This research was done among communities living adjacent to Lake Victoria Shores in Mayuge District to generate knowledge on Shoebill, Grey Crowned Crane conservation status and linkage to livelihoods. This knowledge ...This research was done among communities living adjacent to Lake Victoria Shores in Mayuge District to generate knowledge on Shoebill, Grey Crowned Crane conservation status and linkage to livelihoods. This knowledge was necessary to guide design and implementation of interventions that would deliver on the species conservation and adjacent communities’ livelihood benefits at the same time. We obtained information through individual interviews with 101 members of households from targeted communities and key informers-technical officials from the district, and analysed this data using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) by Bryman and Cramer, (2011) Version 20. The results were then subjected to validation using focus group discussions with 10 groups of between 8 - 15 individuals representing the targeted communities and other stakeholders and the results from this further validated with ≥250 representatives of these stakeholders in a one day workshop and with evidences collected during field observations, before synthesis. The findings show: Grey Crowned Crane habitats declining due to mining, agriculture, fishing activities by adjacent communities for their livelihoods (food and income from sale of produce obtained from the species’ habitats). The communities say they need to be engaged in development and implementation of integrated interventions that will improve their livelihoods while securing conservation for Grey Crowned Cranes. They among others propose ecotourism enterprises, training and sensitization on environment and wildlife conservation practices, policies and laws to enhance their knowledge and compliance in management. The fisher folk say fish is often found within Grey Crowned Cranes’ habitats and breeding grounds in the Lake and to avoid destroying the habitats, they need engine boats and standard fishing nets to enable fishing far away in the deeper waters. Crop farming communities say they need commercial, soil fertility improving tree species to plant boundary to the buffer zones so that they can prevent cultivation encroachment on Grey Crowned Crane habitats in the Lake Shores. The findings also reveal need for Grey Crowned Crane population structure studies, and, that of shoebill presence to determine management strategies for their survival in habitats.展开更多
Climate change and human activities are increasingly linked with the extinction of species globally. In semi-arid regions, these pressures threaten the natural distribution and ecology of species. The threat that the ...Climate change and human activities are increasingly linked with the extinction of species globally. In semi-arid regions, these pressures threaten the natural distribution and ecology of species. The threat that the shea butter tree (<em>Vitellaria paradoxa</em> subsp. <em>nilotica</em>) faces from human activity is well researched yet the sensitivity of its distribution to climate change remains barely known. We set out to assess the potential distribution of <em>Vitellaria</em> under different climate change scenarios using a MaxEnt. A current distribution model was first developed using only biophysical variables of soil type, temperature, precipitation, land use type, and elevation. This model was then projected onto two global warming scenarios (RCP 4.5 & RCP 8.5) for 2050 and 2070 using multi-model averages (BCC-CSM, CSM4, and MIROC5) derived from three general circulation models. Reductions are seen in distribution area across the landscape with soil type being the most important variable. These results draw useful implications for conservation of <em>Vitellaria</em> in that they show how it is vulnerable is to a changing climate as its natural range is mostly reduced. Since climate change is important in the distribution of the shea butter tree, the areas with highest suitability in this study can be used in establishing the Shea butter tree sustainable use zones/area within the Kidepo Critical Landscape (KCL), Uganda.展开更多
Vegetative propagation by stem cutting is an important technique applied for agricultural production where rooting success is one of the major aspects. A study to assess the effects of mode of application of rooting h...Vegetative propagation by stem cutting is an important technique applied for agricultural production where rooting success is one of the major aspects. A study to assess the effects of mode of application of rooting hormones (IBA) on adventitious root formation of V. paradoxa stem cuttings was conducted. Accordingly, four application methods were investigated in a 4 × 3 factorial experiment using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The application methods were: 24-hour extended soak, foliar spraying, basal quick dip and delayed IBA application method. Thus, the parameters used to determine rooting success were mean root length and root number. The effect of these application methods on occurrence of bud break was also considered. On the whole, root length was observed to be a function of IBA concentration, whereby root length increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) with an increment in IBA concentration. Stem cuttings subjected to 24-h extended soak at 100 ppm rooted best (59.5% ± 8.33%), where as foliar sprayed stem cuttings exhibited the worst rooting success (11.9 ± 3.06 - 23.8% ± 4.16%). Bud break appeared to decrease with increasing IBA concentration and delaying IBA application enhanced rooting percentage of the quick dip method by 7.1%, 9.5% and 11.9% at 2500 ppm, 3500 ppm and 4500 ppm, respectively. The extended soak method of IBA application at 80 ppm shows potential for large scale production of V. paradoxa through stem cuttings.展开更多
