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The incursion of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) into Somalia was met by a series of threats from the Al-Shabaab that it would increase the attacks against Kenya if the troops were not withdrawn. The capture of Kismayu by KDF has weakened the nerve of Al-Shabaab but has not eliminated the imminent danger of a substantive terror attack. Since the incursion by KDF, Kenya has succumbed to a sequence of grenade and Improvised Explosive Devices attacks, roadside bombs, landmines and raids by fighters using small arms and light weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades against Kenyans mostly in North Eastern, Coastal and Nairobi counties, marking the resurgence of terrorism in the country. We argue that Kenya is more vulnerable to Al-Shabaab terrorists attack than before the KDF incursion by citing the frequencies of reprisal attacks from October 2011 to January 2013. Hence, our troops should be withdrawn and deployed within our boundary.

Apis cerana Fabricius is endemic to most of Asia, where it has been used for honey production and pollination services for thousands of years. Since the 1980s, A. cerana has been introduced to areas outside its natural range (namely New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Australia), which sparked fears that it may become a pest species that could compete with, and negatively affect, native Australian fauna and flora, as well as commercially kept A. mellifera and commercial crops. This literature review is a response to these concerns and reviews what is known about the ecology and behaviour of A. cerana. Differences between temperate and tropical strains of A. cerana are reviewed, as are A. cerana pollination, competition between A. cerana and A. mellifera, and the impact and control strategies of introduced A. cerana, with a particular focus on gaps of current knowledge.

War causes and conduct have fascinated war planners, war executors and scholars for a long time because little attention has been given to how wars are ended. This oversight is apparent not only in historical accounts of warfare but, more importantly, in contemporary analyses and doctrinal formulations of deterrence and overall defense policies. Just as historians have focused on how wars begin and are fought, military analysts and planners have concentrated on influencing the initiation and conduct of warfare rather than on analyzing the process and requirements for terminating warfare on acceptable terms and at acceptable costs. Conflict termination is the formal end of fighting, not the end of conflict. Despite the volumes of research and literature on the subject, belligerents mismanage war termination. The major objective of wartime strategy is defeating enemy arms as quickly as possible with the least cost in friendly casualties. As long as hostilities endure, diplomacy is subordinated to military requirements. War termination planning, as it is currently accomplished, takes the form of civil affair planning on the details of how the vanquished will be managed following the capitulation of the enemy and cessation of hostilities. We argue that Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) prudently terminated its war with the terrorists group Al-Shabaab that merged with Al-Qaeda when they agreed to be integrated into the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) which is backed up by the United Nations.

Al-Shabaab terrorist group’s series of kidnappings and cross-border incursions into Kenya threatened security and the lucrative tourism industry in East Africa's largest economy. Towards the end of 2011 events like the kidnapping of two foreigners and the killing of another in the Kenyan resorts on the east coast, the abduction of two aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp, and the attack against Kenyan soldiers in cross-border raids raised a lot of concern for the Kenyan government. Consequently, the latter decided that the national security interest of Kenya had to be protected. As a result, the decision of the government was to go to war against Al- Shabaab. This prompted the Kenya Defence Forces’ (KDF) incursion to Somalia in a pre-emptive and preventive campaign aimed at fl ushing out Al-Shabaab from this country. The campaign took off in mid-October 2011 and it was dubbed “Operation Linda Nchi”, Swahili for “Protect the country’. In this article we look at the implication of Kenya’s pre-emptive and preventive incursion against Al- Shabaab from the perspective of international law.

