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Elucidating patterns of population structure for species with complex life histories, and disentangling the processes driving such patterns, remains a significant analytical challenge. Humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae) populations display complex genetic structures that have not been fully resolved at all spatial scales. We generated a data set of nuclear markers for 3575 samples spanning the seven breeding stocks and substocks found in the South Atlantic and western and northern Indian Oceans. For the total sample, and males and females separately, we assessed genetic diversity, tested for genetic differentiation between putative populations and isolation by distance, estimated the number of genetic clusters without a priori population information and estimated rates of gene flow using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian approaches. At the ocean basin scale, structure is governed by geographical distance ( IBD P < 0.05) and female fidelity to breeding areas, in line with current understanding of the drivers of broadscale population structure. Consistent with previous studies, the Arabian Sea breeding stock was highly genetically differentiated ( FST 0.034-0.161; P < 0.01 for all comparisons). However, the breeding stock boundary between west South Africa and east Africa was more porous than expected based on genetic differentiation, cluster and geneflow analyses. Instances of male fidelity to breeding areas and relatively high rates of dispersal for females were also observed between the three substocks in the western Indian Ocean. The relationships between demographic units and current management boundaries may have ramifications for assessments of the status and continued protections of populations still in recovery from commercial whaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation targets are useful policy tools, indicating a degree of political intent and allowing purposeful conservation planning. However, target setting and implementation often occur at different scales. A largely unmet challenge is to establish mutual feedbacks between national-scale target setting and local-scale ecological realities and management actions., Freshwater conservation in South Africa has been advanced through the participatory setting of a freshwater conservation target (20% of each freshwater ecosystem type). This paper presents the response of a conservation agency, South African National Parks, to achieving the national target. In a first step, achievement of the national target was contextualized within the agency's mandate to conserve biodiversity through 19 National Parks. In the second step, information was scaled down further to reflect the relative contribution of an individual park (Tankwa-Karoo National Park) to freshwater conservation in South Africa., At agency level, national-scale data translated into several recommendations to influence the future expansion and design of protected areas, helped to articulate key messages regarding the organization's contribution to meeting national targets, and triggered the development of strategic objectives to promote in-house capacity for effective freshwater conservation. Park-level application of national-scale data informed recommendations for management, research and monitoring. At the same time, local-scale survey data highlighted deficiencies in the national data layers., Establishing feedbacks between top-down setting of conservation targets and bottom-up implementing of management actions is desirable and possible, but also intricate. To promote the establishment of such feedbacks, four generic insights are drawn from this case study: top-down targets and bioregional-scale biodiversity data have enabling utility; effective feedbacks can only be realized through systemic conservation governance; social factors are at least as important as technical advances; national-scale maps are not necessarily accurate but can still be used to facilitate co-learning and dynamic refinement., Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern right whale's ( Eubalaena australis) demography, occurrence, habitat use, and behavior off South Africa are known predominantly from an ongoing aerial survey data set that started in 1971. The fixed timeframes of these surveys and their geographical bias towards south coast nursery areas have constrained our knowledge about the right whale's seasonal distribution elsewhere. We present shore-based observations and tracking of right whales at Saldanha Bay on the west coast (2001-2003) that reveal a near year-round presence and strongly nearshore distribution. With seasonal progression from winter to summer we observed a gradual increase in sighting rate, reduction in swimming speed, less directionality of movement, an increase in group size, and more surface active groups. The area appears to be important for feeding and socializing but not as a calving or nursery area. Individual transits between the south and west coasts, bidirectional alongshore movements, and extended seasonal presence may all be indicative of reoccupation of their former range along the west coast. This is important given the increasing ship traffic at Saldanha Bay, the rapid expansion of the region's oil and gas industry, and the known vulnerability of the closely related North Atlantic right whale ( E. glacialis) to ship strikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]