Vivienne Williams

<p>The number of species per order and the mean rarity rank (derived from rank scores in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0105397#pone-0105397-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>) are given in parentheses. The orders are listed from most common to most rare (left to right respectively).</p

<p><sup>a</sup> 15 lion specimens not examined—either because there was no mandible, or the mandible was incomplete, or the mandible was wired to the cranium. Hence, n = 67 and not n = 82</p><p><sup>b</sup> One tiger specimen had a damaged mandible, hence n = 21 and not n = 22</p><p><sup>c</sup> Exhibition of this trait was Intermediate, i.e. one half of the mandible (a ‘dentary’) was curved and would have rocked on the contact point below the carnassials, whereas the other dentary had an additional contact point on a flat surface (either the angular process or a bony growth below the mandibular symphysis) that thus prevented the entire mandible from rocking. In some cases in large individuals and/or where front teeth were missing from the specimen, the mandible rocked backwards to rest on the angular process</p><p><sup>d</sup> One of the three mandibles was prevented from rocking by the presence of a bony growth below the mandibular symphysis (e.g. Part A in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0135144#pone.0135144.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>)</p><p><sup>e</sup> Prevented from rocking by the presence of a bony spur below the mandibular symphysis (e.g. Part C in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0135144#pone.0135144.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>)</p><p><sup>f</sup> Rocks only slightly (Part F in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0135144#pone.0135144.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>).</p><p>Frequency of rocking in mandibles of lions and tigers.</p

From 2008 to 2018, South Africa permitted the export of captive-bred African lion (Panthera leo) skeletons to Southeast Asia under CITES Appendix II. Legal exports rose from approximately 50 individuals in 2008 to a maximum of 1,771 skeletons in 2016, and has led to ongoing concerns over possible laundering of non-lion, multiple-source and wild-sourced bones. South Africa is required under its obligations to CITES to employ mechanisms for monitoring and reporting trade, and to limit the potential for illegal trade and laundering of lion and other large felid bones. Monitoring tools for legal trade are critical to compliance with CITES. Here we evaluate the CITES-compliance procedure implemented by South Africa for export of lion bones and identify six essential general points for consideration in the implementation of animal export quota compliance protocols. We provide specific insight into the South African lion bone export monitoring system through: i) outlining the protocols fol...

This Commentary is a response to a Commentary published in the May/June 2020 issue: Nattrass N. Why are black South African students less likely to consider studying biological sciences? S Afr J Sci. 2020;116(5/6), Art. #7864, 2 pages. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/7864 Responses to the Commentary in the May/June 2020 issue have been published collectively in a special issue of Volume 116.

Public reason is a formal concept in political theory. There is a need to better understand how public reason might be elicited in making public decisions that involve deep uncertainty, which arises from pernicious and gross ignorance about how a system works, the boundaries of a system, and the relative value (or disvalue) of various possible outcomes. This article is the third in a series to demonstrate how ethical argument analysis—a qualitative decision-making aid—may be used to elicit public reason in the presence of deep uncertainty. The first article demonstrated how argument analysis is capable of probing deep into a single argument. The second article demonstrated how argument analysis can analyze a broad set of arguments and how argument analysis can be operationalized for use as a decision-making aid. This article demonstrates (i) the relevance of argument analysis to public reasoning, (ii) the relevance of argument analysis for decision-making under deep uncertainty, an ...

The African lion is the only big cat listed on CITES Appendix II, and the only one for which international commercial trade is legal under CITES. The trade in lion body parts, and especially the contentious trade in bones from South Africa to Asia, has raised concerns spanning continents and cultures. Debates were amplified at the 2016 CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP17) when a proposal to up-list lions to Appendix I was not supported and a compromise to keep them on Appendix II, with a bone trade quota for South Africa, was reached instead. CoP17 underscored a need for further information on the lion bone trade and the consequences for lions across the continent. Legal international trade in bones to Asia, allegedly to supply the substitute 'tiger bone' market, began in South Africa in February 2008 when the first CITES permits were issued. It was initially unclear the degree to which bones were sourced from captive-origin lions, and whether trade was a threat to wild l...

