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Outsiders have long observed the contours of the flourishing scholarly traditions of African Muslim societies, but the most renowned voices of West African Sufism have rarely been heard outside of their respective constituencies. This volume brings together writings by Uthman b. Fudi (d. 1817, Nigeria), Umar Tal (d. 1864, Mali), Ahmad Bamba (d. 1927, Senegal), and Ibrahim Niasse (d. 1975, Senegal), who, between them, founded the largest Muslim communities in African history. Jihad of the Pen offers translations of Arabic source material that proved formative to the constitution of a veritable Islamic revival sweeping West Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Recurring themes shared by these scholars--etiquette on the spiritual path, love for the Prophet Muhammad, and divine knowledge--demonstrate a shared, vibrant scholarly heritage in West Africa that drew on the classics of global Islamic learning, but also made its own contributions to Islamic intellectual history. The authors have selected enduringly relevant primary sources and richly contextualized them within broader currents of Islamic scholarship on the African continent.

Predator–prey dynamics are a fundamental part of ecology, but directly studying interactions has proven difficult. The proliferation of camera trapping has enabled the collection of large datasets on wildlife, but researchers face hurdles inferring interactions from observational data. Recent advances in hierarchical co‐abundance models infer species interactions while accounting for two species' detection probabilities, shared responses to environmental covariates, and propagate uncertainty throughout the entire modeling process. However, current approaches remain unsuitable for interacting species whose natural densities differ by an order of magnitude and have contrasting detection probabilities, such as predator–prey interactions, which introduce zero inflation and overdispersion in count histories. Here, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical N‐mixture co‐abundance model that is suitable for inferring predator–prey interactions. We accounted for excessive zeros in count histories using an informed zero‐inflated Poisson distribution in the abundance formula and accounted for overdispersion in count histories by including a random effect per sampling unit and sampling occasion in the detection probability formula. We demonstrate that models with these modifications outperform alternative approaches, improve model goodness‐of‐fit, and overcome parameter convergence failures. We highlight its utility using 20 camera trapping datasets from 10 tropical forest landscapes in Southeast Asia and estimate four predator–prey relationships between tigers, clouded leopards, and muntjac and sambar deer. Tigers had a negative effect on muntjac abundance, providing support for top‐down regulation, while clouded leopards had a positive effect on muntjac and sambar deer, likely driven by shared responses to unmodelled covariates like hunting. This Bayesian co‐abundance modeling approach to quantify predator–prey relationships is widely applicable across species, ecosystems, and sampling approaches and may be useful in forecasting cascading impacts following widespread predator declines. Taken together, this approach facilitates a nuanced and mechanistic understanding of food‐web ecology. Predator–prey dynamics are a fundamental part of ecology, but studying interactions from observational data (e.g., camera trapping) has proven difficult. Here, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical N‐mixture co‐abundance model that is suitable for inferring predator–prey interactions by accounting for excessive zeros and overdispersion in count histories. Our co‐abundance model detected clear positive and negative predator–prey relationships from a large Southeast Asian camera trapping dataset, and we highlight how it overcomes barriers, is widely applicable across species, ecosystems, and sampling approaches, and may be useful in forecasting cascading impacts following widespread predator declines.

Some animal species shift their activity towards increased nocturnality in disturbed habitats to avoid predominantly diurnal humans. This may alter diel overlap among species, a precondition to most predation and competition interactions that structure food webs. Here, using camera trap data from 10 tropical forest landscapes, we find that hyperdiverse Southeast Asian wildlife communities shift their peak activity from early mornings in intact habitats towards dawn and dusk in disturbed habitats (increased crepuscularity). Our results indicate that anthropogenic disturbances drive opposing behavioural adaptations based on rarity, size and feeding guild, with more nocturnality among the 59 rarer specialists’ species, more diurnality for medium-sized generalists, and less diurnality for larger hunted species. Species turnover also played a role in underpinning community- and guild-level responses, with disturbances associated with markedly more detections of diurnal generalists and their medium-sized diurnal predators. However, overlap among predator-prey or competitor guilds does not vary with disturbance, suggesting that net species interactions may be conserved. Prior studies showed that humans are causing species to become more active at night. Here the authors show that this trend is not consistent across hyperdiverse wildlife communities, as camera trap surveys in Southeast Asia show that responses depend on species traits and do not affect the temporal overlap of biotic interactions.

