Farmers' perception of the ecosystem services provided by diurnal raptors in arid Rajasthan

Farmers are the most important stakeholders in wildlife conservation in the agricultural landscape. Understanding the farmer's perceptions, attitude, behaviour, and knowledge toward conservation is critical in developing an effective conservation programme in human-dominated landscapes. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 373 farmers to understand the farmer's perception of ecosystem services provided by diurnal raptors in the arid region of Rajasthan from July 2020 to February 2021 and from August 2021 to January 2022. We grouped ecosystem services and disservices into larger categories and estimated the correlation between them, finding that disservices are negatively correlated with benefits. Raptors were perceived as beneficial for their role in controlling rodents and pests, but negatively for poultry predation. In addition, we built a binomial generalised linear model with a logit function to better understand the factors that influence farmers' perceptions of raptors (positive or negative). We observed that males and females have different attitudes toward the ecosystem services provided by raptors. It is critical to understand social perceptions in order to conserve species that are rare on a global scale but may face negative perceptions on a local scale. Our study connects ecological information with socio-demographic factors, which can be useful in developing policy measures for raptor conservation.

Assessing African Vultures as Biomonitors and Umbrella Species

African vulture populations are rapidly declining, yet funding and other resources available for their conservation are limited. Improving our understanding of which African vulture species could best serve as an umbrella species for the entire suite of African vultures could help conservationists save time, money, and resources by focusing their efforts on a single vulture species. Furthermore, improving our understanding of the suitability of African vultures as biomonitors for detecting environmental toxins could help conservation authorities to detect changes in ecosystem health. We used a systematic approach based on criteria selected a priori to objectively evaluate the potential of each of the 10 resident African vulture species as (i) an umbrella species for all of the African vulture species, and (ii) an avian biomonitor. For each criterion, we scored the respective African vulture species and summed the scores to determine which species was best suited as an umbrella species and as an avian biomonitor. Our results showed that, overall, certain aspects of vulture ecology (large population sizes, large body sizes, long lifespans, and their ability to be monitored over numerous seasons) support their suitability as biomonitors, while other ecological traits, including their diets and the public's perceptions of vultures, could diminish their suitability. The White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) was the best fit of the 10 vulture species in our assessment as both an avian biomonitor and an umbrella species for all African vulture species. Meanwhile, significant knowledge gaps for other species inhibit their utility as biomonitors. Due to their large home-range sizes, African vultures may only be useful as biomonitors at a regional scale. However, there could be value in using the White-backed Vulture as an umbrella species, as an aid to conserve the entire suite of African vulture species.