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

For livestock losses, a conservation scientist's ‘exceptional’ may be a farmer's ‘unacceptable’: A commentary to Ballejo et al. (2020)

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recor

Effects of food availability on the trophic niche of the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Data are available at Dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad. dbrv15dz4.The scale at which variations in food availability affect the foraging habits of individual animals can determine how the distribution of food resources affects populations. For species of conservation concern, these factors can have important implications for the management of habitats, as spatial and temporal variations in resource availability influence the trophic ecology of both individuals and populations. The hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius is a species with seasonal dietary shifts and limited ranging, and whose populations in Great Britain are exhibiting marked decline, despite conservation measures. We compared resource availability and variation in dormouse traits with their trophic characteristics, determined by stable isotope analysis of dormouse hair and of their putative food items. The trophic levels of individual dormice were associated with the abundance of invertebrates in the surrounding habitat and in the woodland as a whole. Assessment of dormouse dietary composition suggests that the proportions of invertebrates and of tree seeds and flowers in dormouse diets are affected by the abundance of food plants in the local habitat. This suggests that dormice can exploit both invertebrates and plants in proportion to their availability, and are variable in their predatory habits, in response to both the availability of invertebrates and plants. Dormouse populations exhibit a broader trophic niche in autumn than in spring, most likely a consequence of their consumption of foods derived from a wider variety of tree and shrub species. We found no relationship between isotope signatures or food availability and the body mass or torpor of individuals, or the status of populations. This may be because, on the sites we studied, dormice could adapt to different food availabilities without discernible individual and population effects. Dormice are opportunistic feeders, rather than specialists, making use of abundant food resources at a local scale. Habitat conservation for dormice, therefore, could benefit from establishing and maintaining habitats that increase the overall abundance and uniform distribution of both flower and fruit-bearing shrubs and trees and invertebrate populations, at a fine spatial scale.Forestry CommissionNER

Ecology of domestic dogs canis familiaris as an emerging reservoir of Guinea worm dracunculus medinensis infection

This is the final version. Available on open access from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordData Availability: Data are available at Dryad data repository https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vx0k6djnh.Global eradication of human Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) has been set back by the emergence of infections in animals, particularly domestic dogs Canis familiaris. The ecology and epidemiology of this reservoir is unknown. We tracked dogs using GPS, inferred diets using stable isotope analysis and analysed correlates of infection in Chad, where numbers of Guinea worm infections are greatest. Dogs had small ranges that varied markedly among villages. Diets consisted largely of human staples and human faeces. A minority of ponds, mostly <200 m from dog-owning households, accounted for most dog exposure to potentially unsafe water. The risk of a dog having had Guinea worm was reduced in dogs living in households providing water for animals but increased with increasing fish consumption by dogs. Provision of safe water might reduce dog exposure to unsafe water, while prioritisation of proactive temephos (Abate) application to the small number of ponds to which dogs have most access is recommended. Fish might have an additional role as transport hosts for Guinea worm, by concentrating copepods infected with worm larvae.Chad Ministry of Public HealthWorld Health OrganizationCarter Cente

Ecology of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) as a host for Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) infection in Ethiopia

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordThe global programme for the eradication of Guinea worm disease, caused by the parasitic nematode Dracunculus medinensis, has been successful in driving down human cases, but infections in non-human animals, particularly domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), now present a major obstacle to further progress. Dog infections have mainly been found in Chad and, to a lesser extent, in Mali and Ethiopia. While humans classically acquire infection by drinking water containing infected copepods, it has been hypothesized that dogs might additionally or alternatively acquire infection via a novel pathway, such as consumption of fish or frogs as possible transport or paratenic hosts. We characterized the ecology of free-ranging dogs living in three villages in Gog woreda, Gambella region, Ethiopia, in April–May 2018. We analysed their exposure to potential sources of Guinea worm infection and investigated risk factors associated with infection histories. The home ranges of 125 dogs and their activity around water sources were described using GPS tracking, and the diets of 119 dogs were described using stable isotope analysis. Unlike in Chad, where Guinea worm infection is most frequent, we found no ecological or behavioural correlates of infection history in dogs in Ethiopia. Unlike in Chad, there was no effect of variation among dogs in their consumption of aquatic vertebrates (fish or frogs) on their infection history, and we found no evidence to support hypotheses for this novel transmission pathway in Ethiopia. Dog owners had apparently increased the frequency of clean water provision to dogs in response to previous infections. Variations in dog ranging behaviour, owner behaviour and the characteristics of natural water bodies all influenced the exposure of dogs to potential sources of infection. This initial study suggests that the classical transmission pathway should be a focus of attention for Guinea worm control in non-human animals in Ethiopia.Carter Cente

Ecology of Problem Individuals and the Efficacy of Selective Wildlife Management.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier (Cell Press) via the DOI in this record.As a result of ecological and social drivers, the management of problems caused by wildlife is becoming more selective, often targeting specific animals. Narrowing the sights of management relies upon the ecology of certain 'problem individuals' and their disproportionate contribution to impacts upon human interests. We assess the ecological evidence for problem individuals and confirm that some individuals or classes can be both disproportionately responsible and more likely to reoffend. The benefits of management can sometimes be short-lived, and selective management can affect tolerance of wildlife for better or worse, but, when effectively targeted, selective management can bring benefits by mitigating impact and conflict, often in a more socially acceptable way.G.S. is supported by a postgraduate research scholarship from the College of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Exeter. S.R. is grateful for the King Carl XVI Gustaf guest professorship that allowed him to work on this paper. We would like to thank the referees, Sasha Dall, Matthew Silk, and David Fisher for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript