Co-Adaptation Is Key to Coexisting with Large Carnivores

There is a pressing need to integrate large carnivore species into multi-use landscapes outside protected areas. However, an unclear understanding of coexistence hinders the realization of this goal. Here, we provide a comprehensive conceptualization of coexistence in which mutual adaptations by both large carnivores and humans have a central role

When is it acceptable to kill a strictly protected carnivore:Exploring the legal constraints on wildlife management within Europe's Bern Convention

As wolf populations expand across Europe, many countries face challenges in finding ways to address the concerns of some elements among the rural stakeholders who are being asked to share their landscapes with wolves for the first time in several generations. In these recovery landscapes, wolves are associated with a wide range of conflicts that include economic, psychological, perceptional, social, cultural and political dimensions. A recurring demand concerns the desire to introduce the use of carefully regulated lethal control of wolves, through either culling by state employees or hunting conducted by rural hunters. Introducing such measures can be very controversial, and many critics challenge their legality under the international wildlife conservation instruments that have nurtured wolf recovery. We evaluate this issue for the case of wolves in Norway, which are strictly protected under the Bern Convention. Drawing on the latest results of social science research, we present the multiple lines of argumentation that are often used to justify killing wolves and relate these to the criteria for exceptions that exist under the Bern Convention. We conclude that while the Convention provides apparent scope for allowing the killing of wolves as a means to address conflicts, this must be clearly justified and proportional to the conservation status of wolves so as to not endanger their recovery

Legal implications of range expansions in a terrestrial carnivore:The case of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Europe

Due to global environmental changes, species are appearing more frequently in places where they have not previously occurred, and this trend is expected to continue. Such range expansions can create considerable challenges and confusion for management and policy, especially for species associated with conflicts and whose management is influenced by international legal frameworks. The golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Europe represents a good case study to address the questions related to management of naturally expanding species. We review the recent expansion of the golden jackal across the continent, and address several ensuing policy and legal questions that also have clear implications for other expanding species. To that end, we analyze the EU Habitats Directive and several other international legal instruments including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Bern Convention on European Wildlife. We also review the status of the golden jackal under national legislation and highlight some of the management confusion due to recent range expansion and inadequate legal interpretation. Specific questions we address include in which cases an expanding species is to be considered an (invasive) alien species in countries where it did not formerly occur; what countries’ conservation obligations are with respect to expanding species; what difference it makes for those obligations whether or not a species historically occurred in a country; what scope exists for lethal control of its populations; what the prospects are for transboundary cooperation at the population level; and what responses are required when colonizing species hybridise with other wildlife or domestic animals

Building a resilient coexistence with wildlife in a more crowded world

There is an urgent need to sustainably coexist with wildlife. However, realizing this goal is hampered by scant understanding of the processes that facilitate and maintain coexistence. Here, we synthesize human–wildlife interactions into eight archetypal outcomes, from eradication to sustained co-benefits, which collectively serve as a heuristic for forms of coexistence across a wide range of species and systems worldwide. We utilize resilience theory to elucidate how and why human–wildlife systems shift between these archetypes, yielding insights on research and policy priorities. We underscore the importance of governance structures that actively enhance the resilience of coexistencepublishedVersio

Using natural marks to estimate free-ranging dog Canis familiaris abundance in a MARK-RESIGHT framework in suburban Mumbai, India

Free-ranging dogs (Canis familiaris) are a major conservation issue in the tropics and adopt many ecological roles, alternatively functioning as predators, prey, or competitors of wildlife in diverse environments. Dogs are also potential reservoirs of disease that can be transmitted to both wildlife and people. Therefore a range of management interventions have been suggested to control dog populations. In order to monitor interventions to decrease dog populations, estimates of their population size are important and such methods need to be time- and cost-effective. We describe here a potential method that uses natural marks on dogs along with counts of non-marked individuals in a mark-resight framework to estimate the abundance of free-ranging dogs in a suburban area in India. Using the logit-normal mixed effects estimator to incorporate the effects of individual resighting heterogeneity, we found a total (Nj) of 680.64 ± 34.06 (95% CI = 617.22 – 751.35) dogs in the study area, with an overall mean resighting probability of 0.53 ± 0.03 (95% CI = 0.47 – 0.58). This corresponds to a density estimate of 57 dogs km−2 (CI = 51 – 63). Given that certain assumptions are met, this method may be useful to estimate abundance of dogs where other kinds of marks may be unavailable or impractical. This method may be applied to other species of feral animals as well, where some proportion of a population has distinct natural marks.publishedVersio

Predators, stewards, or sportsmen – how do Norwegian hunters perceive their role in carnivore management?

