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Environmental and climatic factors, as well as host demographics and behaviour, significantly influence the exposure of herbivorous mammalian hosts to pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax. Until the early 1990s in Kruger National Park (KNP), kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) was the host species most affected by anthrax, with outbreaks occurring predominantly in the dry season, particularly during drought cycles. However, the most affected host species has shifted to impala (Aepyceros melampus), with more frequent anthrax outbreaks during the wet season. This study investigates the roles of environmental variation and other host species in this shift. Temporal trends in environmental variables such as precipitation, soil moisture, temperature, and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) were analyzed in relation to anthrax occurrence (presence/ absence and counts). Additionally, correlations between host species' densities and anthrax mortalities over time were examined. Anthrax cases in 1990 were concentrated in the central and northern regions of KNP (excluding Pafuri), primarily affected kudus; while subsequent mortalities affected mostly impala and were restricted to the far north, in Pafuri. Significant correlations were found between kudu anthrax mortality and a decrease in NDVI, average temperature, SPI-6 and SPI-12 (Standardised Precipitation Index in various time intervals. Conversely, anthrax occurrence in impalas was associated with a decline in SPI-3, and temperature rise, with increased mortality during the rainy season. Elephant density correlated negatively with kudu mortality, but a positive correlation with both impala mortality and impala density. The study concludes that environmental variables and species' densities may alter the diversity and frequency of hosts exposed to B. anthracis. Climate extremes and alterations therein may exacerbate anthrax severity by modifying species susceptibility and their probability of exposure over time.

Travelling long distances to reach public service centres is costly and time consuming, especially to those who suffer the burden of poverty and deprivation. Geographic access to public service centres tends to be worse in rural areas because they are usually sparsely populated with limited road infrastructure.This research presents a novel method to assess the availability and geographic accessibility of Thusong Service Centres and Thusong Service Clusters in Limpopo province. Thusong Service Centres are permanent structures where services of key departments are provided on a daily basis and housed under a single roof. Thusong Service Clusters are permanent structures consisting of three or more key departments situated in close proximity to each other. These serve as de facto Thusong Service Centres. Key departments which were considered in the study to represent Thusong Service Clusters include the Department of Home Affairs, Department of Labour, South African Social Security Agency and selected services of the South African Police Service. These key departments were identified since they provide services which people require to transact their daily lives.The distances that people in urban and rural areas travel to their nearest Thusong Service Centre or Cluster were compared. Accessibility in rural areas was optimised by identifying additional locations where accessibility was inadequate and where the establishment of additional Thusong Service Centres and Clusters could improve accessibility.Limpopo province was selected as a case study, since it is ranked highest in the country based on the level of unemployment. Poverty levels are also noticeably high, strengthening the need to bring services closer to the people.The novel method to measure geographic accessibility considers factors such as population size and density, as well as the availability of roads. Since rural areas in Limpopo province tend to have limited road infrastructure, people are likely to travel between settlements on unofficial trails and footpaths that are not mapped. To include an approximated representation of these trails and footpaths in the overall travel network, a triangular irregular network was created to connect rural settlements to each other, as well as to the road network. Natural barriers, such as mountain ranges and large rivers or dams were also considered. They impact the level of accessibility in a province, because people have to travel great distances around them to reach Service Centres.Optimal locations were identified through different facility location procedures in a geographic information system. The objective was to identify the minimum number of additional locations for Service Centres that would maximise accessibility in the province.Results emanating from this research indicate that accessibility to Thusong Service Centres and Clusters is uneven between urban and rural settlements. People in rural areas need to travel significantly further to their nearest Service Centre compared to those living in urban areas. In order to increase accessibility in rural areas and to achieve a more equitable distribution of Service Centres across the province, five optimal locations were identified.

Estimation of survival rates is important for developing and evaluating conservation options for large carnivores. However, telemetry studies for large carnivores are often characterized by small sample sizes that limit meaningful conclusions. We used data from 10 published and 8 unpublished studies of leopards Panthera pardus in southern Africa to estimate survival rates and investigate causes of leopard mortality. Mean survival rates were significantly lower in non-protected (0.55 ± SE 0.08) compared to protected areas (0.88 ± 0.03). Inside protected areas juveniles had significantly lower survival (0.39 ± 0.10) compared to subadults (0.86 ± 0.07) and adults (0.88 ± 0.04). There was a greater difference in cause of death between protected and non-protected areas for females compared to males, with people being the dominant cause of mortality outside protected areas for both females and males. We suggest there is cause for concern regarding the sustainability of leopard populations in South Africa, as high female mortality may have severe demographic effects and a large proportion of suitable leopard habitat lies in non-protected areas. However, because a large proportion of deaths outside protected areas were attributed to deliberate killing by people, we suggest that management interventions may have the potential to increase leopard survival dramatically. We therefore stress the urgency to initiate actions, such as conflict mitigation programmes, to increase leopard survival in non-protected areas.