Using global remote camera data of a solitary species complex to evaluate the drivers of group formation

We would like to thank Megan Whatton, Belden Giman, Hongliang Bu, Dajun Wang, Fang Wang, Roland Kays, Jillian Kilborn, and New Hampshire Fish and Game for their roles in contributing data that was used in this analysis. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.Peer reviewe

Perceptions and attitudes to understand human-wildlife conflict in an urban landscape – A systematic review

Managing human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) in human-dominated habitats is an important issue in wildlife conservation. Understanding and addressing local people’s attitudes and behaviours toward HWC is thought to be imperative for successful human-wildlife co-existence. Despite substantial research and conservation resources being invested to study, protect, and manage HWC globally, research on human perceptions of wildlife is mostly done in silos. Realising the lack of scholarly investigations that focus on such conflicts in urban areas by including perceptions of urban residents, we have made the first step, through a systematic review, to identify progress, gaps and future directions of urban wildlife conflict research. Reviewing all studies published globally (n = 124), we identified nuisance urban wildlife and associated conflicts reported by human residents. The findings revealed that most studies, largely focusing on mammals, were conducted in North America. Based on diet, among the 165 trophic groups studied, the majority were omnivores (n = 67), closely followed by carnivores (n = 50) and herbivores (n = 40). Within vertebrate taxa, bear species (brown, black and sloth bear; Ursus spp., Melursus ursinus) were the most conflictual followed by grey wolf (Canis lupus) and coyote (Canis latrans). The lack of longitudinal research to understand the trends and shifts in urban wildlife population and changes in human perception and attitudes was a key finding. Therefore, if research is not supplemented by long-term follow-up studies, the resolution of HWC in urban areas will be under evaluated. Furthermore, researchers should consider integrating quantitative and qualitative research methods, such as in-depth or focus group interviews, to understand motivations or perceptions to present a holistic picture for urban wildlife conservation. Perceptions may shift over time, and the human dimension of wildlife may serve as an ecological indicator of ecosystem status, providing valuable insight into how management measures will be accepted by citizens, which is critical for their success

Rediscovery of the Scottish polecat, Mustela putorius: Survival or reintroduction?

The recent rediscovery of the polecat (Mustela putorius) in Scotland has raised the question of whether the species has been present at low abundance all along or was covertly reintroduced. We assess the exceptionality of the recent sighting. The analysis suggests that the polecat was reintroduced. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Data from: The genetic legacy of the 19th century decline of the British polecat: evidence for extensive introgression from feral ferrets

In the 19th century, the British polecat suffered a demographic contraction, as a consequence of direct persecution, reaching its lowest population in the years that preceded the First World War. The polecat is now recovering and expanding throughout Britain, but introgressive hybridization with feral ferrets has been reported, which could be masking the true range of the polecat and introducing domestic genes into the species. We used a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region and 11 microsatellite loci to characterize the frequency and extent of hybridization and introgression between the two species and assess whether the 19th-century decline corresponded to a genetic bottleneck in the polecat. The proportion of admixture detected in the wild was high (31%) and hybrids were more frequently found outside Wales, suggesting that hybridization is more likely to occur along the eastern edge of the polecat's range expansion. The patterns observed in the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data show that introgression was mediated by crosses between male polecats and female ferrets, whose offspring backcrossed with polecats. No first-generation (F1) hybrids were identified, and the broad range of observed admixture proportions agrees with a scenario of past extensive hybridization between the two species. Using several different methods to investigate demographic history, we did not find consistent evidence for a genetic bottleneck in the British polecat, a result that could be interpreted as a consequence of hybridization with ferrets. Our results highlight the importance of the Welsh polecat population for the conservation and restoration of the genetic identity of the British polecat

Sample Information

Information and results (microsatellite data analyses and control region - CR - haplotypes) for the samples analysed in the study and respective GenBank Accession Numbers for mtDNA data

Microsatellite Dataset

Microsatellite dataset used in the study. Genotypes recovered for 302 samples analysed for 11 microsatellite loci