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As a solutions‐oriented discipline, our attention is often placed on the substance of conservation challenges. Ideally, conservation science is relevant for policy and practice, contributing relevant data to fill key knowledge gaps. Thus, the data value is not only determined by methodological rigor, but also by its usefulness. In this perspective, we contend that trust in the purpose and process of data collection is integral to evidence‐based conservation and threatened by parachute science. We describe the substance, process, and relationships involved in the establishment of a community‐based reporting network for evaluating conflict responses and interventions to wildlife damage. We demonstrate how reflection on the process of science can provide the foundation for meaningful collaboration. We illustrate how, as a multinational team, supporting local researchers to establish a community‐based program, trust and demonstration of a long‐term commitment are essential to avoid the pitfalls of parachute science. We describe the substance, process, and relationships involved in the establishment of a community‐based reporting network for evaluating conflict responses and interventions to wildlife damage. We illustrate how, as a multinational team supporting local researchers to establish a community‐based program, trust and demonstration of a long‐term commitment are essential to avoid the pitfalls of parachute science.

Control of tsetse flies constitutes a cornerstone of trypanosomiasis control and elimination efforts in Africa. The use of eco-friendly odor-based bait technologies has been identified as a safer method for control of tsetse flies. These technologies are significantly augmented by development of effective repellents that reduce contact between trypanosome-infected tsetse flies and their vertebrate hosts. Waterbuck Repellent Compounds (WRC) and Novel Repellent Blend (NRB) are recently developed tsetse fly repellent formulations. Information on relative efficacy of these formulations against major tsetse fly vectors of trypanosomiasis in Kenya is limited. Such information can inform choices of repellent technology for optimal control of the flies. Here we assessed relative field responses of Glossina pallidipes and G. fuscipes fuscipes , representative of savannah (morsitans) and riverine (palpalis) groups of tsetse flies, respectively. We deployed NG2G traps or sticky panels and tiny targets using randomized Latin Square experimental design. We then assessed catches of G. pallidipes or G. f. fuscipes respectively on the traps/panels in the absence or presence of WRC or NRB. We additionally baited the NG2G traps with G. pallidipes- responsive 3-propylphenol, octenol, p-cresol, and acetone (POCA) attractant blend, that effectively served as proxy for the preferred vertebrate natural host. We performed the G. pallidipes and G. f. fuscipes experiments in Shimba Hills National Reserve and Ndere Island National Park respectively in Kenya and incorporated a no-odor control for each set of experiments. Mean catches of male G. pallidipes in traps without odor (control), baited with POCA, POCA with WRC or POCA with NRB were 9.86 (95% CI; 6.50- 14.74), 42.71 (95% CI; 28.11 - 64.62), 14.30 (95% CI; 8.50 - 23.60) and 3.03 (95% CI; 0.89 - 7.59) respectively, while for females, the catches were 24.43 (95% CI; 13.65 - 47.42), 70.93 (95% CI; 42.95 - 120.50), 23.85 (95% CI; 16.33 - 37.84) and 6.82 (95% CI; 3.59 -17.02) flies per trap per day respectively. Consequently, the NRB was 4.72 and 3.50-folds and significantly (P < 0.001) more repellent to male and female G. pallidipes respectively, than WRC. In contrast, catches of G. f. fuscipes on targets were similar (P > 0.05) across all the three treatments (including no-odor control). The NRB and WRC are thus efficacious against G. pallidipes but not G. f. fuscipes , with efficacy of NRB being several-folds that of WRC against G. pallidipes. Whether these profiles represent general responses of morsitans and palpalis group of tsetse flies remains to be determined. Additionally, G. f. fuscipes merits further research to formulate an effective repellent against this fly. The NRB can potentially provide better protection to vertebrate hosts, including humans and their livestock than WRC from G. pallidipes . Consequently, NRB can be integrated into routine trypanosomiasis control program to stem transmission of trypanosomes by G. pallidipes , especially in eastern and southern Africa where G. pallidipes is naturally abundant.

Many large-scale land acquisition studies focus on the role of powerful transnational corporations, foreign and domestic governments. Instead, we shift the focus to the role of local actors, in this case, pastoralists in Samburu County, Kenya. Here, we apply the concept of ‘intimate exclusion’ and show that pastoralist elites' desire and ability to maximise productive and financial gains from customary land, coupled with their privileged understanding of land-related laws and regulations and ability to use or threaten others with violence, enables the control of extensive customary lands and the exclusion of weaker pastoralists. These processes, we find, are rooted in the country's capitalist development trajectory traceable to colonial rule. Overall, the paper highlights local ‘homegrown’ actors’ role in large-scale land acquisition, how social intimacy provides space and opportunity for unequal benefits and how historical gains offer unique opportunities to gain from new political and economic developments.