The persistence of seed-dispersing animals in degraded habitats could be critical for ensuring the long-term conservation value and restoration of forests. This is particularly important in Southeast Asia, where > 70% of the remaining forest areas are within 1 km of a forest edge, and many are degraded (e.g. logged). We synthesized information on the habitat associations of the binturong Arctictis binturong, a large, semi-arboreal, frugivorous civet and one of the most important seed dispersers in the region, especially for figs (Ficus spp). We adopted a multiscale approach by employing ensemble species distribution modelling from presence-only records, assessing landscape-scale variation in detection rates in published camera-trap studies and using hierarchical occupancy modelling to assess local (i.e. within-landscape) patterns observed from 20 new camera-trap surveys. Contrary to prior reports that binturongs are strongly associated with intact forests, the species was equally present in degraded forests and near forest edges where sufficient forest cover was maintained (> 40% forest cover within a 20-km radius). The species also tolerates moderate incursions of oil palm plantations (< 20% of the area within a 20-km radius covered by oil palm plantations). The relative resilience of binturongs to habitat degradation could be in part because of behavioural adaptations towards increased nocturnal activity. These results support the notion that key seed dispersers can persist and maintain their ecological function in degraded forests.

The return of large carnivores to human-dominated landscapes complicates predator–prey dynamics. While predator and anthropogenic effects are well-documented in intact systems, their interplay in fragmented landscapes remains understudied. We examined whether apex predators still regulate prey and mesopredators in the large mammal community of the Golan Heights—a mosaic of nature reserves, farmland and military zones—where wolves ( Canis lupus ), golden jackals ( Canis aureus ) and wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) are culled to mitigate agricultural losses and human-wildlife conflict. Using 60 camera traps and high-resolution culling data, we quantified predator–prey and intraguild relationships, identifying land protection thresholds at which they shifted. We found that endangered mountain gazelles ( Gazella gazella ) were most active in protected areas (top 50% of sites) with higher wolf activity and consistently avoided jackals. Species-specific culling increased jackal activity but decreased boar activity in nonprotected areas (lower 65% and 62% of sites, respectively), outweighing the suppressive effects of wolves. While jackal culling modestly benefited gazelles in protected areas, the positive association between wolves and gazelles was sevenfold stronger. These findings suggest that apex predators may maintain their ecological roles in fragmented landscapes up to a threshold of human disturbance, beyond which top-down regulation weakens and ecosystem function deteriorates.

The Australian Wet Tropics rainforests are a biodiversity hotspot covering just 0.2% of the continent's land area. However, historic forest loss, modern fragmentation, and climate change continue to threaten these ecosystems. Southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) are large flightless birds restricted to closed‐canopy tropical forests in Australia. Cassowaries are obligate frugivores whose dispersal of large‐seeded plants is considered a keystone species interaction supporting forest regeneration. We conducted camera trapping across cassowaries' Australian range and quantified habitat associations using hierarchical models that account for imperfect detection. Cassowary detections were significantly higher in rainforests compared to adjacent wet sclerophyll closed‐canopy forests, confirming their status as habitat specialists. Cassowaries' relative abundance (λ in Royle‐Nichols modelling) declined with forest degradation and rainfall but was not strongly affected by human footprint or elevation. This aligns with observations of them occasionally foraging on anthropogenic food sources at the edges of large intact forests (e.g., where there are human‐planted fruit trees). These findings provide the ecological reasons underpinning known cassowary hotspots in large rainforests that are relatively dry. It would be valuable to deepen our understanding of their persistence in degraded rainforests near humans via diet and survival studies, and we caution that their association with rainfall means that they may be impacted by climate change. We conducted large‐scale camera trapping across the Australian range of the southern cassowary and quantified habitat associations. Cassowary relative abundance peaked in intact rainforest areas with comparatively less rainfall, but also showed weak avoidance of humans. These findings expand on the existing research identifying particular areas with high densities by revealing the ecological drivers underpinning these pockets of conservation success.

