Ecology

Urbanization is fast progressing in the Global South, requiring new solutions for infrastructure, services, industrial development and land and energy use for these regions. In this context, fast-growing cities in Africa can take on a leadership role in driving climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
Credit: Stefan Rotter / Alamy Stock PhotoCities in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South continue to grapple with the challenge of delivering equitable services, infrastructure, housing and action to respond to climate change extremes and disasters. One well-known problem is a mismatch between the pace of urban growth and the slower development of basic services and critical infrastructure. This results in, for example, deficient sanitation, water supply systems and localized waste management for large parts of the population, which in turn contribute substantially to heightened poverty and inequality. For inclusive, equitable, prosperous and climate-resilient cities, urban management needs to integrate low-income communities into the urban economy by ensuring access to water, sanitation, energy transition, waste management, poverty reduction and by improving resilience through innovative solutions.
Credit: Patrick J. Endres/Corbis Documentary/GettySuch an equitable urban transition requires changes in the urban infrastructure, and land and energy use, as well as water and ecosystem management. The key research question in this field is to find ways to ensure city-wide access to infrastructure and services, while minimizing emissions and resource use, and building resilience to climate change impacts. In this regard, cities in the Global South and Africa in particular can serve as examples for other parts of the world as they have the potential to adopt disruptive, innovative yet practical solutions to low emissions, resource minimization and resilience building.
Credit: Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock PhotoFor example, rapid urbanization creates the opportunity to develop economic structures in African cities that strongly integrate waste by promoting recovery, recycling, re-use and repair for lengthening lifecycles. Such a circular economy can create business opportunities, while also reducing resource use, thus creating a pathway for sustainable development. Another potential solution is hybrid systems for urban water management that are off-grid and utilize multiple water sources and treatment but that can also connect to centralized water systems. Business models for micro-to-medium enterprises have the potential to integrate some of the low-income groups through these kinds of technology and building social resilience.
Credit: Images of Africa Photobank / Alamy Stock PhotoThese examples are part of a broader assessment of urban infrastructure innovations, their disruption of centralized systems and rethinking of urban form for more compact, walkable, co-located land use for low carbon intensity towards net-zero cities. However, to translate research on these new solutions into action, a shift is necessary in the planning, governing and managing of cities so as to allow for opportunities for leapfrogging to emerge and expand the possibilities of urban development for inclusive and resilient African cities. More

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Study areaSituated in western India’s southwestern part of the Gujarat state, the Saurashtra region typically represents the semi-arid Gujarat-Rajputana province 4B23, which covers 11 out of 33 districts of the state. The region forms a rocky tableland (altitude 300–600 m) fringed by coastal plains with an undulating central plain broken by hills and dissected by various rivers that flow in all directions24. With the longest coastline (~ 1600 km) in India, Gujarat is endowed with rich coastal biodiversity25,26. The Saurashtra coast in Gujarat is encircled by the open sea between two Gulfs (68° 58′–71° 30′ N and 22° 15′–20° 50′ E) and divided into two segments, viz. the southwestern coast from Dwarka to Diu (~ 300 km stretch) and south-eastern coast from Diu to Bhavnagar (~ 250 km stretch)26.The Asiatic Lion Landscape covers an area of ~ 30,000 km2 (permanent lion distribution range: ~ 16,000 km2; visitation record range: ~ 14,000 km2) of varied habitat types within Saurashtra. The landscape includes five protected areas (Gir National Park, Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, Paniya Wildlife Sanctuary, Mitiyala Wildlife Sanctuary, and Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary) and other forest classes (reserved forests, protected forests, and unclassed forests).The coastal habitats extend across the districts of Bhavnagar, Amreli, Gir-Somnath, and Junagadh (Fig. 1). Within these districts (Fig. 1), the tehsils (sub-divisions/taluka) of Mangrol, Malia, Patan-Veraval, Sutrapada, Kodinar and Una are categorized under the southwestern coast (hereafter western coastal habitat), Jafrabad, Rajula, form the south-eastern coast and Mahuva and Talaja constitute the Bhavnagar coast and represent distinct lion range units (Fig. 1). The total area covered in the study is 2843 km2 on the eastern coast and 1413 km2 on the western coast (Fig. 1).The Saurashtra region is bestowed with three distinct seasons, viz. dry and hot summer (March–June), monsoon (July–October), and primarily dry winter (November–February). It receives a mean annual rainfall of ~ 600 mm, with most rainfall during the southwest monsoon27. The mean maximum and minimum temperatures are 34 °C and 19 °C, respectively28. There is a 110 km2 stretch of forests along the