Environmental management intervention benefits have been found to depend on beneficiaries’ unique socioeconomic-environmental factors and understanding these helps generate knowledge guidelines for designing, plannin...Environmental management intervention benefits have been found to depend on beneficiaries’ unique socioeconomic-environmental factors and understanding these helps generate knowledge guidelines for designing, planning and implementation of new interventions. The Ecosystems Alliance (EA) Project in Uganda’s Albertine Rift promoted interventions including, resource access from protected areas, monitoring oil companies’ compliance to set environmental standards, tree planting, lake bank restoration, bee keeping, hay for livestock feeding and cages to shelter communities from crocodiles for four years in Buliisa, Hoima and Kasese district, to, build management capacity of the local communities and institutions to remedy the region’s environment and natural resources which were declining. At the end of the project we interviewed 56 representatives of the project beneficiaries individually and obtained data on benefit level, factors underpinning and perceived livelihoods and environmental impacts of the interventions and used Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 16 (Bryman & Cramer, 2009) to generate percentages (%), correlations with p ≤ 0.05 considered as significant relationship on these. As results, ≥90% of respondents in districts benefited from EA project interventions. Beneficiaries perceived the interventions that enhanced their household incomes and this was especially important for those who were not educated (<em>p</em> = 0.01, for education level);the environment management capacity and this was especially important for women (<em>p</em> = 0.05, for sex) and for households of 4 - 6 members (<em>p</em> = 0.02 with family size);the reduced conflicts with wildlife and this was especially important for households with 4 - 6 members (<em>p</em> = 0.02) and for people who depended on wetlands/wildlife resources (<em>p</em> = 0.00 for both cases) among others. Among constraints to benefit, time of intervention and climatic conditions was especially important among crop farmers (<em>p</em> = 0.04 with occupation) while, intervention not meeting expectation was a factor among beneficiaries in the age group 18 - 31 and 61 - 70 years old (<em>p</em> = 0.01, for age). The respondents recommended future initiatives start with research to determine interventions that match their environment, priority and expectations and these are distributed equitably after prior information/expectation management and technical capacity building.展开更多
文摘This research was done among communities living adjacent to Lake Victoria Shores in Mayuge District to generate knowledge on Shoebill, Grey Crowned Crane conservation status and linkage to livelihoods. This knowledge was necessary to guide design and implementation of interventions that would deliver on the species conservation and adjacent communities’ livelihood benefits at the same time. We obtained information through individual interviews with 101 members of households from targeted communities and key informers-technical officials from the district, and analysed this data using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) by Bryman and Cramer, (2011) Version 20. The results were then subjected to validation using focus group discussions with 10 groups of between 8 - 15 individuals representing the targeted communities and other stakeholders and the results from this further validated with ≥250 representatives of these stakeholders in a one day workshop and with evidences collected during field observations, before synthesis. The findings show: Grey Crowned Crane habitats declining due to mining, agriculture, fishing activities by adjacent communities for their livelihoods (food and income from sale of produce obtained from the species’ habitats). The communities say they need to be engaged in development and implementation of integrated interventions that will improve their livelihoods while securing conservation for Grey Crowned Cranes. They among others propose ecotourism enterprises, training and sensitization on environment and wildlife conservation practices, policies and laws to enhance their knowledge and compliance in management. The fisher folk say fish is often found within Grey Crowned Cranes’ habitats and breeding grounds in the Lake and to avoid destroying the habitats, they need engine boats and standard fishing nets to enable fishing far away in the deeper waters. Crop farming communities say they need commercial, soil fertility improving tree species to plant boundary to the buffer zones so that they can prevent cultivation encroachment on Grey Crowned Crane habitats in the Lake Shores. The findings also reveal need for Grey Crowned Crane population structure studies, and, that of shoebill presence to determine management strategies for their survival in habitats.
