This thesis has the overall aims of creating a welfare-sensitive additive index of captive great ape husbandry using the expert opinion of relevant stakeholders, highlighting the aspects of husbandry requiring most improvement and allowing enclosures in different zoos and wildlife parks to be ranked in a uniform way. I investigated the attitudes of experts on the management of captive great apes to gain a greater understanding of the features of their environment that may be critical in maintaining a high standard of welfare. From the experts ranking of the different Levels of facilities offered to the great apes I constructed an additive index with 17 key attributes with between two and four Levels for each. The Great Ape Welfare Index (GAWI) derived from expert opinion has Social structure, Enclosure appearance, Group size, Enclosure furnishings and Avoidance provision as the most important attributes of a management system. The GAWI was then validated by recording the behaviour of the captive great apes housed in Australian and overseas zoos, and comparing their activity budgets to wild individuals. Using a Penrose Distance Statistic a significant negative correlation was found between Index score and the departure from wild activity budgets. Additionally I found a significant negative correlation between the change in the proportion of time spent resting and the welfare Index score achieved indicating that those great apes housed in enclosures achieving higher Index scores are more active in general. Finally the husbandry and management systems for great apes currently used by zoos globally were investigated and their ranking in the Index were calculated. This allowed the particular aspects of great ape management requiring improvement to be identified for each enclosure. Comparisons of regional means showed that Australian zoos achieved significantly higher Index scores than those in other parts of the world. The proportion of great apes housed in New Zealand zoos reported as displaying an abnormal behaviour was significantly higher than all other regions with the proportion of great apes housed in Australia displaying significantly less abnormal behaviour when compared to the US. The highest index achieved by any enclosure was 97.5 for an enclosure that housed a group of gorillas, with the lowest index allocated was 52.2 for an orangutan enclosure. The presence of abnormal behaviours was also investigated with the most common abnormal behaviours reported being regurgitation and re-ingestion (15.8%), hair plucking (10.2%) and begging (7.9%) with some animals reported as exhibiting four different abnormal behaviours. The GAWI has the potential to improve the captive environments provided to great apes through highlighting the most critical aspects of their husbandry requiring improvement. This should encourage zoos to aim higher than just complying with minimum standards set by their regional zoological associations. As the index correlates with the behaviour of the great apes housed, their behaviour may more closely resemble wild individuals if improvements are made. The GAWI has been compared to two alternative models to investigate whether the methods used to create the index could be simplified while still allowing adequate discrimination between enclosures and species. This index can be adapted for use in other institutions housing great apes and can act as a model to create indices for other species. The index has been submitted to the primate Taxon Advisory Group of the Australian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria for their consideration of its use in their accreditation scheme or husbandry guidelines.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universitat Herisau, Switzerland, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-231).

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.

The neocortex is the most recently evolved part of the mammalian brain which is involved in a repertoire of higher order brain functions, including those that separate humans from other animals. Humans have evolved an expanded neocortex over the course of evolution through a massive increase in neuron number (compared to our close relatives-­‐‑ the chimpanzees) in spite of sharing similar gestation time frames. So what do humans do differently compared to chimpanzees within the same time frame during their development? This dissertation addresses this question by comparing the developmental progression of neurogenesis between humans and chimpanzees using cerebral organoids as the model system. The usage of cerebral organoids, has enabled us to compare the development of both the human neocortex, and the chimpanzee neocortex from the very initiation of the neural phase of embryogenesis until very long periods of time. The results obtained so far suggest that the genetic programs underlying the development of the chimpanzee neocortex and the human neocortex are not very different, but rather the difference lies in the timing of the developmental progression. These results show that the chimpanzee neocortex spends lesser time in its proliferation phase, and allots lesser time to the generation of its neurons than the human neocortex. In more scientific terms, the neurogenic phase of the neocortex is shorter in chimpanzees than it is in humans. This conclusion is supported by (1) an earlier onset of gliogenesis in chimpanzees compared to humans which is indicative of a declining neurogenic phase, (2) an earlier increase in the chimpanzee neurogenic progenitors during development, compared to humans, (3) a higher number of stem cell– like progenitors in human cortices compared to chimpanzees, (4) a decline in neurogenic areas within the chimpanzee cerebral organoids over time compared to human cerebral organoids.

