Biodiversity remains relatively unknown and understudied in many parts of the developing world with significant information gaps, in stark contrast to many areas in the developed world, where knowledge about biodiversity can approach encyclopedic. Access to resources, such as funding, data, information, expertise, and biological collections (often collected by colonial‐era scientists from across the developing world), is often quite limited for developing‐world scientists. The life of a biodiversity scientist in the developing world is therefore one of manifold dilemmas and challenges, as well as numerous opportunities. Although collaborations exist between developing‐world scientists and developed‐world scientists, too many of those collaborations are not deep or permanent, and developing‐world scientists are too often relegated to a subordinate role. The focus in this contribution is on providing suggestions for how to open and build access to resources for developing‐world scientists. Everyone benefits if developing‐world and developed‐world scientists work together collaboratively to pose interesting and novel questions, generate new data, update existing data, carry out analyses, and arrive at interesting insights and interpretations. In this way, the biodiversity science community can replace “parachute” science with “global science.”

Humans and elephants are major disturbance agents in the African savanna woodlands. While both species remove trees, humans selectively harvest larger stems, which are less vulnerable to elephants. Increasing human pressures raise the question of how the altered disturbance regime will modify woodland structure, and in turn biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Lilian's Lovebird Agapornis lilianae is regarded as a mopane Colophospermum mopane woodland specialist. Its global population is sparse and is spread along the Zambezi valley with little known about its current distribution and status. We explored the current distribution of Lilian's Lovebird in Malawi, and in particular focused on the distribution and habitat associations of the largest resident population in Liwonde National Park (LNP). Local birders and tourist guides provided distribution information from across Malawi. Transect walks were conducted to collect data in LNP. Five new atlas records are reported; three were within 40–56 km of the LNP population and two were over 150 km south and north of LNP, respectively. One of the sites is about 66 km from the Lilian's Lovebird population in Luangwa Valley, Zambia. New national records were evidence of the importance of seasonal movements to the species. Lilian's Lovebirds occurred throughout LNP with the highest abundance in the central section. Seaso...

Summary: The near-threatened Lilian’s Lovebird Agapornis lilianae is a small parrot endemic to the Zambezi basin in south-east Africa. The species has a fragmented distribution predominantly within mopane woodlands and is widely referred to as a mopane specialist. The harvesting of mopane trees for charcoal production and timber are having widespread impacts on this woodland habitat, raising concerns over its capacity to support biodiversity. This study aimed to understand the key drivers determining the occurrence of Lilian’s Lovebird in the mopane woodlands of Zambia, focusing particularly on aspects of woodland structure, including the size and density of trees. We used a MaxEnt species distribution model based on historical species occurrence data, to inform selection of 116 survey plots in the Luangwa, Luano and Zambezi valleys. Each plot was sampled for Lilian’s Lovebirds and woodland structure described. Occurrence of Lilian’s Lovebird was found to be positively associated with the size of mopane trees (both height and diameter at breast height) suggesting that large ‘cathedral’ mopane trees provide a key resource for the species and that conservation efforts should focus on the protection of sites containing large trees. No Lilian’s Lovebirds were recorded in areas where they previously occurred to the west of Lower Zambezi National Park, and there was an absence of ‘cathedral’ mopane habitat in this area.