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015), with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations). Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had ≥6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African a...

Zootherapy plays a role in healing practices in Mozambican society. Although several studies have focused on ethnobotany and traditional medicine in the country, little research has been conducted on the use of reptiles in zootherapy. The aim of this study was therefore to fill this gap by assessing the reptile species traded for traditional medicine in the Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets in Maputo, Mozambique. We found that few reptile species are traded domestically for traditional medicine and that their use appears to be in decline in Mozambique. Our findings also suggest that the domestic trade of reptiles for traditional medicines in Maputo markets is unlikely to have a significant impact on the conservation of reptiles in Mozambique. However, we suggest that international trade with South Africa is likely having a larger impact, given observations of Mozambican nationals selling a diverse range of fauna in urban traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg and Durban.

ABSTRACT Malawi is one of the world’s 48 least developed countries and the population are alleged to be mostly reliant on traditional medicines. Approximately 90% of Malawians are forced by circumstances of low income to depend on the natural resource base for a living and to trade-off long-term sustainable resource use for short-term consumption of stocks. A study on the trade and marketing of traditional plant medicines in the southern and central regions of Malawi was conducted to characterise the stakeholders of the regional medicinal plant trade and to identify species that are harvested and sold both locally and internationally. Thirty traders and six border post officials were interviewed in eight Malawian districts that border with the neighbouring countries of Zambia and Mozambique. Men were the predominant traders of traditional medicine in the markets, and 90% of the respondents reported that they derived more than 50% of their households’ income from selling medicinal plants. Approximately 123 plant species were recorded during the survey and, based on frequencies, the most common species sold were: Cassia abbreviata (77% of traders), Cissus cornifolia and Aristolochia hockii (47% each), Zanha africana (37%), and Afzelia quanzensis, Combretum zeyheri and Dicoma amoena (30% each). Sixty-eight percent of the identified species were sold for roots, and 44% for bark. It also emerged that at least 26 species (24%) were being exported to southern Africa, including Mondia whitei (an Endangered species in South Africa), and that at least 73% of the respondents had sold plants to South Africa. Unregulated activities with respect to the domestic and international trade are compromising the sustainability of harvesting and consequently, the provision of sufficient ethnomedicinal plant resources in the long term. It would appear that one of the biggest interventions required in Malawi is to improve the ambiguous position allegedly held by the Malawian government towards traditional medicine in order to align policies with conservation needs to effect realistic and sustainable resource management strategies.

Zootherapy plays a role in healing practices in Mozambican society. Although several studies have focused on ethnobotany and traditional medicine in the country, little research has been conducted on the use of reptiles in zootherapy. The aim of this study was therefore to fill this gap by assessing the reptile species traded for traditional medicine in the Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets in Maputo, Mozambique. We found that few reptile species are traded domestically for traditional medicine and that their use appears to be in decline in Mozambique. Our findings also suggest that the domestic trade of reptiles for traditional medicines in Maputo markets is unlikely to have a significant impact on the conservation of reptiles in Mozambique. However, we suggest that international trade with South Africa is likely having a larger impact, given observations of Mozambican nationals selling a diverse range of fauna in urban traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg and Durban.

Invasive alien species are routinely moved around the world as horticultural specimens. An additional route through the traditional medicine trade may exist, especially where cultures from different continents coalesce. South African traditional medicine, for example, has a long history of association with its Indian Ayurvedic equivalent via migration of people from the sub-continent as either slaves or indentured labour. This study investigated the occurrence and viability of alien species in South African traditional medicine markets and shops. Forty-two species of alien plants were found, of which 26 species were propagules and 22 were viable. Seven of the viable species are listed as invasive in South Africa. However, all but one of the 22 species that were tested and identified are known to be invasive somewhere in the world. Most of the viable alien species were sold as seeds, seedpods or nuts (64%, n = 14 of 22 species) from Indian-owned shops, while mainly tubers, stems and rhizomes were found in African-run markets. Alien plant species moving within this trade route have circumvented all dispersal barriers and may have exerted propagule pressure over at least a century, and should therefore be considered as candidates for monitoring.

