It is believed that wildlife and livestock can coexist in semiarid savanna rangelands. However, this coexistence is threatened by intense competition for scarce, but nutritionally vital, forage resources. Specifically, there is evidence that grazing livestock seasonally compete for protein-rich forbs (non-grasses) with browsing and mixed-feeding wildlife. While this has been attributed to prote...

In this paper, we explore the role of wildlife in climate change adaptation, especially areas used predominantly for livestock production South Africa. Using a sample 3 449 and ranches, estimate multinomial choice model various ranching options these areas. The results indicate that mixed wildlife-livestock ranches are less vulnerable to when compared with only or livestock. However, given opti...

Like conservation-induced displacement, human-wildlife conlict (HWC) has potentially negative implications for communities in and around protected areas. While the ways in which displacement emerges from the creation of ‘wilderness’ conservation landscapes are well documented, how the production of ‘wilderness’ articulates with intensiications in HWC remains under examined both empirically and ...

of the prevalence and distribution of the infection in wildlife and livestock populations on the Zimbabwe side of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area is urgently needed. Control options in wildlife are limited (2,10), but chances of success are greater if control measures are initiated at the early stage of disease spread into a new area. Adequate risk-mitigation strategies should...

Zambia's estimated incidence of all forms of human tuberculosis (TB) is 707/100,000. High prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) - infection with Mycobacterium bovis - in cattle and the Kafue lechwe antelopes (Kobus leche Kafuensis) has been reported in the Kafue basin. Consumption of unpasteurised milk and meat products from infected animals poses a risk of transmitting zoonotic tuberculosis ...

Use of livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) to reduce predation on livestock is increasing. However, how these dogs influence the activity of wildlife, including predators, is not well understood. We used pellet counts and remote cameras to investigate the effects of free ranging LGDs on four large herbivores (eastern gray kangaroo, common wombat, swamp wallaby, and sambar deer) and one mesopredator ...

The global focus on wildlife as a major contributor to emerging pathogens and infectious diseases (EIDs) in humans and domestic animals is not based on field, experimental or dedicated research, but mostly on limited surveys of literature, opinion and the assumption that biodiversity harbours pathogens. The perceived and direct impacts of wildlife, from being a reservoir of certain human and li...

A decade after Romesburg admonished wildlife biologists to establish and test hypotheses to gain more "reliable knowledge," we have added an incentive to bring rigor to our science. Wildlife biologists are finding themselves defending their science against often savage criticism. At least 2 factors are central to producing solid, defendable science: (1) the rigorous application of scientific me...

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) causes disease outbreaks across Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in high morbidity and mortality among young domestic livestock, frequent abortions in pregnant animals, and potentially severe or fatal disease in humans. The possibility of RVFV spreading to the United States or other countries worldwide is of significant concern to animal and public heal...

1. Herbivores influence the structure and composition of terrestrial plant communities. However, responses of plant communities to herbivory are variable and depend on environmental conditions, herbivore identity and herbivore abundance. As anthropogenic impacts continue to drive large declines in wild herbivores, understanding the context dependence of herbivore impacts on plant communities be...