coast. The rest of the areas are multi-use consisting of private, industrial, pastoral and wastelands of varied ownerships. The natural vegetation primarily consists of Prosopis juliflora and Casuarina equistsetifolia. On the beach and dune areas, vegetation such as Ipomea pescaprae, Sporobolus trinules, Fimrystylis sp., Crotalaria sp., and Euphorbia nivuleria29. The mudflats along the coast are restricted to Talaja, Mahuva, Pipavav Port, Jafrabad creek, and Porbandar, sparsely covered by the Avicennia marina29. Fisheries, agriculture, horticulture, livestock rearing, and some large- and small-scale industries are the leading economies in the coastal belt.Coastal segments are characterized by the variety of vegetation, sandy beaches, small cliffs, wave-cut platforms, open and submerged dunes, minor estuaries, embankments, and transition from the open sea to gulf environment with tidal mud26,29 and also support a diverse assemblage of biodiversity25. This biodiversity is further enriched by several perennial/ephemeral rivers originating from the Gir PA (Shetrunji, Machundari, Raval, Ardak, Bhuvatirth, Shinghoda, Hiran, Saraswati, etc.)12. These rivers meet the sea at different sections of the coast, forming prominent coastal ecosystems25. The riverine tracts act as important corridors for wildlife movement9,12,30. Dispersing through these corridors, lions have started inhabiting these coastal habitats30,31.MethodsAll the research activities involved in this study on Asiatic lions were carried out after taking due permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India (Letter No.: F. No. 1-50/2018 WL) and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) & Chief Wildlife Warden, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar (Letter No.: WLP 26B 781-83/2019-20). Procedures and protocols were followed as per the Standard Operating Procedures of the Gujarat Forest Department, Government of Gujarat, concerning the handling of wild animals. Qualified and experienced veterinarians and their team carried out all procedures related to radio-collaring. Moreover, the study is reported in accordance with ‘Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments’ (ARRIVE) guidelines as applicable.A long-term lion monitoring project was initiated in 2019 by the Gujarat Forest Department to understand the movement patterns and ecology of lions in the Asiatic Lion Landscape. Looking at the heterogeneity and vastness of the coastal areas, ten individuals were carefully selected for satellite radio-collaring based on their frequent movement in different coastal habitats and monitored from 2019 to 2021.The lions were deployed with Vertex Plus GPS Collars (Vectronics Aerospace GmbH, Berlin, Germany) that weighed less than three per cent of the individual’s body weight, irrespective of age and sex. The lions were immobilized using a combination of Ketamine hydrochloride (2.2 mg per kg body weight; Ketamine, Biowet, Pulawy) and Xylazine hydrochloride (1.1 mg per kg body weight; Xylaxil, Brilliant Bio Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Telangana)32 administered intramuscularly using a gas-powered Telinject™ G.U.T 50 (Telinject Inc., Dudenhofen, Germany) dart delivery system. A blindfold was placed to protect the eyes and decrease visual stimuli33,34. Each sedated individual was sexed, aged, and measured as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the Gujarat Forest Department, Government of Gujarat, and recorded the data in the trapping datasheet. The radio-collars were deployed considering the neck girth of the individual, ensuring free movement of it so as not to hamper the individual’s routine activities. After deploying the radio-collar, we used the specific antidote for Xylazine, i.e., Yohimbine hydrochloride (0.1–0.15 mg per kg body weight; Yohimbe, Equimed, USA) intravenously, resulting in the total recovery of immobilized individuals32 within 5–10 min. The individuals were intensively monitored for 72 h and, after that, regularly monitored throughout the functional period of the radio-collars. The entire radio-collaring exercise was carried out by trained and experienced veterinary officers and their teams that constituted wildlife health care personnel and field staff.Each collar had a unique VHF and UHF frequency. The radio-collars were equipped with a programmable GPS schedule and configured to record the location fixes at every hour and provided the data through the constellation of low-earth-orbit Iridium satellite data service (Iridium Communications Inc., Virginia, USA) at four-hour intervals after getting activated. The data logs included location fixes in degree decimal format (latitude/longitude), speed (km/hour), altitude (meters above mean sea level), UTC timestamp (dd-mm-yyyy h:m:s), direction (degrees), and temperature (Celsius). Radio-collars were equipped with mortality sensors and a programmable drop-off activation system. Gir Hi-Tech Monitoring Unit, Sasan-Gir, Gujarat, monitored and coordinated these activities. The location data from each radio-collar was downloaded using the GPS Plus X software (Vectronics Aerospace GmbH, Berlin, Germany) in the Gir Hi-Tech Monitoring Unit (a technology-driven scientific monitoring initiative in the landscape established in 2019 at Sasan-Gir, Gujarat).Data analysisIn this study, we calculated the home range of lions resident in the coastal region using the Fixed Kernel method. We expressed them as 90% and 50% Fixed Kernel (FK) to summarize the overall home range and core area, respectively35,36,37. Additionally, the home range of lions categorized as “link lions” and lions of the protected area was summarized for comparison (Table 1).MaxEnt (version 3.4.1) stand-alone software38 was applied for fine-scaled lion distribution modelling39,40. The logistic output format was set for the MaxEnt output. 