Do people migrate toward parks, and if so, why? These long-standing questions in conservation are especially important in tropical regions. It is there that rural human populations intersect with some of the world's greatest biodiversity, and protected areas are often the last line of defense in the fight to slow species extinctions. Detailed case studies have been the predominant source of insight into these issues, yet there has been a recent push for larger-scale analyses. Here we address the insufficiency of global datasets for answering global people-park questions. More than ever, it is of utmost importance that scientists get the correct answers when working at the intersection of human welfare and biodiversity conservation. Successful conservation of tropical biodiversity depends upon it.

Landscapes surrounding protected areas, while still containing considerable biodiversity, have rapidly growing human populations and associated agricultural development in most of the developing world that tend to isolate them, potentially reducing their conservation value. Using field studies and multi-temporal Landsat imagery, we examine a forest park, Kibale National Park in western Uganda, its changes over time, and related land cover change in the surrounding landscape. We find Kibale has successfully defended its borders and prevents within-park deforestation and other land incursions, and has maintained tree cover throughout the time period of the study. Outside the park there was a significant increase in tea plantations and continued forest fragmentation and wetland loss. The question of whether the park is a conservation success because of the network of forest fragments and wetlands or in spite of them remains unanswered.

The persistence of wide-ranging mammals such as Asian elephants in fragmented landscapes requires extending conservation efforts into human-dominated landscapes around protected areas. Understanding how elephants use such landscapes may help facilitate their movements and reduce conflict incidence. We studied elephants' use of fragmented habitats and ranging patterns of focal herds in a landscape of rainforest fragments embedded in tea, coffee, and Eucalyptus plantations in the Anamalai Hills. Elephant herds entering this landscape were tracked daily between April 2002 and March 2006, resulting in 985 GPS locations of herds obtained across six major habitats. Natural vegetation in rainforest fragments and riparian habitats, despite low coverage in the landscape, was preferred by elephants during the day. At night, elephants preferred riparian vegetation, avoided other habitats such as swamps and settlements, while the remaining habitats were used proportional to availability. Use of rainforest fragments and riparian vegetation increased over three years of study with a corresponding decline in the use of tea monoculture. Among plantation habitats, coffee, and Eucalyptus were used significantly more during wet and dry seasons, respectively. The concentration of elephants along a major riparian system in the center of the landscape emphasized the role of water and food availability in habitat use during the dry season. Protection of rainforest fragments, secondary vegetation along rivers, and regulated and sequential felling (instead of clear-felling) of Eucalyptus along elephant movement routes will help retain forage, cover, and passage routes of elephant herds and may reduce direct human-elephant encounters in such fragmented landscapes.

Animais medicinais constituem uma parte integral da Medicina Popular Brasileira tanto em áreas urbanas quanto rurais. Não obstante, embora o uso de animais medicinais represente um importante componente da medicina tradicional tem sido pouco estudado quando comparado às plantas medicinais. O presente trabalho apresenta uma revisão sobre os invertebrados medicinais. Os resultados revelam que pelo menos 81 espécies de invertebrados de cinco grupos taxonômicos diferentes são usados para tratamento de diferentes doenças no Brasil. Os grupos com maior número de espécies foram insetos (n=41 espécies), moluscos (n=17) e crustáceos (n=16). Esses resultados evidenciam a importância dos invertebrados medicinais como alternativa terapěutica. Alguns dos animais medicinais comercializados constam em listas de espécies ameaçadas, evidenciando a necessidade premente de se considerar a zooterapia dentro do contexto da conservação da biodiversidade no Brasil. Ações conservacionistas, não devem ser direcionadas apenas às espécies ameaçadas, mas também a espécies cujo uso seja amplamente disseminado no país. Além dos aspectos biológicos, os fatores econômicos e socioculturais influenciam a relação das pessoas e a utilização de recursos zooterápicos. A necessidade de novos estudos, sobre a fauna medicinal do Brasil é evidente, visando a busca de uma melhor compreensão desta forma de terapia, levando em consideração não só os seus aspectos ecológicos, mas também cultural e farmacológicos.

