Usage, definition, and measurement of coexistence, tolerance and acceptance in wildlife conservation research in Africa

Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify 'biodiversity hotspots' where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat. As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are confined to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a 'silver bullet' strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the world's species at risk.

The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records. The reasons for this overall conservation success include protective legislation, supportive public opinion, and a variety of practices making coexistence between large carnivores and people possible. The European situation reveals that large carnivores and people can share the same landscape. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Since the publication of the first edition of Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology, the textual fabric in which contemporary society functions has undergone a radical transformation -- namely, the ongoing information revolution. Two decades ago, content analysis was largely known in journalism and communication research, and, to a lesser extent, in the social and psychological sciences. Today, content analysis has become an efficient alternative to public opinion research -- a method of tracking markets, political leanings, and emerging ideas, a way to settle legal disputes, and an approach to explore individual human minds. The Second Edition of Content Analysis is a definitive sourcebook of the history and core principles of content analysis as well as an essential resource for present and future studies. The book introduces readers to ways of analyzing meaningful matter such as texts, images, voices -- that is, data whose physical manifestations are secondary to the meanings that a particular population of people brings to them.Organized into three parts, the book examines the conceptual and methodological aspects of content analysis and also traces several paths through content analysis protocols.The author has completely revised and updated the Second Edition, integrating new information on computer-aided text analysis. The book also includes a practical guide that incorporates experiences in teaching and how to advise academic and commercial researchers. In addition, Krippendorff clarifies the epistemology and logic of content analysis as well as the methods for achieving its aims. Author Klaus Krippendorff discusses three distinguishing characteristics of contemporary content analysis: that it is fundamentally empirically grounded, exploratory in process, and predictive or inferential in intent; that it transcends traditional notions of symbols, contents, and intents; and that it has been forced to develop a methodology of its own, one that enables researchers to plan, execute, communicate, reproduce, and critically evaluate an analysis independent of the desirability of its results.Intended as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students across the social sciences, Content Analysis, Second Edition will also be a valuable resource for practitioners in a variety of disciplines.