The Grauer's gorilla is one of two subspecies of the Eastern gorilla. The whole population of Grauer's gorilla lives in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. In 1996 a civil war started in the DRC, which killed 5 million people. We wanted to find out what effect the civil war had on the population of Grauer's gorillas. We carried out field surveys and used data from local communities and park rangers and found that the global population had decreased by 77% since 1994. There are now only 3,800 individuals left. This makes this ape Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and now makes both gorilla species (Eastern and Western) and all four subspecies Critically Endangered. This is the highest category of threat before extinction.
"How it is that humanity has brought itself, along with most other species, to the brink of extinction? In 'The Gilgamesh Gene Revisited', Russell-Jones provides a time-line analysis of man's relationship with the natural world that stretches back deep into pre-history and illuminates the origins of many of our most cherished fables, myths and religious creeds, which provide our belief systems governing our world and political thinking today. Extinction is avoidable but do we, as sentient beings, possess the ability to change the way we think? This question is fundamental to the survival of the human species. In this second edition, Dr Robin Russell-Jones expands on his vision of the human condition, providing new findings to many of our most abiding mysteries, including the origin of King Arthur and the Round Table, the Holy Grail and the meaning of the Trinity. Gilgamesh was a vainglorious king who ruled the city of Uruk in Ancient Mesopotamia, allegedly around 2750 BC. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest narrative in existence, and it contains the blueprint for much of our environmentally destructive behaviour today. This implacable pursuit of fame and fortune, at the expense of the natural world, has proven so successful that plundering the Earth's resources has become hard-wired into our thinking : hence the Gilgamesh Gene. As mankind rushes head-long into the Anthropocene, there is some hope as the author explains the steps we need to take to avert disaster : limiting human numbers ; getting away from ever-expanding GDP as the only definition of progress ; and urgently implementing the Global Carbon Incentive Fund as the most equitable, efficient and effective way of putting a price on carbon emissions globally."--taken from publisher web site
Introduction: Examining the terrain / Eric Freedman & Mark Neuzil -- Part I. Habitat, conservation, and restoration -- The dam dilemma for fisheries management in the Great Lakes / Daniel B. Hayes, Robert McLaughlin, Brian Roth & Lisa Peterson -- Irrigation in the Great Lakes Basin : prospects and conflicts / B. Timothy Heinmiller -- Artificial reefs and reef restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes / Edward F. Roseman, Jeremy Pritt & Matthew McLean -- Part II. Extinction & survival -- Georgian Bay, Lake Huron : turtles and their wetland habitat in a changing landscape / Chantel Markle & Patricia Chow-Fraser -- Framing extinction : societal attitudes toward the passenger pigeon in editorials and opinion pieces / Bruno Takahashi, Ran Duan, Apoorva Joshi, Anthony Van Witsen & Eric Freedman -- Recovering the ecology of fear : cascading effects of gray wolf predation and competition in a Great Lakes Basin forest / David G. Flagel -- Linear corridors and predator movement dynamics in the Great Lakes Basin / Victoria M. Donovan & Jesse N. Popp -- Part III. Pollution, climate change, and invasive species -- Toxicants in the Great Lakes : living with a toxic legacy while managing for chemicals of emerging concern / Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt, Heiko L. Schoenfuss & Jane R. Feely -- Water quality in the Great Lakes : interactions between nutrient pollution, invasive species, and climate change / Gaston E. Small -- Emerald ash borer, black ash, and Native American basketmaking : invasive insects, forest ecosystems and cultural practices / Therese M. Poland, Maria R. Emery, Tina Ciaramitaro, Ed Pigeon & Angie Pigeon -- Part IV. Public policy -- Legislating the Great Lakes : socially constructing water through congressional discourse / Theresa R. Castor -- Conservation authorities in Ontario : key players in the governance of invasive and endangered species / Andrea Olive -- Citizen engagement, interpretation, and resource management in the Great Lakes Basin / Gail Vander Stoep -- 7 indigenous principles for successful cooperation in Great Lakes conservation initiatives / Kyle P. Whyte, Nicholas J. Reo, Deborah McGregor, M.A. (Peggy) Smith, James F. Jenkins & Kathleen A. Rubio -- Part V. Conclusions -- Through the crystal ball / Mark Neuzil & Eric Freedman.