The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been used to suppress or eradicate fruit flies. It is critical to be able to identify sterile and wild flies so that informed decisions can bemade during eradication activities. The current dye marking approach can be flawed on a small number of occasions, and a genetic method is needed to test suspect misidentified samples. As a proof of concept, a single multiplex PCR with nine microsatellite markers was used to study the genetic structure of Queensland fruit flies Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) in 11 locations in southern New South Wales. Cluster analysis demonstrated that one cluster was exclusive to the sterile mass-reared flies. A second distinct cluster was exclusive for one site in a wetter cooler area. The other sites were admixture of two main clusters. These ninemicrosatellite markers could be used to distinguish laboratory-reared flies from field flies. The mass-reared flies would need to be reanalysed after each introduction of wildness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exotic reptile and amphibian species have the potential to have ecological or economic impacts in New Zealand. Tony Whitaker, the consultant herpetologist for the New Zealand biosecurity agency from 2000 to 2014, was instrumental in developing and maintaining a database of exotic reptiles and amphibians intercepted at the border, completing risk assessments for the exotic herpetofauna species present in the domestic pet trade, and was involved in several compliance investigations for species illegally imported into New Zealand. These key contributions laid the foundation for the development of New Zealand's biosecurity protocols for exotic herpetofauna. Here we provide an overview of Tony's contributions in these three areas and present a detailed summary of the exotic amphibian and reptile species intercepted at the New Zealand border (1852 interceptions involving 2237 individuals from 201 different species). Sea transport routes originating from Australia, southeastern Asia and the Pacific region are the major source of exotic herpetofauna species arriving at New Zealand's borders. Stowaway individuals generally arrive alone, are alive when detected and are intercepted at the border. Lizards, and geckos in particular, constitute the majority of exotic herpetofauna species being accidentally imported into New Zealand. These results suggest that substantially more amphibian and reptile species are being moved around the world via human-assisted dispersal than previously recognised, and that most of these stowaways may be overlooked in other jurisdictions in the world that lack comprehensive biosecurity programmes. The database of exotic amphibian and reptile species will enable a range of future studies on the trade pathways and transport vectors through which they arrive in New Zealand, and the traits associated with successful herpetofauna stowaways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-cognitive action reproduces and changes both social and cognitive structures. The analytical distinction between these dimensions of structure provides us with richer models of scientific development. In this study, I assume that (1) social structures organize expectations into belief structures that can be attributed to individuals and communities; (2) expectations are specified in scholarly literature; and (3) intellectually the sciences (disciplines, specialties) tend to self-organize as systems of rationalized expectations. Whereas social organizations remain localized, academic writings can circulate, and expectations can be stabilized and globalized using symbolically generalized codes of communication. The intellectual restructuring, however, remains latent as a second-order dynamics that can be accessed by participants only reflexively. Yet, the emerging 'horizons of meaning' provide feedback to the historically developing organizations by constraining the possible future states as boundary conditions. I propose to model these possible future states using incursive and hyper-incursive equations from the computation of anticipatory systems. Simulations of these equations enable us to visualize the couplings among the historical-i.e., recursive-progression of social structures along trajectories, the evolutionary-i.e., hyper-incursive-development of systems of expectations at the regime level, and the incursive instantiations of expectations in actions, organizations, and texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis, is an insect that transmits the economically important plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa. Homalodisca vitripennis has been widely studied in North America and the characteristics that make the insect highly successful in new geographic areas are well understood. However, there is a paucity of information on the invasion pathways for long-distance dispersal that have allowed the insect to spread from mainland North America to Hawaii, Easter Island, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. One potential means of introduction is via motile insects transported in the cargo holds of aircraft. Laboratory studies were undertaken in California to determine the viability of H. vitripennis after 24 h of a temperature, humidity and light regime simulating pressurised cargo hold conditions. At all temperatures tested (5, 11 or 22 °C) female adults were capable of surviving whether or not they had access to food and, to a much lower extent, were able to reproduce successfully when re-introduced on a suitable oviposition host plant. This research increases our understanding of the level of risk associated with long-distance air transport as pathway of entry for H. vitripennis into countries currently free of the pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Global Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) and NCEP reanalysis data, atmospheric and oceanic processes possibly responsible for the onset of the 2011/12 La Niña event, which followed the 2010/11 La Niña even-referred to as a 'double dip' La Niña-are investigated. The key mechanisms involved in activating the 2011/12 La Niña are illustrated by these datasets. Results show that neutral conditions were already evident in the equatorial eastern Pacific during the decaying phase of the 2010/11 La Niña. However, isothermal analyses show obviously cold water still persisting at the surface and at subsurface depths in off-equatorial