Female and male visually based mate preferences are consistent with reproductive isolation between populations of the Lake Malawi endemic Labeotropheus fuelleborni

Sexual selection via female mate choice is thought to have played a key role in the speciation ofhaplochromine cichlids, but a dominant role for visual signals in such processes has lately been called into question. In addition, the possible role of male mating preferences in haplochromine speciation has been little studied. We studied patterns of both female and male mate choice, based exclusively on visual signals, in order to evaluate potential reproductive isolation between two populations of the Lake Malawi haplochromine Labeotropheus fuelleborni. In the first experiment, females were allowed to choose between two males, one from the same population and the other allopatric with respect to the female. Females in this experiment responded more frequently to males from their own population. Similarly, the males in these trials displayed more frequently when presented with females of their own population. In the second experiment, a female was allowed to choose between two males, either both from her own population or both allopatric. In these trials, both males and females from the Katale population interacted significantly more frequently in settings in which all three individuals were from the same population （＂same-population trios＂）, and those from the Chipoka population showed a similar trend. Thus, patterns in both male and female courtship behavior suggest that visual signals contribute to at least incipient reproductive isolation between populations of L. fuelleborni [Current Zoology 56 （ 1 ）： 65-72 2010].

A qualitative study of childbirth fear and preparation among primigravid women:The blind spot of antenatal care in Lilongwe,Malawi

Objectives:This study aimed to explore childbirth fear and childbirth preparation among primigravid women in the late pregnancy from 36 to 40 weeks gestation.Methods:We purposively recruited 18 primigravid women into in-depth interviews,21 birth companions,and 13 health workers into focus group discussions.Participants were recruited from two community hospitals'maternity waiting homes in Lilongwe,Malawi.Semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data that were analyzed using content analysis.NVivo11 computer software was used to organize the data.Results:The four categories developed were:"ambivalent pregnancy feelings","dependence on traditional childbirth counseling","inadequate prenatal childbirth instruction"and"inconsistent roles of a birth companion".The findings suggest that primigravid women who were mainly exposed to traditional childbirth mentoring rather than professional care providers,experienced childbirth fear,and lacked proper psychosocial childbirth preparation.Conclusions:Childbirth fear among primigravid women emanate from personal;family;ineffective traditional counseling;and inadequate antenatal childbirth instruction.Birth companions may increase childbirth stress.However,our findings highlight birth companions as readily available psychosocial support resources among primigravid women.We recommend that professional childbirth instruction during antenatal care should be strengthened to surpass traditional childbirth counseling.Appropriateness and effectiveness of birth companions need to be carefully assessed.

Assessment of Informal Cross-Border Fish Trade in the Southern Africa Region： A Case of Malawi and Zambia

lntra-regional fish trade has potential in addressing the region＇s food and nutrition insecurity, as well as poverty reduction, by enabling movement of fish from countries of surplus to those with deficit. However, informal fish trade, just like all informal economic activities, has been overlooked and neglected in many national and regional policies, leading to obscurity of such an important part of the fisheries sector. This study examined the situation in the cross-border informal fish trade in order to deepen our understanding about the traders, the factors influencing the traders to use informal trade channels, the structure of the products traded and the challenges traders face, as well as propose policy direction to enhance the cross-border fish trade in the Southern Africa region. The study revealed that female traders dominated informal fish trade. In both Malawi and Zambia, an estimated 45,285.52 metric tonnes of fish valued at 82.14 million dollars and 102,263.9 metric tolmes of fish valued at 3.3 million dollars were informally traded. The key species involved in informal cross-border trade in Malawi and Zambia were the small pelagics, usipa （Engraulicypris sardella） from Lake Malawi and dagaa （Rastrineobola argentea） from Lake Tanganyika, respectively. It emerged from focus group discussions with informal fish traders and key informants＇ interviews with border post fish inspection and revenue collection officials that traders are put off by the cross-border regulations. Therefore, it is important for countries in the Southern African Development Community （SADC） region to regularize and formalize cross-border trade, particularly in small pelagic fish species, since this species plays a great role in the livelihoods, food and nutrition security of many people in the region, especially the rural and urban poor. It is also important for governments to support processors and traders to improve the quality of fish being traded, and decentralize issuing of the import/export certificates and other cross-border support documents. Lastly, there is a need to establish informal fish trade monitoring systems to adequately quantify the volumes traded.