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Migration of the indigenous populations from their ancestral territories to the urban centres is a global phenomenon. It is determined from the tendency to urbanization affecting every category of people. Nevertheless, in Colombia it presents some distinguishing characteristics, in relation to the dynamics of the internal armed conflict and the problem of the forced displacement. The aim of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of the urban migrations of the indigenous populations at global level, the general situation of the indigenous people in Colombia and the extent of the impact of the conflict especially in relation to the forced displacement. In particular, this paper analyzes the needs and the problems denounced by the displaced indigenous community of Villavicencio, on the basis of the experience acquired through a process of community and organizational strengthening targeting the community. The analysis reveals the multidimensional and aggravated vulnerability of the indigenous that are displaced or at risk to be displaced in the entire country. The second part of this work offers an overview of the international standards on indigenous collective rights and internal displacement, with a focus on the normative gap at this level. This study will show how the protection of the rights of the Colombian indigenous - at risk of extinction because of the conflict and the displacement - is a matter of national law. As the underlined by the Constitutional Court, this national law has been produced by the same State that failed to fulfil his obligations of prevention and protection in the moment the displacement took place. The role of mentor of these State obligations towards the indigenous communities can be therefore played only by the Colombian Constitutional Court. The international community seems not to be able or willing to take on such obligations, notwithstanding the multidimensional vulnerability of indigenous people in front of a displacement that puts them at serious risk of physical and cultural extinction.
The study was carried out with the focus on the current issues of sociolinguistics related to the search for ways to preserve the languages of small peoples. The article systematizes data on the state of the languages of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation living in the North, Siberia and the Far East, presented in modern publications of historians and linguists, and the documents that reflect the results of the 2010 population census of the Russian Federation, considers the influence of sociolinguistic factors on the language situation in these territories. Having analyzed the world experience of legal language legislation on preserving the cultures and languages of small peoples, the authors attempted to apply some global criteria to the Russian legislation and socio-economic practice and identified socially significant criteria for establishing the language situation in relation to the languages of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation living in the North, Siberia and the Far East: the total number of speakers of the language, the use of the language in the education system, the availability of educational and methodological materials for teaching, the factor of inter-generational transmission of a language, the attitudes to the functional benefits from practicing the language among its native speakers. By compiling a methodology for categorizing the language survival type five prototypes of the language state were identified on the basis of statistical data: safe; relatively safe; endangered; critically endangered; close to extinction or dead languages. The authors offered a set of extralinguistic criteria for obtaining objective data on the state of the language and made a supposition that despite the evidence that the languages of the indigenous small-numbered northern peoples of the Russian Federation, with rare exceptions, are on the verge of extinction, significant efforts are being made by the government of the country and the indigenous northern peoples themselves to preserve these languages.
Ritual Dance is an indispensable performance in the Ahaba community in Delta State because it serves as the connecting link between the world of the living, the dead, and the unborn. Unfortunately, ritual dance has received myopic interpretation as a performance that is totally against the Westernized belief system on morality and idolatry, thereby making some ritualistic dances go into extinction. This debased ideology on ritual dance triggered the aim of this study, to sensitize people that all ritual dances are culturally inspired. The researcher sets to examine the different iconic symbols used in the performance, which made each community where they existed stand out and to interrogate why these ageless ritualistic dances are going into extinction and the possible ways of reviving them. The methodology suitable for this research is descriptive and interpretative design methods, where the researcher will collect data and analysed them accordingly. The theoretical framework for this research is the Cultural Identification theory. Findings exposed how some people dread the selected dance because of its initiation style, form, beliefs cum principles, while some who are members already want to denounce their membership, thereby creating more worrisome impressions on the true image of the dance. In conclusion, ritual dance should not be written off out rightly as being mundane, but empirical studies make it communally appreciated and valued. Historically Ahaba communities are made of warriors who fought for the safety of their community during the warrior. A lot of people were killed during the war by Ahaba warriors. But years later the blood of people they killed during wars started tormenting them and causing a lot of havoc among the warriors, especially when they retired. So Ogho ritual dance was introduced as a purification means to cleanse and separate the living warriors from the spirits of the dead.