L'étude de l'effectif, de la structure en classes d'âges et des mouvements de Hippopotamus amphibius a été conduite dans la Réserve de Biosphère de la Mare aux Hippopotames au Burkina Faso. Pendant 3 années d'affilée (2006, 2007 et 2008), des prospections et des inventaires de terrain ont été menés à l'intérieur et à la lisière de la réserve. Les résultats des inventaires ont permis de dénombrer 41 hippopotames en 2008 contre 35 tětes en 2006, répartis en 3 troupeaux distincts. La structure en classes d'âges de cette population était de 32 adultes, 5 subadultes et 4 juvéniles. L'emplacement de leurs aires de repos dans la mare variait suivant le niveau de l'eau. L'inventaire a identifié 8 sites de sorties, sur chaque rive de la mare, utilisées par les hippopotames pour se rendre dans les gagnages. De měme, la prospection de la réserve a identifié 4 mares temporaires situées à proximité des prairies aquatiques qui constituaient des zones de migration où les hippopotames se réfugiaient pendant la saison pluvieuse. Ces zones étaient entourées par des champs qui étaient souvent saccagés par ces mammifères pour leur alimentation. Il est urgent de négocier un zonage de l'activité agricole et de conférer un statut particulier de conservation à ces 4 sites afin de minimiser les conflits homme-hippopotame. Les récentes actions de surveillance menées en partenariat avec les communautés locales ont probablement permis l'accroissement de l'effectif de 6 hippopotames en 3 ans.

Cuba is one of the richest places in malacological fauna in the world, especially in land snails, hosting a high degree of endemism. A study on the distribution of freshwater molluscs that occur within the limits of protected areas was carried out. The objective was to determine the status of the endemic species and the potential threats of introduced snails. It was found that the inclusion of freshwater molluscs is not a criterion for proposing protected areas no matter how ecologically important they actually can be. A total of 42 species of freshwater molluscs occur in Cuba, but only 24 exist in the National System of Protected Areas. More critical is the fact that of the 10 Cuban endemics, three are not protected and the distribution data on all of them are not abundant. Introduced species such as Tarebia granifera and Melanoides tuberculata are spread throughout the country and might be a threat for endemics and other native snails. Data on the distribution of endemic molluscs is presented and the role of some introduced/invasive species is discussed.

Las principales amenazas para el orden Primates son la fragmentación y alteración de su hábitat, la cacería local y el comercio ilegal. Tales amenazas obligan a hacer una planificación adecuada para la conservación de los primates mediante la identificación de áreas de prioridad basadas en patrones de riqueza y rareza a partir de modelos de distribución potencial. En el presente trabajo se predijo la distribución potencial de 22 especies del orden Primates presentes en Bolivia mediante un modelo predictivo, Maxent. El modelo proporcionó una distribución inferida mediante 1200 registros de presencia correlacionados con variables ambientales, y confirmamos dicha distribución por medio del estadístico ROC/AUC. Se identificaron como áreas potenciales de conservación el noroeste del Departamento de Pando donde se encuentra la mayor diversidad de especies, incluyendo aquellas con un alto índice de rareza como Callimico goeldii, Cebuella pygmaea y Saguinus imperator, y al oeste del Departamento de Beni donde están presentes las dos especies de primates endémicas de Bolivia: Callicebus olallae y Callicebus modestus.

We analyzed the species composition and abundance of birds and mammals at a fruiting hemi-epiphytic fig (Ficus caulocarpa) in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia. Observations were conducted for 32 hours over five days. Forty-four species of birds and three mammal species were recorded. Of these, 28 birds and 2 mammals fed on the figs. In addition, nine species of insectivorous or omnivorous birds that did not feed on the figs were observed foraging in the tree, presumably on the large quantities of fig wasps produced. Inter- and intra-specific aggression was also observed among the species foraging in the tree. Overall the assemblage of large birds, such as hornbills, and mammals was poor, which seems to be due to the small size of the figs (<6 mm diameter) rather than a scarcity of these animals in the area. In contrast, the diversity of smaller bird species, especially the Pycnonotidae (Bulbuls) which comprised 13 species and 68% of visits, was high. Our results suggest fig-frugivore interactions may be more finely structured than reports from other, less pristine sites in Asia have indicated. Moreover, 34% of the birds observed are threatened or more severely endangered. We suggest that planting of hemi-epiphytic fig seedlings could be used to enhance the conservation value of small reserves and degraded forests, and that observations at fruiting figs could be used as an efficient method for assessing how well reserves are protected.