Stability of Mbuna Species Populations in Lake Malawi

The first comprehensive study of abundance, richness and distribution of Mbuna in Lake Malawi was carried out in the 1980s. The present study examined changes of species richness and abundance of Mbuna with time. Most sites demarcated during the 1980s survey were explored in order to determine changes in abundance and composition of Mbuna over a period of more than 20 years Chi-square analysis revealed significant difference （p 〈 0.05） in abundance of Mbuna between 1983 and 2005 with the exception of Chinyankhwazi and Chinyamwezi where the difference was not significant （p 〉 0.05）. Cluster analysis showed changes in species composition between 1983 and 2005 in various sites. Generally, there were more species lost in a given area than new species observed in 2005. Decline in Mbuna species richness might have been caused by siltation, harvesting of Mbuna for food and ornamental fish trade while new species were mostly introduced through translocation from one part of the lake to another.

Democratic Constitution and Ethnic Organizations in Malawi： Preserving Good Culture or Promoting, Regionalism, Nepotism and Tribalism

Due to the advent of the 1994 democratic constitution particularly sections 32 and 33 which provide for every person＇s right to freedom of conscience, religion, belief and thought, and also to academic freedom Malawi has significantly witnessed mushroom development of tribal organizations, aiming at preserving and protecting local religious beliefs and cultural practices. The Chewa Heritage Foundation （CHEFO） and the Muhlako wa Alhomwe （MWA） are among the well-known numerous ethnic organizations through which the traditional beliefs, cultural and religious practices enjoy significant respect from Chewa and Lhomwe people. Although the new Constitution has cleared a road for the establishment of these ethnic organizations, it seems activities of all ethnic associations are significantly promoting tribalism and nepotism, in addition to being used as campaign tools by political parties. This article intends to critically assess and evaluate the role and the impact of the Chewa Heritage Foundation and Muhlako wa Alhomwe on rule of law, govemance and culture in Malawi. The following question will guide the discussion： Why are the Chewa Heritage Foundation and Mulhako wa Alhomwe cultural associations while exercising their constitutional rights promoting tribalism, regionalism and nepotism and used as campaign machinery by both opposition and ruling political parties？ Its hypothesis is, in spite of preserving protecting cultural practices as guaranteed in constitution, tribal organizations need to be watchful so that they should not promote tribalism, nepotism and being used as campaign tools by crooked and opportunist politicians.

Goat Marketing Systems and Channels in Selected Markets of Lilongwe District in Malawi

A household survey was carried out in Central Malawi to evaluate the goat marketing structure and systems in the rural areas using Nsundwe and Nkhoma areas in Lilongwe District as a case study. The analysis focused on identifying marketing systems of goats in Malawi by investigating the role of goats in an average Malawian rural household and how the current goat marketing systems affects that role. Goats play important role in Malawian rural households by way of providing food, income and as a capital reserve to be used in times critical times of food scarcity. The findings indicate that there is potential for goats to generate more income for the rural farmers, which can in turn help to improve household food security. The marketing system however apparently does not favour the farmers. The farmers seem not to know goat prices beyond the rural markets and hence have inadequate negotiating power to sell at optimum prices. Middlemen bought from farmers and finally sold the goats to urban consumers and retail shops. From the analysis, middlemen seemed to control the goat marketing system. Urban butchers sold the goats at 58% more than the value of farmers while retail shops sold at 137% more than the value of farmers. The differences reflect value-adding activities done at butchers and retail shops levels as well as transportation costs and profit margins. Though farmers may not engage in value adding, the finding implies that they would fetch more money if they supplied directly to the retail shops than to the middlemen. With access to more market information, they could also increase their bargaining power information with middlemen and sell the goats at relatively higher prices than the current. This paper details the results of the study.