Tropical montane forests are known to support many endemic species with restricted geographic ranges. Many of these species are however, faced with numerous threats, most notably from habitat loss and degradation, invasive alien species, and climate change. Examples include Taita Apalis and Taita Thrush. Taita Apalis (Apalis fuscigularis) and Taita Thrush (Turdus helleri) are species of birds listed as Critically Endangered by the Government of Kenya and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They are endemic to Taita Hills' cloud forests in southeastern Kenya and protected under Wildlife Conservation and Management Act. As they face high risk of extinction, exploring their habitat suitability is imperative for their protection. To determine the current spatial distribution and the key ecogeographical explanatory factors and conditions affecting species distribution and indirect effects on species survival and reproduction, we employed Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modelling. This study was conducted in Ngangao and Vuria forests in June and July 2019 and 2020. Ngangao forest is gazetted as forest reserve and managed by the Kenya Forest Service whereas Vuria is nongazetted and thus remains without official protection status. Ecogeographical explanatory variables; climatic, remote sensing-, LIDAR-, topography-and landscape-based variables were used in modelling and separate models were produced. 23 occurrence records of Taita Apalis and 30 of Taita Thrush from Ngangao and 21 of Taita Apalis from Vuria forests were used in the modelling. According to the models, less than 7% of the total area of Ngangao and Vuria forests was predicted as suitable habitat for Taita Apalis and Taita Thrush. This shows that these two species are more vulnerable to extinction from demographic stochasticity. Consequently, managing their habitats is critical for their long-term persistence. LIDAR-based canopy height range and elevation greatly influenced Taita Apalis distribution in Ngangao forest, with areas of high ...
Non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) are excellent light harvesters, yet the origin of their high optical extinction is not well understood. In this work, we investigate the absorption strength of NFAs by building a database of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations of ∼500 π-conjugated molecules. The calculations are first validated by comparison with experimental measurements in solution and solid state using common fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. We find that the molar extinction coefficient (εd,max) shows reasonable agreement between calculation in vacuum and experiment for molecules in solution, highlighting the effectiveness of TDDFT for predicting optical properties of organic π-conjugated molecules. We then perform a statistical analysis based on molecular descriptors to identify which features are important in defining the absorption strength. This allows us to identify structural features that are correlated with high absorption strength in NFAs and could be used to guide molecular design: highly absorbing NFAs should possess a planar, linear, and fully conjugated molecular backbone with highly polarisable heteroatoms. We then exploit a random decision forest algorithm to draw predictions for εd,max using a computational framework based on extended tight-binding Hamiltonians, which shows reasonable predicting accuracy with lower computational cost than TDDFT. This work provides a general understanding of the relationship between molecular structure and absorption strength in π-conjugated organic molecules, including NFAs, while introducing predictive machine-learning models of low computational cost. ; J. N., J. Y., D. P., M. A., F. E., and E. R. thank the European Research Council for support under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 742708 and 648901). The authors at ICMAB acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Severo Ochoa" Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D ...
Senjang is a Malay musical art found in the provinces of South Sumatra and Jambi. In South Sumatra, the existence of senjang is well maintained. This condition is achieved by combining senjang with modern musical instruments. Whereas in Jambi, senjang has been in decline since the 1990s. The artists have made various conservation efforts to no avail, and senjang in Jambi remains under threat of extinction to this day. Through a qualitative methods this study found that the decline of senjang in Jambi was caused by changes in people's livelihoods that changed the pattern of work organization in agriculture; changes in interest in music; and changes in social customs. The artists have made conservation efforts for the last twenty years, but to no avail due to obstacles arising from differences in interests with the local government. On the one hand, the artists want to add elements of dance, change musical instruments and songs to keep up with changes in people's musical interests, but the local government wants the use of musical instruments and traditional songs to be maintained in order to build regional cultural identity. ; Senjang is a Malay musical art found in the provinces of South Sumatra and Jambi. In South Sumatra, the existence of Senjang is well maintained. This condition is achieved by combining Senjang with modern musical instruments. On the other hand, Senjang in Jambi has been in decline since the 1990s. The artists have made various conservation efforts to no avail, and Senjang in Jambi remains under threat of extinction. This article aims to answer the question of why the efforts to preserve Senjang for more than 20 years have not succeeded in making Senjang popular in Jambi. Through qualitative research I found that the decline of senjang in Jambi was caused by changes in people's livelihoods that changed the pattern of work organization in agriculture; changes in interest in music; and changes in social customs. However, what is important to note is that the traditional cultural preservation ...