Hunting is increasingly seen as a management strategy in regulating large carnivore populations and reducing conflicts with human interests. A central theme in the carnivore debate is the role of the hunter in simulating natural predation and structuring of ecosystems. We surveyed a sample of Norwegian hunters to examine how they see their role in the ecosystem and to what extent environmental attitudes affect their perceptions of key functions of hunting. The hunters share a positive perception of themselves as responsible and law-abiding actors and important stewards of the ecosystem of great importance to wildlife management. Factor analysis revealed four underlying dimensions of the hunters’ perceptions of salient functions of hunting related to management, recreation, predation, and poaching. Environmental orientation was shown to affect perceptions of recreational and experiential functions of hunting, views on poaching, and perceptions of the stewardship role of hunters. Data on the multifaceted role of hunters can be important in the development of a socially legitimate hunting ethic in the increasingly complex sociopolitical landscape of carnivore management. hunters, hunting functions, carnivore management, ecosystem stewardshipPredators, stewards, or sportsmen – how do Norwegian hunters perceive their role in carnivore management?publishedVersio

Dietary and Reproductive Responses of Arctic Foxes to Changes in Small Rodent Abundance

Between 1988 and 1995, dens in three adjacent arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) territories were monitored in an alpine environment in south-central Norway (the Snøhetta plateau). A total of 675 scats were collected at dens in both winter and summer, and the numbers of resident adults and pups at emergence were counted each summer. Small rodents (mainly Lemmus sp. and Microtus sp.) were the most frequently consumed prey and made up the greatest volume within scats, in all seasons and at all stages of the rodent cycle. Small rodents were followed in frequency by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), hares (Lepus timidus), birds, and vegetation. Birds and vegetation were more common in the summer diet than in the winter diet, reflecting their seasonal availability. The relative volume of reindeer and birds in the diet decreased with increasing rodent abundance. Increased pup production was associated with years of high rodent abundance and a high occurrence of rodents in the diet. Adult numbers were not associated with rodent abundance.Entre 1988 et 1995, on a observé les terriers du renard arctique (Alopex lagopus), dans trois territoires contigus situés dans un environnement alpin du centre-sud de la Norvège (le plateau Snøhetta). En hiver et en été, on a recueilli un total de 675 excréments sur le site des terriers, et chaque été, on a compté le nombre de résidents adultes et de petits qui faisaient leur première sortie du terrier. Les petits rongeurs (surtout Lemmus sp. et Microtus sp.) étaient la proie la plus fréquemment consommée et constituaient le plus gros volume des excréments, en toute saison et à toute étape de la vie du rongeur. Les petits rongeurs étaient suivis en fréquence par le renne (Rangifer tarandus), le lièvre (Lepus timidus), les oiseaux et la végétation. Les oiseaux et les plantes étaient plus courants dans le régime alimentaire estival que dans celui hivernal, ce qui reflétait la disponibilité saisonnière. Le volume relatif de renne et d'oiseaux dans l'alimentation diminuait avec l'augmentation de rongeurs. La production accrue de petits était associée aux années de grande abondance de rongeurs et à une occurrence élevée de rongeurs dans l'alimentation. Le nombre des adultes n'était pas relié à l'abondance de rongeurs

Diverse Locations and a Long History: Historical Context for Urban Leopards (Panthera pardus) in the Early Anthropocene From Seoul, Korea

