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Camera traps (CTs) have been increasingly used for wildlife monitoring worldwide. In the tropics, most CT inventories target wildlife‐friendly sites, and CTs are commonly placed towards wildlife trails. However, it has been argued that this placement strategy potentially provides biased results in comparison to more systematic or randomized approaches. Here, we investigated the impact of CT placement on the remotely sensed mammal diversity in a tropical forest in Gabon by comparing pairs of systematically placed and wildlife‐trail‐oriented CTs. Our survey protocol consisted of 15–17 sampling points arranged on a 2 km2 grid and left for one month in the field. This protocol was replicated sequentially in four areas. Each sampling point comprised a CT pair: the ‘systematic CT’, installed at the theoretical point and systematically oriented towards the most uncluttered view; and the ‘trail CT’, placed within a 20‐m radius and facing a wildlife trail. For the vast majority of species, the detection probabilities were comparable between placements. Species average capture rates were slightly higher for trail‐based CTs, though this trend was not significant for any species. Therefore, the species richness and composition of the overall community, such as the spatial distribution patterns (from evenly spread to site‐restricted) of individual species, were similarly depicted by both placements. Opting for a systematic orientation ensures that pathways used preferentially by some species—and avoided by others—will be sampled proportionally to their density in the forest undergrowth. However, trail‐based placement is routinely used, already producing standardised data within large‐scale monitoring programmes. Here, both placements provided a comparable picture of the mammal community, though it might not be necessarily true in depauperate areas. Both types of CT data can nevertheless be combined in multi‐site analyses, since methods now allow accounting for differences in study design and detection bias in original CT data.

International audience; In social species, the transmission and maintenance of infectious diseases depends on the contact patterns between individuals within groups and on the interactions between groups. In southern Africa, the Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) is a vector for many pathogens that can infect sympatric livestock. Although intragroup contact patterns of Cape buffalo have been relatively well described, how groups interact with each other and risks for pathogen transmission remain poorly understood. We identified and compared spatial behavior and contact patterns between neighboring groups of Cape buffalo under contrasting environments: within the seasonally flooded environment of the Okavango Delta in Botswana and the semi-arid environment of northern Kruger National Park in South Africa. We used telemetry data collected between 2007 and 2015 from 10 distinct groups. We estimated seasonal overlap and proximity between home ranges of pairwise neighboring groups, and we quantified seasonal contact patterns between these groups. We defined contact patterns within variable spatiotemporal windows compatible with the transmission of diseases carried by the Cape buffalo: bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, and Rift Valley fever (mosquito-borne transmission). We examined the effects of habitat and distance to water on contact location. In both study populations, neighboring buffalo groups were highly spatially segregated in the dry and rainy seasons. Inter-group contact patterns were characterized by very few direct and short-term indirect (within 0-2 days) contacts, lasting on average 1 hour and 2 hours, respectively. Contact patterns were generally consistent across populations and seasons, suggesting species-specific behavior. In the drier study site, the probability of indirect and vector-borne contacts generally decreased during the dry season with increasing distance to water. In the seasonally flooded area, only the probability of vector-borne contact decreased with increasing distance to water. Our results highlight the importance of dry season water availability in influencing the dynamics of indirectly transmitted Cape buffalo pathogens but only in areas with low water availability. The results from this study have important implications for future modeling of pathogen dynamics in a single host, and the ecology and management of Cape buffalo at the landscape level.

International audience; Interfaces between protected areas and their peripheries in southern Africa are subject to interactions between wildlife and livestock that vary in frequency and intensity. In these areas, the juxtaposition between production and conservation land uses in a context of increasing anthropisation can create issues associated with human-wildlife coexistence and raises concerns for biodiversity conservation, local development and livelihoods. This literature review aimed at addressing the need to consolidate and gather in one article current knowledge on potential uses of satellite remote sensing (SRS) products by movement ecologists to investigate the sympatry of wildlife/domestic ungulates in savanna interface environments. A keyword querying process of peer reviewed scientific paper, thesis and books has been implemented to identify references that (1) characterize the main environmental drivers impacting buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) and cattle (Bos taurus & Bos indicus) movements in southern Africa environments, (2) describe the SRS contribution to discriminate and characterize these drivers. In total, 327 references have been selected and analyzed. Surface water, precipitation, landcover and fire emerged as key drivers impacting the buffalo and cattle movements. These environmental drivers can be efficiently characterized by SRS, mainly through open-access SRS products and standard image processing methods. Applying SRS to better understand buffalo and cattle movements in semi-arid environments provides an operational framework that could be replicated in other type of interface where different wild and domestic species interact. There is, however, a need for animal movement ecologists to reinforce their knowledge of remote sensing and/or to increase pluridisciplinary collaborations.

