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Swanson A, Caro T, Davies-Mostert H, Mills MGL, Macdonald DW, Borner M, Masenga E, Packer C. Cheetahs and wild dogs show contrasting patterns of suppression by lions. J Anim Ecol 2014; 83:1418-27. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2013] [Accepted: 04/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Packer C. Network of medical school educators for best practices in case‐study Problem Based Learning (719.7). FASEB J 2014. [DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.719.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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53
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Packer C, Geh DJ, Goulden OW, Jordan AM, Withers GK, Wagstaff AJ, Bellwood RA, Binmore CL, Webster CL. No lasting legacy: no change in reporting of women's sports in the British print media with the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. J Public Health (Oxf) 2014; 37:50-6. [PMID: 24618182 PMCID: PMC4340323 DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdu018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The proportion of media sports coverage devoted to women is reported at between 1 and 6%. Our survey examines and compares reporting patterns before and after the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. METHODS We collected data on sports coverage in six national newspapers on 3 weekend days in February and March 2012, and in February 2013; ∼5 months before the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games and 5 months after the closing of the Paralympic Games. RESULTS In 2012, 39 of 876 articles in national newspapers (4.5%) related to women's sports, compared with 22 of 755 (2.9%) in 2013; a non-significant reduction in coverage [difference 1.54%, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.28 to 3.36). In 2012, 24 of 647 pictures (3.7%) related to women's activities, compared with 10 of 738 (1.4%) in 2013; a significant reduction in coverage (difference 2.35%; 95% CI 0.68-4.03). The median area per article was significantly greater for men in both years. CONCLUSIONS We found a continuing bias towards men's sport in the media analysed and no evidence of improvement either before or after the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Increased support of women's sport in the print media could benefit individuals and influence the health of the population.
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Packer C, Swanson A, Canney S, Loveridge A, Garnett S, Pfeifer M, Burton AC, Bauer H, MacNulty D. The case for fencing remains intact. Ecol Lett 2013; 16:1414, e4. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2013] [Revised: 07/12/2013] [Accepted: 07/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Sinclair ARE, Metzger KL, Fryxell JM, Packer C, Byrom AE, Craft ME, Hampson K, Lembo T, Durant SM, Forrester GJ, Bukombe J, Mchetto J, Dempewolf J, Hilborn R, Cleaveland S, Nkwabi A, Mosser A, Mduma SAR. Asynchronous food-web pathways could buffer the response of Serengeti predators to El Niño Southern Oscillation. Ecology 2013; 94:1123-30. [PMID: 23858652 DOI: 10.1890/12-0428.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Understanding how entire ecosystems maintain stability in the face of climatic and human disturbance is one of the most fundamental challenges in ecology. Theory suggests that a crucial factor determining the degree of ecosystem stability is simply the degree of synchrony with which different species in ecological food webs respond to environmental stochasticity. Ecosystems in which all food-web pathways are affected similarly by external disturbance should amplify variability in top carnivore abundance over time due to population interactions, whereas ecosystems in which a large fraction of pathways are nonresponsive or even inversely responsive to external disturbance will have more constant levels of abundance at upper trophic levels. To test the mechanism underlying this hypothesis, we used over half a century of demographic data for multiple species in the Serengeti (Tanzania) ecosystem to measure the degree of synchrony to variation imposed by an external environmental driver, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO effects were mediated largely via changes in dry-season vs. wet-season rainfall and consequent changes in vegetation availability, propagating via bottom-up effects to higher levels of the Serengeti food web to influence herbivores, predators and parasites. Some species in the Serengeti food web responded to the influence of ENSO in opposite ways, whereas other species were insensitive to variation in ENSO. Although far from conclusive, our results suggest that a diffuse mixture of herbivore responses could help buffer top carnivores, such as Serengeti lions, from variability in climate. Future global climate changes that favor some pathways over others, however, could alter the effectiveness of such processes in the future.
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Packer C. Is India's Pride Actually African?