regions throughout early 2011, being most pronounced in the tropical South Pacific. The negative SST anomalies in the tropical South Pacific acted to strengthen a southern wind across the equator. The subsurface cold water in the tropical South Pacific then spread northward and broke into the equatorial region at the thermocline depth. This incursion process of off-equatorial subsurface cold water successfully interrupted the eastern propagation of warm water along the equator, which had previously accumulated at subsurface depths in the warm pool during the 2010/11 La Niña event. Furthermore, the incursion process strengthened as a result of the off-equatorial effects, mostly in the tropical South Pacific. The negative SST anomalies then reappeared in the central basin in summer 2011, and acted to trigger local coupled air-sea interactions to produce atmospheric-oceanic anomalies that developed and evolved with the second cooling in the fall of 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato spotted wilt virus ( TSWV) affects the production of many horticultural crops worldwide. It was first reported from Kenya in 1999. The occurrence, distribution and genetic diversity of TSWV were evaluated in four tomato production areas in Kenya a decade after this incursion. The awareness of TSWV and its vectors among farmers was assessed through a questionnaire while plant samples including tomato leaves and fruit were collected from diseased and non-diseased plants. The samples were assayed for TSWV using ELISA and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and the resulting positive samples were sequenced. There was less awareness of the virus, its vectors and alternate hosts among farmers, despite the occurrence of the disease for over a decade. A total of 89 of 408 tomato samples tested positive for TSWV. Most of the positive samples came from Nakuru, where the virus was first detected, with only a single positive sample being obtained from Loitokitok and none from Bungoma or Kirinyaga. A phylogenetic analysis based on partial nucleocapsid (N) protein gene sequences suggested that the Kenyan isolates formed a single subgroup nested within a cluster of isolates that came predominantly from Europe. This indicated a single introduction that had undergone limited diversification. The study revealed that the disease has persisted in the area to which it was first introduced but has had very limited dispersal to other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of invasive species to recurrently establish populations from small numbers of founders, while threatened species struggle at the same low population sizes, is a paradox in conservation biology. Little is known about the mechanisms contributing to the post-arrival success of low density invasive populations as most invasive species research focuses on established, high density populations. Experimental studies are powerful, but generally limited to laboratory or invertebrate experiments. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that vertebrate mammal invasion from a very small ( n = 2) number of founders follows relatively simple deterministic predictions. An intentional island invasion of introduced house mice ( Mus musculus Linnaeus) from one founding pair closely tracked the density dependent logistic growth curve and reached the seasonal carrying capacity of a previously extant population in only 5 months. Carrying capacity reflected both density dependent and independent processes. In contrast to the previously incumbent population, the invading population retained a marked genetic signal of its recent founder event, but the populations were otherwise demographically indistinguishable. Stochastic events such as individual variability, supplemental immigration and ecological release, but not Allee effects, played important roles during colonisation, but following establishment dynamics rapidly became deterministic, with little demographic impact of reduced genetic diversity. The small population paradigm appears to have little influence on the population dynamics of highly successful invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interception data collected at the Australian quarantine border on the orders Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera during 1986-2005 were cross-referenced to incursion data. For insects from these four orders, detection at the quarantine border was a poor predictor of successful incursions over the corresponding period. Most species that successfully mounted an incursion during the 1986-2005 period were not recorded as being intercepted at the quarantine border over the same period. This may be due to either organisms arriving via pathways that are not subject to border inspection, or that the inspection sensitivity is low, or that species discovered are not reliably identified, recorded and reported. The end result is that the border inspection, at least during the period 1986-2005, would have been largely ineffective as an early warning system for a large proportion of incursions occurring over that period. This finding is contrary to the expectation that interception data is a useful tool for predicting future incursions and opens the question as to whether different approaches to collecting interception data might improve predictive power. That said, within those species that were intercepted, those with a higher interception rate had an increased probability of a recorded incursion, particularly for incursions before 1986, and so supports the argument that propagule pressure is a key factor in invasion establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puccinia psidii sensu lato was detected in Australia in 2010 causing myrtle rust. A nationally cost-shared eradication program was conducted based on well-established emergency response arrangements for incursions of emergency plant pests into Australia, but it was ultimately decided that the pest was not eradicable from Australia. At this time, no formal mechanisms existed to provide a clear path for decision making and cost-sharing when transitioning from an eradication focus to long-term management of a plant pest. In 2011, the Australian Government established and funded a set of pilot transition to management programs for a number of noneradicable pests, one of which was for the myrtle rust pathogen, with the goal of using the outcomes of the pilot programs to guide the ongoing development of formal transition arrangements.

