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Sexually transmitted infections (STI) in lesbian and bisexual women is a relatively unexplored topic, particularly for women from low and middle-income countries. Despite perceptions that women who have sex with women (WSW) are at negligible risk for contracting STI, existing research demonstrates that WSW do become infected with STI. Given the opposition between assumptions of invulnerability and the observed risks, we explored how WSW would respond to symptoms of STI (i.e., wait until symptoms passed, see a medical doctor, and inform sexual partners). We used data collected as part of a collaboration between academic researchers and community-based LGBTQ organizations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Chi-square tests were used to test whether participants’ responses to hypothetical STI symptoms varied in relation to several intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural factors. Multivariable logistic regression (backward) was used to assess whether these variables were independently associated with women’s responses. Most women would be proactive in response to potential STI symptoms and would see a medical doctor. However, most women would not inform their sexual partner of symptoms of STI. Findings demonstrate several intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural factors that influence WSW’s health agency, and show a clustering of high-risk factors among women who would not be proactive about their health. Our findings suggest the need for improved health and health care of WSW in Southern Africa.

Urbanisation and anthropogenic alteration of ecosystems has led to conflict between humans and wildlife. Such conflict is often observed in apex predators. Although human-wildlife conflict has been extensively studied, male/female differences in behaviour are rarely considered. We investigated male/female differences in foraging behaviour of the predatory/scavenging brown skua Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi breeding on a New Zealand island nature reserve in proximity to farmland. These skuas are subject to culling, when perceived as a threat to livestock. As part of a long-term ecological study, we used high-resolution Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to characterise the space-use of foraging brown skuas. We also analysed stable isotopes of carbon (δ13 C) and nitrogen (δ15 N) from modern and archived blood samples to investigate possible changes in diet over the past ~30 years. Analysis of 100 GPS tracks collected from 2014 to 2016 demonstrated that males and females consistently visited different habitats. Males spent most of their time close to their breeding territory on the island nature reserve and females frequently visited a farmed island approximately two kilometres away. Consistent with this finding, we show that male and female skuas also differed markedly in their diets: males specialised on burrow-nesting white-faced storm petrels Pelagodroma marina (80%) with only a small proportion of sheep remains Ovis aries (

While avian migration timing is clearly influenced by both breeding and non-breeding geography, it is challenging to identify the relative and interdependent roles of endogenous programs, early-life experience, and carry-over effects in the development of adult annual schedules. Bar-tailed godwits Limosa lapponica baueri migrate northward from New Zealand toward Asian stopover sites during the boreal spring, with differences in timing between individuals known to relate to their eventual breeding-ground geography in Alaska. Here, we studied the timing of northward migration of individual godwits at three sites spanning 1,100 km of New Zealand's 1,400-km length. A lack of morphological or genetic structure among sites indicates that the Alaskan breeding population mixes freely across all sites, and larger birds (southern breeders) tended to migrate earlier than smaller birds (northern breeders) at all sites. However, we unexpectedly found that migration timing varied between the sites, with birds from southern New Zealand departing on average 9.4-11 days earlier than birds from more northerly sites, a difference consistent across 4 years of monitoring. There is no obvious adaptive reason for migration timing differences of this magnitude, and it is likely that geographic variation in timing within New Zealand represents a direct response to latitudinal variation in photoperiod. Using resightings of marked birds, we show that immature godwits explore widely around New Zealand before embarking on their first northward migration at age 2-4 years. Thus, the process by which individual migration dates are established appears to involve: (1) settlement by sub-adult godwits at non-breeding sites, to which they are highly faithful as adults; (2) a consequent response to environmental cues (i.e., photoperiod) that sets the local population's migration window; and (3) endogenous mechanisms, driven by breeding geography, that establish and maintain the well-documented consistent differences between individuals. This implies that behavioral decisions by young godwits have long-lasting impacts on adult annual-cycle schedules, but the factors guiding non-breeding settlement are currently unknown.