Species Richness, Spatial Distribution and Abundance of Mbuna in Lake Malawi

Studies were carried out to determine species richness and abundance of rock-dwelling cichlids, Mbuna, in Lake Malawi. A total of 40 heterogeneous sites which yielded 10 genera, 136 species and a species-genus ratio of 13.6, were surveyed by scuba diving in transects laid at six depths on each site. Species diversity and abundance were generally high in the rocky bottom habitats with a general trend of the two variables decreasing with depth, except at Likoma and Chizumulu Islands where they increased with increasing depth. This was due to dominant species inhabiting water depths of 10 to 15 m. Relative abundance was generally low in all the sites where few species had relative abundance of more than 10%. The same was applied to relative site frequency; more than 60% of the species were rare with relative site frequency of less than 10%. These low estimates support the fact that most of the Mbuna species are endemic within localities in the lake. Southern part of the lake has lower abundance and richness of Mbuna with the exception of islands compared to the northern part of the lake. This is explained by high prevalence of sandy and muddy lake bottom in the south as opposed to rocky bottom in the north.

Assessment of Payment for Ecosystem Services in Zomba Mountain Forest Catchment Area, Malawi

The emergence of Payment for Ecosystem Services （PES） concept has raised expectations that ecosystem conservation can be achieved through popular payments rather than through unpopular measures of command and control. A study on PES was conducted in Zomba Mountain Forest （ZMF） catchment area in southern Malawi between August and December 2009. The aim was to assess stakeholders＇ role that would promote payment for ecosystem services as a management tool. A purposive sampling was used to identify the respondents who were randomly sampled for interviews. The findings show that PES can be used as a management tool in ZMF as there are key stakeholders who benefit from the catchment area in terms of services. While there is moderate level of PES awareness among the community and other stakeholders, the current forest policy does not address PES which may derail implementation of a fully fledged PES arrangement. The study revealed that existing management challenges originate from inadequate funding that ZMF Reserve gets from government. However, this challenge offers opportunities to stakeholders through PES to contribute and participate in conserving ZMF for sustained flow of benefits.

3eta Diversity of Mbuna in Lake Malawi

Molecular and field studies suggest that Mbuna have limited migration range and are restricted by habitat discontinuities especially in areas where rocky habitats are separated by stretches of sand. This study estimated regional diversity of Mbuna in Lake Malawi. The estimated fl-diversity for all sites was 114.5 Mbuna suggesting that there was high level of allopatrism for the species complex. Sympatric index was low in the two regions of southern and northern lake and the observed high-end richness strongly correlated with minimum species richness. The sympatric index for the whole lake was 0.8, with non-monotypic species complexes showing declining values of sympatric index and the decline was dependent on the geographical scale of the area covered. The northern region sites had mean habitat ranking of 84.5% while the southern sites had habitat ranking of 56.7% supporting the observation that there are more rocky habitats in the northern part of the lake than in the southern. Implications of habitat ranking are discussed in terms of species abundance and richness.

The Status of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus （HIV） Infection among Youth Aged 15-24 Years in Malawi and Kenya