Exotic Aliens
The Lion and the Cheetah in India
by Valmik Thapar, Romila Thapar, and Yusuf Ansari
Aleph, New Delhi, 2013. 304 pp. INR595, $54.75, £23.99. ISBN 9789382277552. Science 2013. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1240367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
From their examination of the historical record, the authors argue that the extant lion and cheetah populations of India are not native but the results of animals imported by royalty for sport.
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Eby S, Mosser A, Swanson A, Packer C, Ritchie M. The impact of burning on lion Panthera leo habitat choice in an African savanna. Curr Zool 2013. [DOI: 10.1093/czoolo/59.3.335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Carnivores play a central role in ecosystem processes by exerting top-down control, while fire exerts bottom-up control in ecosystems throughout the world, yet, little is known about how fire affects short-term carnivore distributions across the landscape. Through the use of a long-term data set we investigated the distribution of lions, during the daytime, in relation to burned areas in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. We found that lions avoid burned areas despite the fact that herbivores, their prey, are attracted to burned areas. Prey attraction, however, likely results from the reduction in cover caused by burning, that may thereby decrease lion hunting success. Lions also do not preferentially utilize the edges of burned areas over unburned areas despite the possibility that edges would combine the benefit of cover with proximity to abundant prey. Despite the fact that lions avoid burned areas, lion territory size and reproductive success were not affected by the proportion of the territory burned each year. Therefore, burning does not seem to reduce lion fitness perhaps because of the heterogeneity of burned areas across the landscape or because it is possible that when hunting at night lions visit burned areas despite their daytime avoidance of these areas.
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Packer C, Loveridge A, Canney S, Caro T, Garnett S, Pfeifer M, Zander K, Swanson A, MacNulty D, Balme G, Bauer H, Begg C, Begg K, Bhalla S, Bissett C, Bodasing T, Brink H, Burger A, Burton A, Clegg B, Dell S, Delsink A, Dickerson T, Dloniak S, Druce D, Frank L, Funston P, Gichohi N, Groom R, Hanekom C, Heath B, Hunter L, DeIongh H, Joubert C, Kasiki S, Kissui B, Knocker W, Leathem B, Lindsey P, Maclennan S, McNutt J, Miller S, Naylor S, Nel P, Ng'weno C, Nicholls K, Ogutu J, Okot-Omoya E, Patterson B, Plumptre A, Salerno J, Skinner K, Slotow R, Sogbohossou E, Stratford K, Winterbach C, Winterbach H, Polasky S. Conserving large carnivores: dollars and fence. Ecol Lett 2013; 16:635-41. [PMID: 23461543 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2012] [Revised: 11/19/2012] [Accepted: 01/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Steer⁎ C, Chia P, O'Connor J, Underhill C, Donnelly J, Myers R, Eek R, Clarke K, Packer C. Utilising existing community-based supportive care and aged care resources for older patients with cancer — Updated results of the Care Coordination in the Older Adult with Cancer (CCOAC) project. J Geriatr Oncol 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jgo.2012.10.126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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61
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MacCormick HA, MacNulty DR, Bosacker AL, Lehman C, Bailey A, Anthony Collins D, Packer C. Male and female aggression: lessons from sex, rank, age, and injury in olive baboons. Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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Troyer JL, Roelke ME, Jespersen JM, Baggett N, Buckley-Beason V, MacNulty D, Craft M, Packer C, Pecon-Slattery J, O'Brien SJ. FIV diversity: FIV Ple subtype composition may influence disease outcome in African lions. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2011; 143:338-46. [PMID: 21723622 PMCID: PMC3168974 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2011.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infects domestic cats and at least 20 additional species of non-domestic felids throughout the world. Strains specific to domestic cat (FIV(Fca)) produce AIDS-like disease progression, sequelae and pathology providing an informative model for HIV infection in humans. Less is known about the immunological and pathological influence of FIV in other felid species although multiple distinct strains of FIV circulate in natural populations. As in HIV-1 and HIV-2, multiple diverse cross-species infections may have occurred. In the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, three divergent subtypes of lion FIV (FIV(Ple)) are endemic, whereby 100% of adult lions are infected with one or more of these strains. Herein, the relative distribution of these subtypes in the population are surveyed and, combined with observed differences in lion mortality due to secondary infections based on FIV(Ple) subtypes, the data suggest that FIV(Ple) subtypes may have different patterns of pathogenicity and transmissibility among wild lion populations.