In a megadiverse country such as South Africa, plant locality data are routinely sourced from the South African National Herbarium (PRE). Evidence suggests that large areas of the country remain poorly collected and that locality records are not always adequately represented in PRE. Our aim was to assess whether distribution information obtained exclusively from PRE adequately represented the known range of selected species. We also assessed the relative value of regional herbaria and supplementary sources of locality data. Locality information was sourced from PRE, 17 regional herbaria, sight records and literature for a subset of 121 ethnomedicinal plant species that are currently regarded to be threatened with extinction or of conservation concern according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Geographic range (km 2) was calculated using distribution information (Quarter-Degree Squares, QDS) obtained from PRE and non-PRE sources. The species' ranges were examined to compare the differences in range size and the overall proportion of QDS records represented in PRE and non-PRE sources. Supplementary data obtained from regional herbaria and other sources increased the number of known QDS records by ±45% per species across the various IUCN Red List threat categories, and the ranges increased by ±28% per species. As the threat status of a species increased, proportionally more QDS were likely to come from supplementary sources. Rarer species tended to be found only in herbaria within their province of occupancy. 'Return for effort' analyses indicated that QDS records should be sourced from PRE plus one other herbarium located within each province in which a species of interest occurs. QDS coverage within species' geographic ranges was under-represented using only data obtained from PRE, reducing the accuracy of species occurrences and distributions relying solely on information sourced from that repository. We demonstrate that this can impact on the accuracy of conservation planning resources such as Red Lists. Our results highlight the relative importance of regional herbaria.

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015), with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations). Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had !6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African and Asian) were perceived to be the main uses to which lion body parts and bones are put domestically and traded internationally, and there is reason for concern about persistent imports from former lion range states (mainly in West Africa) for parts for this purpose. The domestic, rather than international, trade in lion body parts was perceived to be a bigger threat to wild lion populations. Parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones are thought to be in most demand across the continent. The impact of international trade on wild populations was acknowledged to be largely unknown, but occasionally was judged to be 'high', and therefore vigilance is needed to monitor emerging detrimental impacts. Seventeen countries were nominated as priorities for immediate monitoring, including: South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Reasons for their selection include: prevalence of trophy hunting, 'hot spots' for poaching, active domestic trade in lion body parts, trade in curios for the tourist market, and histories of legal-illegal wildlife trade. This survey, and increased incident reports since mid-2015 of lion poisoning and poaching in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and sporadic poaching events in Uganda and Tanzania, are signalling an escalating trend in the trade of lion products that is an increasing threat to some national populations. The evidence is sufficient to make more detailed investigation of this trade a conservation priority.

Ethnopharmacological relevance
The use of animals and plants as traditional remedies for both medical afflictions and social or cultural issues (symbolism) has a long history in South Africa and a reasonably large proportion of the population will consult a traditional healer during their life-time. Compared to plants, the use of animal parts in traditional medicine and folklore is poorly documented.

Methods
We interviewed 32 traders from South Africa's largest traditional medicine market, the Faraday Street market in Johannesburg, of which only 20 consented to supplying some species use information. Traders are particularly protective of the medicinal properties of their wares. Given the sensitive nature of this information (12 traders declined to be interviewed), we were only able to gather data on their perceived uses and no data on dosages, efficacy, or individual turn-over of products. We assessed the trade of animal parts from the perspective of consumer needs by analysing use-categories (e.g. headaches, strokes, skin problems, bad luck, etc.) and the degree of informant consensus in the selection of fauna to treat certain conditions.