An investigation of the effects of commercial mechanised selective logging on rain forest vegetation and mammals, was undertaken in the Lope Reserve, central Gabon, between January 1989 to July 1991. Vegetation in Lope is mostly semi-evergreen lowland tropical rain forest, but there are some localised patches of savanna., which are thought to be natural in origin, but which are maintained today by regular fires started by humans. Study sites were established in areas of forest logged 20-25, 10-15, and 3-5 years previously, a fourth was logged during the study, and a fifth remained unexploited. None of the study sites had been subject to hunting in the recent past. A line-transect five kilometres in length was cut across the drainage in each site. Forest composition and structure was assessed along each transect, by identifying and measuring trees and lianes in botanical plots, counting stem density of herbaceous vegetation in the families Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae, and by measuring canopy cover at three heights. At total of 4885 trees and lianes of 327 species occurred in five 2.5 ha samples of plants greater than 10 cm dbh, whilst 1832 individuals of 137 species were found in five 25ha samples of trees greater than 70cm dbh. There were marked differences in structure and species composition both between and within sites. A model was developed to attempt to explain this variation, based upon the theory that much of Lope had been covered by savanna vegetation during a previous cool, dry climatic phase, and that forest structure and composition reflected recolonisation of the savanna by forest. Physical features such as swamps, rocky outcrops and altitude were also considered. Two types of multivariate analysis were applied to botanical data and supported the model. The effects of logging on forest vegetation were assessed by returning after logging to botanical plots established before exploitation. Damage levels were low, compared to other parts of the World, resulting in about a 10% reduction in canopy cover. Patterns of fruit production were studied by counting fallen ripe and unripe fruit on transects. Fruits encountered were classified on the basis of their morphology and dispersal mechanism. There was a period of low fruit production during the major dry season, when frugivores are likely to suffer dietary stress. A number of plant species which did produce fruit at this time were identified as species which might represent 'keystone' resources. Over 70% of fruit species were animal-dispersed, demonstrating the the important role animals play in the ecology of tropical rain forests. Forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) diet, ecological role and group structure were analysed. The bulk of the diet consisted of the bark and leaves of trees, and some monocotyledons in the families Marantaceae and Zingiberaceae, but fruit was also important. Large-scale seasonal movements in response to fruit availability were detected. Elephants were important seed dispersers f o r many plant species, and were responsible for less than 1% of natural tree mortality. The social structure of these forest elephants differed from that of populations that have been studied i n east and southern Africa. Average group size was 2.8, and no groups of more than 10 individuals were encountered. Densi ties of primates, ungulates and squirrels were assessed using standard line-transect censuses. Resolution was poor, but statistical differences were detected between sites for some species. Chimpanzee, (Pan t. troglodytes) densities declined in logged forest, but no other species could be shown to decline after logging. Some other differences between sites were related to vegetation composition. Biomass was high, estimated a t up to 4692.6 kg km-2, but was dominated by elephants, which made up 25-82%. Conservation implications of this study are discussed, and recommendations made.

abstract: Development throughout the course of history has traditionally resulted in the demise of biodiversity. As humans strive to develop their daily livelihoods, it is often at the expense of nearby wildlife and the environment. Conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs), among other actors in the global agenda, have blossomed in the past century with the realization that there is an immediate need for conservation action. Unlike government agencies, conservation NGOs have an independent, potentially more objective outlook on procedures and policies that would benefit certain regions or certain species the most. They often have national and international government support, in addition to the credibility and influencing power to sway policy decisions and participate in international agendas. The key to their success lies in the ability to balance conservation efforts with socioeconomic development efforts. One cannot occur without the other, but they must work in coordination. This study looks at the example of African Great Apes. Eight ape-focused NGOs and three unique case studies will be examined in order to describe the impact that NGOs have. Most of these NGOs have been able to build the capacity from an initial conservation agenda, to incorporating socioeconomic factors that benefit the development of local communities in addition to the apes and habitat they set out to influence. This being the case, initiatives by conservation NGOs could be the key to a sustainable future in which humans and biodiversity coexist harmoniously. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Global Technology and Development 2019