Savannah tsetse flies avoid flying toward tsetse fly-refractory waterbuck ( Kobus defassa ) mediated by a repellent blend of volatile compounds in their body odor comprised of δ-octalactone, geranyl acetone, phenols (guaiacol and carvacrol), and homologues of carboxylic acids (C 5 -C 10 ) and 2-alkanones (C 8 -C 13 ). However, although the blends of carboxylic acids and that of 2-alkanones contributed incrementally to the repellency of the waterbuck odor to savannah tsetse flies, some waterbuck constituents (particularly, nonanoic acid and 2-nonanone) showed significant attractive properties. In another study, increasing the ring size of δ-octalactone from six to seven membered ring changed the activity of the resulting molecule (ε-nonalactone) on the savannah tsetse flies from repellency to attraction. In the present study, we first compared the effect of blending ε-nonalactone, nonanoic acid and 2-nonanone in 1:1 binary and 1:1:1 ternary combination on responses of Glossina pallidipes and Glossina morsitans morsitans tsetse flies in a two-choice wind tunnel. The compounds showed clear synergistic effects in the blends, with the ternary blend demonstrating higher attraction than the binary blends and individual compounds. Our follow up laboratory comparisons of tsetse fly responses to ternary combinations with different relative proportions of the three components showed that the blend in 1:3:2 proportion was most attractive relative to fermented cow urine (FCU) to both tsetse species. In our field experiments at Shimba Hills game reserve in Kenya, where G . pallidipes are dominant, the pattern of tsetse catches we obtained with different proportions of the three compounds were similar to those we observed in the laboratory. Interestingly, the three-component blend in 1:3:2 proportion when released at optimized rate of 13.71mg/h was 235% more attractive to G . pallidipes than a combination of POCA (3- n -Propylphenol, 1-Octen-3-ol, 4-Cresol, and Acetone) and fermented cattle urine (FCU). This constitutes a novel finding with potential for downstream deployment in bait technologies for more effective control of G . pallidipes , G . m . morsitans , and perhaps other savannah tsetse fly species, in ‘pull’ and ‘pull-push’ tactics.

Tsetse fly exhibit species-specific olfactory uniqueness potentially underpinned by differences in their chemosensory protein repertoire. We assessed 1) expansions of chemosensory protein orthologs in Glossina morsitans morsitans, Glossina pallidipes, Glossina austeni, Glossina palpalis gambiensis, Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and Glossina brevipalpis tsetse fly species using Café analysis (to identify species-specific expansions) and 2) differential expressions of the orthologs and associated proteins in male G. m. morsitans antennae and head tissues using RNA-Seq approaches (to establish associated functional molecular pathways). We established accelerated and significant (P<0.05, λ = 2.60452e-7) expansions of gene families in G. m. morsitans Odorant receptor (Or)71a, Or46a, Ir75a,d, Ionotropic receptor (Ir) 31a, Ir84a, Ir64a and Odorant binding protein (Obp) 83a-b), G. pallidipes Or67a,c, Or49a, Or92a, Or85b-c,f and Obp73a, G. f. fuscipes Ir21a, Gustatory receptor (Gr) 21a and Gr63a), G. p. gambiensis clumsy, Ir25a and Ir8a, and G. brevipalpis Ir68a and missing orthologs in each tsetse fly species. Most abundantly expressed transcripts in male G. m. morsitans included specific Or (Orco, Or56a, 65a-c, Or47b, Or67b, GMOY012254, GMOY009475, and GMOY006265), Gr (Gr21a, Gr63a, GMOY013297 and GMOY013298), Ir (Ir8a, Ir25a and Ir41a) and Obp (Obp19a, lush, Obp28a, Obp83a-b Obp44a, GMOY012275 and GMOY013254) orthologs. Most enriched biological processes in the head were associated with vision, muscle activity and neuropeptide regulations, amino acid/nucleotide metabolism and circulatory system processes. Antennal enrichments (>90% of chemosensory transcripts) included cilium-associated mechanoreceptors, chemo-sensation, neuronal controlled growth/differentiation and regeneration/responses to stress. The expanded and tsetse fly species specific orthologs includes those associated with known tsetse fly responsive ligands (4-methyl phenol, 4-propyl phenol, acetic acid, butanol and carbon dioxide) and potential tsetse fly species-specific responsive ligands (2-oxopentanoic acid, phenylacetaldehyde, hydroxycinnamic acid, 2-heptanone, caffeine, geosmin, DEET and (cVA) pheromone). Some of the orthologs can potentially modulate several tsetse fly species-specific behavioral (male-male courtship, hunger/host seeking, cool avoidance, hygrosensory and feeding) phenotypes. The putative tsetse fly specific chemosensory gene orthologs and their respective ligands provide candidate gene targets and kairomones for respective downstream functional genomic and field evaluations that can effectively expand toolbox of species-specific tsetse fly attractants, repellents and other tsetse fly behavioral modulators.

