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Bacterial diseases of bananas and enset have not received, until recently, an equal amount of attention compared to other major threats to banana production such as the fungal diseases black leaf streak ( ) and Fusarium wilt ( f. sp. ). However, bacteria cause significant impacts on bananas globally and management practices are not always well known or adopted by farmers. Bacterial diseases in bananas and enset can be divided into three groups: (1) Ralstonia-associated diseases (Moko/Bugtok disease caused by and banana blood disease caused by subsp. ); (2) Xanthomonas wilt of banana and enset, caused by pv. and (3) Erwinia-associated diseases (bacterial head rot or tip-over disease ssp. and ), bacterial rhizome and pseudostem wet rot ( formerly pv. ). Other bacterial diseases of less widespread importance include: bacterial wilt of abaca, Javanese vascular wilt and bacterial fingertip rot (probably caused by spp., unconfirmed). This review describes global distribution, symptoms, pathogenic diversity, epidemiology and the state of the art for sustainable disease management of the major bacterial wilts currently affecting banana and enset.

The killing of a satellite-tagged male lion by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe in July 2015 provoked an unprecedented media reaction. We analyse the global media response to the trophy hunting of the lion, nicknamed “Cecil”, a study animal in a long-term project run by Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). We collaborated with a media-monitoring company to investigate the development of the media coverage spatially and temporally. Relevant articles were identified using a Boolean search for the terms Cecil AND lion in 127 languages. Stories about Cecil the Lion in the editorial media increased from approximately 15 per day to nearly 12,000 at its peak, and mentions of Cecil the Lion in social media reached 87,533 at its peak. We found that, while there were clear regional differences in the level of media saturation of the Cecil story, the patterns of the development of the coverage of this story were remarkably similar across the globe, and that there was no evidence of a lag between the social media and the editorial media. Further, all the main social media platforms appeared to react in synchrony. This story appears to have spread synchronously across media channels and geographically across the globe over the span of about two days. For lion conservation in particular, and perhaps for wildlife conservation more generally, we speculate that the atmosphere may have been changed significantly. We consider the possible reasons why this incident provoked a reaction unprecedented in the conservation sector.

Instrumental meteorological measurements from periods prior to the start of national weather services are designated “early instrumental data.” They have played an important role in climate research as they allow daily to decadal variability and changes of temperature, pressure, and precipitation, including extremes, to be addressed. Early instrumental data can also help place twenty-first century climatic changes into a historical context such as defining preindustrial climate and its variability. Until recently, the focus was on long, high-quality series, while the large number of shorter series (which together also cover long periods) received little to no attention. The shift in climate and climate impact research from mean climate characteristics toward weather variability and extremes, as well as the success of historical reanalyses that make use of short series, generates a need for locating and exploring further early instrumental measurements. However, information on early instrumental series has never been electronically compiled on a global scale. Here we attempt a worldwide compilation of metadata on early instrumental meteorological records prior to 1850 (1890 for Africa and the Arctic). Our global inventory comprises information on several thousand records, about half of which have not yet been digitized (not even as monthly means), and only approximately 20% of which have made it to global repositories. The inventory will help to prioritize data rescue efforts and can be used to analyze the potential feasibility of historical weather data products. The inventory will be maintained as a living document and is a first, critical, step toward the systematic rescue and reevaluation of these highly valuable early records. Additions to the inventory are welcome.

Societal Impact Statement Enset is a staple food for over 20 million people via its starch‐rich corm and pseudostem, yet it is virtually unknown outside a narrow zone of cultivation in southern Ethiopia. Due to acculturation and urbanization coupled with climate change, emerging pests and the introduction of new crops, the extensive indigenous knowledge associated with this crop is in danger of being lost, imperilling the future food security and prosperity of millions of Ethiopians. Here, we synthesize the current state of enset ethnobotanical research, identifying key gaps and challenges, and provide a framework for further enset research to safeguard this important, but neglected, tropical crop. Summary Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) is the major starch staple of the Ethiopian Highlands, where its unique attributes enhance the food security of approximately 20 million people and have earned it the title “The Tree Against Hunger”. Yet enset‐based agriculture is virtually unknown outside of its narrow zone of cultivation, despite growing wild across much of East and Southern Africa. Here, we review historical production data to show that the area of land under enset production in Ethiopia has reportedly increased 46% in two decades, whilst yield increased 12‐fold over the same period, making enset the second most produced crop species in Ethiopia—though we critically evaluate potential issues with these data. Furthermore, we address a major challenge in the development and wider cultivation of enset, by reviewing and synthesizing the complex and fragmented agronomic and ethnobotanic knowledge associated with this species; including farming systems, processing methods, products, medicinal uses and cultural importance. Finally, we provide a framework to improve the quality, consistency and comparability of data collected across culturally diverse enset‐based agricultural systems to enhanced sustainable use of this neglected starch staple. In conclusion, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for enset cultivation beyond its restricted distribution, and the regional food security potential it could afford smallholders elsewhere in Southern and East Africa. Enset is a staple food for over 20 million people via its starch‐rich corm and pseudostem, yet it is virtually unknown outside a narrow zone of cultivation in southern Ethiopia. Due to acculturation and urbanization coupled with climate change, emerging pests and the introduction of new crops, the extensive indigenous knowledge associated with this crop is in danger of being lost, imperilling the future food security and prosperity of millions of Ethiopians. Here, we synthesize the current state of enset ethnobotanical research, identifying key gaps and challenges, and provide a framework for further enset research to safeguard this important, but neglected, tropical crop.

