Search

Three well-supported generalizations in conservation biology are that developing tropical countries will experience the greatest biodiversity declines in the near future, they are some of the least studied areas in the world, and in these regions especially, protection requires local community support. We assess these generalizations in an evaluation of protected areas in India. The 5% of India officially protected covers most ecoregions and protected areas have been an important reason why India has suffered no documented species extinctions in the past 70 years. India has strong legislation favouring conservation, government investment focused on 50 Tiger Reserves, and government compensation schemes that facilitate local support, all of which brighten future prospects. However, many protected areas are too small to maintain a full complement of species, making connectivity and species use of buffer zones a crucial issue. Conservation success and challenges vary across regions according to their development status. In less developed areas, notably the biodiverse northeast Himalaya, protected areas maintaining the highest biodiversity result from locally-focused efforts by dedicated individuals. Across India, we demonstrate considerable opportunities to increase local income through ecotourism. Our evaluation confirms a lack of data, increasing threats, and the importance of local support. Research on biodiversity in buffer zones, development of long-term monitoring schemes, and assessment of cash and conservation benefits from tourism are in particular need. For policy makers, two main goals should be the development of monitoring plans for ‘eco-sensitive zones’ around protected areas, and a strong emphasis on preserving established protected areas.

Successfully addressing complex conservation problems requires attention to pattern and process at multiple spatial scales. This is challenging from a logistical and organizational perspective. In response to indications of worldwide declines in amphibian populations, the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) of the U.S. Geological Survey was established in 2000. This national program is unique in its structure, organization, and success in integrating information at multiple scales. ARMI works under the principle that a good study design is tailored to specific questions, but stipulates the use of methods that result in unbiased parameter estimates (e.g., occupancy). This allows studies to be designed to address local questions but also to produce data that can easily be scaled up to accomplish the objectives of a broad-scale monitoring program. Here we describe how the implementation of the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative results in research that is applicable across scales – global, in contributing to the understanding of amphibian decline phenomena; continental, in synthesizing local data to understand large-scale drivers; regional, by characterizing threats and assessing status of species at the range scale; and local, by working with National Park, Wildlife Refuge, and other Federal and State land managers to identify research needs and serve conservation-relevant research results to inform management decisions.

Anthropogenic debris is rapidly spreading in marine environments and poses major problems to biodiversity and humans. However, mitigation strategies are limited by the lack of information on the accumulation patterns of these pollutants both at sea and in marine wildlife. Using observations from an uninhabited island in Delta du Saloum National Park, Senegal, we investigate here the prevalence and abundance of debris in nests of two sympatric seabird species, Caspian terns Hydroprogne caspia and great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo, and its potential as an indicator of ocean pollution. We recorded debris in 15% of the Caspian terns' nests, and 40% of the great cormorants' nests. Plastics accounted for > 95% of items recorded in the nests of both species. Caspian terns collected a diverse array of debris, both in terms of types and colours, with a preference for hard plastics and white items. The great cormorants accumulated in nests mainly greenish fishing gears resembling the vegetation typically used as nest materials. Nests of both bird species contained soft plastic in proportions lower than those observed in the environment. Our results suggest that nests of Caspian terns and great cormorants are not useful indicators of pollution by anthropogenic debris in the surrounding waters of the Delta du Saloum National Park. Nests of great cormorants, however, have the potential to indicate areas vulnerable to plastic pollution associated to fishery. The high amount of debris in nests of this species demonstrates the need for a better implementation of waste management strategies in Senegal.

Aichi Target 15 aims to enhance the resilience of ecosystems through the restoration of 15% of degraded land by 2020. Compliance with the target is still insufficient, partly due to the lack of appropriate baselines and knowledge of restoration efforts. The four-level model of ecosystem condition was suggested to set the baseline and support the estimation of progress. This study is the first to assess the condition of MAES ecosystem types at a country scale, using the suggested approach. Altogether 613,000 ha of land is in close to natural condition (Level 1), 893,000 ha in a slightly degraded state (Level 2), 1,907,000 ha in moderately degraded condition (Level 3), and 5,890,000 ha of land is in highly modified category (Level 4). An inventory of ecological restoration interventions was created based on the reports of the national park directorates and EU LIFE projects. The findings of the restoration database of 634 interventions were compared to the need for restoration of nine habitat types. Restoration efforts were focused at habitat types with the most extended degraded area, except for dry forest restoration and the fight against invasive species in all three forest types. This study provides a more reliable estimate of habitats in natural state than Habitat Directive reporting can achieve, and is therefore better suited for estimating compliance with the 15% target. Only 1% of degraded land was the target for restoration in the period of 2002–2016. The details of the survey regarding habitat and degradation types can support further restoration planning.

