two decades which is linked with low density of large ungulate prey species such as gaur and sambar. In this study we examined the status of large carnivore and prey species after the removal of cattle grazing in the plateau. The study reveals that the overall density of ungulate prey species was 12.4 ± 1.5/Km2 and gaur density found to be 3.37 ± 1.40/Km2. The available prey biomass of 3282.02 kg can support around 11 tigers/100 Km2 and it may be lower due to biomass which is shared by other sympatric carnivores. The present estimated leopard density in the plateau is 24.32 ± 4.38 using camera traps spatially explicit capture-recapture method. Overabundance of leopard may be due to the absence of tiger in the plateau and we have confirmed the presence of one male tiger in the plateau so far. The present study may provide baseline information on monitoring tigers and co-predators in the Mundanthurai Plateau of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is known as the repository of biodiversity. It supports 8,000 species of angiosperms. The orchidaceae is among the dominant family of angiospecies and highly evolved family among the monocotyledon. The species of this family are facing tremendous pressure due to habitat degradation, overexploitation and changing environmental conditions. Therefore, while exploring the floristic diversity of Parvati Valley, attempts have also been made to explore the orchid diversity and analyze for diversity, distribution patterns, nativity, endemism, threat categories and indigenous uses. Total 19 species of the orchids representing 13 genera were recorded between 1100-3600 m amsl. Of these, 13 species were natives, 6 species near endemic and 5 species non-natives. These species represented in grassland, shady moist, forests, alpine meadows, moist rocks and bouldary habitats. These species were used for curing various diseases/ailments by the inhabitants of the valley. Due to habitat degradation the populations of these species are decreasing fast. The over exploitation, habitat degradation and changing environmental conditions of these species has led rapid population depletion. Therefore, appropriate strategy has been suggested for the conservation and management of these orchids.