1,721,566 research outputs found
The Asian Palm Civet: Fundamental Baseline Findings in Ecology, Captive Husbandry and Effects of Trade in Civet Coffee
Full text linkGlobal wildlife population trends are being depleted due to wildlife trade, habitat loss, anthropogenic activities and climate change and only a few of the treats to named species reach global awareness. In respect to mammalian carnivores these tend to be the large charismatic species such as wolves, lions, pandas and tigers for example, small carnivores are far less known, even though threats to populations are as great. One such underrepresented small carnivore is the Asian palm civet of Asia and their threats, conspecific guild interactions and conservation. Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus musangus) are small, nocturnal, arboreal, generalist, omnivorous wild viverrids (Mammalia: Carnivora), known as a pest, pet, food and producer of civet coffee (kopi luwak) primarily in Indonesia. Kopi luwak is produced by civets consuming coffee berries and then defecate fermented coffee beans, these beans are washed, roasted and brewed into this highly prized gourmet coffee variety.
Research was carried out to investigate the conspecifics present in the same habitat with Asian palm civets and indicate behavioural ecology and niche. To identify the threats to populations of civets and other carnivores from the exotic pet and kopi luwak trades and make both observations and recommendations related to captive civet husbandry and welfare in ownership. Data were collected by camera trapping wild civets, visits to markets and kopi luwak plantations, and social media and online surveys. To identify what interactions and niches occur between mesocarnivores in the wild, camera traps were used and 11,146 camera trap nights yielded 4,525 images identifying nine species of wild mesocarnivores from Viverridae, Mustelidae, Herpestidae and Felidae groups with 44.4% of images showing Asian palm civets using forest floor, trees, chayote frames and waterlines. Other carnivores were only recorded locomotive behaviour terrestrially. Scent marking behaviour was recorded in six species of mesocarnivore (Paradoxurus musangus, Prionailurus bengalensis, Melogale orientalis, Martes flavigula, Herpestes javanicus and Canis familiaris) and showed mutualism for scent site yet no mesocarnivore used the sites at the same time as another species, so whilst they communicated through scent they appeared to otherwise occur at different times. Asian palm civets and Javan ferret badger were nocturnal, yellow throated marten and leopard cat were crepuscular with the leopard cat also showing regular nocturnal activity. The Javan mongoose and domestic dog were diurnal with indications of cathemeral activity.
In Indonesia, the pet animal trade in cities is well known and evident in markets but less known or evident via online sources. Trade incorporates domesticated pet species and many wild exotic pets also. Civets are among many wild species now kept as pets and pages called “Musang Lovers” are being created on social media platforms such as Facebook to connect owners of civets across the country. This thesis assessed the membership of 235 Musang Lovers pages on Facebook, these rose from 768,603 to 947,280 in just one year (489.5 people per day increase) with a mean of 4,031 members per club. Musang Lovers sites were used by members for advice, to socialise, to coordinate meetings, to display and sell animals and their accessories. Survey results showed civet owners as male (71.1%), Indonesian (89.6%), 25 years old and first-time owners (53.0%), kept two civets as their only pets (84.1%). Asian palm civets were most common (52%-72.3%) but six other Viverridae were also recorded. Sources included; wild (11.7%) and animal markets (16.4%), and numbers traded hugely exceeded the 250-300 annual trade quota legally permitted. Captive breeding increased from 22.2% to 53.9% (average: 35.8%). 45.6% of civets were under one year old (average: 5 months of age, some sold unweaned under two weeks old). Civets appeared mostly healthy (79.0%) though 8.6% were underweight and 9.1% were overweight. Injuries recorded were self-inflicted to body, limbs, tail or head in captive civets.
An additional trade occurs to exploit civets for the production of civet coffee (kopi luwak) produced by tourist targeted cafeterias within small agricultural plantations (Agro Wisata). Agro Wisata were visited (n=40), counting 156 Asian palm civets, with 96.2% locally wild caught. Indonesian Law no.37 (2015), legislated kopi luwak production standardising; the five animal’s needs, housing, diet, production methods and ownership duration. No plantation met all legal requirements. Cage sizes were below legal sizes (95%), with incorrect substrate (50%), lack of hygiene (35.3%), little or no enrichment (67.6%) and poor construction (58.8%). All shelters were below the statutory 2 metres above ground, 11.8% with either no shelter or one on the cage floor. All enclosures had a roof exceeding legislative requirements. Civets were awake during daytime (73.5%) and some showed distress and stereotypic behaviours. 94.2% of animals were condition scored at 3 with just 3.2% overweight and 1.9% showing injuries. Unlike the pet trade, kopi luwak plantations have kept civets up to 15 years despite illegal after 5 years. Average civet age was 3 years (range 4 weeks to 15 years). Plantation tour guides stated that civets were “vegetarian” on 38.3% of visits. Indonesian laws relating kopi luwak, animal welfare and wildlife trade are not enforced, leading to severe infractions of the five animal needs. Civet husbandry needs significant urgent improvements to promote welfare, natural behaviour and health covering overall housing construction, hygiene, feeding, enrichment and drainage. Urgent improvements are needed towards training, education programmes and materials for pet owners and kopi luwak plantations.
On the outset of research, the Asian palm civet was believed to be primarily threatened by the kopi luwak trade in Indonesia and that the pet trade in the species was secondary to this. The two trades are now believed to be even more extensive than originally supposed and is still increasing. Claims about Kopi luwak’s production restriction and wild provenance are false and misleading to customers. Kopi luwak may lose its novelty value eventually though the trade in civets as pets will remain as a threat with greater longevity and greater capacity for destroying wild populations of civets with currently unknown detrimental effects on ecology and biodiversity
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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