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MacNulty DR, Smith DW, Mech LD, Vucetich JA, Packer C. Nonlinear effects of group size on the success of wolves hunting elk. Behav Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Lembo T, Hampson K, Auty H, Beesley CA, Bessell P, Packer C, Halliday J, Fyumagwa R, Hoare R, Ernest E, Mentzel C, Mlengeya T, Stamey K, Wilkins PP, Cleaveland S. Serologic surveillance of anthrax in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania, 1996-2009. Emerg Infect Dis 2011; 17:387-94. [PMID: 21392428 PMCID: PMC3166018 DOI: 10.3201/eid1703.101290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, is responsible for varying death rates among animal species. Difficulties in case detection, hazardous or inaccessible carcasses, and misdiagnosis hinder surveillance. Using case reports and a new serologic assay that enables multispecies comparisons, we examined exposure to and illness caused by B. anthracis in different species in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania during 1996–2009 and the utility of serosurveillance. High seroprevalence among carnivores suggested regular nonfatal exposure. Seropositive wildebeest and buffalo showed that infection was not invariably fatal among herbivores, whereas absence of seropositivity in zebras and frequent detection of fatal cases indicated high susceptibility. Exposure patterns in dogs reflected known patterns of endemicity and provided new information about anthrax in the ecosystem, which indicated the potential of dogs as indicator species. Serosurveillance is a valuable tool for monitoring and detecting anthrax and may shed light on mechanisms responsible for species-specific variability in exposure, susceptibility, and mortality rates.
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Hampson K, Lembo T, Bessell P, Auty H, Packer C, Halliday J, Beesley CA, Fyumagwa R, Hoare R, Ernest E, Mentzel C, Metzger KL, Mlengeya T, Stamey K, Roberts K, Wilkins PP, Cleaveland S. Predictability of anthrax infection in the Serengeti, Tanzania. J Appl Ecol 2011; 48:1333-1344. [PMID: 22318563 PMCID: PMC3272456 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02030.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Anthrax is endemic throughout Africa, causing considerable livestock and wildlife losses and severe, sometimes fatal, infection in humans. Predicting the risk of infection is therefore important for public health, wildlife conservation and livestock economies. However, because of the intermittent and variable nature of anthrax outbreaks, associated environmental and climatic conditions, and diversity of species affected, the ecology of this multihost pathogen is poorly understood.We explored records of anthrax from the Serengeti ecosystem in north-west Tanzania where the disease has been documented in humans, domestic animals and a range of wildlife. Using spatial and temporal case-detection and seroprevalence data from wild and domestic animals, we investigated spatial, environmental, climatic and species-specific associations in exposure and disease.Anthrax was detected annually in numerous species, but large outbreaks were spatially localized, mostly affecting a few focal herbivores.Soil alkalinity and cumulative weather extremes were identified as useful spatial and temporal predictors of exposure and infection risk, and for triggering the onset of large outbreaks.Interacting ecological and behavioural factors, specifically functional groups and spatiotemporal overlap, helped to explain the variable patterns of infection and exposure among species.Synthesis and applications. Our results shed light on ecological drivers of anthrax infection and suggest that soil alkalinity and prolonged droughts or rains are useful predictors of disease occurrence that could guide risk-based surveillance. These insights should inform strategies for managing anthrax including prophylactic livestock vaccination, timing of public health warnings and antibiotic provision in high-risk areas. However, this research highlights the need for greater surveillance (environmental, serological and case-detection-orientated) to determine the mechanisms underlying anthrax dynamics.