ASPH is a highly conserved deoxidizing enzyme of mammalian embryonic period is found in cells. In recent years, it is found in most normal tissues relatively low expression or no expression and high expression in placental trophoblast cells and adrenal cells. And ASPH is over expressed in a variety of malignant tumors, the catalytic domain can be hydroxylated EGF- like domain of certain proteins of aspartic acid or asparagine residues, which mediates cell movement and differentiation, and participate in the regulation of invasion and metastasis of malignant tumor cells, and can induce antitumor immune response in immune regulation. Progress in recent years in the field of cancer and other ASPH research paper briefly reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Progress in Modern Biomedicine is the property of Publishing House of Progress in Modern Biomedicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The incursion of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) into Somalia was met by a series of threats from the Al-Shabaab that it would increase the attacks against Kenya if the troops were not withdrawn. The capture of Kismayu by KDF has weakened the nerve of Al-Shabaab but has not eliminated the imminent danger of a substantive terror attack. Since the incursion by KDF, Kenya has succumbed to a sequence of grenade and Improvised Explosive Devices attacks, roadside bombs, landmines and raids by fi ghters using small arms and light weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades against Kenyans mostly in North Eastern, Coastal and Nairobi counties, marking the resurgence of terrorism in the country. We argue that Kenya is more vulnerable to Al-Shabaab terrorists attack than before the KDF incursion by citing the frequencies of reprisal attacks from October 2011 to January 2013. Hence, our troops should be withdrawn and deployed within our boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the confirmed detection of the light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana, in California, approximately 53,000 pheromone-baited Jackson traps were deployed and more than 246,000 males were caught (February 2007-February 2010). Approximately 46,000 manually entered catch records were corrected for errors and converted into catch per trap per day. As empty trap data (zeros) were not recorded, we added zeros between first and last catch for each trap based on the stated servicing period (~30,000), before analyzing for trends. Residual data error rate was estimated as 1.5 %. San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties had relatively high trap catches immediately upon trap set, and remained the leading population centers, while most other counties showed a more general trend of a slow build-up in catch over time (12 counties). An exponential increase in trap catch was observed in four counties with sufficient data. The pattern of spread indicated natural, as well as anthropogenic-assisted spread rates, with populations appearing well ahead of the invasion front. This jump dispersal is probably due to movement of host plants, unsurprising since eggs of this polyphagous moth are readily laid on foliage. There was evidence of seasonality in spread, probably linked to the phenology of the insect. There was a positive relationship between catch and known host tree preference, suggesting that trap placement in preferred hosts could add sensitivity to future surveys. Recommendations include the improved provision of data acquisition by telecommunications, standardization of data input, more archiving, and frequent analysis of trap catches. The rapid rate of population growth demonstrated in two counties and spread across many others supports the hypothesis of the recent arrival of E. postvittana in California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemidactylus flaviviridis was found at the Narita International Airport in a cargo that arrived from Shanghai, China. The specimen was identified using morphological and molecular techniques. The species is distributed from the Indian subcontinent to northeast Africa and has not been previously reported from Shanghai or from other parts of eastern China. Comparison of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene sequence of this individual with available data revealed that the sequence to be identical with that of the homologous gene of H. flaviviridis from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but differed by 2.9-4.0% uncorrected p distance from conspecific samples obtained from India and Pakistan, suggesting indirect transportation of the gecko individual from around Dubai to Japan, via Shanghai. This finding highlights future risks of colonization of exotic geckos to the warm temperate and subtropical regions of East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apis cerana Fabricius is endemic to most of Asia, where it has been used for honey production and pollination services for thousands of years. Since the 1980s, A. cerana has been introduced to areas outside its natural range (namely New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Australia), which sparked fears that it may become a pest species that could compete with, and negatively affect, native Australian fauna and flora, as well as commercially kept A. mellifera and commercial crops. This literature review is a response to these concerns and reviews what is known about the ecology and behaviour of A. cerana. Differences between temperate and tropical strains of A. cerana are reviewed, as are A. cerana pollination, competition between A. cerana and A. mellifera, and the impact and control strategies of introduced A. cerana, with a particular focus on gaps of current knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incursion of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) into Somalia was met by a series of threats from the Al-Shabaab that it would increase the attacks against Kenya if the troops were not withdrawn. The capture of Kismayu by KDF has weakened the nerve of Al-Shabaab but has not eliminated the imminent danger of a substantive terror attack. Since the incursion by KDF, Kenya has succumbed to a sequence of grenade and Improvised Explosive Devices attacks, roadside bombs, landmines and raids by fighters using small arms and light weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades against Kenyans mostly in North Eastern, Coastal and Nairobi counties, marking the resurgence of terrorism in the country. We argue that Kenya is more vulnerable to Al-Shabaab terrorists attack than before the KDF incursion by citing the frequencies of reprisal attacks from October 2011 to January 2013. Hence, our troops should be withdrawn and deployed within our boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

