Scientific Publications
Please contact any of the CCI authors for pdf’s of the full articles.
Title | Year | Description & Relevance | Author |
---|---|---|---|
Fencing affects African Wild Dog Movement. Patterns & Population Dynamics. | 2021 | Understanding how fencing impacts popluations of wide ranging large carnivores. | O'Neill, HMK, Durant, SM, Strebel, S, Woodroffe, R |
Improving predictions of climate change / land use change interactions. | 2020 | Understanding how the impacts of land use change and climate change interact in order to mitigate impacts on habitats and wildlife. | Schulte to Bühne, H, Tobias, JA, Durant, SM, Pettorelli, |
Several black servals from a single survey at the Luando Strict Nature Reserve, Angola. | 2020 | Part of biodiversity assessment for the Angolan government, demonstrates the survival of rare colour morphs of servals in this nature reserve. Information has fed into the management plan. | Elizalde, SRFF., Elizalde Castells, D., de Freitas NMCN., Groom, R.J. & Durant, S.M. |
Endangered African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus Temm.) in Angola: Filling a 50-year gap of knowledge with findings from two National Parks. | 2020 | Part of biodiversity assessment for the Angolan government, demonstrates the persistence of wild dogs in this protected area. Unfortunately no evidence of cheetahs was found. Information has fed into the management plan. | "Overton J. Mc.C., Elizalde Castells, D., Elizalde, S.R.F.F, Valério, H.M., Alexandre Zumbo, M., Groom, R.J. & Durant, S.M." |
What wild dogs want: habitat selection differs across life stages and orders of selection in a wide-ranging carnivore. | 2020 | Demonstrates that wild dogs (and presumably also cheetahs) are much more tolerant of human activity when they are dispersing – this builds hope that even substantially degraded corridors may still get used by wildlife as dispersal pathways. | O’Neill, HMK, Durant, SM & Woodroffe, |
Bridging the divide between scientists and decision-makers: How behavioural ecologists can increase the conservation impact of their research. | 2019 | Draws on the experiences of the RWCP to provide guidelines for improving the relationships between scientists and park managers, with the aim of increasing the conservation relevance of scientific research. | Durant S.M., Groom, R.J. Ipavec, A.I. & Mitchell, N. et al. |
Ambient temperature provides an adaptive explanation for seasonal reproduction in a tropical mammal. | 2019 | Identifies temperature dependency in wild dog reproduction with implications for impacts of climate change. | McNutt, J.W., Groom, R.J. & Woodroffe, R. |
Combining optical and radar satellite image time series to map natural vegetation: savannas as an example. | 2020 | "Uses the example of the WAP cheetah landscape to develop a technique to map habitat change in savannahs using remote sensing imagery (savannahs have previously been difficult to distinguish from cropland using satellite images). This paper provides an important map of habitat change on the boundaries of the WAP protected area complex." | Lopes, M, Frison, P-L, Durant, SM, Schulte to Bühne, H, Ipavec, A, Lapeyre, V & Pettorelli, |
Protect environment from armed conflicts. | 2019 | "A letter calling for global support of the work by the UN International Law Commission to develop a set of legal principles to protect the environment before, during, and after armed conflicts. This arose out of ongoing discussions with colleagues in the Sahel who are faced with a proliferation of arms across their landscapes with devastating impacts on wildlife." | Durant SM, Brito JC, Canney S, Carvalho SB, Pettorelli N, et al |
Effects of fencing on forage biomass and quality through livestock exclusion from a protected area in the southern Kalahari. | 2019 | An article showing how fencing out livestock can improve forage quality in the short term – however longer term improvements in terms of species composition will require substantially more time. This has implications for rangeland management, including grazing rotation of livestock. | Kesch K, Stolter C, Durant, SM, Ganzhorn JU |
The Conservation Status of the Cheetah. | 2018 | Provides an overview of cheetah status and the work of the RWCP. | Durant, S.M., Mitchell, N., Groom, R.J., Ipavec, A., Woodroffe, R., et al |
Large carnivore distribution in relationship to environmental and anthropogenic factors in a multiple-use landscape of Northern Tanzania. | 2018 | A survey of the distribution of large carnivores around Tarangire National Park in Tanzania – demonstrating a steep decline in lions – a high conflict species – with distance from the park boundary. Observations of cheetah and wild dogs were low in this study. | Mkonyi, FJ, AB Estes, LL Lichtenfeld, SM Durant |
Cheetahs modify their prey handling behavior depending on risks from top predators. | 2018 | Research on cheetah hunting behaviour arising from our long term study in the Serengeti. The study shows how cheetahs modify their behaviour between an eat fast and get out strategy when they don’t have cubs, to a eat slowly and stay alert strategy when they have cubs. | Hilborn A, Pettorelli N, Caro T, Kelly MJ, Laurenson MK, Durant SM |
