Deforestation and habitat fragmentation have long been known as drivers of wildlife depletion but information on their specific impacts on cavity-nesting birds in the miombo woodlands has been lacking. A comparative study of disturbed and undisturbed sites was conducted in miombo woodlands of Zambia to assess impacts of environmental stressors on birds. Foot patrols were employed to locate, identify and count host trees and cavities for cavity-nesting birds on twenty 200 m × 200 m sample plots. Undisturbed forests had three times more cavities (the nesting sites for birds), while there were 24.6% fewer abandoned cavities in undisturbed forests than in disturbed forests. The rate of cavity abandonment was about twice as high in human-dominated forests compared to undisturbed forests (61.3% c.f. 31.9%). Cavity-nesting birds preferred larger (> 36.0 cm diameter at breast height) and taller (> 5.0 m) trees for nest placement, especially in human-dominated forests. A number of cavity-nesting birds preferred Brachystegia spiciformis (zebrawood), Julbernadia paniculata (munsa), Parinari curatellifolia (mobola-plum) and Uapaca kirkiana (mahobohobo) as host trees to 14 other miombo tree species. Arnot’s Chat (Myrmecocichla arnoti) had a wider selection of host trees for cavity-nesting than the other 40 cavity-nesting birds in the study areas. Anthropogenic activities such as uncontrolled firewood collection, wild fires, logging, and land clearing for agriculture negatively influenced wood abundance and diversity, with potential implications for persistence of cavity-nesting birds. The negative impacts of anthropogenic activities could be counteracted by conservation strategies such as implementation of sound forest policies, integrative land use practices, sustainable livelihood security and stakeholders’ awareness of the need to safeguard forest-dependent avifauna.Conservation implications: This comparative study unravels specific anthropogenic impacts on the cavity-nesting birds in the miombo woodlands, which would be relevant for designing and implementing targeted biodiversity conservation interventions against negative local environmental values and attitudes that support rural development on the expense of conservation of biodiversity such as birds.

Pterocarpus angolensis is a savanna tree species growing mostly in the miombo and undifferentiated woodlands found in the southern and central parts of Africa. Exploitation for its medicinal and commercial uses has led to a diminishing of wild populations. Artificial propagation, domestication and exploitation in a sustainable manner depend on detailed knowledge on germination of the seeds. The effects of eight potential dormancy-breaking treatments, compared with no treatment, on promoting the germination of P. angolensis seeds were examined. Five seed provenances were used, namely Mufulira and Chati from Zambia, and Gokwe, Matopos and Mtao from Zimbabwe. Seeds were treated by nicking to remove a small piece of seed coat near to the radical, soaking in cold water or an aqueous solution of gibberellic acid (GA 3 at 10, 50, 100 or 1 000ppm; GA 4/7 at 10 or 1 000ppm). Treatments with gibberellic acids, regardless of the concentration, had little effect on germination rates when compared with the control seeds. With nicking, high and rapid rates of germination occurred for all provenances within approximately 5d of sowing the seeds, suggesting that nicking alone could improve seed germination.

Forest products, wood and non-wood, remain vital among smallholder households in Zambia with charcoal being the most sought after product. This has led to increased exploitation of forest trees to meet the needs for fuel wood, among others. However, Jatropha curcas plant has been identified as a potential fuel source. In the early 2000s, profit-making organizations encouraged smallholder households to grow Jatropha for use as an alternative fuel source. This paper reports on a study conducted in Solwezi between 2011 and 2014 to evaluate the impact of Jatropha cultivation for biofuel production. A sample of 100 small-scale farmers involved in Jatropha cultivation and key informants were interviewed to evaluate the impact of growing Jatropha at the small-scale level. Results show that farmers lost out on time; income from sale of edible non-wood forest products; and experienced reduction in maize (Zea mays) and bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) production, worsening household economic conditions. Farmers attributed this loss to unclear policy alignment on biofuel production by government. We therefore recommend that project implementation should involve interactions of all legislative bodies and any other concerned stakeholders. There is also a need to promote the value chain, from production to marketing, which focuses on minimizing detrimental effects on the livelihood of small-scale farmers. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 9908

Diurnal raptor habitat use has conservation implications due to environmental and anthropogenic interactions. Three tree-nesting diurnal raptors, black kites (Milvus milvus), steppe buzzards (Buteo vulpinus) and African fish eagles (Haliaeetus vocifer), were studied from December 2016 to October 2017. The objective was to determine factors influencing diurnal raptor habitat selection and use in and around Chembe Bird Sanctuary of Kalulushi district, Zambia. We surveyed for birds in ten randomly selected 200 × 200 m sample plots in each of the five stratified sampling units (miombo woodland, grasslands, human settlements, Lake Chembe and marsh). Seasons and dietary composition variably influenced the distribution, habitat selection and use by raptors. The three raptors devised a suit of behaviours to curtail challenges associated with seasonal food and water availability, and anthropogenic disturbances. There is a need to promote multi-stakeholder engagement and involvement in raptor conservation. Résumé L'utilisation de l'habitat des rapaces diurnes a des répercussions sur la conservation en raison des interactions environnementales et anthropiques. Trois espèces de rapaces diurnes, les milans noirs (Milvus milvus), les buses de steppe (Buteo vulpinus) et les aigles pêcheurs d'Afrique (Haliaeetus vocifer) utilisant les arbres comme sites de nidification ont fait l'objet d'une étude qui s'est déroulée de décembre 2016 à octo-S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O N Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section. How to cite this article: Nyirenda VR, Yambayamba AM, Chisha-Kasumu E. Influences of seasons and dietary composition on diurnal raptor habitat use in Chembe Bird Sanctuary, Zambia: Implications for conservation.