文摘Climate change and human activities are increasingly linked with the extinction of species globally. In semi-arid regions, these pressures threaten the natural distribution and ecology of species. The threat that the shea butter tree (<em>Vitellaria paradoxa</em> subsp. <em>nilotica</em>) faces from human activity is well researched yet the sensitivity of its distribution to climate change remains barely known. We set out to assess the potential distribution of <em>Vitellaria</em> under different climate change scenarios using a MaxEnt. A current distribution model was first developed using only biophysical variables of soil type, temperature, precipitation, land use type, and elevation. This model was then projected onto two global warming scenarios (RCP 4.5 & RCP 8.5) for 2050 and 2070 using multi-model averages (BCC-CSM, CSM4, and MIROC5) derived from three general circulation models. Reductions are seen in distribution area across the landscape with soil type being the most important variable. These results draw useful implications for conservation of <em>Vitellaria</em> in that they show how it is vulnerable is to a changing climate as its natural range is mostly reduced. Since climate change is important in the distribution of the shea butter tree, the areas with highest suitability in this study can be used in establishing the Shea butter tree sustainable use zones/area within the Kidepo Critical Landscape (KCL), Uganda.
文摘Vegetative propagation by stem cutting is an important technique applied for agricultural production where rooting success is one of the major aspects. A study to assess the effects of mode of application of rooting hormones (IBA) on adventitious root formation of V. paradoxa stem cuttings was conducted. Accordingly, four application methods were investigated in a 4 × 3 factorial experiment using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The application methods were: 24-hour extended soak, foliar spraying, basal quick dip and delayed IBA application method. Thus, the parameters used to determine rooting success were mean root length and root number. The effect of these application methods on occurrence of bud break was also considered. On the whole, root length was observed to be a function of IBA concentration, whereby root length increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) with an increment in IBA concentration. Stem cuttings subjected to 24-h extended soak at 100 ppm rooted best (59.5% ± 8.33%), where as foliar sprayed stem cuttings exhibited the worst rooting success (11.9 ± 3.06 - 23.8% ± 4.16%). Bud break appeared to decrease with increasing IBA concentration and delaying IBA application enhanced rooting percentage of the quick dip method by 7.1%, 9.5% and 11.9% at 2500 ppm, 3500 ppm and 4500 ppm, respectively. The extended soak method of IBA application at 80 ppm shows potential for large scale production of V. paradoxa through stem cuttings.
文摘Environmental management intervention benefits have been found to depend on beneficiaries’ unique socioeconomic-environmental factors and understanding these helps generate knowledge guidelines for designing, planning and implementation of new interventions. The Ecosystems Alliance (EA) Project in Uganda’s Albertine Rift promoted interventions including, resource access from protected areas, monitoring oil companies’ compliance to set environmental standards, tree planting, lake bank restoration, bee keeping, hay for livestock feeding and cages to shelter communities from crocodiles for four years in Buliisa, Hoima and Kasese district, to, build management capacity of the local communities and institutions to remedy the region’s environment and natural resources which were declining. At the end of the project we interviewed 56 representatives of the project beneficiaries individually and obtained data on benefit level, factors underpinning and perceived livelihoods and environmental impacts of the interventions and used Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 16 (Bryman & Cramer, 2009) to generate percentages (%), correlations with p ≤ 0.05 considered as significant relationship on these. As results, ≥90% of respondents in districts benefited from EA project interventions. Beneficiaries perceived the interventions that enhanced their household incomes and this was especially important for those who were not educated (<em>p</em> = 0.01, for education level);the environment management capacity and this was especially important for women (<em>p</em> = 0.05, for sex) and for households of 4 - 6 members (<em>p</em> = 0.02 with family size);the reduced conflicts with wildlife and this was especially important for households with 4 - 6 members (<em>p</em> = 0.02) and for people who depended on wetlands/wildlife resources (<em>p</em> = 0.00 for both cases) among others. Among constraints to benefit, time of intervention and climatic conditions was especially important among crop farmers (<em>p</em> = 0.04 with occupation) while, intervention not meeting expectation was a factor among beneficiaries in the age group 18 - 31 and 61 - 70 years old (<em>p</em> = 0.01, for age). The respondents recommended future initiatives start with research to determine interventions that match their environment, priority and expectations and these are distributed equitably after prior information/expectation management and technical capacity building.
