Abstract Scavenger communities are strongly shaped by competition for spatially and temporally variable food resources. This study investigated intra- and inter-specific interactions of Hooded Vultures ( Necrosyrtes monachus ) and Marabou Storks ( Leptoptilos crumenifer ) in urban and peri-urban feeding sites in Uganda. Behavioural observations were conducted at abattoirs and dumpsites and interaction rates were compared between food types (fresh bones vs cow dung). Generalised linear models (GLMs) with negative binomial error structures were used to assess the effects of environmental variables and group composition on abundance and aggression, while logistic regression was applied to determine factors influencing the probability of winning aggressive encounters. Hooded Vulture abundance was primarily influenced by food availability variables, particularly mean number of animals slaughtered per day and organic refuse. Intra-specific aggression increased significantly with group size and was higher at bone feeding sites, with a strong density-dependent effect confirmed by a positive relationship between group size and interaction frequency. Inter-specific interactions were driven by both Hooded Vulture and Marabou abundance, with stronger effects associated with Marabous. Marabou Storks dominated encounters, winning 93.4% of interactions and showing significantly higher competitive success. Overall, our results demonstrate that food quality and group size strongly structure competitive interactions, highlighting the role of anthropogenic food sources in shaping scavenger behaviour and community dynamics.

While bats are tremendously important to global ecosystems, they have been and continue to be threatened by loss of habitat, food, or roosts, pollution, bat diseases, hunting and killing. Some bat species have also been implicated in the transmission of infectious disease agents to humans. While One Health efforts have been ramped up recently to educate and protect human and bat health, such initiatives have been limited by lack of adequate data on the pathways to ensure their support. For instance, data on the role of bats in supporting different components of human welfare assets would be utilized as a stepping stone to champion conservation campaigns. Unfortunately, these data are limited and efforts to synthesize existing literature have majorly focused on few components human welfare leaving other important aspects. Here, we analyze benefits associated with bats in the context of welfare economics considering all the asset components. We surveyed scientific and gray literature platforms utilizing particular keywords. We then classified these values using integrated approaches to understand different values across human welfare assets of “health,” “material and immaterial assets,” “security or safety” and “social or cultural or spiritual relations”. We found 235 papers from different countries indicating that bats play fundamental roles in supporting human welfare. These benefits were more prevalent in Asia and Africa. In terms of the use of bats to support welfare assets, bats were majorly utilized to derive material and immaterial benefits (n = 115), e.g., food and income. This was followed by their use in addressing health challenges (n = 99), e.g., treatment of ailments. There was a similarity in the benefits across different regions and countries. These results indicate potential opportunities for strengthening bat conservation programs. We recommend more primary studies to enhance understanding of these benefits as well as their effectiveness in deriving the perceived outcomes.

Monitoring wildlife populations at scale is fraught with logistical and resource constraints. Despite this, estimating wildlife population state variables and vital rates remains crucial for science, and to assess conservation investment and effort. The veracity and transparency of results population size are rare in the literature. To overcome a near two-decade long data gap we thority across six important protected areas. Surveys were conducted within a spatial capturerecapture framework, the industry gold-standard for monitoring carnivore populations. For while for leopards, and spotted hyenas we deployed camera traps. Our protocols were designed to obtain unambiguous individual identification photographs. This large-scale effort involved data university students, and government rangers). Locally extinct in three areas, we show lion

Agricultural intensification has increasingly destroyed natural habitats, resulting in species declines. Insights into the effects of landscape structure on species' diversity and distribution are needed to effectively conserve biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. The influence of land use practices on amphibian species diversity was investigated in areas of intensive and subsistence agriculture in Namulonge (Uganda, East Africa) using visual encounter surveys while environmental parameters were also recorded. A total of 19 amphibian species were recorded. Species richness varied minimally between intensive and subsistence agriculture plots. However, there was a significant variation in species' abundance between the two land use areas and the species diversity was reduced in the intensive-agriculture area. The relationship between habitat characteristics and species distribution was statistically significant: in areas with relatively intact natural vegetation cover more species occurred. Such pockets of vegetation provide microhabitat conditions suitable for foraging, breeding and cover. Therefore, the abovementioned observation suggests that there is value at the landscape level to preserve natural/seminatural pockets of vegetation to enhance biodiversity in any agricultural environment.