Since the origin of the protected area network, authorities have resettled people in the interest of wildlife conservation. However, the impacts of resettlement on wildlife corridors connecting increasingly insular protected areas and the interaction of resettlement with existing human-wildlife conflict (HWC) outside of protected areas remain unclear. Using Kanha National Park (KNP) in central India as a case study, we quantified impacts of 450 households (that were resettled from 2009 to 2013, surveyed in 2016) on non-protected forests at their new settlement locations. We measured forest use for cattle grazing, tendu leaf extraction (a commercial non-timber forest product) and consumption of forest foods. We also quantified HWC risks that resettled households face at their new settlement locations. We use published spatial analyses on designation of the corridor and risks of human wildlife conflict in conjunction with our data to assess post-resettlement impacts at the new settlement locations. Overall, most resettled households (330) have moved to existing villages that lie outside of wildlife corridors around KNP. They comprise

Habitat loss and fragmentation threaten wildlife and ecosystems across the globe, especially in multi-use landscapes outside of protected areas, which are ubiquitous. Amid rapid land-use changes in Africa especially, managers need tools to prioritize conservation efforts outside of protected areas. We studied how human activities affect the distribution and composition of a medium-to-large sized mammalian community with various habitat requirements in a sustainable-use forestry concession in central Mozambique. We deployed 75 motion-detecting cameras from June to October 2017, and photographed 30 mammalian species. We used hierarchical, multi-species occupancy models to estimate species richness at each station and compared the relative effects of natural and anthropogenic features on the presence of individual species and groups of species when categorized into taxonomic/functional groups and body size groups. Predicted richness at each station varied from 3 to 17 species, and both human and natural parameters varied in their importance for the occupancy likelihood for different animals. When species were grouped by taxonomies and diets, settlement proximity negatively affected the occupancies of carnivores, insectivores, and other foragers. Similarly, settlement proximity negatively affected the occupancies of species in all body size groups. However, active roads and human activity rates did not have a statistically significant relationship with any species' occupancies or detection rates, respectively. Overall, mammalian richness was highest far from human settlements in the concession and close to rivers. Building on scant knowledge of wildlife communities across mosaics of different land uses, our results shed light on understudied species assemblages to guide conservation efforts in Mozambique.

The threats posed by current and future changes in land use and climate have recently stressed the importance of evaluating the efficiency of present conservation measures that seek to restore or protect the naturalness of the wooded landscape. In Romania, the remaining old-growth forests in national parks have been consistently degraded by commercial logging and inappropriate forestry practices. This study provides an 8800 cal BP old history of compositional changes and disturbance regimes (natural and human induced) recorded in the old-growth Picea abies forests and P. abies–Fagus sylvatica–Abies alba mixed forests from the Rodna Mountains National Park. Our results reveal moderate turnover between 8800 and 5000 cal BP when vegetation dynamics were marked by the expansion of a closed P. abies forest and moderate disturbance intensity. The most stable compositional changes were recorded between 5000 and 1750 cal BP, primarily associated with the expansion of F. sylvatica and a low disturbance regime. The last 1750 years, but in particular over the last 50 years, correspond to the highest degree of turnover as a response to increased anthropogenic disturbance. This led to the reduced extent of the old-growth forest and extension of secondary forest (Pinus, Betula, Corylus avellana and Alnus glutinosa). This pollen based reconstruction of major forest cover loss over the last fifty years is also depicted in modern satellite imagery. Our long-term record indicates that the conservation status of the forests in this region is not efficiently implemented and in the future we may lose large tracts of the remaining old-growth forests.

The effectiveness of Protected Areas (PAs) in reducing hunting pressure on mammal populations in tropical forests has rarely been examined at a community-wide level. In African forests, commercial and subsistence hunting are widespread, but assessments of mammal abundance and distribution patterns are often lacking. We investigated patterns of occupancy and abundance for 27 species of medium- to large-bodied mammals (>2 kg) within Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains Afromontane forests, a global biodiversity hotspot. We sampled 22 forest sites within 10 forests under varying degrees of protection, elevation, distance to extractive communities, and levels of law enforcement. We sampled 251.7 km of recce line transects during dry seasons (July–November) between September 2007 and July 2010. We found a strong positive effect of protection status on species richness and on encounter rates of the most commonly encountered species. Consistent with the levels of resources and enforcement within each PA category, there was a significant progression in species richness and abundance from Forest Reserves through Nature Reserves to sites within Udzungwa Mountains National Park. Protective status closely reflected levels of disturbance. Snaring activity, and distance to ranger posts were identified as significant predictors of overall species richness and encounter rates for mammal species, including endemics. The species-area relationship for our study species was found to be largely overridden by levels of protection. Our findings demonstrate PA effectiveness in Afromontane forests and reinforce concerns over hunting pressures particularly the threat posed by snares.

