Good colostrum management can confer protective immunity to newborn calves, making calves less susceptible to infectious disease, and fundamentally improving both their short- and long-term health, welfare and productivity. Industry recommendations commonly refer to ‘The Three ‘Q's’ of colostrum management: the need for calves to receive sufficient ‘Quantity’ of high ‘Quality’ colostrum ‘Quickly’ after birth; some also include ‘sQueaky clean’ and ‘Quantification of passive transfer’. However, research to date suggests that the failure of passive transfer of colostral antibodies is common on commercial dairy farms, contributing to sub-optimal calf health and mortality. This paper explores why this may be the case by investigating stakeholder perceptions of colostrum management and how these perceptions might affect the practice of ensuring adequate colostrum administration to newborn calves. Calf rearing and youngstock management practices on English dairy farms were investigated using 40 in-depth semi-structured interviews: 26 with dairy farmers and 14 with advisors (including veterinarians, feed and pharmaceutical company representatives). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically coded for analysis. ‘The Three ‘Q's’ were found to act as useful reminders about the goals of colostrum management, and a case can be made for further publicising the inclusion of ‘sQueaky clean’ and ‘Quantification of passive transfer’ as there remains a lack of focus on colostrum hygiene and measurement of successful antibody transfer. Knowledge of the ‘Q's’ did not guarantee implementation, and time and labour constraints alongside farmer misconceptions must be addressed when offering professional advice on improving calf health. Further research to encourage on-farm collection and analysis of monitoring data including rates of passive transfer is particularly needed. Advisors must not overlook the importance of colostrum management when assessing farm practices and ensure that they promote evidence-based recommendations if dairy calf morbidity and mortality is to be reduced.

The proposed legalization of international trade in rhinoceros horn is a hotly debated topic. South Africa is home to a large proportion of Africa's black Diceros bicornis and white rhinoceroses Ceratotherium simum populations. Private owners are custodians of c. 25% of the country's rhinoceroses, and the introduction of legal trade in horn harvested from live rhinoceroses may therefore have significant implications for the private conservation industry. This study explores perceptions of legal trade in rhinoceros horn, and its potential implications for reserve management, among rhinoceros owners and conservation practitioners from private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from 17 private game reserves (c. 37% of the total number of reserves with rhinoceroses). Whereas rhinoceros owners were mostly in favour of trade, opinion among non-owners was more nuanced. Owners expressed more interest in trading in live rhinoceroses, and stockpiled horn from natural mortalities, than in sustainably harvesting rhinoceros horn for trade. Informants therefore predicted that they would not change their practices significantly if the trade were legalized. However, most informants had little confidence that CITES would lift the trade ban. The perspectives of private reserve owners and managers should be taken into account in South African and international policy discussions relating to the legal trade in rhinoceros horn.

With current preparation for the release of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013, many changes have been proposed for the diagnostic criteria, including changes to the pervasive development disorder category — of which Asperger's disorder is a part. Using focus group discussions this study explored how Asperger's disorder is perceived by Australian health and education staff, parents of children diagnosed with Asperger's disorder and community members. A total of 51 people participated in eight focus groups. Theory-led thematic analysis of the discussions revealed five themes of aetiology uncertainty, challenging behaviour, barriers in service provision, terminology confusion and label stigma. These themes are discussed in relation to the proposed diagnostic changes and implications for future research.

Global assessments demonstrate that as a conservation measure protected areas (PAs) are incomplete, and tend to be poorly documented in the international scientific literature, hindering the assessment of their scientific and policy foundations. The step from mapping priority areas for biodiversity conservation based on scientific information to formulating the practical tools for conserving biological diversity is critical; several key aspects such as legislative frameworks, multi-scale politics and socioeconomic realities must be taken into account. With the planet's human population continuing to grow, this step is all the more crucial, as the designation of PAs is increasingly being forced alongside the development frontier. This paper examines the process of reserve establishment in the case of the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve (AMNR) (Peruvian Amazonia). On the basis of interviews, document analysis and media studies, a series of actions and reactions worked to shape the ultimate categorization and management plan of the AMNR. While scientific knowledge played a central role in the initial selection of the AMNR site, a number of critical aspects such as estimated environmental services, unresolved land entitlements, use values and multi-scale politics needed to be addressed in order to meet the originally set objective of biodiversity conservation. The importance of several biophysical features of the AMNR was initially emphasized as a key argument for conservation, whereas potential benefits of the AMNR (such as environmental services, particularly at the regional scale) proved to be the ultimate driving factor. Between the AMNR's official establishment in 1999 and its approved categorization and management plan in 2004 and 2005, respectively, a substantial shift in argumentation was witnessed. This change was particularly influential in that, contrary to what was initially expected, the livelihood requirements of local communities that were strongly linked to land entitlements and natural resources management came to play an essential role in both the categorization process and in the elaboration of the management plan of the Reserve. The AMNR was only effectively established because of this shift in emphasis.