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Craft ME, Volz E, Packer C, Meyers LA. Disease transmission in territorial populations: the small-world network of Serengeti lions. J R Soc Interface 2011; 8:776-86. [PMID: 21030428 PMCID: PMC3104347 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2010.0511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2010] [Accepted: 10/06/2010] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Territoriality in animal populations creates spatial structure that is thought to naturally buffer disease invasion. Often, however, territorial populations also include highly mobile, non-residential individuals that potentially serve as disease superspreaders. Using long-term data from the Serengeti Lion Project, we characterize the contact network structure of a territorial wildlife population and address the epidemiological impact of nomadic individuals. As expected, pride contacts are dominated by interactions with neighbouring prides and interspersed by encounters with nomads as they wander throughout the ecosystem. Yet the pride-pride network also includes occasional long-range contacts between prides, making it surprisingly small world and vulnerable to epidemics, even without nomads. While nomads increase both the local and global connectivity of the network, their epidemiological impact is marginal, particularly for diseases with short infectious periods like canine distemper virus. Thus, territoriality in Serengeti lions may be less protective and non-residents less important for disease transmission than previously considered.
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Packer C, Brink H, Kissui BM, Maliti H, Kushnir H, Caro T. Effects of trophy hunting on lion and leopard populations in Tanzania. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2011; 25:142-153. [PMID: 20825444 DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01576.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Tanzania holds most of the remaining large populations of African lions (Panthera leo) and has extensive areas of leopard habitat (Panthera pardus), and both species are subjected to sizable harvests by sport hunters. As a first step toward establishing sustainable management strategies, we analyzed harvest trends for lions and leopards across Tanzania's 300,000 km(2) of hunting blocks. We summarize lion population trends in protected areas where lion abundance has been directly measured and data on the frequency of lion attacks on humans in high-conflict agricultural areas. We place these findings in context of the rapidly growing human population in rural Tanzania and the concomitant effects of habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and cultural practices. Lion harvests declined by 50% across Tanzania between 1996 and 2008, and hunting areas with the highest initial harvests suffered the steepest declines. Although each part of the country is subject to some form of anthropogenic impact from local people, the intensity of trophy hunting was the only significant factor in a statistical analysis of lion harvest trends. Although leopard harvests were more stable, regions outside the Selous Game Reserve with the highest initial leopard harvests again showed the steepest declines. Our quantitative analyses suggest that annual hunting quotas be limited to 0.5 lions and 1.0 leopard/1000 km(2) of hunting area, except hunting blocks in the Selous Game Reserve, where harvests should be limited to 1.0 lion and 3.0 leopards/1000 km(2) .
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Abstract
Comparisons of the horns of males and females across genera of African antelopes indicate that male horns are better adapted for clashing or pushing against another pair of horns during intrasexual combat. The horns of females are relatively more specialized as stabbing weapons. Horns in females are found in only half the genera and in those genera where females have horns, the genera are heavier than genera with hornless females.
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Fung M, Simpson S, Packer C. Identification of innovation in public health. J Public Health (Oxf) 2010; 33:123-30. [DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdq045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Fryxell JM, Packer C, McCann K, Solberg EJ, Saether BE. Resource Management Cycles and the Sustainability of Harvested Wildlife Populations. Science 2010; 328:903-6. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1185802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Packer C. On the Death of Dr Robert Levet. West J Med 2010. [DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c1847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Trinkel M, Funston P, Hofmeyr M, Hofmeyr D, Dell S, Packer C, Slotow R. Inbreeding and density-dependent population growth in a small, isolated lion population. Anim Conserv 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00344.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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75
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Funston PJ, Frank L, Stephens T, Davidson Z, Loveridge A, Macdonald DM, Durant S, Packer C, Mosser A, Ferreira SM. Substrate and species constraints on the use of track incidences to estimate African large carnivore abundance. J Zool (1987) 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00682.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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