In 2011, the Government of Uzbekistan established the Lower Amu Darya State Biosphere Reserve (LABR). This reserve aims to conserve the Tugay, an endangered riparian forest ecosystem straddling the main rivers of Central Asia's drylands, which is under extreme anthropogenic pressure. The LABR has reintroduced Bukhara red deer (Cervus hanglu bactrianus), a subspecies endemic to Asia whose numbers declined severely over the 20th century. The LABR development project aims to provide operational support to the Uzbek authorities for their application to join the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation) requested CIRAD to provide a science-based estimate of the deer population in the LABR, using an internationally recognized method, and to issue recommendations to ensure ecologically and socio-economically sustainable management. The survey of the Bukhara red deer population began in October 2019. The study area covered 88 km2. The survey design consisted of 12 parallel straight lines 1400 m apart; the total transect length was 65 km. During the count, 127 observations of individuals or herds were made and a total of 336 individuals were observed. The data were analysed using DISTANCE 7.3 software. The encounter rates were 1.95 obs./km and 5.17 animals/km. The estimated density was 24 deer/km2 and the estimated total population was 2,112 deer [1,320 - 3,344, 95% CI]. The proportion of dead, dying or severely affected trees was roughly estimated at 10%, and the proportion of trees affected but with a good chance of survival at 15%. In the southern core area of the LABR, a very high proportion of seedlings and suckers was being eaten and the forest is no longer regenerating. Maintaining a population of 24 deer/km2 in the southern core area of LABR clearly seems incompatible with either the conservation of the Tugay forest ecosystem or the peaceful coexistence of deer with human populations adjacent to the LABR. Options to mitigate deer pressure include translocation to the northern core area of the LABR or other areas, and regulation of the deer population. The density is too high to ensure effective preservation of the species locally, although the deer population is under severe pressure in Asia as a whole.

With the expansion of urbanization, urban cases of human-wildlife conflict are increasing worldwide. Africa's population, currently at 1.3 billion, is expected to reach 4 billion by 2100 . In this context, human-elephant interactions are expected to increase. Cases of urban elephant conflicts remain poorly documented, although they do exist. In November 2014, the Chirundu Elephant Programme launched an elephant education protocol involving the use of a chilli pepper gas dispenser to deter elephants as an alternative solution to the killing of elephants found scavenging in towns and seen to be a problem. As attempts at deterrence were recorded, the opportunity arose to document an urban case of elephant conflict and its underlying social drivers. From 1 November 2014 to 3 October 2015, elephants were deterred from entering Chirundu, by a team operating on the ground. Results from a soft-systems analysis showed that only a few bulls were responsible for most of the incursions. The elephants fed at any opportunity and displayed enough behavioural flexibility and innovative behaviours to thrive in an urban setting. A lack of environmental awareness and the complete absence of waste disposal systems, combined with the crumbling infrastructure, largely encouraged the conflict situation, maintaining negative attitudes and low elephant acceptance among locals. Elephants have been effectively chased away, and better town planning, environmental education and human' involvement in resolving the human-elephant conflict problem were encouraged, so as to increase tolerance to wildlife. As the population of towns are expected to “mushroom” in the coming decades, many emerging in traditional elephant migratory routes and rangelands, the effective methods of non-lethal management need to be developed.

Fission-fusion dynamics allow animals to flexibly balance costs and benefits of group living, and respond to changing environmental conditions by adjusting group size. Most studies on fission-fusion dynamics published to date focus on one population only, but little is known about the degree of variation in fission-fusion dynamics within the same species. In this study, we investigated the consistency of patterns and drivers of fission-fusion dynamics across three populations of Cape buffalo, in different protected areas in southern Africa (Hwange National Park and Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe, Kruger National Park, South Africa). During 2008-2013, we tracked 54 adult female buffalos in different groups using GPS collars. We used GPS-tracking data to assess home-range overlap (HRO) and association patterns between individuals. We also investigated the temporal dynamics of fission-fusion events at daily and seasonal scales and examined the main ecological factors influencing those events. We found that in all populations association patterns increased non-linearly with HRO, similarly across seasons, but remain highly variable for specific HRO. Fission-fusion dynamics varied seasonally and similarly in all populations: fission and fusion frequency, as well as the duration of fusion periods, was greater in the wet season than in the dry season. Duration of fission periods were shorter in the wet season. At the daily scale, fission and fusion events were more likely to occur in the early morning and from mid-afternoon to early evening. Finally, whilst habitat structure did not influence both fusion and fission locations, we showed a strong effect of water availability on fission-fusion dynamics in one population. Our study shade light on the consistency of fissionfusion dynamics within species.