Tsetse flies use antennal expressed genes to navigate their environment. While most canonical genes associated with chemoreception are annotated, potential gaps with important antennal genes are uncharacterized in Glossina morsitans morsitans . We generated antennae-specific transcriptomes from adult male G . m . morsitans flies fed/unfed on bloodmeal and/or exposed to an attractant (ε-nonalactone), a repellant (δ-nonalactone) or paraffin diluent. Using bioinformatics approach, we mapped raw reads onto G . m . morsitans gene-set from VectorBase and collected un-mapped reads (constituting the gaps in annotation). We de novo assembled these reads (un-mapped) into transcript and identified corresponding genes of the transcripts in G . m . morsitans gene-set and protein homologs in UniProt protein database to further annotate the gaps. We predicted potential protein-coding gene regions associated with these transcripts in G . m . morsitans genome, annotated/curated these genes and identified their putative annotated orthologs/homologs in Drosophila melanogaster , Musca domestica or Anopheles gambiae genomes. We finally evaluated differential expression of the novel genes in relation to odor exposures relative to no-odor control (unfed flies). About 45.21% of the sequenced reads had no corresponding transcripts within G . m . morsitans gene-set, corresponding to the gap in existing annotation of the tsetse fly genome. The total reads assembled into 72,428 unique transcripts, most (74.43%) of which had no corresponding genes in the UniProt database. We annotated/curated 592 genes from these transcripts, among which 202 were novel while 390 were improvements of existing genes in the G . m . morsitans genome. Among the novel genes, 94 had orthologs in D . melanogaster , M . domestica or An . gambiae while 88 had homologs in UniProt. These orthologs were putatively associated with oxidative regulation, protein synthesis, transcriptional and/or translational regulation, detoxification and metal ion binding, thus providing insight into their specific roles in antennal physiological processes in male G . m . morsitans . A novel gene (GMOY014237.R1396) was differentially expressed in response to the attractant. We thus established significant gaps in G . m . morsitans genome annotation and identified novel male antennae-expressed genes in the genome, among which > 53% (108) are potentially G . m . morsitans specific.

Tsetse flies are major vectors of African trypanosomiasis, with devastating medical and veterinary consequences in sub‐Saharan region of Africa. Insect repellents are promising tool for control of tsetse flies in the region. A four‐component tsetse‐repellent blend (δ‐nonalactone, heptanoic acid, 4‐methylguaiacol, and geranyl acetone) previously formulated and optimized was encapsulated in β‐cyclodextrin for a slow controlled release. Here, we explored various methods of microencapsulating (kneading, coprecipitation, heating, or freeze‐drying) tsetse fly repellent blend in β‐cyclodextrin nanoparticles. We assessed release kinetics of the blends and individual compounds using gas chromatography linked with flame ionization detector and evaluated laboratory and field responses (repellence) of the flies by the encapsulated blends. We compared individual performances of releases kinetics of the encapsulated blend relative to nonencapsulated composites. Overall, kneading, coprecipitation, heating, and freeze‐drying microencapsulation techniques retained 72.0%, 61.0%, 59.5%, and 57.3% of the blend, respectively. Release rates of blends in 400‐ and 200‐microns thick polythene sachets were 6.73 and 11.82 mg/h, respectively, significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than that of the kneaded encapsulated blend (5.35 mg/h). Laboratory and field responses of tsetse flies to the unencapsulated native (sachet) and kneaded encapsulated odor blends confirmed our laboratory findings. Microencapsulation technology of repellent odors can be used for controlled release of active molecules in order to give an extended protection period, potentially reducing operational cost in programs for control of tsetse flies and related insect vectors.