30% random lion occurrence points were used as test data to evaluate model performance. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the discriminative ability of the model based on the values of sensitivity (correct discrimination of true positive location points) and specificity (correct discrimination of true negative absence points)41. The Jackknife regularised training gain for the species was used to understand the effect of each variable in model building. The logical output by the MaxEnt was presented in a table format as “percent contribution” and “permutation importance” values (from 0 to 100%). Spatial inputs were prepared on the GIS platform using ArcMap (version 10.8.1, ESRI, Redlands, USA)42. Input data for MaxEnt were categorized as (i) lion occurrence data, (ii) model variables were prepared as described below:

i.

Occurrence data
At the first level, inconsistent location fixes (records with missing coordinates, time stamps, and elevation) and outliers were filtered out. Next, each lion’s hourly GPS location fixes obtained from remotely monitored radio-telemetry data were randomized to overcome spatial and temporal biases. The data was reduced by taking every three-hour location fix43,44. The data was further categorized season-wise, viz. summer, monsoon and winter. This consolidated data was then subject to spatial thinning of one kilometre using SDMtoolbox (version 2.0)45,46.

ii.

Model variables

The variables used for distribution modelling broadly included different categories of land use, including both natural habitats and anthropogenic factors, namely, roads and human settlement areas. All variables were rasterized at 10 m spatial resolution.Land Use Land Cover (LULC) data of Saurashtra was obtained from Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N), Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The data was then further classified into 18 sub-classes—Forest, Sandy areas, Salt-affected, Saltpan, open scrub, dense scrub (Wastelands), Waterlogged, River/Stream/Drain, Lakes and Ponds, Mining/Industrial areas, Reservoir/Tanks, Mangrove/Swamp Area, Crop Land, Agriculture Plantation (horticulture and agro-forestry), Core urban, Mixed settlement, Peri-urban, Village (Fig. 2).Roads and highways were also analyzed as separate variables in the model. Roads were classified as village roads, major district roads, and state and national highways and digitized individually to estimate Euclidean distance further (Table 2). Euclidean distance from the human settlement (Core-urban, Peri-urban, villages and mixed settlement) was analyzed and taken as a separate input variable for the model. More

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Data processingIn 2019, the CETUS data spanning between 2012 and 2017 was published open access through the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) IPT portal and distributed by EMODnet and OBIS, in a first version of the CETUS dataset9. The data collected between 2018 and 2019 was prepared as the 2012–2017 data9. Methods for photographic verification/validation and to evaluate the MMOs experience were applied (see below), in order to include new variables on data quality in an updated version of the dataset. Currently, the CETUS dataset is updated, with a 2nd version available10. It comprises data from 2012 to 2017, with the following two new columns on the observers’ experience: “most experienced observer” and “least experienced observer”; and a new column associated with validation of the sightings’ identifications: “photographic validation”. The results here presented correspond to the analysis of the data from 2012 to 2019, and the open-access dataset will soon be further updated with the 2018–2019 data.Photographic verificationAll the former MMOs who have integrated the CETUS Project, between 2012 and 2019, were contacted and asked to provide any available photographic or video records of cetaceans collected during their on board periods. The collection of sighting’s images was not a requirement of the CETUS protocol, and so these records were obtained opportunistically, with availability and quality depending on several factors: observers on board having personal cameras, camera quality, intention of the observer taking the photograph (e.g., for aesthetic or identification purposes).The images obtained were organized in a folder hierarchy from the year to the day of recording. However, not all the images had metadata up to the day of recording, so these were inserted into the most appropriate hierarchy-level of the folder organization. For each set of records corresponding to a single-taxon sighting, the photos/videos with the better quality or framing (i.e., that allowed for an easier species identification) were selected for that sighting. The remaining photos/videos were only consulted in case of doubt (e.g., to look for additional details that could help with the identification).Verification consisted of the process of matching the photographic/video records with the dataset sighting registers. Whenever possible and ideally, the file metadata was used for the process. However, often, the date and/or time of the file metadata were wrong, non-existent, or in different time zones. In these cases, a conservative methodology was applied using all available information to match as many sightings as possible. An estimation of time lag was attempted (based on, at least, two obvious