International audience; Wild boars and domestic pigs belong to the same species (Sus scrofa). When sympatric populations of wild boars, feral pigs, and domestic pigs share the same environment, interactions between domestic and wild suids (IDWS) are suspected to facilitate the spread and maintenance of several pig pathogens which can impact on public health and pig production. However, information on the nature and factors facilitating those IDWS are rarely described in the literature. In order to understand the occurrence, nature, and the factors facilitating IDWS, a total of 85 semi-structured interviews were implemented face to face among 25 strict farmers, 20 strict hunters, and 40 hunting farmers in the main traditional pig-farming regions of Corsica, where IDWS are suspected to be common and widespread. Different forms of IDWS were described: those linked with sexual attraction of wild boars by domestic sows (including sexual interactions and fights between wild and domestic boars) were most frequently reported (by 61 and 44% of the respondents, respectively) in the autumn months and early winter. Foraging around common food or water was equally frequent (reported by 60% of the respondents) but spread all along the year except in winter. Spatially, IDWS were more frequent in higher altitude pastures were pig herds remain unattended during summer and autumn months with limited human presence. Abandonment of carcasses and carcass offal in the forest were equally frequent and efficient form of IDWS reported by 70% of the respondents. Certain traditional practices already implemented by hunters and farmers had the potential to mitigate IDWS in the local context. This study provided quantitative evidence of the nature of different IDWS in the context of extensive commercial outdoor pig farming in Corsica and identified their spatial and temporal trends. The identification of those trends is useful to target suitable times and locations to develop further ecological investigations of IDWS at a finer scale in order to better understand diseases transmission patterns between populations and promote adapted management strategies.

Mathematical models play an important role in improving our understanding of the processes underlying the epidemiology of infectious diseases. One of the key parameters of these models is the contact rate between infectious and susceptible hosts which, despite its direct impact on the frequency of the transmission of parasites and pathogens, is often estimated but rarely measured accurately. This is particularly true for multi-species systems involving complex transmission cycles, such as most Neglected Tropical Diseases, including vector-borne zoonotic diseases, especially when they involve wildlife hosts. However, technical and analytical advances over the past decade (radio-tracking technology, spatial and network analysis,..) have provided opportunities for revising our understanding of key processes and underlying drivers of contacts between hosts. Using examples of ecological and epidemiological studies carried out in Southern Africa during the past decade, we illustrate how focusing on contact patterns allows a better understanding of processes that may result in pathogen transmission between wildlife and livestock population, with important consequences for the management of these interface areas. We use data from sympatric radio-collared African buffalos (Syncerus caffer) and cattle at the periphery of two protected areas in Zimbabwe to assess epidemiologically relevant direct and indirect interspecific contacts. The contact windows defined are compatible with the transmission of various pathogens including brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis and tick-borne disease. We analyse the variations in time and space of the respective contact patterns and identify key periods (seasons) and key sites (resources) that could be targeted to reduce the frequency of transmission of the parasites and pathogens of interest. Finally, we evaluate the relevance of these approaches based on interspecific contact patterns for selected Neglected Tropical Diseases in SE Asia.

Infectious causes of cattle abortions have significant impacts on livestock and people the health in developing countries. Adopting One Health principles for coordinated surveillance and simultaneous preventative actions in animal and human populations has proved to be efficient and cost-effective. However, wild ruminants can also be infected with the same abortive pathogens, which may considerably complicate the management strategies. We synthesise the results of several eco-epidemiology and ethno-veterinary studies carried out over the past decade in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area in Zimbabwe. Serological surveys indicated that Rift valley fever virus circulate in cattle and African buffalo populations, whereas brucellosis apparently infects only cattle. In areas where there was no physical barrier between cattle and wildlife, farmers interviewed perceived that the number of cattle abortions was higher, and the proportion of farmers perceiving wildlife as playing a role in livestock abortions was higher compared to other sites. Monitoring of movements of sympatric cattle and buffalo with GPS collars demonstrated seasonal home range overlap potentially resulting in interspecific transmission of brucellosis and RVF through aborted foetuses. Several management options are discussed including awareness campaigns, vaccination and other preventive actions to limit infective contacts between wildlife, livestock and people. (Texte intégral)