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Eddy Nahmias, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Philosophy. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 24, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Balancing selection maintains advantageous genetic diversity in populations through a variety of mechanisms including overdominance, negative frequency-dependent selection, temporal or spatial variation in selective pressures, and pleiotropy. If environmental pressures are constant through time, balancing selection can affect the evolution of selected loci for millions of years, and its targets might be shared by different species. This thesis is comprised of two different approaches aimed at detecting shared signatures of balancing selection in the genomes of humans and other great apes. In the first part of the thesis, we focus on extreme loci where the action of balancing selection has maintained several coding trans-species polymorphisms in humans, chimpanzees and bonobos. These trSNPs segregate since the common ancestor of the Homo-Pan clade and have survived for ~14 million years of independent evolution. These loci show the characteristic signatures of long-term balancing selection, as they define haplotypes with high genetic diversity that show cluster of sequences by allele rather than by species, and segregate at intermediate allele frequencies. Apart from several trSNPs in the MHC region, we were able to uncover a non-synonymous trSNP in the autoimmune gene LAD1. In the second part of the thesis we explore shared signatures of balancing selection outside trSNPs. We first implement a genome scan designed to detect signatures of balancing selection using NCD2 in the genomes of nine great ape species, including chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and orangutan. We show that targets of balancing selection are shared between species that have diverged millions of years ago, and that this observation cannot be explained by shared ancestry. We further demonstrate that targets of balancing selection primarily affect the evolution of genic regions of the genome, although we see evidence for their involvement in the regulation of gene expression. Overall, we provide comprehensive evidence that similar environmental pressures maintain advantageous diversity through the action of balancing selection in humans and other great apes, notwithstanding the deep divergence times between many of these species.

While a major benefit of female-male associations in gorillas is protection from infanticidal males, a silverback is also responsible for providing overall group stability and protection from predation and other environmental or interspecific risks and disturbances. A silverback’s reproductive success will be a function of his group’s survival, his females’ reproductive rates and the survival of his progeny. Here, I evaluate the western lowland silverback’s role as the protective leader of his group and provide the first detailed behavioural study of silverback-group dynamics for western lowland gorillas from a holistic perspective; in both forested and bai environments, from nest-to-nest. Behavioural data were collected from one single-male habituated western lowland gorilla group, over 12-months starting January 2007 at the Bai Hokou Primate Habituation Camp, Central African Republic. Data collection - instantaneous scans, continuous written records of all auditory signals, nesting data, and ad libitum notes on interunit interactions - focused on the silverback and those individuals in his immediate proximity. Analyses were conducted over 258 morning or afternoon sessions, on 3,252 silverback behaviour scans (plus 1,053 additional smell scans), 22,343 auditory signals and 166 nest sites. Evidence from neighbours to the silverback, group spread, progression, ranging, nesting, human directed aggression and silverback chemosignalling analyses suggest that silverback-group dynamics have developed complex, strategic spatial and social strategies to cope with perceived risk in rainforest environments, which respond to differing habitats, and differing intensities of interunit interactions and interspecific disturbance. I also show that the release of pungent extreme and high level silverback odours may function as both acute and chronic indicators of arousal designed to intimidate extragroup rival males and attract adult females by expressing dominance, strength, and health. Higher level silverback odours may also provide cues for group members to increase vigilance in risky situations, whereas low level smells may function as a baseline identification marker and provide both self and intragroup reassurance. Western lowland silverback-group relationships appear to be centred on providing a strong protective – rather than socially interactive - and stabilizing role to ensure group cohesion and safety, which ultimately increases the likelihood of male reproductive success.