Results
We documented 301 uses for animal parts from 52 species and 18 ‘morphospecies’ that we allocated to 122 broad-use categories. Overall, reptiles and mammals were the most frequently used taxa in traditional medicine and some species had multiple uses (i.e., appeared in multiple use-categories) including crocodiles, lizards generally, chameleons, striped polecats, elephants and jackals. Animals were mostly used for ‘strength’ (physical or overcoming fear), but also as love charms, warding off bad luck or bad spirits or improving one's luck. Only 36% of our categories were medicinal (e.g., headaches, skin problems, swollen feet, etc.). We also found a high rate of non-disclosure of uses per species (a mean 86% of traders did not reveal information on the use of a species), and a variable degree of consensus between the traders on what particular species are actually used for.

Conclusions
We suggest that traditional medicine markets provide a unique opportunity to gauge the health and symbolic or personal issues representative of a large sector of society. What’s more, we recommend that researchers be more mindful in the way that use information is reported. We also highlight the potentially serious threat of traditional medicine to species that may be particularly vulnerable by virtue of their restricted distribution or predictable behaviour.

South Africa has legally exported substantial quantities of lion bones to Southeast Asia and China since 2008, apparently as part of the multinational trade substituting bones and body parts of other large cats for those of the tiger in wine and other health tonics. The legal sale of lion bones may mask an illegal trade, the size of which is only partially known. An observed component of the illegal trade is that quantities of skeletons are sometimes declared falsely/fraudulently on CITES export permits. Furthermore, there are emerging concerns that bones from tigers reared in captivity in South Africa and elsewhere are being laundered as lion bones using CITES Appendix II permits. There is therefore a need for tools to monitor the trade in lion body parts and to distinguish between lions and tigers. Our research indicates that it is possible to use skeletons, skulls and cranial sutures to detect misdeclarations in the lion bone trade. It is also possible to use the average mass of ...

Resource harvesting can drive plant populations to extinction if harvesting increases to chase dwindling yields. The effect of trade on medicinal bulb species is poorly known, however by examining medicinal markets as centres of trade, the effects of trade on plant populations can be determined. Size class distributions allow identification of poorly represented life history stages and may also indicate declining recruitment. Ten samples of Boophone disticha, Bowiea volubilis and Drimia altissima were purchased from Faraday umuthi (Johannesburg) market in 2007. The relationships between (a) mass and diameter and (b) mass/sale and cost price (Rand/kg) were determined. The size class distributions of all three species were also determined. The size class distribution for B. volubilis did not follow a normal distribution (K-S d = 0.22240; p< 0.01) and was skewed by numerous small and a few medium sized bulbs. Hence the trade is negatively affecting the population of this species. In comparison to the other species, the number of bulbs per sale is high for B. volubilis, while the mass per sale is low. For all three species there was a positive and disproportionate relationship between diameter and mass and an inverse and disproportionate relationship between mass/sale and Rand/kg. Trade in medicinally used bulbs can have a negative impact on commonly traded species. These impacts are influenced by species specific growth rates, survival rates and responses to harvesting. Continued monitoring of commonly used species is needed to prevent further negative impacts

Trees for health – forever: Implementing sustainable medicinal bark use in Southern Africa. Regional Workshop, Johannesburg, 1 – 3 November 2005. Impact of uncontrolled bark harvesting on the resource base. Coert J Geldenhuys 1 & Vivienne L. Williams 2. ...

Exploitation of botanical resources has resulted in significant decreases in the sizes of some plant populations, especially for species that have a high commercial value and are important to the lives and livelihoods of rural communities. Medicinal plant resources are used and traded commercially in both rural areas and urban centres, and over-exploitation has become a deterministic factor in the extinction risks to certain species. The main aim of the study was to design a risk assessment model to determine the impact of the medicinal plant trade on the Witwatersrand (centred around Johannesburg) on indigenous plant resources. The goal was to incorporate trade variables correlated with harvesting risks together with biological characteristics of the harvested species to predict which species are most threatened by the trade and are thus high on the list for conservation priority.