If wildlife is considered as a renewable natural resource, for many rural Africans the occurrence of human wildlife conflict (HWC) overshadows expected outcomes from conservation and co-management initiatives. To reduce the magnitude of HWC, modern approaches deal with problem animals that cause conflicts while increasing the level of tolerance in the affected human populations. Assessing the local impact of HWC is part of this mitigation package, the objective been to provide timely information to adapt strategies and actions as data indicates what works and why. Lack of communication and trust between wildlife authorities and people concerned by HWC makes the effectiveness of the reporting poor, which raises the question of selecting the most appropriate technology for a real-time monitoring scheme with the capacity to inform decision-makers and improve the understanding of conflicts. To explore the feasibility of HWC monitoring, a series of tests was conducted in central Africa with KoBoCollect, an application from the KoBoToolbox an open source of tools for data collection and analysis based on OpenDataKit. With this application, data were collected using Smartphone on and off-line then synchronized into a database. Involving a regional HWC working group the 5W&H method was chosen to develop data trees of the key information needed to understand HWC problems. The 30+ variables were selected to develop an electronic form and responses to questions been facilitated by multiple choice responses with checkbox options. After a 9 month field test from April to December 2015, more than 300 electronic submissions were collected from Congo (42%), DRC (28%), Gabon (19%) and Cameroun (7%). Not surprisingly the elephant is the species most often involved in HWC (51%) followed by the hippo (11%) and rodents (11%), the other 11 species involved in HWC playing a minor role. If human casualties were rare (2%), the most predominant impact was crop raiding (82%). Mitigation measures were assessed according to the set of solutions of an existing HWC toolbox. Only making noise (33%) or fire (26%) appeared to be solutions mainly applied by local communities. Tested also to monitor hunting pressure in the same region KoBoCollect appears to be an easy to use tool to collect data at low cost in remote areas but questions remain on how to promote and popularize such an approach to fulfill management needs at landscape, national and regional levels. (Texte intégral)

The health of animals and people is a public good, which determines the amount of food, the labour force and well-being of the poorest rural communities. In socio-ecosystems where people coexist with pristine nature, development and conservation objectives need to be concurrently achieved. Health issues at the wildlife/livestock/human interface need to be addressed to mitigate the negative outcomes of these interactions. In parallel, the multisectorial dimension of the health issue can be used to trigger more interaction among stakeholders in these socio-ecosystems. Here, we present the Research Platform "Production and Conservation in Partnership", a collaboration between Zimbabwean and French Research institutions launched in 2007, implementing applied research to promote the coexistence between people and nature in Transfrontier Conservation Areas of southern Africa. The platform is currently expending regionally. The "health & environment" issue is one of the pillars of the platform. We present the community demand-driven, bottom-up applied research agenda that the platform is developing through a local and regional post-graduate training programme. After 10 years of existence, the platform has supported close to 100 postgraduate projects with extensive fieldwork in interface areas and has maintained its objective of scientific excellence through a strong publication policy supported by all partners. (Texte intégral)

At a human/livestock/wildlife interface, Escherichia coli populations were used to assess the risk of bacteria and antibioresistance dissemination between hosts. We used phenotypic and genotypic characterization techniques to describe the structure and the level of antibioresistance of E. coli commensal populations and the resistant Enterobacteriaceae carriage of sympatric African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and cattle populations characterized by their contact patterns in the southern part of Hwange ecosystem in Zimbabwe. Our results 1) confirmed our assumption that buffalo and cattle share similar phylogroup profiles, 2) identified a significant gradient of antibioresistance from isolated buffalo to buffalo in contact with cattle and cattle populations; 3) evidenced the dissemination of tetracycline, trimethoprim and amoxicillin resistance genes (tet, dfrA, blaTEM-1in 26 isolated sub-dominant E. coli strains between nearby buffalo and cattle populations that led us 4) to hypothesize the role of the human/animal interface in the dissemination of genetic material from human to cattle and towards wildlife. The study of antibiotic resistance dissemination in multi-host systems and at anthropised/natural interface is necessary to better understand and mitigate its multiple threats. These results also contribute to attempts aiming at using E. coli as a tool for the identification of pathogen transmission pathway in multi-host systems. (Texte intégral)