War causes and conduct have fascinated war planners, war executors and scholars for a long time because little attention has been given to how wars are ended. This oversight is apparent not only in historical accounts of warfare but, more importantly, in contemporary analyses and doctrinal formulations of deterrence and overall defense policies. Just as historians have focused on how wars begin and are fought, military analysts and planners have concentrated on influencing the initiation and conduct of warfare rather than on analyzing the process and requirements for terminating warfare on acceptable terms and at acceptable costs. Conflict termination is the formal end of fighting, not the end of conflict. Despite the volumes of research and literature on the subject, belligerents mismanage war termination. The major objective of wartime strategy is defeating enemy arms as quickly as possible with the least cost in friendly casualties. As long as hostilities endure, diplomacy is subordinated to military requirements. War termination planning, as it is currently accomplished, takes the form of civil affair planning on the details of how the vanquished will be managed following the capitulation of the enemy and cessation of hostilities. We argue that Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) prudently terminated its war with the terrorists group Al-Shabaab that merged with Al-Qaeda when they agreed to be integrated into the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) which is backed up by the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Shabaab terrorist group's series of kidnappings and cross-border incursions into Kenya threatened security and the lucrative tourism industry in East Africa's largest economy. Towards the end of 2011 events like the kidnapping of two foreigners and the killing of another in the Kenyan resorts on the east coast, the abduction of two aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp, and the attack against Kenyan soldiers in cross-border raids raised a lot of concern for the Kenyan government. Consequently, the latter decided that the national security interest of Kenya had to be protected. As a result, the decision of the government was to go to war against Al- Shabaab. This prompted the Kenya Defence Forces' (KDF) incursion to Somalia in a pre-emptive and preventive campaign aimed at flushing out Al-Shabaab from this country. The campaign took off in mid-October 2011 and it was dubbed "Operation Linda Nchi", Swahili for "Protect the country'. In this article we look at the implication of Kenya's pre-emptive and preventive incursion against Al- Shabaab from the perspective of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on measuring the detection-effort curves or how detectability of plants modify with search effort, size and abundance of plants, and observer experience in orange hawkweed species (Hieracium aurantiacum in Victoria. It says that the study conducted search experiment to estimate detection-effort curves. Results show that hawkweed's detection probability is raised when search effort and number of plants is increased.

Copyright of Social Science Information is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The sociological domain is different from the psychological one insofar as meaning can be communicated at the supra-individual level. The computation of anticipatory systems enables us to distinguish between these domains in terms of weakly and strongly anticipatory systems with a structural coupling between them. Anticipatory systems have been defined as systems which entertain models of themselves. The model provides meaning to the modelled system from the perspective of hindsight, that is, by advancing along the time axis towards possible future states. Strongly anticipatory systems construct their own future states. The dynamics of weak and strong anticipations can be simulated as incursion and hyper-incursion, respectively. Hyper-incursion generates ‘horizons of meaning’ among which choices have to be made by incursive agency. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first record in Australia of the crape myrtle aphid, Sarucallis kahawaluokalani (Kirkaldy). This aphid has been spreading aggressively around the world and reaches large populations on the ornamental tree crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica). It is not generally regarded as causing serious damage to its host plant, but can have nuisance value through dropping honeydew on underlying plants or vehicles. The aphid is holocyclic and monoecious wherever its annual cycle has been studied: i.e. it produces males and sexual egg-laying females in autumn and the overwintering eggs produce parthenogenetic females in spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eradication is a management strategy that can provide substantial ecological and economic benefits by eliminating incursions of pest organisms. In contrast to eradication efforts that target other pests, weed eradication programs can be very protracted owing to the presence of persistent seed banks and difficulties in detecting the target. Hence there is a