T3 ONE HEALTH MALAWI Research Papers Wildlife

T3 ONE HEALTH MALAWI Research Papers Wildlife

Wildlife

2020

• TITLE - The status of poaching, its impacts and food security as a contributing factor in Lake Chilwa biosphere reserve, Malawi
• AUTHOR - Zakeyo, Patrick
• ABSTRACT - The pressure on the wildlife in Lake Chilwa Biosphere Reserve (LCBR) has been increasing due to increase in population, illegal and unsustainable hunting practices. This has become a threat to sustainability of fish, birds and other wildlife species in LCBR. The broad objective of this study was to assess the status of poaching, its impacts and food security as one of the key drivers in LCBR in Malawi. The study employed a social survey research design. One hundred households were sampled using systematic random sampling from the area within LCBR. The households were 45 from Zomba, 21 and 34 Phalombe and Machinga districts respectively. Questionaires and focused group discussions were used to collect primary data. Secondary data was collected from Fisheries and Agriculture departments and Biosphere reserve manager. Descriptive statistics, trends and regression were used to analyse the data. The results from the study indicate that poaching in LCBR exist and its level is high as indicated by 61.3% of respondents and <5% of tools licensed annually. The main drivers of poaching are poverty as indicated by 35.4% of the respondents, food insecurity 32.1%, population growth 17.5% and low level of education and unemployment 2.5% and 1.7% respectively. Poaching is causing the decline in fish catches, reduction in composition of both birds and fish species and size of fish caught. There is also reduction in peoples’ income in the area as well as increase in malnutrition cases due to lack of cheap protein sources. The anti-poaching strategies currently in place include patrols, intelligence led operations, participatory resource management and policy based management. The results also indicate that people perceive conservation as important for sustenance of fish production and income base for the community, avoid species extinction and attract tourists. It is therefore recommended that LCBR`s core zone be further gazetted as a protected area to ensure that the current threats from poaching are minimized. The Malawi government should put up policy framework that will create a good environment for small businesses to thrive to improve the livelihoods to divert communities focus from extraction of resources from the biosphere reserve and a deliberate policy framework must be enacted to provide for sustainable alternatives protein sources.
  

2020

• TITLE - Roost selection by Mauritian tomb bats (Taphozus mauritianus) in Lilongwe city, Malawi – importance of woodland for sustainable urban planning
• AUTHOR - Kieran D. O’Malley, William E. Kunin, Matthew Town, William O. Mgoola, Emma Louise Stone
• JOURNAL - PLoS ONE
• ABSTRACT - Increasing urbanisation has led to a greater use of artificial structures by bats as alternative roost sites. Despite the widespread presence of bats, roost availability may restrict their distribution and abundance in urban environments. There is limited quantitative information on the drivers of bat roost selection and roosting preferences, particularly in African bats. We explore the factors influencing roost selection in the Mauritian tomb bat (Taphozous mauritianus), within an urban landscape in Lilongwe city, Malawi. Eight building and five landscape features of roosts were compared with both adjacent and random control buildings throughout the city. Bat occupied buildings were situated closer to woodland (mean 709m) compared to random buildings (mean 1847m) but did not differ in any other landscape features explored. Roosts were situated on buildings with larger areas and taller walls, suggesting bats select features for predator-avoidance and acoustic perception when leaving the roost. Bats preferred buildings with exposed roof beams which may provide refuge from disturbance. Whilst roosts are situated more often on brick walls, this feature was also associated with landscape features, therefore its importance in roost selection is less clear. These results are indicative that T. mauritianus selects roosts at both the building and landscape level. The selectivity of T. mauritianus in relation to its roost sites implies that preferred roosts are a limited resource, and as such, conservation actions should focus on protecting roost sites and the woodland bats rely on.
• ISSUE - 11
• VOLUME - 15
• DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0240434

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