We present data from the first, long-term study underway of a recovering population of indigenous, free-ranging Panthera leo in Gorongosa National Park (GNP), Mozambique. GNP is undergoing post-war recovery and large-scale ecological restoration under a 25-year private-governmental partnership – the “Gorongosa Project (GP),” – offering a rare opportunity to elucidate the long-term recovery dynamics of a population of lion in response to strategic conservation interventions. GNP forms a core part of the greater Gorongosa-Marromeu Lion Conservation Unit which is designated as a “potential lion stronghold.” Within the Park we established an intensive study area of 1100 km2 encompassing prime areas of herbivore productivity. Between 2012 and 2016, 104 lions were documented and 6 prides and 7 males or coalitions in our study area were satellite-collared and intensively monitored. We describe seasonal male and female home-ranges, prey utilization, estimated versus predicted lion densities in relation to recovering herbivore biomass, and anthropogenic factors limiting the population's full recovery potential. The dominant factor observed to be negatively impacting the population was top-down and anthropogenic in the form of by-catch by wire snares and steel-jaw traps set by bushmeat hunters. These findings have since resulted in tangible and measurable interventions to reduce these impacts and resultant future datasets will elucidate detailed demography and how management interventions impacted the trajectory of large-carnivore recovery.

Loggings in biodiversity hot-spots are perceived as very serious threat to forest species and habitats of high conservation interest. In this paper we scrutinize the spatial impacts of recent loggings in the Polish part of the renowned Bialowieza Forest being the last remaining area of lowland temperate forest with a primeval character in Europe with the status of World Heritage and Natura 2000 site. The loggings have been applied in order to cope with the outbreak of the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus. We used satellite images to perform cover change detection analysis that delineated areas being logged in Bialowieza Forest between July 2015 and June 2018. Next, we assessed the extent of forest loss in areas with different management regimes as well as landscape-scale impacts. The total area of detected clear-cuts amounted to at least 675 ha, including 229 ha of old-growth stands. Assuming a buffer of 100 m from the edge of cleared forest patches, the cumulative direct and indirect impact of recent logging activities was estimated to amount to at least 4073 ha of affected forest. Logging activities resulted in a 26% increase in fragmentation in the entire Natura 2000 area. We argue that the ecological impact of logging extends beyond the logged areas by modifying the landscape structure and affecting ecosystem functioning on a landscape scale. As such, the recent salvage loggings in the Bialowieza Forest clearly damaged the conservation value of this precious area, not in the least by increasing its fragmentation. To avoid further degradation, we strongly argue for allowing natural tree regeneration on clear cuts and also for the extension of Bialowieza National Park to cover the entire forested area.

Utilization of marine and terrestrial protected areas is fundamentally important for their acceptance and success. Yet even appropriate uses can negatively impact resources requiring managers to make decisions as to when the impacts become unacceptably large. These decisions can be difficult because the level at which impacts occur may be far below the level at which resource persistence is threatened. In Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, managers must make a recurring decision regarding the number of cruise ships that are allowed to enter the park each year. Cruise ships bring >95% of all visitors to the park but have been involved in several lethal collisions (ship strikes) with humpback whales. Using an individual-based simulation model, we demonstrate that increasing the annual ship volume from current to maximum allowable levels would have negligible impacts on population growth of whales. Over the next 30 years the median number of collisions would likely increase from 3 (95% CI: 0–7) to 4 (1–8) or, worst case scenario, from 5 (0–7) to 8 (3−13), while median annual growth rates would, at most, shift from 4.4% (3.7%–5.2%) to 4.2% (3.5%–4.9%), depending upon assumptions. By comparison, a median of 67 (50–82) ship strikes would need to occur over the next 30 years to threaten the persistence of whales. Confronted with an impact level that is far below what would threaten the conservation of whales, managers are tasked with the decision of placing values on 2 million additional visitors for every additional dead whale. We argue that decision-making related to use-impact trade-offs for protected areas could be more consistent and effective if site-values are defined explicitly, clearly communicated among stakeholders, and linked to biological metrics. Protected areas managers can then utilize monitoring programs to evaluate management effectiveness when the objective is conserving both resources and values.