HIV （Human Immuno-deficiency Virus） prevalence in Malawi is one of the highest in the world, with 10.3% of population living with HIV. Kenya has a prevalence rate of 6% and with 1.6 million people living with HIV infection. The broad objective of the study was to assess the proportion of youth aged 15-24 years affected by HIV in Malawi and Kenya. This was a descriptive study design. Data were mainly collected from reports from government, World Bank, World Health Organization and UN agencies. Graphs, tables and charts have been used to present statistics. Data for specific age cohort were hard to find and hence, data were used for general HIV and AIDS with special attention to the youth where possible. In Kenya, HIV prevalence among young women jumps three folds from 2.8% of 15-17 year olds to 8.3% among 23-24 year olds. In Malawi, around 2,100 young people and adolescents are infected with HIV every day. In 2013, four million young people aged 15-24 were living with HIV, with 29% aged under 19 years. This age group includes school going youths, newly employed, economically productive and sexually active group. HIV prevalence in Malawi has been declining over time among persons aged 15-19 years from 16.4% in 1999 to 11.8 % in 2004 to 10.6% in 2010 and 10.3% in 2016. However, in Kenya, the trend of HIV prevalence reached its peak of 10.55% in 1995-1996 after which it declined to 6.7% in 2003 and has been stable since then.

Harnessing the Potential of Community Radio in Empowering Rural Women in Malawi

This paper examines the extent to which community radio has the empowering and transformation potential. It draws on Nkhotakota community radio station in Malawi to analyze how community radio can empower women especially in rural areas. Although the whole of the rural population can be considered as marginalized, women are the most affected as they face marginalization in the family and village setting. Based on the data drawn from semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, and participant observation, the paper observes that inequality and high illiteracy rate are the major hindrances among rural women which prevent them from accessing information necessary for their improvement. This paper argues that community radio has the potential to empower women in rural areas by providing them with access to information necessary to empower and transform their lives and enable them to participate in development activities.

Reproductive Seasonality of Opsaridium microlepis （Mpasa） in the Linthipe River in Central Malawi

Opsaridium microlepis migrates for spawning during the rainy season （November to May） to major affluent rivers. Linthipe River is one of the major rivers, into which this species migrates. Determination of reproductive seasonality of O. microlepis is paramount in the improved management of this endangered species. Reproductive seasonality ofO. microlepis in the Linthipe River in Central Malawi was estimated using 546 specimens for 12 months. The GSI （Gonadosomatic Index） ranged between 5.6% and 13% for females and between 0.3% and 1.4% for males, respectively. GSI variation between the months was significantly different （one-way ANOVA （analysis of variance）, P 〈 0.05）. The peak breeding activity was observed between January to April. This was at the onset of rainy season while the condition factor of O. microlepis was found to be variable with lowest value in the month of August. The study revealed that for O. microlepis fishery to be sustainably exploited, proper management regimes should be instituted along the migratory rivers during the peak breeding periods. These sustainable methods need to be managed in a participatory manner together with the majority of people living along these rivers.

Modelling Distribution of Under-Five Child Diarrhoea across Malawi

Analysis of diarrhoea data in Malawi has been commonly done using classical methods. However, different approaches, such as Bayesian methods, have been introduced in literature. This study aimed at trying out semi-parametric methods in comparison with classical ones, as well as how each isolates risk factors for child diarrhoea. This was done by fitting Logit, Poisson, and Bayesian models to 2006 Malawi Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data. The comparison between Logit and Poisson models was done via chi-square＇s goodness-of-fit test. Confidence and Credible Intervals were used to compare Logit/Poisson and Bayesian model estimates. Modelling and inference in Bayesian method was done through MCMC techniques. The results showed agreement in significance and direction of estimates from Bayesian and Poisson/Logit models, but Poisson provided better fit than Logit model. Further, all the models identified child＇s age, breastfeeding status, region of stay and toilet-sharing status as significant factors for determining the child＇s risk. The models ruled out effects of mother＇s education, area of residence, and source of drinking water on the risk. Bayesian model separately proved significant closeness to lake/river factor. The findings imply that classical and semi-parametric models are equally helpful when estimating the child＇s risk to diarrhoea.