matches between photographs/videos and dataset registers, e.g., unique sighting of the day, close to the boat, easy/obvious identification). When not possible, further evaluation consisted in assessing whether the sighting and image record was too obvious, and accounting for unique complementary information on the sighting (e.g., the number of animals or the side of the sighting were unique for that day and/or for that species/group).Photographic validationAfter the verification process, the validation of the matched records was carried out, to confirm or correct the species identification of sightings in the 1st version of the CETUS dataset (i.e., reported by the MMOs on board). The validation approach involved, for more dubious identification through the photo/video records, the discussion between four experienced observers of the CETUS team. In cases where no consensual agreement was achieved, an external expert on cetacean identification was also consulted. Identifications made through the photographic/video records required 100% certainty, and these were then compared with the cetacean identifications provided in the 1st version of the CETUS dataset. Then, the occurrence records with originally misidentifications of cetaceans, as well as those records where validation allowed to achieve an identification to a lower taxon, were corrected in the 2nd version of the dataset (i.e., a delphinid sighting validated as common dolphin, will now appear as common dolphin). A new column “photographic validation” was added to the dataset with the following categories: “yes” (i.e., validated with photograph/video), “no” (i.e., not validated with photograph/video), and “to the family” (i.e., validation only to the family taxon).For further analysis, specifically for the model process on the identification success (see below), registers were considered “completely validated” if it was possible to complete the photographic/video identification process up to the species level (then, differentiating if the original identification from the MMOs was or not correct). For Globicephala sp. and Kogia sp., validation to the genus was considered complete, since the species from both genera are visually hardly differentiated, especially at sea.Creating a data quality criteria: evaluating MMOs experienceQuality criteria were created to evaluate the MMOs experience based on the information collected from their curricula vitae (CVs) (alumni MMOs provided as many CVs as the years of their participation in CETUS). The following quality criteria were considered: (i) the experience at sea, (ii) the experience with cetaceans’ ID, (iii) the number of species they have worked with, and (iv) the experience working with the CETUS Project protocol. Each of these quality criteria was ranked from 0 to 5, and then these were summed to generate an evaluation score, on a scale of 0 to 20, attributed to each MMO (Table 4).Table 4 Quality criteria for MMOs evaluation.Full size tableThe MMOs evaluations were computed for each cruise (i.e., the trip from one port to another), considering the experience of the MMOs based on the CV obtained for that year, plus the experience acquired during CETUS participation in previous cruises that year. Since most of the times, the team of observers on board each cruise was constituted by two MMOs, two final evaluation scores were attributed to each cruise in the 2nd version of the CETUS dataset, into two new columns: “most experienced observer” and “least experienced observer”. On rare occasions where there is only one observer on board that cruise, only the evaluation of the single observer was included under the column “most experienced observer”, leaving the column “least experienced observer” as “NULL”. To investigate the experience of MMOs on board, both individually and cumulative (LEO + MEO), the combination of the score values was computed by cruise. These were then trimmed to unique combinations of evaluation scores.The names of observers, previously presented in the online dataset for each cruise, were removed for anonymity purposes, as there is now ancillary information regarding their experience.Model fittingTwo Generalized Additive Models (GAM) were fitted to assess bias on the number of sightings recorded per survey and on the identification success of cetacean species. Details for each model are presented below. Both models were fitted in R (Version 4.1.0). Prior to modelling, Pearson correlations were calculated between all pairs of explanatory variables, considered for each model (see below), to exclude highly correlated variables, considering a threshold of 0.7524,25,28. Since the variables regarding MMOs’ experience were correlated (LEO or MEO correlated with cumulative and mean experience; and cumulative experience correlated with mean experience – Supplementary Fig. S3), these variables were not included in the first fitting stage (backward selection) but included later through forward selection (see below). Multicollinearity among explanatory variables was measured through the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF), with a threshold of 3 (Supplementary Tables S4)24,25,29. After removing the MMOs evaluation scores, no multicollinearity was observed, so all the other variables were kept for the first fitting stage.For model selection, a backward selection was applied to oversaturated models18,24,25,30,31. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used as a measure of adequation of fitness, choosing the model with the lowest AIC value at each step of the model fitting process, i.e., comparing nested models (larger model incorporating one more explanatory variable compared with the smaller model). If the AIC-difference between the two models was less than 2, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), through chi-square test, was used to check if the AIC-difference was significant24,25,32. If this difference was not statistically significant (p  > 0.05), the simplest model (smaller model) was kept. Through a forward selection process, the variables regarding the MMOs evaluation scores were added, one at a time, to the best model obtained in the previous backward selection. After comparing the models with each other (separate variables for LEO + MEO vs. Cumulative Evaluation vs Mean Evaluation), the best model, considering the AIC value, was kept. A final backward selection process was then applied.All GAMs were fitted with the “mgcv” package (https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/mgcv) and a maximum of four splines (k = 4) was chosen to limit the complexity of smoothers describing the effects of the explanatory variables25,31. If a spline was close to linear (with estimated degrees of freedom of ~1), the smooth term was removed, and a linear function was fitted. To check for model quality, the “gam.check” function was used to verify the diagnostic plots and the adequacy of the number of splines (Supplementary Figs. S5 and S6). Existence of influential data points was assessed (with the threshold of 0.25 for the Hat values), as well as the correlation between model residuals and explanatory variables. In both final models, number of splines was adequate and there were no influential data points or clear correlation between residuals and explanatory variables (Supplementary Figs. S7 and S8)24,32.Bias modelling of number of sightingsTo assess the bias parameters on the number of sightings recorded per survey (i.e., a full day monitoring, from sunrise to sunset), the following detectability factors were considered as explanatory variables: weather conditions (i.e., the minimums and maximums of the sea state, wind state, and visibility), the experience of MMOs (i.e., the evaluation scores of the least and the most experienced observers, as well as the mean and cumulative evaluations of the MMOs experience) and kilometres sampled “on-effort” (i.e., periods of active survey). Sampling periods were divided into “On-effort” and “Off-effort” conditions, based on four meteorological variables: sea state (Douglas scale), wind state (Beaufort scale), visibility (measured in a categorical scale ranging from 0–10 and estimated from the distance to the horizon line and possible reference points at a known range, e.g., ships with an automatic identification system,  > 1000 km), and the occurrence of rain (see Supplementary Table S9)10. For the model fitting, only “on-effort” periods of sampling were considered. Given that the response variable was count data, a Poisson distribution was tested (with a log link function). Then, the resulting first oversaturated model was checked for overdispersion, through a Pearson estimator. Since it tested positive for overdispersion (φ = 1.99), a negative binomial distribution (with a log link function) was fitted.Bias modelling of identification successA binary response variable, based on the success in the species identification for each sighting, was generated, and a model with binomial distribution (with a logit link function) was fitted. As in the previous model, only “on-effort” records were used. The total number of non-successful identifications across the dataset (the 0 s of the model) was extrapolated from the proportion of wrong identifications obtained in the validation process. To calculate this proportion, only complete validated sightings registered “on-effort” were used. Proportions were computed and extrapolated to Odontoceti and Mysticeti, separately. This resulted in 78 non-successful identifications in delphinids, plus 17 misidentifications in baleen whales, i.e., a total of 95 “on-effort” sightings randomly selected from the dataset were defined as unsuccessful identifications (0 s in the response variable for model fitting). The remaining records were considered successful identifications (1 s in the response variable for model fitting). To assess the bias parameters on the identification success, the following independent variables were considered in the analysis: the group (i.e., Group A: Odontoceti sightings, excluding sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus); and Group B: Mysticeti sightings, plus sperm whale), the size of the group (i.e., the best estimate of the number of animals in a sighting, from the observer’s perspective), sighting distance (i.e., a relative measure according to the scale of the binoculars), weather conditions (i.e., the sea state, wind state, and visibility at the time of each sighting), the experience of MMOs (i.e., the evaluation scores of least and most experienced observers, as well as the mean and cumulative scores of the MMOs teams). Group A and B were settled according to cetacean morphology. However, since sperm whales have closer similarities with Mysticeti species, they were also included in Group B21,33. This categorization was mostly based on body size, as this is likely the main factor, regarding the species morphology, influencing the identification. Group A is constituted by species with a medium length of less than 10 meters, while Group B includes the larger species over 10 meters (Mysticeti plus P. macrocephalus)33. Since in the CETUS Project, different binoculars have been used – with two different reticle scales – it was necessary to standardize binocular distances to the same scale. More