In: Biological Conservation, 2020, vol. 241, p. 108326
Pastoralism is spreading in Central Africa, where many protected areas are under consideration to be opened for grazing, in particular hunting zones. Here we document the loss of biodiversity followed by an influx of transhumant pastoralism into previously uninhabited and virtually pristine habitat in the Central African Republic. Our track count and camera trap surveys of 2012, 2016 and...
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In: African Journal of Ecology, 2018, vol. 56, no. 2, p. 194–201
One of the largest of antelopes, Derby eland (Taurotragus derbianus), is an important ecosystem component of African savannah. While the western subspecies is Critically Endangered, the eastern subspecies is classified as least concern. Our study presents the first investigation of population dynamics of the Derby eland in the Chinko/Mbari Drainage Basin, Central African Republic, and...
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In: Biological Conservation, 2017, vol. 213, no. Part A, p. 84–94
Vast, pristine ecosystems and their biodiversity are vanishing globally at frightening speed, but many large tracts of wilderness have not yet been systematically inventoried and important natural populations of threatened species remain poorly characterized. The forest-savanna ecotone of the Eastern Central African Republic (CAR) is one such poorly studied area. Using camera traps, transect...
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In: Ecology and Evolution, 2017, vol. 7, no. 5, p. 1572–1582
The presence of predators can impact a variety of organisms within the ecosystem, including microorganisms. Because the effects of fish predators and their phenotypic differences on microbial communities have not received much attention, we tested how the presence/absence, genotype, and plasticity of the predatory three-spine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) influence aquatic microbes in...
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In: Current Biology, 2016, vol. 26, no. 4, p. 483–489
Differences in how organisms modify their environment can evolve rapidly and might influence adaptive population divergence [1 and 2]. In a common garden experiment in aquatic mesocosms, we found that adult stickleback from a recently diverged pair of lake and stream populations had contrasting effects on ecosystem metrics. These modifications were caused by both genetic and plastic...
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