Women who have sex with women in Southern Africa, where HIV prevalence is high, are often presumed to have minimal risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV despite research documenting female-to-female transmission. This study examined the demographic and social factors contributing to female-to-female STI/HIV transmission knowledge among Southern African women who have sex with women using an integrated model of health literacy. In collaboration with community-based organisations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, data were collected through anonymous surveys (N = 591). Multivariable stepwise forward logistic regression assessed independent associations between participant characteristics and high vs. low knowledge using five items. Overall, 64.4% (n = 362) of women had high; 35.6% (n = 200) had low knowledge. Higher education (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.48, 3.40), regular income (aOR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.43, 3.21), residence in Botswana (aOR: 3.12, 95% CI: 1.15, 8.48) and having ever received tailored STI/HIV information (aOR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.41, 3.32) predicted significantly higher odds of high knowledge in the final multivariable model. Results suggest opportunities for peer-led sexual health programming and expanded HIV prevention campaigns addressing women who have sex with women.

Identification of breeding sites remains a critical step in species conservation, particularly in procellariiform seabirds whose threat status is of global concern. We designed and conducted an integrative radiotelemetry approach to uncover the breeding grounds of the critically endangered New Zealand Storm Petrel Fregetta maoriana (NZSP), a species considered extinct before its rediscovery in 2003. Solar-powered automated radio receivers and hand-held telemetry were used to detect the presence of birds on three island groups in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. At least 11 NZSP captured and radiotagged at sea were detected at night near Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island with the detection of an incubating bird leading to the discovery of the first known breeding site for this species. In total, four NZSP breeding burrows were detected under mature forest canopy and three adult NZSP and two NZSP chicks were ringed. Telemetry data indicated NZSP showed strong moonlight avoidance behaviour over the breeding site, had incubation shifts of approximately 5 days and had a breeding season extending from February to June/July, a different season from other Procellariiformes in the region. Radiotelemetry, in combination with rigorously collected field data on species distribution, offers a valuable technique for locating breeding grounds of procellariiform seabirds and gaining insights into breeding biology while minimizing disturbance to sensitive species or damage to fragile habitat. Our study suggests an avenue for other breeding ground searches in one of the most threatened avian Orders, and highlights the general need for information on the location of breeding sites and understanding the breeding biology in data-deficient birds.

HIV prevention and service programmes have long either ignored or overlooked lesbians. The experiences of lesbians with HIV have similarly been unrecognised and unreported. This erasure has contributed to the invisibility of lesbians in relation to HIV and related health risks. This community participatory study, based on in-depth interviews with twenty-four self-identifying African lesbians living with HIV in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, focuses on their personal experiences and circumstances. Women's experiences shed light and challenge popular notions around lesbian risk. In particular among this group are lesbians who self-report exclusive sexual relationships with women. For these women, experiences of living with HIV are challenging as they struggle to understand the possibility of female-to-female transmission. While battling with their own perceptions of invulnerability and accepting their HIV positive status, they have to deal also with wide-ranging misconceptions about risk. The paper argues that within the context of HIV lesbians cannot be regarded as a `no-risk' group. Health services and health providers are encouraged to respond to the health needs of lesbians living with HIV.

Even though women who have sex with women are usually understood to be at no or very low risk for HIV infection, we explored whether lesbian and bisexual women in a geographical area with high HIV prevalence (Southern Africa) get tested for HIV and whether, among those women who get tested, there are women who live with HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted in collaboration with community-based organizations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Data were collected via written surveys of women who in the preceding year had had sex with a woman (18 years and older; N = 591). Most participating women identified as lesbian and black. Almost half of the women (47.2%) reported ever having had consensual heterosexual sex. Engagement in transactional sex (lifetime) was reported by 18.6% of all women. Forced sex by men or women was reported by 31.1% of all women. A large proportion of the women reported to ever have been tested for HIV (78.3%); number of lifetime female and male partners was independently associated with having been tested; women who had engaged in transactional sex with women only or with women and men were less likely to have been tested. Self-reported HIV prevalence among tested women who knew their serostatus was 9.6%. Besides age, the sole independent predictor of a positive serostatus was having experienced forced sex by men, by women, or by both men and women. Study findings indicate that despite the image of invulnerability, HIV/AIDS is a reality for lesbian and bisexual women in Southern Africa. Surprisingly, it is not sex with men per se, but rather forced sex that is the important risk factor for self-reported HIV infection among the participating women. HIV/AIDS policy should also address the needs of lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women.