When the hunter becomes the hunted

Historically, wild predators were overwhelmingly viewed as threats to livestock, wild “game,” and public health. Over time, public perceptions have broadened to include recognition of predators' intrinsic value and their role in structuring ecosystems. Nowhere are these changing perceptions better illustrated than in Yellowstone National Park, where the U.S. government deliberately eliminated wolves in the 1920s, only to actively restore them in the 1990s. Large carnivores are now recovering across much of North America and Europe but declining elsewhere (1, 2). Predator control, once widely accepted by the public, has become a source of intense social conflict (3, 4). Robust scientific evidence and broad stakeholder involvement are crucial for effective management of predator populations

The functional response of a generalist predator

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Breeding ground correlates of the distribution and decline of the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus at two spatial scales

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordMany migratory bird species are undergoing population declines as a result of potentially multiple, interacting mechanisms. Understanding the environmental associations of spatial variation in population change can help tease out the likely mechanisms involved. Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus populations have declined by 69% in England but increased by 33% in Scotland. The declines have mainly occurred in lowland agricultural landscapes, but their mechanisms are unknown. At both the local scale within the county of Devon (SE England) and at the national (UK) scale, we analysed the breeding season distribution of Cuckoos in relation to habitat variation, the abundance of host species and the abundance of moth species whose caterpillars are a key food of adult Cuckoos. At the local scale, we found that Cuckoos were more likely to be detected in areas with more semi-natural habitat, more Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis (but fewer Dunnocks Prunella modularis) and where, later in the summer, higher numbers of moths were captured whose larvae are Cuckoo prey. Nationally, Cuckoos have become more associated with upland heath characterized by the presence of Meadow Pipit hosts, and with wetland habitats occupied by Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus hosts. The core distribution of Cuckoos has shifted from south to north within the UK. By the end of 2009, the abundance of macro-moth species identified as prey had also declined four times faster than that of species not known to be taken by Cuckoos. The abundance of these moths has shown the sharpest declines in grassland, arable and woodland habitats and has increased in semi-natural habitats (heaths and rough grassland). Our study suggests that Cuckoos are likely to remain a very scarce bird in lowland agricultural landscapes without large-scale changes in agricultural practices.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Natural Englan

Understanding diverse approaches to predator management among gamekeepers in England

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. 1.Disagreements and disputes over the management of predatory animals are a frequent feature of conservation conflicts. In the UK, there are long‐standing conflicts surrounding legal and illegal killing of predators as part of management fostering game species as quarry for sport shooting. Despite the central role of gamekeepers as stakeholders and actors in this predominant form of predator management, little direct attention has been paid to their perspectives and motivations. 2.We conducted semi‐structured interviews on the subject of predator management with 20 gamekeepers across the south of England and applied a social‐psychological approach to explore the underlying beliefs, norms and information sources associated with their actions. Data were analysed for patterns in terminology, rationalization or subject and synthesized into broad ‘motivations’, which were structured using a framework from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). 3.Six primary motivations for predator management emerged: professional identity, personal norms, potential penalties, perceived impact, personal enjoyment and perceived ease. Perceived impact of predators on released game, and wildlife more broadly, was a central driver of predator killing. We identified three indirect influences on how this impact is judged: ‘maintaining balance’, ‘appeal to nature’ and ‘problem individuals’. We find that predator killing by gamekeepers is not solely a function of perceived economic loss but a product of multiple factors, including perceived professional norms, a sense of personal responsibility for game and non‐game wildlife, and assessments of predator populations and behaviours based on personal encounters. 4.Motivations were well characterized within the TPB framework, with links to subjective norms, attitudes and perceived behavioural control. Our use of this social‐psychological approach to understanding the actions and preferences of these key stakeholders highlights how behaviours that are central to conservation conflicts have multiple social and ecological drivers. Characterizing the multiple motivations behind predator killing might help address aspects of the social conflicts with which sport shooting is currently associated, if actions, deliberation and, where appropriate, mediation, can be targeted at the key concerns of these central stakeholders and actors.University of ExeterCONICY

Can sacrificial feeding areas protect aquatic plants from herbivore grazing? Using behavioural ecology to inform wildlife management

Effective wildlife management is needed for conservation, economic and human well-being objectives. However, traditional population control methods are frequently ineffective, unpopular with stakeholders, may affect non-target species, and can be both expensive and impractical to implement. New methods which address these issues and offer effective wildlife management are required. We used an individual-based model to predict the efficacy of a sacrificial feeding area in preventing grazing damage by mute swans (Cygnus olor) to adjacent river vegetation of high conservation and economic value. The accuracy of model predictions was assessed by a comparison with observed field data, whilst prediction robustness was evaluated using a sensitivity analysis. We used repeated simulations to evaluate how the efficacy of the sacrificial feeding area was regulated by (i) food quantity, (ii) food quality, and (iii) the functional response of the forager. Our model gave accurate predictions of aquatic plant biomass, carrying capacity, swan mortality, swan foraging effort, and river use. Our model predicted that increased sacrificial feeding area food quantity and quality would prevent the depletion of aquatic plant biomass by swans. When the functional response for vegetation in the sacrificial feeding area was increased, the food quantity and quality in the sacrificial feeding area required to protect adjacent aquatic plants were reduced. Our study demonstrates how the insights of behavioural ecology can be used to inform wildlife management. The principles that underpin our model predictions are likely to be valid across a range of different resource-consumer interactions, emphasising the generality of our approach to the evaluation of strategies for resolving wildlife management problems