Tropical forests are on the front lines of the current global extinction crisis. Species with restricted habitat requirements and slow reproductive rates, such as the spectacular hornbills (Bucerotidae) of the Paleotropics, are particularly vulnerable. We present the first long-term quantitative population assessment of nine forest hornbill species in Ghana, part of the Upper Guinea forest biodiversity hotspot in West Africa. From 1990 to 2009, hornbill encounter rates declined with 32–88% across eight species found in the region. Seven separate surveys between 1990 and 2014 indicated declines in at least six of eight species detected, with large-bodied species hardest hit. Depleted remnant populations of large hornbills mainly persist in two large and relatively well-protected wildlife reserves, Ankasa Resource Reserve and Kakum National Park. Contrastingly, the five largest species of the nine hornbills known to Bia Biosphere Reserve, one of Ghana's few forest wildlife reserves, apparently vanished completely since the 1990s, mainly due to uncontrolled hunting. Similarly, several large hornbills have disappeared from forest reserves where hunting is widespread. We conclude that uncontrolled hunting is the major driver of the recent drastic declines and population extirpations of large hornbills, while reductions in small insectivorous species may be related to extensive fragmentation and habitat disturbances of the Ghanaian forest biome. We call for urgent conservation action to prevent further declines and impending extirpations of forest hornbills and other wildlife in West Africa.

In the human dimensions of wildlife management, evaluating stakeholder perceptions of target species helps inform effective conservation efforts. Stakeholder perceptions are invaluable when managing taxa like bats, which may have historically negative cultural preconceptions. However, insectivorous bats provide critical ecosystem services in North America through agricultural insect pest control, and many of these species are threatened by white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by an invasive fungal pathogen. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), the most visited National Park in the United States (USA), bats are regularly observed roosting in historical buildings by visitors and park employees during summer. As a result, natural and cultural resource managers seek to ensure public safety and protect historical structures while minimizing impacts on bats, especially in light of declines in bat populations as a result of WNS. However, managers lacked information on visitor perceptions of bats and support for potential management action regarding the taxon. From June to August 2016, we surveyed 420 park visitors at three sites in the Cades Cove area of GRSM on their attitudes toward bats, perception of threats to and ecosystem services provided by bats, and support for management of bats. Most respondents supported management action to protect bats in buildings in Cades Cove during summer (76%). Standardized parameter estimates from a multiple linear regression developed with survey data indicated that attitudes toward bats and perception of threats to bats had the greatest effects on support for bat management. Wildlife management and conservation agencies seeking to further cultivate support for management of bats roosting in public spaces may apply these results in the design of tailored programming and outreach materials.

Protected areas provide some of the last refuges for Asian elephants in the wild. Managing these areas for elephants will be critical for elephant conservation. Scientists know little about elephant habitat use in Asia and how invasive species or livestock grazing influence habitat use. We studied these issues in two protected areas in Sri Lanka, Udawalawe National Park and Hurulu Eco-Park. These areas contain some of Sri Lanka's largest remaining grasslands. These grasslands are threatened by the invasive and toxic shrub, Lantana camara, and are used for illegal livestock grazing. To measure habitat use by elephants and livestock, we conducted dung surveys along over 50 km of transects stratified across grassland, scrub, and forest. We surveyed 159 vegetation plots along these transects to assess plant composition, and mapped habitat types based on satellite images. We used mixed-effect models to determine the relative importance of habitats, livestock presence, and plant associations for elephant use. Elephant presence was greatest in scrub and grassland habitats, positively associated with both livestock presence and short graminoids, and unaffected by L. camara, which was widespread but at low densities. Given the importance of these areas to elephants, we recommend a precautionary management approach that focuses on curbing both illegal grazing and the spread of L. camara.