Armed conflicts and wildlife decline: Challenges and recommendations for effective conservation policy in the Sahara-Sahel. | 2018 | A seminal paper showing how armed conflicts are driving wildlife declines across the Sahara-Sahel with critically important implications for the highly threatened population of cheetah in the Sahara. | Brito JC, Durant SM, Pettorelli N, Newby J, Canney S, Algadafi W, Rabeil T, et al |
Experimental estimation of snare detectability for robust threat monitoring. | 2018 | This was a study undertaken in Asia, but it has relevance for Africa, as it provides a useful technique for better monitoring of snares. | O'Kelly HJ, Rowcliffe JM, Durant S, Milner-Gulland EJ |
The genetic tale of a recovering lion population (Panthera leo) in the Savé Valley region (Zimbabwe) | 2018 | A better understanding of the history and managing the future. | Tensen, L., Groom, R.J., Khuzwayo, J. & Jansen van Vuuren, B. |
Robust estimation of snare prevalence within a tropical forest context using N-mixture models. | 2018 | This was a study undertaken in Asia, but it has relevance for Africa, as it provides a useful technique for better monitoring of snares. | O'Kelly HJ, Rowcliffe JM, Durant SM & Milner-Gulland EJ |
The distribution and numbers of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in southern Africa. | 2017 | A publication that supports the findings in PNAS by Durant et al. 2017. | Weise, F.J., Vijay, V., Jacobson, A.P., Schoonover, R.F., Groom, R.J. et al. |
Protection status and national socio-economic context shape land conversion in and around a key transboundary protected area complex in West Africa. | 2017 | A study showing loss of habitat around the WAP using techniques further refined by Lopes et al. 2020 above. | Schulte to Bühne H, Wegmann M, Durant SM, Ransom C, de Ornellas P, Grange S, et al |
"Fortified bomas and vigilant herding are perceived to reduce livestock depredation by large carnivores in the Tarangire-Simanjiro ecosystem, Tanzania." | 2017 | Identifies factors that can reduce livestock loss in carnivore rich environments in northern Tanzania. | Mkonyi FJ, Estes AB, Msuha MJ, Lichtenfeld LL & Durant SM |
Socio-economic correlates and management implications of livestock depredation by large carnivores in the Tarangire ecosystem, northern Tanzania. | 2017 | An assessment of the impacts of livestock depredation, and how it compares to other causes of livestock loss, on communities in northern Tanzania to gain an understanding of the costs faced by communities living alongside large carnivores and other threats posed to their livelihoods. | Mkonyi FJ, Estes AB, Msuha MJ, Lichtenfeld LL & Durant SM |
Local attitudes and perceptions toward large carnivores in a human-dominated landscape of northern Tanzania. | 2017 | "An assessment of Maasai attitudes to large carnivores – including understanding associations with other factors, such as length of residency and education – to identify opportunities to improve coexistence. This publication arose out of SD’s supervision of a bright and motivated PhD student – Felix Mkonyi – who now has his PhD." | Mkonyi FJ, Estes AB, Msuha MJ, Lichtenfeld LL & Durant SM |
Using dogs to find cats: detection dogs as a survey method for wide-ranging cheetah. | 2017 | A seminal paper demonstrating the use of detection dogs to survey cheetahs. | Becker, MS, Durant, SM, Watson, FGR, Parker, M, Gottelli, et al |
Conserving the World's Megafauna and Biodiversity: The Fierce Urgency of Now. | 2017 | An evidence based argument that demonstrates the urgent need for action to conserve large mammals. | Ripple WJ, Chapron G, Lopez-Bao JV, Durant SM, MacDonald DW, et al |
The global decline of cheetahs and what it means for conservation. | 2017 | A groundbreaking publication that alerted the global conservation community to the plight of the cheetah. It was covered by 250 news outlets and was ranked in the top 100 papers published in 2017. | Durant, S., Mitchell, N., Groom, R.J. et al |
Hot dogs: high temperatures impact reproductive success in a tropical carnivore. | 2017 | A publication that demonstrates the impacts of climate change on wild dog reproduction. | Woodroffe, R., Groom, R.J. & McNutt, J.W. |
The effect of relatedness and pack size on territory overlap in African wild dogs. | 2017 | Jackson, C.R., Groom, R.J., Jordan, N.R. & McNutt, J.W. | |
Desert antelopes on the brink: how resilient is the Sahelo-Saharan ecosystem? | 2016 | Conservation Genetics | Tensen, L., Groom, R.J., van Belkom, J., Davies-Mostert, H., Marnewick, K. & van Vuuren, B. |
Desert antelopes on the brink: how resilient is the Sahelo-Saharan ecosystem? | 2016 | The threats posed to antelope in the Sahara-sahel – which has clear implications for cheetah survival. | Newby J, Wacher T, Durant SM, Pettorelli N & T Gilbert |
Genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. | 2016 | Conservation Genetics | Marnewick K, Bissett C, Groom R.J., Mills MGL, Durant S.M. |