Habitat loss and degradation threaten forest specialist wildlife species, but some generalist mesopredators exploit disturbed areas and human‐derived food, which brings them into closer contact with humans. Mesopredator release is also important for human health for known zoonotic disease reservoirs, such as Asian civets (Viverridae family), since this group includes the intermediator species for the SARS‐CoV‐1 outbreak. Here we use camera trapping to evaluate the habitat associations of the widespread banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) across its range in Southeast Asia. At the regional scale, banded civet detections among published studies were positively associated with forest cover and negatively associated with human population. At the local scale (within a landscape), hierarchical modeling of new camera trapping showed that abundance was negatively associated with forest loss and positively associated with distance to rivers. These results do not support mesopredator release and suggest a low likelihood overlap with humans in degraded habitats and, therefore, a low risk of zoonotic disease transmission from this species in the wild. We also estimate that banded civet distribution has contracted to under 21% of its currently recognized IUCN Red List range, only 12% of which falls within protected areas, and a precipitous recent decline in population size. Accordingly, we suggest the banded civet's Red List status should be re‐evaluated in light of our findings. Habitat loss and degradation generally threaten forest specialist wildlife species, but some generalist mesopredators exploit disturbed areas and human‐derived food, which brings them into closer contact with humans. Understanding mesopredator habitat associations is also important for human health for known zoonotic disease reservoirs, such as Asian civets (Viverridae family), since this group includes the intermediator species for the SARS‐CoV‐1 outbreak. Here we use camera trapping to evaluate the habitat associations of the widespread banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) across its range in Southeast Asia.

Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ) populations in Cambodia are currently declining, and the effect of environmental degradation on the abundance and health of elephants is poorly understood. We used camera trap data from 42 locations between 2016 to 2020 in the southern Cardamom Mountains to investigate the impact of environmental degradation on the abundance and condition of Asian elephants. Camera trap data were organized using CameraSweet software to retrieve both number of individuals and their condition. For a number of individuals, we defined independent captures spatially and temporally. To assess condition, we created a visual scoring system based on past research (Wemmer et al. 2006, Fernando et al. 2009, Morfeld et al. 2014, Wijeyamohan et al. 2014, Morfeld et al. 2016, Schiffmann et al. 2020). This scoring system relies on visual assessment of the muscle and fat in relation to the pelvis, ribs, and back bone. To validate this subjective scoring system, two scorers reviewed elephant captures by using 10 reference photos and then reviewing each other’s assessment in the first five images showing the elephant's body condition. This method minimizes subjective assessment from two scorers. Environmental variables (Suppl. material 1) such as distance to forest edge, forest integrity index, elevation, global human settlements, distance to road, distance to river, night light and forest cover were obtained, then reclassified in ArcGIS to a common 1 km grid. We implemented hierarchical N-mixture models to investigate the impacts of environmental variables on abundance and used cumulative link models to investigate the impact of the same environmental variables on condition. We found that Asian elephant abundance exhibited a significant positive relationship with distance to forest edges, where abundance was greater further away from a forest edge. We found that body condition score exhibited the relationship with forest cover and Forest Landscape Integrity Index, which suggested that grassland and less dense forest support better condition. Moreover, males exhibited significantly higher scores for body condition than females, while babies, juveniles, and subadults all exhibited lower body condition scores compared to adults. The significantly lower body condition of young elephants is concerning and suggests that conservation managers in the region should prioritize environmental conditions that support young elephant health. Our results identify key environmental variables that appear to promote Asian elephant abundance and health in the Cardamom Mountains, thus informing relevant conservation actions to support this endangered species in Cambodia and beyond.

Re‐establishing extirpated wildlife—or “rewilding”—is touted as a way to restore biodiversity and ecosystem processes, but we lack real‐world examples of this process, particularly in Southeast Asia. Here, we use a decade of aggregated camera trap data, N‐mixture occupancy models, and input from local wildlife experts to describe the unassisted recolonization of two native large herbivores in Singapore. Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) escaped from captivity (in private or public zoos) in the 1970s and contemporary camera trap data show they have only colonized nearby forest fragments and their abundance remains low. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa), in contrast, naturally recolonized by swimming from Malaysia in the 1990s and have rapidly expanded their range and abundance across Singapore. While wild pigs have not recolonized all viable green spaces yet, their trajectory indicates they soon will. We also note that a third ungulate, the muntjac deer (Muntiacus muntjak), was captured in camera trapping in 2014 and 2015 but was never recorded afterward despite increased sampling effort, and thus we do not focus on their presumably unsuccessful recolonization. The divergent rewilding trajectories between sambar deer and wild pigs suggest different conservation outcomes and management requirements. Sambar deer may restore lost plant–animal interactions such as herbivory and seed dispersal without requiring significant management. Wild pigs, in contrast, have reached high numbers rapidly and may require active management to avoid hyperabundance and negative ecological impacts in regions, such as Singapore that lack both hunting and large predators.