Southern African models of wildlife management are based on the devolution of wildlife management rights and benefits to private owners and communities. The guiding assumption behind these models is that wildlife management becomes more effective once local users are able to manage it and benefit from it. In recent decades, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have decentralized state decision-making to local stakeholders, thus enabling them to benefit from numerous opportunities offered by the wildlife tourism industry, especially trophy hunting (a high-value-added activity). This approach has been particularly successful on commercial farmlands, where substantial areas have been converted to game ranches that generate profits mainly through trophy hunting but also through live animal sales, ecotourism and game meat production, among others. Although making good profits while conserving wildlife and providing social and economic benefits in rural areas, commercial wildlife ranches have been often perceived as “While only” elite businesses, resulting in some cases in serious political and land tenure tensions. The decentralization approach has been less straightforward on communal lands because communal property regimes (in which defined groups may collectively exploit common resources within a defined jurisdiction) need to be established. Community-based wildlife management approaches were initiated successfully in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s under the CAMPFIRE programme, although these were later hampered by political developments. Other countries have also adopted community-based wildlife management approaches. In Namibia, for example, communal area conservancies are proving to be highly successful in a context of low human population density. There is a need however, to develop community commercial conservancy as a wildlife-based land use option in the more general context of Southern African populated communal lands. In this communication, we promote the idea of developing models of multi-purpose wildlife use and trade as a development tool offering alternative livelihood options for rural communities living in marginal areas rich in wildlife. Tacking this challenge will require a supporting the revision of decentralization processes, adapting legal frameworks, and developing innovative business models involving effective public-private partnerships. (Texte intégral)

The coexistence of protected areas and neighbouring communal areas in Southern Africa is jeopardised by negative interactions between wildlife and villagers and their livestock. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) has often been blamed for a significant proportion of the “human-wildlife conflicts”, mainly through the transmission of pathogens to cattle, competition with livestock for grazing and water resources, and also occasionally involved in crop destruction and threat to people's physical integrity. We present the results of several multidisciplinary studies carried out since 2008 on buffalo-cattle interactions at the periphery of Gonarezhou National Park, Hwange National Park and adjacent communal lands in Zimbabwe. Movements of sympatric buffalo and cattle have been described at various scales using GPS collars, revealing daily/seasonal patterns and occasional events of long-distance dispersal of young buffalo females. Habitat preferences, especially for open grassland habitats, were similar between the two species, and surface availability was the key determinant of their distributions. Overall, buffalo appeared to avoid cattle, although their ranges overlapped more extensively with cattle in Gonarezhou area than in Hwange. We defined contacts between buffalo and cattle using spatial-temporal windows compatible with the transmission of parasites and pathogens through direct contact or indirect contact with contaminated environment. Results of serological tests for various pathogens and analysis of their relationship with buffalo/cattle contacts rates confirmed the likely role of reservoir played by buffalo for several diseases (FMD, theileriosis…), whereas the results were inconclusive for several others (brucellosis, tick-borne diseases, BTB…). Socio-economic surveys carried out in the study areas highlighted the importance of livestock keeping for small-scale farmers' livelihoods. Livestock management strategies have been elicited using participatory approaches and role-playing games, demonstrating that crop production had a major impact on cattle distribution, and thus largely determined contact patterns with buffalo. Surveys of farmers' perceptions of wildlife indicated that they were usually aware of diseases risks associated with buffalo, especially for FMD transmission to cattle. Although our results provide evidence for competitive and negative interactions, we believe that coexistence between these two species is possible, as it already occurs in many interface areas. We discuss several livestock management strategies likely to reduce the negative impacts, while enhancing habitat quality for wildlife by maximizing grassland structural heterogeneity and providing incentives to communities to protect key seasonal ranges through grazing concessions. (Texte intégral)

In a context of global biodiversity threat, overexploitation of wildlife populations through hunting is of major concern. Subsistence hunting, as a source of protein and incomes, is however a major component of livelihood for some local communities. The Congo basin in Central Africa is emblematic of these challenges, with rapidly declining wildlife populations in this biodiversity hotspot and the presence of rural populations relying on the exploitation of natural resources. The elaboration of sustainable hunting and management strategies is crucial but hampered by the lack of information on the impact of hunting on the status of wildlife populations. Measuring concurrently spatial patterns of wildlife occurrence and hunting activities at different sites along a gradient of hunting pressure may provide an important basis to identify indicators of non-sustainability of hunting. In this study, we implemented a standard protocol aiming at assessing the relationship between hunting practices and wildlife occurrence over 6 hunting grounds in the Congo Basin (Gabon, Congo, and Democratic Republic of Congo). Camera traps were deployed for a month over >300 sampling stations to detect the presence of elusive forest dwelling species. Socio-economic surveys were concurrently conducted in villages to map the contours and the principal features of every hunting ground, and characterize the management rules, hunting practices, offtakes and bushmeat consumption. The data collected by the camera traps were analysed using statistical models that estimate probabilities of occurrence of focal wildlife species at each station. Our analysis identified the environmental and hunting related drivers of small- and large-scale spatial variations in occurrence for species belonging to these different indicator categories. Different categories of species were distinguished according to their potential as indicators of hunting pressure or practices. We discuss their respective relevance as a basis for implementing evidence-based wildlife management strategies through adaptive management. (Texte intégral)