need to develop criteria to assist in the evaluation of progress towards eradication. Knowledge of the extent of a weed incursion (the 'delimitation' criterion) is considered fundamental for eradication success, as an incursion will progress from any infestations that remain undetected and thus uncontrolled. This criterion is examined with regard to eradication programs targeting Bassia scoparia L. A.J. Scott [= Kochia scoparia L. Schrader], Chondrilla juncea L. (both in Western Australia) and Orobanche ramosa L. in South Australia. The B. scoparia incursion, which has been eradicated, was largely delimited within 12 months of the inception of its eradication program. In contrast, the Western Australian C. juncea incursion has never been delimited, owing to insufficient investment in surveillance during an eradication program spanning 30 years. An exponential decrease in the detection ratio (infested area detected/area searched) over time suggests that delimitation has been approached within 6 years of the inception of the eradication program for O. ramosa. An effective surveillance program is essential for achieving delimitation of a weed incursion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning can be communicated in addition to — and on top of — underlying processes of the information exchange. Meaning is provided to observations from the perspective of hindsight, while information processing follows the time axis. Simulations of anticipatory systems enable us to show how an observer can be generated within an information process, and how expectations can also be exchanged. Cellular automata will be used for the visualization. The exchange of observations among observers generates (a) uncertainty about the delineations in the observed system at each moment in time and (b) uncertainty about the dynamics of the interaction over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline of saltmarsh in Currambene Creek and Cararma Inlet, in Jervis Bay, eastern Australia, in the period 1944–1999 has been documented through photogrammetric analysis. The area of saltmarsh has declined in Currambene Creek by approximately 52.5% and in Cararma Inlet by approximately 35%. In Currambene Creek the decline of saltmarsh is primarily due to the landward encroachment of mangroves, while in Cararma Creek the seaward encroachment of Melaleuca and Casuarina have more significantly contributed to losses of saltmarsh. Regional sea-level rise is excluded as a primary cause of this transgression. A more plausible hypothesis involves an increase in the delivery of freshwater and nutrients to the intertidal environments in response to higher rainfall and catchment modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of the article in Island Studies Journal by McElroy and Bai (2008) illustrates an inherent bias. It says that it is about China’s “incursion” into the Caribbean and Pacific. The Oxford on-line dictionary’s main definition of incursion is “an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one”; and my Collins dictionary gives its main definition as: “a sudden invasion, attack or raid.” Since there has never been any invasion, attack or raid (and therefore no incursion) by China into the Pacific or the Caribbean, why do the authors imply that there is? In contrast, there have been plenty of “invasions, attacks and raids” by the USA in the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean during the past 150 years.

• Pastoralist livestock and wildlife regularly compete over rangeland access around the world. • In 2017, 40,000 livestock were illegally grazed on Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya for a period of three months. • The space use of seven resident species of large mammals were substantially changed via this incursion. • Unregulated livestock incursions can present major disturbance events for wildlife. • Interventions designed to conserve wildlife and preserve pastoralist well-being are offered. Pastoralists and their livestock have long competed with wildlife over access to grazing on shared rangelands. In the dynamic 21st century however, the configuration and quality of these rangelands is changing rapidly. Climate change processes, human range expansion, and the fragmentation and degradation of rangeland habitat have increased competition between pastoralist livestock and wildlife. Interactions of this type are particularly apparent in East Africa, and perhaps most obvious in northern Kenya. In 2017, following months of intense drought, a pastoralist incursion of a protected area (Loisaba Conservancy) occurred in Laikipia County, Kenya. An estimated 40,000 livestock were herded onto the conservancy by armed pastoralists where the cattle were grazed for approximately three months. Using 53 camera trap sites across the 226 km2 conservancy, we quantified spatial patterns in site visitation rates (via spatially-explicit, temporally-dynamic Bayesian models) for seven species of large mammalian herbivores in the three-month period directly before, during, and after the incursion. We detected significant changes in space use of all large mammalian herbivores during the incursion. Furthermore, these patterns did not return to their pre-incursion state in the three-month period after the pastoralists and their livestock left the conservancy. Thus, in addition to reduced site vitiation rates for these large mammalian herbivores, we also detected considerable displacement in response to the livestock incursion. Our results illustrate that pastoralist incursions can cause large-scale disruptions of wildlife space use, supporting the notion that livestock can competitively exclude large mammalian herbivores from grazing access. We discuss the implications of this research for applied management decisions designed to alleviate competition among wildlife and pastoralist livestock for the benefit of wildlife conservation and pastoralist well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]