In: Vesci Nacyjanal'naj Akadėmii Navuk Belarusi: Izvestija Nacional'noj Akademii Nauk Belarusi = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Seryja ahrarnych navuk = Serija agrarnych nauk = Agrarian sciences series, Volume 59, Issue 2, p. 215-219
Saving biodiversity and assessment of the genetic diversity of local breeds of domestic animals as priority subjects of protection in agrobiocenoses is one of the global challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Hutsul horse is one of the oldest horse breeds in Ukraine, which according to the gene pool subject of horses in Ukraine belongs to the group "Local (mountain and ponies)" of the I category, which is already on the verge of extinction, and according to the FAO classification it is considered to be a subject of the gene pool threatened with extinction. Since the breeding chromosomal polymorphism of horses is insufficiently studied, it is timely to carry out a cytogenetic analysis of the characteristics of spontaneous mutagenesis in Hutsul horses. Karyotypic variability of Hutsul breed horses was determined using the methods of cytogenetic analysis and micronucleus test. The paper presents the results of cytogenetic analysis and micronucleus test of karyotypic variability of Hutsul breed horses. Asynchronous divergence of centromere regions of chromosomes occurs as a result of premature replication of centromere regions of heterochromatin associated with centromere activity. In the studied Hutsul horses, the magnitude of this variability corresponds to the spontaneous level for horses as a whole (2.2-9.1 %). No structural chromosomal abnormalities (chromosomal breaks) were revealed in Hutsul breed horses at Krai Neba LLC, and in the animals of the Hutsulshchina National Nature Park, the percentage of metaphase plates with chromosomal breaks was low (1.1 %), which indicates the stability of the karyotype of the studied animals. The results of the micronucleus test showed that the proportion of lymphocytes with micronuclei in the animals at the both farms was practically the same - 4.0-4.2. It can be concluded based on the data obtained that the animals under study were in ecologically clean conditions relative to the level of radionuclide contamination and were characterized by karyotype stability and reduced sensitivity to mutagenic factors of various nature.
Conservation research is less often applied in practice than is desirable for the optimization of conservation outcomes. We evaluated this conservation research–practice gap for a threatened passerine, Dupont's lark Chersophilus duponti. We reviewed the literature and classified the conservation interventions proposed by scientists as regulation and legislation, monitoring and research, or management. We sent a questionnaire to managers responsible for species conservation, to gather information about the reasons for implementing, or not, each conservation intervention. We found 16 conservation interventions proposed in the literature, of which 13 (81.2%) had been applied by managers at least once. We found a disparity between the frequency of scientific recommendations and the actions implemented by managers: some measures with high scientific consensus were rarely adopted, whereas approaches less frequently proposed by scientists were more often implemented by managers. Regulatory and monitoring/research interventions were applied more often than management interventions, probably because of legal obligations. Management interventions were less frequently implemented, mainly because of time and budget limitations. There was a negative correlation between the number of interventions implemented and the population trend of the species in each region, which suggests that conservation interventions were more commonly implemented when the species was facing local extinction. Our results indicate a mismatch between science and practice for the conservation of Dupont's lark, the reasons for which seem to be diverse and include factors such as financial and time limitations, legal obstacles and managers' perception of extinction risk. An iterative dialogue needs to be initiated between scientists and managers to evaluate the efficacy of interventions implemented, and facilitate evidence-based conservation. ; This research was supported by the project 'Estudios aplicados a la conservación de la conservación de las poblaciones de alondra ricotí (Chersophilus duponti) en el entorno del municipio de Vallanca' and funded by Levantina y Asociado de Minerales, S.A.