Presented at the 9th international wildlife ranching symposium: wildlife - the key to prosperity for rural communities, held on 12-16 September 2016 at Hotel Safari & the Safari Court, Windhoek, Namibia in conjuction with the IUCN 2nd African Buffalo Symposium., This is a PhD proposal that will be implemented beginning of 2017. The project aims at understanding the social organisation of the African buffalo and its eco-epidemiological implications. Approaches from several scientific disciplines will be used to build a comprehensive study: the patterns of association between individuals will be studied using concepts and tools from behavioral and movement ecology: it will be based on a large GPS-tracking database and will relate inter-individual interactions to environmental factors (e.g. distribution of key resources, human disturbances, predation risk); the epidemiological processes and the influence of association patterns on pathogens transmission will be studied using a generic modelling approach which could be parameterized for various diseases. Here, we will present the preliminary research questions addressed by this project.

In southern Africa, TransFrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) are promoting the sustainable coexistence between Mankind and Nature, and are seeking to find a balance between wildlife conservation, agricultural production and natural resource use. In these TFCAs, the various land use types include wildlife/domestic interfaces prone to create human/wildlife conflicts. Amongst those conflicts, disease transmission between buffalo and cattle (and potentially to human for zoonoses) is a serious concern. In this study, we GPS-tracked buffalo and cattle herds in the Great Limpopo TFCA in order to understand disease transmission and estimate the risk of emerging pathogen spillover. This protocol makes it possible to investigate inter-species contacts along multiple spatiotemporal windows, and thus risks of transmission of various pathogens. Regarding buffalo specifically, Adult females were shown to range within stable home ranges, displaying little overlap with adjacent buffalo herds. However, interindividual association patterns strongly challenged the standard concept of herd. Interestingly, two of the young GPS-tracked females displayed long-range (70- 90kms) movements in a few week times, linking distant buffalo populations across communal lands. This shed light on a poorly described behaviour that has major implications in disease ecology in the GLTFCA. We conclude by discussing the implication of buffalo/cattle interactions for disease transmission, particularly in the context of transboundary disease transmission and by listing some hypotheses that will require testing in the near future to manage the health issue at buffalo/cattle interfaces in Africa.

Along with the elephant and the wildbeest, the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is the most dominant species in terms of biomass but also the most widespread herbivore. It exhibits extreme morphological variability at large geographical scale, which has led to controversies about its taxonomic status. Nowadays, the African buffalo experience a severe reduction in population size and geographical distribution, as a result of human demographic expansion, overexploitation, habitat degradation and diseases. Using different kinds of markers on a large sampling set, we aimed to infer the genetic diversity and phylogeographic history of the African buffalo at the pan-African spatial distribution (N=766), as well as to assess the genetic health and the population structure of southern African Cape buffalo populations that face gene flow restriction (N=264). Analyses highlighted the existence of two distinct lineages at the continental scale: West and Central African populations (S.c. nanus, S.c. brachyceros, S.c. aequinoctialis) and East and Southern African populations (S.c. caffer). The two lineages likely expanded and diverged in the late to middle Pleistocene from an ancestral population located around the current-day Central African Republic. They probably adapted their morphology to colonize new habitats, hence developing the variety of ecophenotypes observed today. The finer scale axis- concentrated on southern Africa allowed identifying three genetic clusters. The splitting period suggests that the current pattern results from human-induced factors and/or from the aridification process that occurred during the Holocene. Lower differentiation estimates were observed between localities that experienced translocation over the last century. The two main clusters displayed high intra-cluster genetic diversity, low inter-cluster differentiation, and an absence of inbreeding depression signal, while the third one- a tiny population enclosed within an isolated protected area, experienced genetic drift. All those information are particularly essential within the context of conservation programs currently undertaken to restore genetic diversity of African buffalo populations. (Texte intégral)