The amphibian communities in Africa's tropical forests are of global conservation importance, but disturbances derived from anthropological activities threaten to dismantle this irreplaceable diversity. We explored the impacts of forest degradation on the amphibian community in Mabira Central Forest Reserve, Uganda. We sampled amphibians from March to July of 2015 in plots that were positioned along a gradient of forest degradation. We conducted visual encounter surveys across three categories of forest degradation with six 300-m transects in each (four surveys per transect). From 216 h of surveyor effort, we detected 3563 individual frogs representing 30 species from eight families and 13 genera. Hyperoliidae was the most diverse family represented by 13 species in four genera. Hyperolius had the highest number of species (nine) followed by four genera each represented by three species (Phrynobatrachus, Pytchadena, Leptopelis, and Sclerophrys). Comparisons among plots along a gradient of forest degradation revealed differences in species richness, composition, and frequency of encounters. The regenerating and degraded forest plots were similar in species composition to each other and were dominated by mostly widespread, open-canopy species. Several forest-dependent species were recorded in both the regenerating and mature forest plots but were absent from the degraded plots. In the regenerating and mature forests, species presence was significantly associated with high canopy cover, high relative humidity, and dense leaf litter, whereas the microhabitat variables of high grass cover and high temperature were most influential in the degraded forests. Our study provides important data on an Afrotropical amphibian community and suggests that forest degradation has dramatically altered the habitat to the detriment of forest specialist species.

Invasive exotic species are problematic to biodiversity conservation. However, the knowledge of exotic invaders in tropical forests remains limited. Lessons from sites elsewhere suggest that the problem could be worse than is known. To increase our understanding of this problem, we surveyed exotic woody plants in Mabira Central Forest Reserve, Uganda. The site has a long history of anthropogenic disturbance. Seven woody exotic species were encountered, three of which had population structures indicative of invasiveness and distributions suggestive of the early stages of invasion. One of these species Senna spectabilis (DC.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby was localised to an 8.6 ha site north of the reserve. Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels occurred mainly in an 8.7 ha patch south of the reserve, while Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. was more widely distributed. T. superba has been reported to be invasive in two other countries, but it is not yet clear whether or not the reported invasions are occurring in protected forests. A. heterophyllus is reported to be invasive in various countries, yet rarely quantitatively demonstrated outside the Brazilian Atlantic forests. S. spectabilis is a common invasive in forests throughout the tropics, and this is the first report of its invasiveness in this reserve.

Background Termites are the most destructive pests in many agricultural and forest plantations in Uganda. Current control of termites mostly relies on chemical pesticides. However, the adverse effects of chemical insecticides necessitate the need to search for and popularize the usage of environmentally safer options. Plants represent one of the most accessible resources available for termite control by communities in Uganda. However, limited documented information exists for their contribution in the management of except through verbal sharing. This study aimed at assessing the communities’ knowledge about plants traditionally used in controlling termites among selected communities in Apac District, northern Uganda. Method An ethnobotanical survey was conducted between November 2016 and February 2017 in 12 randomly selected villages in the sub counties of Apac and Ibuje of Apac District, northern Uganda. Open-ended questionnaire interviews were used to gather ethnobotanical and sociodemographic data. A total of 381 indigenous people were interviewed [male, 281 (73.8); female, 100 (26.2)]. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), and the relative frequency of citation (RFC) was determined. Results Overall, 70.9% of the respondents were knowledgeable about plants used for control of termites. There was a significant association between respondents’ knowledge of pesticidal plants with age and gender but not with education status. A total of 11 plant species belonging to eight families were identified to be in use for control of termites in Apac. Solanaceae, Eurphorbiaceae and Asteraceae were the most represented families with two species each, while the rest of the families had only one species mentioned. According to the relative frequency of citation (RFC), Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth . (RFC = 0.43), Vernonia amygdalina Delile (0.18) and Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (0.10) were the most used in the control of termites in the study area. Fruits (45.9%) and leaves (29.2%) were the most used plant parts. Squeezing, crushing and chopping of the plant materials were the most popular methods of preparation and water extract was the commonest mode of formulation of plant parts. Conclusions The study has shown that rural populations of the targeted localities possess indigenous knowledge on anti-termitid plants. However, screening is urgently needed to validate their bioactivity and to determine the bioactive constituents responsible for killing the invertebrates in pest management. Furthermore, simple methods for local propagation and cultivation are needed to ensure a sustainable supply of termicidal plant biomass.