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Animal welfare measures have been designed to improve the health and environmental conditions of animals living under human control, for whatever reason. Welfare regulations have evolved also in line with new research insights into the cognitive, affective, and physiological domain of birds, as this paper discusses. This paper casts a critical eye on areas that Animal Welfare regulations have not reached at all, have not gone far enough, or are not regulated or supervised. It identifies the plight of birds living in captivity or being studied in the field, which either by neglect, ignorance, or design are subject to practices and procedures that may not meet basic welfare standards. The paper discusses some profound contradictions in the way we think about birds and their plight in today's world: marked for extinction on one hand and highly admired as pets on the other; damaging fieldwork on one hand and the aims of conservation on the other. It highlights some common and distressing examples of poor welfare in birds. It also offers some solutions involving simple legislative changes and ways to eliminate some unacceptably low ethical standards in the handling and management of birds. ABSTRACT: This paper discusses paradoxes in our relationship to and treatment of birds in captive and conservation contexts. The paper identifies modern and new challenges that arise from declining bird numbers worldwide. Such challenges have partly changed zoos into providers of insurance populations specifically for species at risk of extinction. They have also accelerated fieldwork projects, but by using advanced technological tools and in increasing numbers, contradictorily, they may cause serious harm to the very birds studied for conservation purposes. In practice, very few avian species have any notable protection or guarantee of good treatment. The paper first deals with shortcomings of identifying problematic avian behavior in captive birds. It then brings together specific cases of field studies and ...
Owing to climate change and other anthropogenic environmental changes, the suitability of locations is changing for many biota that consequently have to adapt in situ or to move to other areas. To mitigate the effects of such pressures, assisted colonization is a conservation tool developed to reduce extinction risks by intentionally moving and releasing an organism outside its native range, and thus, to facilitate tracking changing environmental conditions. This conservation tool has been proposed for threatened animals or plants that presumably cannot adapt in situ or follow environmental changes by dispersal or migration. However, there have been contentious debates about the shortcomings and risks of implementing assisted colonization. For this reason, we evaluated the specific opinions of global experts for assisted colonization on potential risks and opportunities that this approach offers. For this purpose, we used an online survey targeted at authors of scientific publications on assisted colonization. The majority (82%) of the 48 respondents were in favor of applying assisted colonization for species that are at risk of global extinction due to anthropogenic environmental change. Most respondents agreed that assisted colonization should be considered only when other conservation tools are not available and that certain preconditions must be met. Some of these were already highlighted in the IUCN guidelines for assisted colonization and include a completed risk assessment, clearly defined management plans and secured political as well as financial support. The advocacy of assisted colonization in response to anthropogenic global environmental changes was only weakly dependent on the geographic origin of the experts and their working background. Regarding possible risks, most of the respondents were concerned about consequences like failure of the long-term establishment of the translocated species and the transmission of diseases and invasiveness potentially endangering native biota. To keep these risks ...
The intensifying ecological devastation of the planet is being registered across scientific disciplines and activist, artistic, or more broadly cultural endeavours in ways that rethink the temporal dimensions of a catastrophe that can no longer be considered 'looming'. In many political contexts - trying to get scientists heard, mobilizing state power and international agreements to curb the extractivist rapaciousness of global capitalism - it might still seem essential to create a sense of urgency, of a rapidly closing interval, last chance, now or never. Yet taking stock not only of the planetary sum totals of global climate change but its present local manifestations, the devastations of neocolonial extractivism, the irreversible extinctions of countless species, destruction of ecotopes on land and in the sea, has produced a growing awareness that in many crucial senses, it is 'too late' - that the time can no longer be given as 'five minutes to midnight' but has moved a lot closer to the dead of night, whether this is being regarded primarily as a question of the cumulative loss of biodiversity as part of what is now known as the 'sixth mass extinction' or as the approach of several 'tipping points' of global climate change, such as the current ice sheet disintegrations in the polar regions, the greenhouse gas release triggered by the loss of permafrost, and irreversible desertifications. The complexion of ecology, over these last years, has turned from juicy green to dark and brittle. The most decisive recent interventions, while acknowledging the overwhelming pessimist thrust of ecological thought, have tried to use a more complex, more differentiated account of the temporality of environmental ruination in order to reflect on the diminished possibilities for life in these ruins while avoiding familiar registers both of science fiction dystopias and self-healing planets.
