Editorial 57(4).

Since our September issue went to press, two international ecology conferences have been held on the continent: the 2nd meeting of the African Primatological Society in Entebbe, Uganda, and the 56th meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It transpires that, unsurprisingly, the number of submissions that report research on human-modified ecology or ecosystems has been rising steadily for many years and continues to increase. I anticipate that the contemporary research agenda set by African ecologists will focus increasingly on understanding the human modification of landscapes, ecosystems, wildlife and climate. [Extracted from the article]