While the urban landscapes of the early Anthropocene may appear hostile to large carnivores, humans and leopards (Panthera pardus) are known to co-inhabit major urban centres like Mumbai (India), Nairobi (Kenya) and Johannesburg (South Africa). We provide evidence that the presence of leopards in urban landscapes is not, however, a new phenomenon and has occurred repeatedly over the early history of the Anthropocene. Using records of Amur leopards (P. p. orientalis) in Seoul, Korea, at the end of the 19th century, a capital city and major urban centre with a high human population density, we explore socio-cultural, political and ecological factors that may have facilitated human-leopard co-occurrence in an urban landscape and the factors that eventually led to the leopards’ extirpation. We suggest that, in the absence of unsustainable levels of persecution by humans, leopards are able to persist in urban landscapes which contain small patches of dense vegetation and have sufficient alternative food supplies. In light of the continued expansion of urban landscapes in the 21st century and increasing conservation focus on the presence of large carnivore populations there, this paper provides historical context to human co-existence with leopards in urban landscapes during the Anthropocene–and what we can learn from it for the future.publishedVersio

Heuristics for the sustainable harvest of wildlife in stochastic social-ecological systems

Sustainable wildlife harvest is challenging due to the complexity of uncertain social-ecological systems, and diverse stakeholder perspectives of sustainability. In these systems, semi-complex stochastic simulation models can provide heuristics that bridge the gap between highly simplified theoretical models and highly context-specific case-studies. Such heuristics allow for more nuanced recommendations in low-knowledge contexts, and an improved understanding of model sensitivity and transferability to novel contexts. We develop semi-complex Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) models capturing dynamics and variability in ecological processes, monitoring, decision-making, and harvest implementation, under a diverse range of contexts. Results reveal the fundamental challenges of achieving sustainability in wildlife harvest. Environmental contexts were important in determining optimal harvest parameters, but overall, evaluation contexts more strongly influenced perceived outcomes, optimal harvest parameters and optimal harvest strategies. Importantly, simple composite metrics popular in the theoretical literature (e.g. focusing on maximizing yield and population persistence only) often diverged from more holistic composite metrics that include a wider range of population and harvest objectives, and better reflect the trade-offs in real world applied contexts. While adaptive harvest strategies were most frequently preferred, particularly for more complex environmental contexts (e.g. high uncertainty or variability), our simulations map out cases where these heuristics may not hold. Despite not always being the optimal solution, overall adaptive harvest strategies resulted in the least value forgone, and are likely to give the best outcomes under future climatic variability and uncertainty. This demonstrates the potential value of heuristics for guiding applied management.publishedVersio

Activity patterns of eurasian lynx are modulated by light regime and individual traits over a wide latitudinal range

The activity patterns of most terrestrial animals are regarded as being primarily influenced by light, although other factors, such as sexual cycle and climatic conditions, can modify the underlying patterns. However, most activity studies have been limited to a single study area, which in turn limit the variability of light conditions and other factors. Here we considered a range of variables that might potentially influence the activity of a large carnivore, the Eurasian lynx, in a network of studies conducted with identical methodology in different areas spanning latitudes from 49 degrees 7'N in central Europe to 70 degrees 00'N in northern Scandinavia. The variables considered both light conditions, ranging from a day with a complete day-night cycle to polar night and polar day, as well as individual traits of the animals. We analysed activity data of 38 individual free-ranging lynx equipped with GPS-collars with acceleration sensors, covering more than 11,000 lynx days. Mixed linear additive models revealed that the lynx activity level was not influenced by the daily daylight duration and the activity pattern was bimodal, even during polar night and polar day. The duration of the active phase of the activity cycle varied with the widening and narrowing of the photoperiod. Activity varied significantly with moonlight. Among adults, males were more active than females, and subadult lynx were more active than adults. In polar regions, the amplitude of the lynx daily activity pattern was low, likely as a result of the polycyclic activity pattern of their main prey, reindeer. At lower latitudes, the basic lynx activity pattern peaked during twilight, corresponding to the crepuscular activity pattern of the main prey, roe deer. Our results indicated that the basic activity of lynx is independent of light conditions, but is modified by both individual traits and the activity pattern of the locally most important prey