Education can improve the negative perception of a threatened long-lived scavenging bird, the Andean condor

Human-wildlife conflicts currently represent one of the main conservation problems for wildlife species around the world. Vultures have serious conservation concerns, many of which are related to people's adverse perception about them due to the belief that they prey on livestock. Our aim was to assess local perception and the factors influencing people's perception of the largest scavenging bird in South America, the Andean condor. For this, we interviewed 112 people from Valle Fértil, San Juan province, a rural area of central west Argentina. Overall, people in the area mostly have an elementary education, and their most important activity is livestock rearing. The results showed that, in general, most people perceive the Andean condor as an injurious species and, in fact, some people recognize that they still kill condors. We identified two major factors that affect this perception, the education level of villagers and their relationship with livestock ranching. Our study suggests that conservation of condors and other similar scavengers depends on education programs designed to change the negative perception people have about them. Such programs should be particularly focused on ranchers since they are the ones who have the worst perception of these scavengers. We suggest that highlighting the central ecological role of scavengers and recovering their cultural value would be fundamental to reverse their persecution and their negative perception by people.Fil: Cailly Arnulphi, Verónica Beatríz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; ArgentinaFil: Lambertucci, Sergio Agustin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Borghi, Carlos Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; Argentin

Physiological Stress Mediates the Honesty of Social Signals

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Compassion as a practical and evolved ethic for conservation

© The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The ethical position underpinning decisionmaking is an important concern for conservation biologists when setting priorities for interventions. The recent debate on how best to protect nature has centered on contrasting intrinsic and aesthetic values against utilitarian and economic values, driven by an inevitable global rise in conservation conflicts. These discussions have primarily been targeted at species and ecosystems for success, without explicitly expressing concern for the intrinsic value and welfare of individual animals. In part, this is because animal welfare has historically been thought of as an impediment to conservation. However, practical implementations of conservation that provide good welfare outcomes for individuals are no longer conceptually challenging; they have become reality. This reality, included under the auspices of "compassionate conservation," reflects an evolved ethic for sharing space with nature and is a major step forward for conservation

Adenylyl Cyclases 1 and 8 Initiate a Presynaptic Homeostatic Response to Ethanol Treatment

BACKGROUND:Although ethanol exerts widespread action in the brain, only recently has progress been made in understanding the specific events occurring at the synapse during ethanol exposure. Mice deficient in the calcium-stimulated adenylyl cyclases, AC1 and AC8 (DKO), demonstrate increased sedation duration and impaired phosphorylation by protein kinase A (PKA) following acute ethanol treatment. While not direct targets for ethanol, we hypothesize that these cyclases initiate a homeostatic presynaptic response by PKA to reactivate neurons from ethanol-mediated inhibition. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Here, we have used phosphoproteomic techniques and identified several presynaptic proteins that are phosphorylated in the brains of wild type mice (WT) after ethanol exposure, including synapsin, a known PKA target. Phosphorylation of synapsins I and II, as well as phosphorylation of non-PKA targets, such as, eukaryotic elongation factor-2 (eEF-2) and dynamin is significantly impaired in the brains of DKO mice. This deficit is primarily driven by AC1, as AC1-deficient, but not AC8-deficient mice also demonstrate significant reductions in phosphorylation of synapsin and eEF-2 in cortical and hippocampal tissues. DKO mice have a reduced pool of functional recycling vesicles and fewer active terminals as measured by FM1-43 uptake compared to WT controls, which may be a contributing factor to the impaired presynaptic response to ethanol treatment. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:These data demonstrate that calcium-stimulated AC-dependent PKA activation in the presynaptic terminal, primarily driven by AC1, is a critical event in the reactivation of neurons following ethanol-induced activity blockade

Mitigating the impact of Bats in historic churches: The response of Natterer's Bats Myotis nattereri to artificial roosts and deterrence

© 2016 Zeale et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Bats frequently roost in historic churches, and these colonies are of considerable conservation value. Inside churches, bat droppings and urine can cause damage to the historic fabric of the building and to items of cultural significance. In extreme cases, large quantities of droppings can restrict the use of a church for worship and/or other community functions. In the United Kingdom, bats and their roosts are protected by law, and striking a balance between conserving the natural and cultural heritage can be a significant challenge. We investigated mitigation strategies that could be employed in churches and other historic buildings to alleviate problems caused by bats without adversely affecting their welfare or conservation status. We used a combination of artificial roost provision and deterrence at churches in Norfolk, England, where significant maternity colonies of Natterer's bats Myotis nattereri damage church features. Radio-tracking data and population modelling showed that excluding M. nattereri from churches is likely to have a negative impact on their welfare and conservation status, but that judicious use of deterrents, especially high intensity ultrasound, can mitigate problems caused by bats. We show that deterrence can be used to move bats humanely from specific roosting sites within a church and limit the spread of droppings and urine so that problems to congregations and damage to cultural heritage can be much reduced. In addition, construction of bespoke roost spaces within churches can allow bats to continue to roost within the fabric of the building without flying in the church interior. We highlight that deterrence has the potential to cause serious harm toM. nattereri populations if not used judiciously, and so the effects of deterrents will need careful monitoring, and their use needs strict regulation