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This Paper examines how people's livelihoods and perceptions of wildlife are related to self-reported poaching (here defined as commercial bushmeat hunting) in 25 villages at the northern buffer zone of the Dja Biosphere Reserve, East Cameroon. Using a six-point Likert scale questionnaire among 263 households interviewed form March to June 2017, the following hypothesis were tested: (1) Households with positive perceptions of wildlife are less involved in poaching; (2) Positive perceptions of wildlife are linked to sustainable livelihood improvement of households; and (3) Sustainable livelihood improvement of households leads to poaching alleviation. The study area has been the site since 2010 for a community-centered conservation Program that aims to improve local people's livelihoods (through the creation of income sources based on cocoa-based agroforestry and Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) Valorization) and their perceptions of wildlife (mainly through awareness raising and wildlife education) and therefore divert them from poaching. The main findings of the study indicates that positive perceptions of wildlife are linked to lower levels of poaching. Similarly, positive perception of wildlife was positively related to Livelihood improvement of the respondents. However, livelihood improvement alone did not predict poaching alleviation though we reported a significant difference in poaching frequencies of cocoa and non-cocoa producers with the firsts less involved in poaching. The findings of this study recommend more holistic approaches of biodiversity conservation that integrate simultaneously perception and livelihood improvement. • There is a positive correlation between improved perception of wildlife and poaching reduction. • A good perception of wildlife increases the adoption rate of livelihood alternatives. • Cocoa production as an alternative to livelihood has a great potential to reduce poaching. • Conservation approaches should integrate perception and livelihood improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Blanket weed Galenia pubescens (Aizoaceae) is a prostrate perennial species native to South Africa. The naturalization in other Mediterranean-climate ecosystems has recently been noted in South-western Australia, California, and Southern Spain. In this paper, the invasiveness of G. pubescens was evaluated by testing a variety of stochastic and biological features and by studying the incipient impacts in two well-differentiated coastal ecosystems of Southern Spain- dunes and salty wetlands. Several features of G. pubescens were found as indicators of invasiveness: (i) the genus Galenia was not represented in native flora, and the majority of the species of the family (Aizoaceae) were alien or invasive; (ii) the growth type of G. pubescens (dense prostrate mats) was not found among the native species; (iii) resprouting ability, growth rates and seed production were within the range of well-known invaders such as Carpobrotus spp and Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.; (iv) the overlapping in flowering periods (73–94%) with those of native flora and the effective shading (99%) of the G. pubescens mats were considerably high. A significant lower native richness and Shannon''s diversity index was found in the invaded plant communities. These results demand the consideration of G. pubescens into the management plans of the Mediterranean-climate coastal ecosystems in order to prevent further dispersal and impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]