We carried out a survey of Nahan’s Partridge Ptilopachus nahani in the Ugandan forests of Mabira, Bugoma, and Budongo from December 2016 to December 2017, using a point count method employing a call playback technique.  The aim was to establish the population status of this globally threatened species, which was last surveyed in 2003.  Separate analyses of the number of groups per point and those involving use of the Distance Program yielded the same density estimates, indicating that either method reliably estimates the density of the species.  The density estimates for the three reserves were 31.6, 25.2, and 13.3 groups per km2 for Bugoma, Budongo, and Mabira forest reserves, respectively.  In the last 14 years, it appears that the density of the species for Uganda has increased from 16.3 to 23.4 groups per km2, which when extrapolated translates to 16,000 and 23,000 groups, respectively.  This represents a 44% increase in density, or a group growth rate of 450 per year.  The lowest density and population increment was registered in Mabira and we attribute this to the apparently high incidence of disturbance and degradation of this forest compared to the other two.  Since Mabira, Bugoma, and Budongo are the only remaining large tropical rainforest reserves in Uganda, strengthening their conservation or upgrading their conservation status to national parks is required to save the species.

Knowledge of how human harvest impacts plants on high demand for non-timber forest products is essential for targeted conservation. Herbs and shrubs are some of the main sources of such products. However, documentation of human impact on forest flora usually focuses trees. We assessed the status of three forest understory shrubs on high demand for various non-timber forest product uses around Mabira Central Forest Reserve, Uganda. Acalypha neptunica is popular for commercial meat roasting and vending. Citropsis articulata and Calamus deerratus are collected for medicine and furniture making respectively. Harvest impact on A. neptunica and C. articulata was assessed using transects with human trails as a reference in 12 of the 66 management compartments of the reserve. C. deerratus, was assessed through a reserve-wide search. A. neptunica and C. articulata increased significantly with distance from human trails (Jonckheere-Terpstra Tests: A. neptunica, p = 0.022; C. articulata, p < 0.0001) suggesting occurence of human harvest impact on density. All species showed significant decrease uphill from the valley bottoms (Jonckheere-Terpstra Tests: C. articulata, p < 0.0001; C. deerratus, p < 0.0001; and A. neptunica, p = 0.004) indicating intrinsic vulnerability due to habitat specificity. Interspecies comparisons of density showed A. neptunica to be much more abundant than C. articulata. C. deerratus was localized to patches along some, but not all valley bottoms. A. neptunica exhibited a high level of post-harvest re-sprouting and appeared favored by moderate forest disturbance. C. articulata also showed frequent re-sprouting. These results complement prevailing understanding that conservation actions are urgently needed for C. articulata and C. deerratus. The results also show that further long-term investigation is required to fully understand the plants' response to harvesting and this needs to be facilitated by enforcing the existing strict nature reserve status of the core of the forest.

Remnant forest fragments provide an opportunity for conservation in fragmented landscapes but some patches are more useful than others. Forest fragments around Budongo Forest Reserve, an Important Bird Area in western Uganda, were surveyed to explore the effects of different aspects of habitat fragmentation on bird guild composition. We recorded 1 128 individuals of 75 bird species over 7 056 net hours. The greatest number of birds and species were recorded in the forest fragments that were large, near to the continuous forest and surrounded by subsistence farmland. However, rarefied species richness was not affected by distance, size or matrix type; instead, forest specialist species were replaced by generalists and visitors with increasing fragmentation. The proportion of forest specialists and of terrestrial insectivores decreased with distance from the main forest, canopy openness and matrix intensity but not with fragment area. The findings show that bird assemblages vary in their response to habitat fragmentation but within guilds the response to fragmentation can be consistent, and can make ecological sense. Forest bird conservation can therefore benefit from information on species ecology when deciding which bird species and which parts of the landscape are to be prioritised for conservation or monitoring purposes.

Jerry's death hits close to home.Like us, Jerry had a passion for nature, and this underpinned his career in research and conservation.Jerry's studies of forest ecology and primatology continued a long tradition that helped establish and maintain Kibale as a premier field site.When Jerry was asked to take the position of Director of MUBFS, he accepted out of a sense of duty and the academic's all-too-familiar inability to say Bno,^but he followed through with dedication and enthusiasm.We recall meeting Jerry