In recent years, many community-based conservancies (CBCs) led by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been established on land inhabited by pastoralists in Northern Kenya. Despite a growing body of research, little attention has been paid to the impacts on pastoralists’ climate change adaptation. We provide a deeper understanding by considering NGO-led community-based conservation (NGO-led CBC) as a new frontier of territorialization and adaptation to climate change and variability as a social-natural process. Based on an analysis of primary data collected in Samburu County, Kenya, we show that NGO-led CBC involves resource enclosures that aggravate conflicts over land rights and pastoralists’ vulnerability to climate change and variability by constraining their mobility. In relation, the legal and institutional environment promoted by NGO-led CBC leads to increased control over ecologically vibrant lands, which erodes pastoralists’ land tenure security and climate change adaptation. Although NGO-led CBC plays an important role in enhancing access to external finance and incentivizing diversification, governance mechanisms remain opaque and overshadow local institutions. Overall, we highlight the need for actors to carefully consider the implications of this conservation/development model for already hard-pressed land-dependent communities.

Background Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) enhances plant water-use efficiency through an inverse day/night pattern of stomatal closure/opening that facilitates nocturnal CO 2 uptake. CAM has evolved independently in over 35 plant lineages, accounting for ~ 6% of all higher plants. Agave species are highly heat- and drought-tolerant, and have been domesticated as model CAM crops for beverage, fiber, and biofuel production in semi-arid and arid regions. However, the genomic basis of evolutionary innovation of CAM in genus Agave is largely unknown. Results Using an approach that integrated genomics, gene co-expression networks, comparative genomics and protein structure analyses, we investigated the molecular evolution of CAM as exemplified in Agave . Comparative genomics analyses among C 3 , C 4 and CAM species revealed that core metabolic components required for CAM have ancient genomic origins traceable to non-vascular plants while regulatory proteins required for diel re-programming of metabolism have a more recent origin shared among C 3 , C 4 and CAM species. We showed that accelerated evolution of key functional domains in proteins responsible for primary metabolism and signaling, together with a diel re-programming of the transcription of genes involved in carbon fixation, carbohydrate processing, redox homeostasis, and circadian control is required for the evolution of CAM in Agave . Furthermore, we highlighted the potential candidates contributing to the adaptation of CAM functional modules. Conclusions This work provides evidence of adaptive evolution of CAM related pathways. We showed that the core metabolic components required for CAM are shared by non-vascular plants, but regulatory proteins involved in re-reprogramming of carbon fixation and metabolite transportation appeared more recently. We propose that the accelerated evolution of key proteins together with a diel re-programming of gene expression were required for CAM evolution from C 3 ancestors in Agave .

Tsetse flies use antennal expressed genes to navigate their environment. While most canonical genes associated with chemoreception are annotated, potential gaps with important antennal genes are uncharacterized in Glossina morsitans morsitans. We generated antennae-specific transcriptomes from adult male G. m. morsitans flies fed/unfed on bloodmeal and/or exposed to an attractant (ε-nonalactone), a repellant (δ-nonalactone) or paraffin diluent. Using bioinformatics approach, we mapped raw reads onto G. m. morsitans gene-set from VectorBase and collected un-mapped reads (constituting the gaps in annotation). We de novo assembled these reads (un-mapped) into transcript and identified corresponding genes of the transcripts in G. m. morsitans gene-set and protein homologs in UniProt protein database to further annotate the gaps. We predicted potential protein-coding gene regions associated with these transcripts in G. m. morsitans genome, annotated/curated these genes and identified their putative annotated orthologs/homologs in Drosophila melanogaster, Musca domestica or Anopheles gambiae genomes. We finally evaluated differential expression of the novel genes in relation to odor exposures relative to no-odor control (unfed flies). About 45.21% of the sequenced reads had no corresponding transcripts within G. m. morsitans gene-set, corresponding to the gap in existing annotation of the tsetse fly genome. The total reads assembled into 72,428 unique transcripts, most (74.43%) of which had no corresponding genes in the UniProt database. We annotated/curated 592 genes from these transcripts, among which 202 were novel while 390 were improvements of existing genes in the G. m. morsitans genome. Among the novel genes, 94 had orthologs in D. melanogaster, M. domestica or An. gambiae while 88 had homologs in UniProt. These orthologs were putatively associated with oxidative regulation, protein synthesis, transcriptional and/or translational regulation, detoxification and metal ion binding, thus providing insight into their specific roles in antennal physiological processes in male G. m. morsitans. A novel gene (GMOY014237.R1396) was differentially expressed in response to the attractant. We thus established significant gaps in G. m. morsitans genome annotation and identified novel male antennae-expressed genes in the genome, among which > 53% (108) are potentially G. m. morsitans specific.