Human-carnivore relations: conflicts, tolerance and coexistence in the American West

Carnivore and humans live in proximity due to carnivore recovery efforts and ongoing human encroachment into carnivore habitats globally. The American West is a region that uniquely exemplifies these human-carnivore dynamics, however, it is unclear how the research community here integrates social and ecological factors to examine human-carnivore relations. Therefore, strategies promoting human-carnivore coexistence are urgently needed. We conducted a systematic review on human-carnivore relations in the American West covering studies between 2000 and 2018. We first characterized human-carnivore relations across states of the American West. Second, we analyzed similarities and dissimilarities across states in terms of coexistence, tolerance, number of ecosystem services and conflicts mentioned in literature. Third, we used Bayesian modeling to quantify the effect of social and ecological factors influencing the scientific interest on coexistence, tolerance, ecosystem services and conflicts. Results revealed some underlying biases in human-carnivore relations research. Colorado and Montana were the states where the highest proportion of studies were conducted with bears and wolves the most studied species. Non-lethal management was the most common strategy to mitigate conflicts. Overall, conflicts with carnivores were much more frequently mentioned than benefits. We found similarities among Arizona, California, Utah, and New Mexico according to how coexistence, tolerance, services and conflicts are addressed in literature. We identified percentage of federal/private land, carnivore family, social actors, and management actions, as factors explaining how coexistence, tolerance, conflicts and services are addressed in literature. We provide a roadmap to foster tolerance towards carnivores and successful coexistence strategies in the American West based on four main domains, (1) the dual role of carnivores as providers of both beneficial and detrimental contributions to people, (2) social-ecological factors underpinning the provision of beneficial and detrimental contributions, (3) the inclusion of diverse actors, and (4) cross-state collaborative management

Human-carnivore relations: conflicts, tolerance and coexistence in the American West

Carnivore and humans live in proximity due to carnivore recovery efforts and ongoing human encroachment into carnivore habitats globally. The American West is a region that uniquely exemplifies these human-carnivore dynamics, however, it is unclear how the research community here integrates social and ecological factors to examine human-carnivore relations. Therefore, strategies promoting human-carnivore coexistence are urgently needed. We conducted a systematic review on human-carnivore relations in the American West covering studies between 2000 and 2018. We first characterized human-carnivore relations across states of the American West. Second, we analyzed similarities and dissimilarities across states in terms of coexistence, tolerance, number of ecosystem services and conflicts mentioned in literature. Third, we used Bayesian modeling to quantify the effect of social and ecological factors influencing the scientific interest on coexistence, tolerance, ecosystem services and conflicts. Results revealed some underlying biases in humancarnivore relations research. Colorado and Montana were the states where the highest proportion of studies were conducted with bears and wolves the most studied species. Non-lethal management was the most common strategy to mitigate conflicts. Overall, conflicts with carnivores were much more frequently mentioned than benefits. We found similarities among Arizona, California, Utah, and New Mexico according to how coexistence, tolerance, services and conflicts are addressed in literature. We identified percentage of federal/private land, carnivore family, social actors, and management actions, as factors explaining how coexistence, tolerance, conflicts and services are addressed in literature. We provide a roadmap to foster tolerance towards carnivores and successful coexistence strategies in the American West based on four main domains, (1)the dual role of carnivores as providers of both beneficial and detrimental contributions to people, (2)social-ecological factors underpinning the provision of beneficial and detrimental contributions, (3)the inclusion of diverse actors, and (4) cross-state collaborative management

Satellite remote sensing of ecosystem functions: Opportunities and challenges for reporting obligations of the EU habitat directive

The Habitats Directive (HD) and the associated Natura 2000 Network represent the major commitment of the European Union to biodiversity conservation. They are aimed at maintaining natural habitats in a favourable conservation status, which is assessed every 6 years by the member states under the legal obligation derived from HD Articles 11 and 17. Such assessment relies on habitats compositional and structural attributes, but should also consider ecosystem functions. Monitoring such functions represents an opportunity to incorporate Remote Sensing (RS) into the real-world biodiversity monitoring efforts. Here, we introduce a set of prospects and issues connected with RS aided monitoring of ecosystem functions and services within the framework of the reporting obligations of HD

Remote-sensing based approach to forecast habitat quality under climate change scenarios

<div><p>As climate change is expected to have a significant impact on species distributions, there is an urgent challenge to provide reliable information to guide conservation biodiversity policies. In addressing this challenge, we propose a remote sensing-based approach to forecast the future habitat quality for European badger, a species not abundant and at risk of local extinction in the arid environments of southeastern Spain, by incorporating environmental variables related with the ecosystem functioning and correlated with climate and land use. Using ensemble prediction methods, we designed global spatial distribution models for the distribution range of badger using presence-only data and climate variables. Then, we constructed regional models for an arid region in the southeast Spain using EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) derived variables and weighting the pseudo-absences with the global model projections applied to this region. Finally, we forecast the badger potential spatial distribution in the time period 2071–2099 based on IPCC scenarios incorporating the uncertainty derived from the predicted values of EVI-derived variables. By including remotely sensed descriptors of the temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of ecosystem functioning into spatial distribution models, results suggest that future forecast is less favorable for European badgers than not including them. In addition, change in spatial pattern of habitat suitability may become higher than when forecasts are based just on climate variables. Since the validity of future forecast only based on climate variables is currently questioned, conservation policies supported by such information could have a biased vision and overestimate or underestimate the potential changes in species distribution derived from climate change. The incorporation of ecosystem functional attributes derived from remote sensing in the modeling of future forecast may contribute to the improvement of the detection of ecological responses under climate change scenarios.</p></div

Spatial distribution of European badger.

<p>(a) Spatial distribution range of the European badger obtained from the IUCN map, (b) Regional administrative boundaries of Andalusia, (c) Case study in arid environments of southeastern Spain (7051 km²) defined using the Martonne aridity index and administrative boundaries of Andalusia; location of the 73 badger presence records used for the regional model. The digital elevation model showed was downloaded from a public database available in <a href="http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/institutodeestadisticaycartografia/prodCartografia/bc/mdt.htm" target="_blank">http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/institutodeestadisticaycartografia/prodCartografia/bc/mdt.htm</a></p

Comparison of model performance using the area under the threshold-independent receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

<p>(a) Regional EVI-model performance versus regional Climate-model, both without weighted PAs. (b) Regional EVI-model performance (AUC) versus regional Climate-model, both with weighted PAs. Values below the diagonal line mean a better performance for EVI-model, values above mean a better performance for Climate-model and values on the diagonal line mean an identical performance between the models compared.</p

Changes in intensity (<i>Y</i> axis) and Hellinger distance (<i>X</i> axis) forecasted for the European badger in southeastern Iberian Peninsula under IPCC scenarios.

<p>Change in intensity (overall measure of habitat suitability) between the current and IPCC A2 (circles) and B1 (squares) for 2071–2099 maps is plotted against the corresponding Hellinger distance (representing spatial changes). Filled symbols represent EVI-models and open symbols Climate-models, both without weighted PAs. <b><i>I</i></b>: <i>irrigated crop scenario;</i> <b><i>A</i></b>: <i>crop abandonment scenario;</i> <b><i>N</i></b>: <i>no change scenario</i>.</p