Performance Analysis of Battery Based Stand-Alone Solar Home Systems in Malawi

Battery based standalone SHS （solar home systems） are installed in Malawi to expedite rural electrification. A study was conducted to analyze the performance of SHS in low and high insolation areas of Malawi. It is found that if the system is designed in accordance to procedures stipulated in Malawi standards, then it is capable of operating annually with mean performance ratio of 0.68, PV array production factor of 0.88 and system efficiency of 78% indicating a good system performance. The system is more reliable in high insulation areas （loss of load probability = 0.09） and when the battery charging is given priority during daytime, the overall system＇s reliability is improved by 40%. However, if the system is under-designed its performance ratio is reduced considerably and the system becomes less reliable. In overall, SHS in Malawi perform reliably if the system is well designed and maintained.

Distribution Pattern of Vascular Plant Species of Mountains in Nepal and their Fate Against Global Warming

This study aims to find the altitudinal distribution pattern of vascular plant species reported from high mountain of Nepal(Manang) along the whole Himalayan elevation gradient, and evaluate their fate against climate change. Data was gathered from multiple sources, field investigations, literatures, and herbarium specimens. Altogether, 303 vascular plant species were reported from Manang. We used a published data to calculate distribution range of each species by interpolating between its upper and lower elevation limits. The relationship between elevation and species richness is elucidated by generalized linear model. The consequence of global warming upon Manang's vascular plant species was estimated based on projected temperature change for next century and adiabatic lapse rate along the elevation gradient of the Himalayas. The vascular plant species richness has a unimodel relationship with elevation along the whole elevation gradient of Nepal as well as in three biogeographical regions of Nepal. Vascular plants of Manang are found distributed from low land Terai to high alpine regions of Nepal and their elevation distribution range varies from 200 to 4700 m. Out of 303 vascular plants of Manang, only seven species might be affected if temperature increase by 1.5°C, whereas at least 70 species will be affected with 5°C temperature increased. However, the majority of species(233 species) have wider distribution range(> 1000 m) and more than 5°C temperature tolerance range, thus they are likely to be less affected from global warming by the end of 21 st century.

Traditional Agrodiversity Management:A Case Study of Central Himalayan Village Ecosystem

Environmental, biological, socio-cultural and economic status variation existing in the Central Himalaya have led to the evolution of diverse and unique traditional agroecosystems, crop species and livestock, which facilitate the traditional mountain farming societies to sustain themselves. Indigenous agroecosystems are highly site specific and differ from place to place, as they have evolved along divergent lines. For maintenance of traditional agrodiversity management the farmers of the Central Himalaya have evolved various types of crop rotations in consonance with the varied environmental conditions and agronomic requirements. In irrigated fiat lands two crops are harvested in a year with negligible fallow period but in rainfed conditions if a cropping sequence is presumed to be starting after winter fallow phase then four major cropping seasons can be identified namely first kharif season （first crop season）, first rabi season （second crop season）, second kharif season （third crop season） and second rabi season （fourth crop season）. Highest crop diversity is present in kharif season in comparison to rabi season. Traditionally the fields are left fallow after harvest of the second kharif season crop. Important characteristics of agrodiversity management are the use of bullocks for draughtpower, human energy as labour, crop residues as animal feed and animal waste mixed with forest litter as organic input to restore soil fertility levels. Women provide most of the human labour except for ploughing and threshing grain. The present study deals with assessment of traditional agrodiversity management such as （i） crop diversity, （ii） realized yield under the traditional practices and （iii） assess the differences of realized yields under sole and mixed cropping systems. It indicated that crop rotation is an important feature of the Central Himalayan village ecosystem which helps to continue the diversity of species grown, as are the distribution of crops in the growing period and the management of soil fertility. The cropping diversity existing and the sequences practiced by the traditional farmers seems to have achieved high degree of specialization and thus even when the yield/biomass variations are about 6o%, the farmers continue to practice these sequences as they need to maintain diversity and synergistic relationships of crops in addition to manage the food and labour requirements for crop husbandry. Crop yields are generally higher in irrigated systems than rainfed systems and in sole cropping as compared with mixed cropping. However, gross biological and economic yields are higher in mixed cropping than sole cropping systems.