We investigated space-use patterns of the West African savanna buffalo (Syncerus caffer brachyceros), a little-studied subspecies occurring at the northern limit of the African buffalo's geographical range. This buffalo generally ranges in small herds (about 45 individuals) and has a low body mass (approximately 400 kg) relative to the Cape buffalo (S.c. caffer). We monitored the movements of 7 breeding herds in "W" Regional Park (Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger) using GPS collars and activity data loggers. Habitat selection was analyzed at both large (inter-seasonal) and small (intra-seasonal) scales in a context where resources are segregated spatially at some times of year. Both biotic (primary production, vegetation types) and abiotic (timing of rainfall, surface water) covariates, and the extent to which neighbouring herds shared space, were considered. In the dry season buffalo herds ranged close (within 5.3 ± 2.0 km, Mean ± SD) to segments of permanent rivers. At the onset of the monsoon all herds but 1 (which had year-round access to suitable resources) performed a large (35 ± 10 km) directional movement in response to a large-scale gradient of primary production. Spatiotemporal dynamics of forage and water resources thus jointly stimulated inter-seasonal directional movements and shaped large (335 ± 167 km²) annual home ranges. Furthermore, the establishment of home ranges in the wet season appears to be conditioned by a threshold (about 10%) in the availability of perennial grasses. Habitat selection analysis at intra-seasonal scale also underlined the key role played by perennial grasses for buffaloes. The spatial arrangements of home ranges of neighbouring herds also suggest that inter-herd behavioural avoidance is a high-level constraint on foraging processes. The ability of the African buffalo to cope with contrasting environmental conditions throughout most sub-Saharan ecosystems highlights the high behavioural plasticity of this species. (Texte intégral)

As with most African mammals, buffalo populations have undergone a severe reduction in size and geographical distribution since the 19th century. The last known continental abundance and distribution data has recently been updated for a review chapter on African buffalo. Although providing a useful basis for conservation, management and policy making, such updates result from individual or poorly coordinated efforts and give only snapshots with limited potential for analysis and dissemination. The IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) maintains the African Elephant Database (AED), likely the world's most comprehensive single-species database. As the formal repository of African elephant survey data, the AED, a spatially-enabled web platform, collates data at the site, national, sub-regional, and continental levels, as well as hosts an updated range map for the continent. Inspired by this example, both Antelope and African Elephant Specialist Groups seek to establish the foundation for ongoing data collection, integration, analysis, and dissemination on African Buffalo, in the framework of a Multi-Species Database (MSD). The MSD presents an unprecedented opportunity to build a platform for conservation decision-making at the landscape-level. This shared platform also has potential for integrating additional species and spatial covariates, supporting the objective of providing integrated, comprehensive syntheses for conservation purposes. (Texte intégral)

The Niassa National Reserve (NNR), Mozambique is one of the vastest protected areas in Africa (42,140 km2) and includes around 39,000 local residents within the limits of the reserve. NNR suffered from 10 years of independence war (1964-1974) and 15 years of civil war (1977-1992), during which wildlife population decreased substantially. Despite important conservation efforts, the density of ungulate community remains strikingly low compared to other similar savanna systems, especially buffalo which is considered as a key asset for the local trophy hunting industry and has logically become a management priority for the NNR. We addressed this issue through three main protocols. First, we investigated data from 5 aerial surveys (2002-2011) to explore relationships between buffalo distribution and environmental covariates at the end of the dry season, a period reflecting large scale and long-term equilibriums with key resources. Second, we investigated space use and habitat selection strategies at annual and seasonal scales by GPS tracking the movements of 9 buffalo herds in contrasted areas over 3 years. Third, we assessed the potential direct and indirect impacts of household's livelihood on buffalo and natural resources using questionnaires in contrasted villages. Results show that both the spatial arrangement of permanent rivers and residual water in seasonal tributaries strongly drive buffalo distribution within NNR in the dry season. Home range sizes were among the largest on record for the species with large seasonal movements in response to segregated resources. Bushfires appeared to strongly constrain habitat selection and the magnitude of their extension to greatly limit the availability of forage for buffalo. No obvious avoidance of human activities (villages/road proximity) was observed by the first two protocols, but responses to the questionnaires suggest a potentially severe impact of poaching on buffalo population dynamics. Results provide valuable information for wildlife managers. At such a large scale, due to the heterogeneity of environmental covariates, management actions must be adapted to the contrasting zones within NNR. (Texte intégral)

The emergence and re-emergence of diseases, in which 60 to 70% are zoonotic, raise a number of economic, environmental, and public health issues, especially important as breeding systems are in close contact with wildlife. In the Corsican pastoral system, free roaming livestock and wild animals share the same resources, creating a high potential risk of contact and inter-specific transmission of pathogenic agents. Researchers are facing the challenge of thinking more efficient ways to design sanitary risk assessments and disease management systems, by adapting classic epidemiological/ ecological approaches to systemic conceptions, that take into account more socially oriented components (such as stakeholder's strategies and knowledge, production system choices, etc.). We aim to present an original approach to understand the practices and representations of farmers and hunters, as potential factors for the emergence of diseases. Such an approach would be complementary to ecological and epidemiological approaches for evaluating the risk of contacts between animals and the risk of pathogen transmission. Indeed, it provides a systemic understanding of the issues on emerging diseases, and tries to renew scientific and technical paradigms for the management of these diseases.