The study required semi-quantitative surveys of the medicinal plants sold by traders in the Witwatersrand to be conducted. In 1994 and 2001, the plants sold in 50 muti shops and by 100 vendors in the Faraday Street market respectively were inventoried. Quantitative trade data were also captured, including volume, pricing structures and plant size (e.g. bark thickness and bulb diameter). A scientific sampling strategy was adhered to throughout the study to add statistical validity to the results. In a novel approach to analysing ethnobotanical data, the frequency of plant occurrences in the markets was analysed using measures (analysed by EstimateS) of species diversity traditionally used in ecology. The measures allowed for sampling strategies and sizes to be compared between data sets and for the number of species likely to be sold in the region to be estimated. Furthermore, data sets could be compared in terms of species richness, diversity, evenness and complementarity.

Another novel approach taken in the thesis was to estimate the number of individual plants harvested annually by gatherers, specifically the number of trees that are debarked and the number of whole bulbs that are removed. In order to estimate the number of trees debarked, a study was conducted to determine the relationship between bark thickness and stem diameter for six species. The results made it possible to estimate the condition of the resource in the wild from market records (i.e. bark thicknesses) and to see how the availability of larger trees has declined for species such as Warburgia salutaris between 1994 and 2001. Results for bulbs showed that there has been a significant decrease in the diameter of Eucomis autumnalis bulbs present in the markets in the same period, suggesting significant levels of resource depletion.

The thesis explored the use of a multivariate methodology for assessing the extinction risks of species and assigning species harvested for the medicinal plant trade to various hierarchies of risk and conservation priority. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward’s and K-means respectively) methods were found to be effective in assigning species to clusters of similar risk and conservation priority. From a combined list of 392 ethnospecies recorded in the muti shops and Faraday market, a short-list of 119 higher risk species was identified using four to five trade variables. This list was further reduced to 87 species to ascertain conservation priorities based on the additional inclusion of seven biological variables in the assessment. From this list, approximately 31 species were identified as having higher conservation priority and would be candidates for further research, management and protection within the ambit of conservation and sustainable utilisation programmes. These species would further benefit from Orange Listing or having their IUCN Red List status re-evaluated.
The methods developed in this study are recommended for other ethnobotanical studies. Furthermore, the risk assessment method could be applied to the assessment of species similarly traded in other medicinal plant markets or applied to the assessment of species under threat from other stressors at a regional, provincial and/or national level using the appropriate variables.

... Detailed result. return to summary results page. Williams V. 1996 The Mai Mai bazaar: a mall of muti. Indig. Pl. Use Newsl. 4. (1): 1 & 7. En trade, history, Africa, South_Africa, Transvaal, market, Southern_Africa, medicines ( , 190002288). ...

ABSTRACT This chapter reviews the richness of bird use for traditional medicines across Africa. At least 354 species from 205 genera, 70 families, and 25 orders are used for traditional medicine in 25 African countries. Most birds are in the order Passeriformes (108 species used and 82 species traded), with the starlings (Sturnidae) the most commonly used family of passerines (nine species). Of all the bird families in trade, the Accipitridae had the most number of recorded genera (26 genera; 37 species; including kites, hawks, eagles, vultures), followed by the Ardeidae (11 genera; 15 species; including herons and egrets). The Bucerotidae (hornbills), Cuculidae (cuckoos) and Strigidae (owls) were the next most specious families in trade. The Ostrich was the most widely used bird species (11 African countries), although it was only recorded as sold in markets of four countries. Barn owls were the most widely sold. Using a widely accepted method for grouping species according to commonness or rarity, we show that 24% of traded bird species are very common and locally abundant in several habitats over a large geographic area. Ten percent of traded species are, however, rare, occurring in low numbers in specific habitats over a small geographic area. The order with the highest proportion