Raptors are emblematic species of high conservation value and significant ecological role. Their conservation is of particular importance and it relies on the conservation of their habitats and the constant monitoring of their dynamics. In the current study we investigate land cover changes over the period 2001–2011, in one of the most important reserves for raptor conservation in Europe, the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park. Very high and high spatial resolution satellite data were integrated in a single analysis, in order to exploit the high spatial accuracy of the former and the high temporal and spectral resolution of the latter. The results suggest that the applied method increases the overall accuracy of the mapping product from 73% to 89%, providing a tool to land managers and conservationists to study landscape dynamics and guide wildlife management. The analysis of land use changes revealed that wildfires of high intensity and large extent, constitute a new threat for the ecological integrity of the reserve. If the currently observed trend of wildfire behavior in Greece and southern Europe continues it is likely to affect the core zones of forest reserve, which consist primarily by dense forests with high fuel load, with detrimental effects for wildlife. The most important land cover change observed is the significant reduction of open areas, which form the main hunting areas for raptors. Open areas appear to be encroached by forest, leading to loss of heterogeneity which has been reported to be associated with high biodiversity. The results reveal the need for more active management measures that would decrease the risk of large stand replacing fires and would ensure a suitable landscape structure for raptors.

Non-native plants invade some tropical forests but there are few long-term studies of these invasions, and the consequences for plant richness and diversity are unclear. Repeated measurements of permanent plots in tropical montane rain forests in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park in Jamaica over 24 to 40 years coincided with invasion by a non-native tree, Pittosporum undulatum. By 2014, P. undulatum comprised, on average, 11.9% of stems ≥ 3 cm diameter and 10.4% of the basal area across 16 widespread plots within c. 250 ha of the forests. Across these plots, the more P. undulatum increased in basal area over 24 years, the greater the decline in local, plot-scale tree species richness, and the greater the reduction in the percentage of stems of endemic tree species. Plot-scale tree diversity (Shannon and Fisher's alpha) also declined the more P. undulatum basal area increased, but beta diversity across the plots was not reduced. Declines in local-scale tree species diversity and richness as the invasion progresses is especially concerning because Jamaica is a global biodiversity hotspot. Native birds disperse P. undulatum seeds widely, and future hurricanes will probably further increase its invasion by reducing canopy cover and therefore promoting growth rates of its established shade-tolerant seedlings. Remedial action is needed now to identify forest communities with greatest endemism, and to protect them through a continuing programme of control and removal of P. undulatum.

Diet studies are essential to understand animal ecology and ecosystem dynamics, especially in the case of large omnivores. These studies are particularly relevant in areas where human disturbance is intense and, thus, species dietary patterns might change due to the easy accessibility of food resources of human origin, which may hinder the ecosystem services these species provide. We assessed the diet of brown bears (Ursus arctos) by DNA metabarcoding in Tatra National Park (southern Poland), a highly touristic protected area. Brown bears' diet showed a marked seasonality, a characteristic feature of brown bear populations relying on natural foods. Graminoids represented the main food during spring, while fleshy-fruited plants became more important from mid-summer. Fleshy-fruited plants were present in 56% of faeces and during the entire activity period of bears, revealing that fruits play a pivotal role in the feeding ecology of Tatra brown bears. Two berry species, Vaccinium myrtillus and Rubus idaeus, were the most frequently detected (in 42% and 20% of faeces, respectively). The large consumption of fleshy-fruited plants, and particularly of berries, suggests that, despite high levels of human disturbance in the area, brown bears still play a key role as seed dispersers. Management strategies focused on an effective waste management, control of berry picking, strict regulations about human activities in specific areas during sensitive periods in the feeding ecology of bears, and the lack of artificial food provisioning are crucial to ensure the seed dispersal processes and associated ecosystem services that bears and other frugivores provide.

The endemic Hawaiian silversword and lobeliad lineages, which are two of the world’s premier examples of plant adaptive radiation, exemplify the severity of the threats confronting the Hawaiian flora, especially the threats posed by alien species. We have implemented collaborative reintroduction efforts with the endangered Kaʻū silversword (Argyroxiphium kauense) and Pele lobeliad (Clermontiapeleana)in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The efforts with the Kaʻū silversword have involved rediscovery, helicopter assisted rescue of diminutive remnant founders, managed breeding, outplanting at two sites in the Park of more than 21,000 seedlings deriving from 169 founders, and facilitated achene dispersal following flowering. The efforts with the Pele lobeliad have involved rediscovery, air-layering of remnant founders while suspended on climbing ropes, managed breeding, and outplanting at two sites in the Park of more than 1,000 seedlings (to date) deriving from six of the seven known founders. We have linked the reintroduction efforts to landscape restoration at large scales in the Park and in adjacent State and private lands, thereby increasing the opportunities for substantial population growth and expansion of the Kaʻū silversword and Pele lobeliad in the future. Additionally, we have extended the reintroduction efforts, including the link to landscape restoration, to encompass all other endangered silversword and lobeliad taxa occurring historically on the eastern slopes of Mauna Loa or on Kīlauea. In so doing, we seek to restore the possibility of adaptive radiation of the silversword and lobeliad lineages going forward, especially on the youngest and most geologically active, and thus perhaps most evolutionarily dynamic, part of the Hawaiian archipelago.DedicationThis paper celebrates the centennial of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, which was founded in August 1916.

