Kenya Wildlife Service

About: Kenya Wildlife Service is a archive organization based out in Nairobi, Kenya. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Wildlife. The organization has 182 authors who have published 324 publications receiving 9406 citations. The organization is also known as: KWS.

A canine distemper virus epidemic in Serengeti lions ( Panthera leo )

Abstract: Canine distemper virus (CDV) is thought to have caused several fatal epidemics in canids within the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem of East Africa, affecting silver-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) and bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis) in 1978 (ref. 1), and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in 1991 (refs 2, 3). The large, closely monitored Serengeti lion population was not affected in these epidemics. However, an epidemic caused by a morbillivirus closely related to CDV emerged abruptly in the lion population of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, in early 1994, resulting in fatal neurological disease characterized by grand mal seizures and myoclonus; the lions that died had encephalitis and pneumonia. Here we report the identification of CDV from these lions, and the close phylogenetic relationship between CDV isolates from lions and domestic dogs. By August 1994, 85% of the Serengeti lion population had anti-CDV antibodies, and the epidemic spread north to lions in the Maasai Mara National reserve, Kenya, and uncounted hyaenas, bat-eared foxes, and leopards were also affected.

Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years

Abstract: The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction of woody cover in the fossil record. Here we show that the fraction of woody cover in tropical ecosystems can be quantified using stable carbon isotopes in soils. Furthermore, we use fossil soils from hominin sites in the Awash and Omo-Turkana basins in eastern Africa to reconstruct the fraction of woody cover since the Late Miocene epoch (about 7 million years ago). (13)C/(12)C ratio data from 1,300 palaeosols at or adjacent to hominin sites dating to at least 6 million years ago show that woody cover was predominantly less than ∼40% at most sites. These data point to the prevalence of open environments at the majority of hominin fossil sites in eastern Africa over the past 6 million years.

Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa

Abstract: This article provides an outline of the classification of the kingdom Fungi (including fossil fungi. i.e. dispersed spores, mycelia, sporophores, mycorrhizas). We treat 19 phyla of fungi. These are Aphelidiomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiobolomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Calcarisporiellomycota, Caulochytriomycota, Chytridiomycota, Entomophthoromycota, Entorrhizomycota, Glomeromycota, Kickxellomycota, Monoblepharomycota, Mortierellomycota, Mucoromycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Olpidiomycota, Rozellomycota and Zoopagomycota. The placement of all fungal genera is provided at the class-, order- and family-level. The described number of species per genus is also given. Notes are provided of taxa for which recent changes or disagreements have been presented. Fungus-like taxa that were traditionally treated as fungi are also incorporated in this outline (i.e. Eumycetozoa, Dictyosteliomycetes, Ceratiomyxomycetes and Myxomycetes). Four new taxa are introduced: Amblyosporida ord. nov. Neopereziida ord. nov. and Ovavesiculida ord. nov. in Rozellomycota, and Protosporangiaceae fam. nov. in Dictyosteliomycetes. Two different classifications (in outline section and in discussion) are provided for Glomeromycota and Leotiomycetes based on recent studies. The phylogenetic reconstruction of a four-gene dataset (18S and 28S rRNA, RPB1, RPB2) of 433 taxa is presented, including all currently described orders of fungi.

Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants

Abstract: Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species. As a driver of biodiversity loss, quantifying illegal harvest is essential for conservation and sociopolitical affairs but notoriously difficult. Here we combine field-based carcass monitoring with fine-scale demographic data from an intensively studied wild African elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, to partition mortality into natural and illegal causes. We then expand our analytical framework to model illegal killing rates and population trends of elephants at regional and continental scales using carcass data collected by a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species program. At the intensively monitored site, illegal killing increased markedly after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local black market ivory price and increased seizures of ivory destined for China. More broadly, results from application to continental data indicated illegal killing levels were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012, peaking to ∼8% in 2011 which extrapolates to ∼40,000 elephants illegally killed and a probable species reduction of ∼3% that year. Preliminary data from 2013 indicate overharvesting continued. In contrast to the rest of Africa, our analysis corroborates that Central African forest elephants experienced decline throughout the last decade. These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable. Further, our approach provides a powerful basis to determine cryptic mortality and gain understanding of the demography of at-risk species.

Tropical Pacific Forcing of Decadal SST Variability in the Western Indian Ocean over the Past Two Centuries

Abstract: A 194-year annual record of skeletal delta(18)O from a coral growing at Malindi, Kenya, preserves a history of sea surface temperature (SST) change that is coherent with instrumental and proxy records of tropical Pacific climate variability over interannual to decadal periods. This variability is superimposed on a warming of as much as 1.3 degrees C since the early 1800s. These results suggest that the tropical Pacific imparts substantial decadal climate variability to the western Indian Ocean and, by implication, may force decadal variability in other regions with strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation teleconnections.