Attitudes, which can be thought of as the sum of individuals' thoughts, feelings, and beliefs concerning an attitude object, inform how people interact with the world around them. An understanding of attitudes may play an important role in promoting desirable human behavior, and attitudes studies should be incorporated into any behavior‐change intervention. One framework for understanding attitudes is the ABC, or “tripartite” model, which says that affect (“A,” i.e., emotional response); previous behavior (“B”); and cognition (“C,” i.e., beliefs) are the basis for an individual's attitude. Although this framework is widely used in social psychology, few conservation studies break down the “attitude” monolith into these more usable components. In this study, we sought apply the ABC framework to understand how affect and cognitive beliefs relate to overall attitude toward predators across southern Kenya and north‐west Zimbabwe. We used a factor analysis approach to identify latent affective (n = 3) and cognitive (n = 3) factors relating to human–predator interactions. These factors were then used to construct a regression model, which examined the power of the psychological factors to explain overall attitudes toward predators. We found that the model explained 27% of variation in attitudes, with four independently significant factors: location; perceived harms of living with predators; perceived benefits of killing predators; and positive affect. Although effect sizes were relatively small, these results suggest that cognitive beliefs may substantially influence attitudes, and therefore that interventions which seek to (a) remove the factual basis for negative beliefs and (b) improve perceptions or dispel unfounded beliefs may play a significant role in changing overall attitudes toward predators. Surveying across Kenya and Zimbabwe reveals that positive—but not negative—experiences inform overall attitudes toward predators. Cognitive beliefs were also very influential on overall perceptions. Future conflict mitigation and community outreach programs should use these results to facilitate targeted intervention design.

Recovering populations of large carnivores impact the people that live alongside them, sometimes leading to conflict and lethal retaliation. One such carnivore, the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) has been implicated in the destruction of fishing equipment, depredation of livestock and pets, and attacks on humans. In order to understand how various stakeholder groups are affected by the negative impacts of living alongside caiman, and their resulting attitudes and behaviors towards caiman, we conducted semistructured interviews in seven Indigenous communities in southwestern Guyana from November 2017 to October 2019. We used logistic and ordinal regression to identify demographic indicators of fishing behavior and factors that are associated with negative attitudes and antagonistic behavior. Loss of pets in addition to an effect of gender, rather than competition overfishing resources (as hypothesized) may drive conflict between Indigenous communities and black caiman. We propose site differences, such as ecotourism may affect attitudes about and behavior towards caiman. The presence of impacts on communities and retaliatory behavior indicates that human–wildlife and wildlife–human impacts involving black caiman may be a concern for the recovery of the species' populations, and the communities that coexist with them.

Given the impact of tropical forest disturbances on atmospheric carbon emissions, biodiversity, and ecosystem productivity, accurate long-term reporting of Land-Use and Land-Cover (LULC) change in the pre-satellite era (<1972) is an imperative. Here, we used a combination of historical (1958) aerial photography and contemporary remote sensing data to map long-term changes in the extent and structure of the tropical forest surrounding Yangambi (DR Congo) in the central Congo Basin. Our study leveraged structure-from-motion and a convolutional neural network-based LULC classifier, using synthetic landscape-based image augmentation to map historical forest cover across a large orthomosaic (~93,431 ha) geo-referenced to ~4.7 ± 4.3 m at submeter resolution. A comparison with contemporary LULC data showed a shift from previously highly regular industrial deforestation of large areas to discrete smallholder farming clearing, increasing landscape fragmentation and providing opportunties for substantial forest regrowth. We estimated aboveground carbon gains through reforestation to range from 811 to 1592 Gg C, partially offsetting historical deforestation (2416 Gg C), in our study area. Efforts to quantify long-term canopy texture changes and their link to aboveground carbon had limited to no success. Our analysis provides methods and insights into key spatial and temporal patterns of deforestation and reforestation at a multi-decadal scale, providing a historical context for past and ongoing forest research in the area.

Lions are one of the world’s most iconic species but are threatened with extinction. Developing effective range-wide conservation plans are crucial but hampered by the relative lack of knowledge on specific threats facing each population and the socio-political context for conservation. Here, we present a range-wide examination of the relative fragility of lion populations, examining socio-political factors alongside ecological ones. We found Ethiopia’s Maze National Park had the most ecologically fragile geographic population while Kavango-Zambezi was the least. At a country level, lion populations had highest ecological fragility in Cameroon and Malawi. When we examined socio-political fragility, Somalia was the most fragile lion range country, followed by South Sudan. When socio-political and ecological fragility were combined, lion populations in Maze National Park and Bush-Bush (Somalia) and more broadly, Somalian and Malawian lion populations were the most fragile. These insights should help inform more nuanced and appropriately targeted lion conservation plans.

The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) has been extinct from the UK since the late medieval period. Recently, the idea of a reintroduction of the species has entered the public sphere. While reintroduction receives support from the public, there is significant opposition to the idea within the UK farming community. This study used a questionnaire survey to investigate the attitudes of UK farmers towards the reintroduction of the lynx. The theory of planned behavior was also used to predict farmers’ intention to cull lynx in the case of a reintroduction and the drivers behind this. Results indicated negative attitudes towards reintroduction among UK farmers. Older people, those from potential reintroduction areas, and sheep farmers, those whose income is dependent on farming and those with higher perceived knowledge of lynx, had more negative attitudes. Women were significantly more afraid of lynx than men. We also revealed that many farmers intended to hunt lynx in the case of a reintroduction, with attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control being significant predictors of intended behavior. Stronger protective laws for lynx could reduce intention to cull. Additionally, active management and regulation of the lynx population can facilitate harmonious coexistence. These findings suggest that high levels of legal protection and strategies that aim to encourage social norms against illegal culling of lynx, reduce capability to kill lynx (through policies relating to the use of equipment that can be used to kill lynx), or aim to change attitudes to culling lynx could help reduce the perceived conflict of farmers with regard to lynx reintroduction and increase the success of a reintroduction.