A key goal of protected areas is the conservation of biodiversity. Increasing visitation, however, can compromise ecological integrity. A fundamental conundrum is that if parks are to serve as our most pristine places, then we must understand how human presence alters biological interactions. Species that redistribute themselves closer to people is of growing management concern both in and out of national parks because of 1) human safety, 2) animal health, and 3) ecological consequences. Drivers of distributional change are often dissimilar but may include increased association with people for predator avoidance – the human shield hypothesis. We examine redistribution patterns with comparative, observational, and experimental approaches contrasting ecological responses of an iconic species in an USA national park - Glacier. Specifically, we focused on the role of predator-avoidance and resource enhancement to test whether a cold-adapted alpine obligate, mountain goats, (Oreamnos americanus), mediate their distribution by increasing spatial overlap with humans. Individuals that enhanced mineral acquisition through access to human urine concomitantly reduced behavioral and ecological responses to grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) experiments. Goats near people also displayed reduced group sizes, vigilance, use of escape terrain, and forfeited migrations to naturally occurring minerals. Our findings re-enforce the increasing complexities of natural area management because visitation is altering ecological interactions. While protected areas offer some forms of baselines for scientists and enjoyment for millions of visitors, redistribution of species and associated ecological changes signifies that additional care will be needed in what we perceive as pristine and what is anthropogenically-altered.

Protected areas (PA) aim to eliminate many of the threats that species face on the greater landscape. In the last three decades, PA's have expanded considerably; however, quantitative assessments of how well they have mitigated threats to habitat and biodiversity are very limited. Habitat bordering PA's and the wildlife that use it are threatened by a wide-range of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., edge effects, fragmentation, and introduced predators) and this situation is particularly acute for low-density, poorly studied carnivore communities. From 2010 to 2015, we photographically sampled within (contiguous forest) and bordering (degraded, fragmented forest) a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest PA in Madagascar - Ranomafana National Park (RNP). We investigated the effects of invasive predators, local people presence, and habitat quality on the endemic rainforest carnivore community using static, dynamic, and co-occurrence models. We found native carnivores to be absent or have a low probability of occurrence in degraded forest bordering the PA, while local people and dogs ( Canis familiaris ) had high occurrence. Madagascar's largest endemic carnivore, the fosa ( Cryptoprocta ferox ) and the much smaller ring-tailed vontsira ( Galidia elegans ), occurrence in RNP declined rapidly over six years; their strong co-occurrence with dogs suggests interspecific competition, direct aggression/mortality, or disease as the cause. We highlight the dangers posed to biodiversity, particularly carnivores, from anthropogenic pressures bordering PA's and present recommendations to address increased human and dog activity, including programs to control dogs and their impact on biodiversity.

China is being transformed by economic development, urban migration, and social change. Environmental reporting on China has tended to focus on environment damage, especially air pollution. Relatively unnoticed in the West, however, China has invested in improving and expanding its system of protected areas. These protected areas follow varied models—they include nature reserves, forest parks, wetland parks, and more—and face challenges roughly similar to those of protected areas in the United States and many other countries. Unsurprisingly, though, there are important differences that make China's protected area program uniquely Chinese. Chinese protected areas have been largely created and continue to be developed with strong top-down authority, although national-level control is softening and other models are being tested. Several nature reserves have received influxes of government funding in recent years to improve and expand their infrastructure and activities to support conservation, tourism, and other uses. Chinese nature reserves also tend to have explicit zoning and economic activities designed to promote economic development in and around them; this emphasis on economic development is greater and takes a different approach in Chinese parks than is typical in Western park systems. Here we compare aspects of the Chinese and US investments in national parks and national nature reserves; we use two examples—Wudalianchi National Nature Reserve in China and Acadia National Park in the United States—to highlight similarities and differences. We conclude that each country's approach to protected areas has strengths and weaknesses in terms of conservation value, engagement with local communities, and sustainability, but that overall each country's protected areas program has structural deficiencies, particularly related to the allocation of funding, that undermine their ability to achieve their stated mission over the long term. The shortcomings in each country are different and may not be as substantial as the shortcomings of` national parks in many other countries, but they are critical nonetheless.