Initiatives to establish transboundary conservation areas have been expanding in Southern Africa, intending to allow free movements of wild species across the fences in order to restock previously depleted areas. Nevertheless, these initiatives are increasing disease transfer risks at the wildlife-livestock interface, which is likely to have a significant long lasting impact on conservation, economics and sanitation. Among wild species, the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is known to be one of the main species responsible for the maintenance and potential spread of diseases. To fully understand the buffalo population dynamics, we aimed to generate a library of SNPs with high accuracy in population screening, that would permit to determine dispersal rate and environmental barriers that can slow down or completely stop spread of diseases. 18.5 million sequences of 76bp were generated on an Illumina Genome Analyzer from DNA of 13 buffalos. We identifi ed 3,000 putative SNPs by aligning the reads with the cattle genome (Bos taurus). Out of this set, an assay of 384 SNPs was designed taking care of each SNP's quality scores, minor allele frequencies, design scores and position in the genome. The use of those markers is completely innovative, as most of the time, they have only been developed on human model or domestic organisms. They are one of the most powerful tools and are becoming the marker of choice in genetic analyses. (Texte intégral)

Until today, only few studies have concentrated on the phylogeography of the big African mammals at a continental scale, mostly based on small sample sizes. Thus, the consequences of past fragmentation effects on the genetic diversity remain poorly studied. Nevertheless, the available data on large savannah mammals tend to indicate the existence of a general phylogeographic pattern, structured in three main geographic regions: West, East and South Africa (f.ex. in kob (Kobus kob), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), and warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)). We thus tried to determine in which measure the phylogeographic pattern of the African buffalo corresponds to that of the other species of African mammals studied until now. 776 samples from Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, including samples of the four recognized subspecies defi ned via morphological characteristics, were used and sequenced for the D-Loop (mtDNA). An important phylogeographic structure was revealed, showing a clear separation between the individuals from South-East and Central-West Africa. This separation seems to be directly correlated to the presence of the Rift valley. Furthermore, our analyses indicate that these two lineages differentiated during the Pleistocene, which is coherent with previous studies of other African species. In conclusion, these results support the existence of only two subspecies: S. c. caffer and S. c. nanus (including S. c. brachyceros and S. c. aequinoctialis), which has important consequences for the development of conservation strategies for this species. (Texte intégral)

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an important emerging disease in wildlife and a poorly studied zoonosis in Southern Africa. Introduced through livestock to the African buffalo population in the South of Kruger National Park (KNP), the pathogen has spread towards the unfenced northern boundary of KNP which coincides with the boundary with Zimbabwe. If most of KNP is fenced, the adjacent Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) in Zimbabwe is unfenced allowing contacts between wildlife and livestock. We investigated the risk of emergence of bTB in African buffalo and in communal cattle in and around GNP. In Zimbabwe, between 2008 and 2009, 48 buffalos and 120 cattle heads were tested for bTB.Weequippedwith GPS collars 12 buffalos in four herds and 12 cattle heads in 12 herds in the periphery of the GNP. We collected one year of GPS data. Four buffalos were positive to bTB with the gamma interferon test. Two of them were post-mortem and culture isolation of a KNP bTB strain was confirmed. No cattle were confirmed bTB positive. After constructing matrices of contacts between cattle and buffalo, we used network analysis to analyse these contacts for different temporal windows chosen on the basis of bTB modes of transmission. We report the emergence of bTB in GNP buffalo from KNP buffalo. Direct contact between buffalo and cattle were rare but few indirect contacts were compatible with bTB transmission. We discuss the bTB emergence in buffalo in relation to the wildlife/livestock/human interface in southern Africa. (Texte intégral)

Analyses of movement patterns of free ranging animals at various scales can provide insights about underlying behavioural processes. Most studies have focused on animal movements at a single scale, ranging from very short scale movements pinpointing a memorized or directly perceived goal location to very large scale migratory movements. Beyond the inherent interest of these scale-specific studies, multi-scale movement behaviour studies address the question of how the various spatio-temporal scales an animal may have to deal with fit into each other. Based on a multi-scale study on West African buffalo, we show how movement behaviours involved in subdiffusive within-patch search (short scale), diffusive or ballistic inter-patch or water-directed transit (medium scale), subdiffusive home range roaming (large scale), and ballistic migratory events (very large scale) depend on each other. Movement data were obtained by extensive GPS-tracking of seven herds during several months, interspersed with intensive GSP-tracking sessions, in order to get information at the various possible scales. In parallel, the environment was monitored using remote sensing (satellite) data for the largest scales and detailed path-retracing for the shortest ones. Analyses reveal how the buffalo herds can simultaneously adapt their movements to the local habitat features. (Texte intégral)