Protected areas are considered a primary place for biodiversity conservation; however, under current rates of global change, it is increasingly important to understand how effective existing reserves are in protecting biodiversity. We examine how U.S. National Park Service lands on the Colorado Plateau (USA) contribute to biodiversity conservation and whether local extirpations have led to an erosion of regional biodiversity. Species range adjustments are among the first signs of biome change, so tracing regional biodiversity change is an efficient way to identify the early phases of major biome shifts. We use analysis of nested mammalian species assemblages to 1) determine if Colorado Plateau mammal assemblages are significantly nested and, 2) clarify which properties of protected lands correlate with nestedness and species richness. We compare species lists from surveys of contemporary resident species to lists from historical range maps that record species ranges from the ~ 100 years ago, and find that reserves retain essentially the same mammalian diversity and biogeographic patterns that were present in the early 1900s. This suggests that “faunal relaxation” has not occurred in this landscape, and that mammal diversity conservation in these lands has been largely effective for most species thus far. However, anthropogenic climate change is affecting the environmental conditions that influence species distributions, lands surrounding parks are under pressure for human uses, and increasing numbers of visitors are using parks while financial resources are ever more uncertain. Therefore, understanding how nestedness patterns are governed by human-dominated landscapes will be an important conservation tool for quickly assessing diversity change in the future.

The remote tracking of endangered animals is often justified by the application of movement data to conservation problems, but examples of where scientific findings have rapidly informed conservation actions are relatively rare. In this study we satellite tracked 30 adult female hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) that were captured after nesting in the Arnavon Community Marine Park (ACMP), Solomon Islands. Ten hawksbill turtles were tagged in April 2016, ten in May 2017 and ten in November 2018. Our primary aim was to determine if the ACMP boundaries that were demarcated in 1995 were large enough to protect female hawksbill turtles throughout their entire nesting season. Our home range analysis revealed that collectively, tracked hawksbill turtles spent 98.5% of their inter-nesting season within the ACMP, confirming that the original park boundaries were adequate. Our first year's results were shared with community and government stakeholders and assisted in getting the ACMP declared as the Solomon Islands first national park in May 2017. Our fine scale analysis of inter-nesting habitats also highlighted that most hawksbill turtle nests were being laid on an island in the ACMP that did not have a permanent ranger presence and was experiencing persistent poaching. Based on this finding an additional ranger station was established on this uninhabited island and staffed with community rangers in 2017. Our study demonstrates how involving community, government and NGO stakeholders in applied research can lead to results being rapidly utilised to inform policy and conservation practice as soon as they become available.

Stakeholder perceptions are essential to creating effective conservation plans, especially when these efforts focus on taxa that have historically negative preconceptions, such as bats. In the U.S., one organization that has contributed to changing people's perceptions of bats is the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS offers a variety of educational programming on bats, including written educational material and ranger interpretive programs. These educational efforts about bats have increased with the discovery of white-nose syndrome (WNS), an invasive fungus that has killed millions of bats in North America. However, despite the NPS's efforts to educate the public and conserve bats, managers lack information on visitor perceptions and knowledge of bats and WNS. This study examined U.S. National Park visitors' attitudes towards bats, knowledge of bat ecology and human health risks, and knowledge of WNS to determine how these factors influenced their support of bat conservation efforts. In 2019, we collected 1365 surveys from visitors in eight NPS units with cave resources. Our results show visitors' support for bat conservation in national parks was influenced by their positive attitudes towards bats, perceptions of ecosystem services, and recognition of WNS. However, park differences in WNS recognition suggested that there are gaps in public outreach and educational efforts. As threats to bats motivate management changes over the coming decade, understanding visitor perceptions of bats and integrating this information into cave management plans will be critical for the NPS to achieve its management goals of enhancing recreation and conservation in environments shared by humans and bats.

Predator tourism is one strategy to improve tolerance for predators, and support biodiversity and ecosystem health. Torres del Paine National Park (TdP) – a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in southern Chile - supports productive livestock industries and nascent puma tourism. We compared interviews conducted in the region prior to puma tourism, with results from interviews collected across 45 ranches post-puma tourism. We assessed rancher attitudes regarding pumas, puma-livestock conflict, puma tourism, and linked them with socio-ecological factors. Respondents who viewed pumas as a threat experienced higher livestock losses. Respondents who reported higher sheep losses were inclined to support the lethal removal of livestock-killing pumas, and to initiate a puma hunt, whereas respondents who supported puma tourism disagreed with hunting pumas. Using the Potential for Conflict Index, we found that participants exhibited the highest consensus on the benefit of puma tourism and the lowest consensus over lethal removal of pumas. Our results suggest predator tourism has increased tolerance for pumas but is creating new potential for conflict. Previous to puma tourism, ranchers were almost entirely negative about pumas and unanimously supported illegal puma hunting. Now, most believe that pumas are part of Patagonia's heritage. This divide was best explained by distance to TdP: ranches closer to TdP experienced greater losses to pumas but had neighbours that benefitted most from puma tourism. Therefore, we suggest that tourism revenues supplement community compensation insurance programs that reimburse rancher losses to pumas to mitigate the growing divide between those benefiting from pumas and those experiencing economic hardship.

Payment-for-results mechanisms have the potential to increase funding for Critically Endangered species such as the black rhino (Diceros bicornis). Developing such financial mechanisms requires an understanding of the efficacy of conservation interventions, the potential conservation return on investment and an ability to rigorously measure the impact of interventions, such as change in abundance of live or poached animals. However, imperfect detection must be considered to derive robust estimates of these measures. Managing black rhino is often done at the metapopulation level (in distinct management units) where ecological and observational processes can differ substantially between populations. We developed a multi-state capture-mark-resight model to estimate the abundance of live rhino and carcasses from annual historical observations. We used age, sex and management units as covariates. We used 25 years of monitoring data from two sections with contrasting rhino densities in Tsavo West National Park, Kenya as a test case. The model presented can be used to estimate abundances of rhino from historical data and provides a mechanism to measure changes across multiple management sections. We foresee this model being used as the basis for impact measurement of a rhino impact financing mechanism. The model can easily be modified for use in other species managed in a metapopulation framework.

Successful species reintroductions require land managers to balance the goal of viable wildlife populations with potential risks to human enterprise. Such risks are particularly acute at the wildland-agriculture interface, where native and domestic species are likely to come into contact. In a national park in northern California, we combined insights from three lines of evidence – long-term visual surveys, short-term GPS telemetry, and satellite remote sensing-based animal detections – to characterize spatial overlap between reintroduced tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) and domestic cattle and to estimate the importance of multiple environmental features as predictors of habitat selection by elk. Our results indicate that, at large spatial scales (i.e., home-range level), cattle were the primary driver of habitat selection, with the occurrence of elk being negatively associated with cattle across all seasons. In addition, elk consistently selected for grasslands on gentle, south-facing slopes that occurred at high elevation and close to ponds. NDVI was a seasonally important, positive predictor of habitat selection, with a marked reversal when this resource was concentrated inside of fenced cow pastures during the dry summer months. By contrast, a novel analysis of satellite-derived animal locations yielded no evidence of avoidance of cattle by elk (within pasture areas commonly used by elk), indicating that this population has acclimated to the presence of cattle through spatial partitioning of resources. Thus, this once-imperiled native ungulate exhibits patterns of habitat selection that reduce the potential for grazing conflicts with cattle, even in cases where access to forage is limited.

With large carnivores undergoing widespread range contractions across Africa, effective monitoring across mixed-use landscapes should be considered a priority to identify at-risk populations and prioritise conservation actions. We provide the first comparison of leopard population density within different components of a mixed-use landscape in Tanzania, via spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) modelling of camera trap data from the Ruaha-Rungwa landscape in 2018 and 2019. Population density was highest in highly-productive Acacia-Commiphora habitat in the core tourist area of Ruaha National Park (6.81 ± 1.24 leopards per 100 km2). The next highest density (4.23 ± 1.02 per 100 km2) was estimated in similar habitat in a neighbouring community-managed area (Idodi-Pawaga MBOMIPA WMA). Lowest densities were estimated in miombo (Brachystegia-Jubelnardia) woodland habitat, both in a trophy hunting area (Rungwa Game Reserve; 3.36 ± 1.09 per 100 km2) and inside the National Park (3.23 ± 1.25 per 100 km2). Population density was highly correlated with prey abundance, suggesting that variation in leopard density may be primarily driven by availability of prey, which likely varies with habitat types and anthropogenic impacts. Anthropogenic mortality may also have a direct influence on leopard in more impacted areas, but further research is required to investigate this. Our findings show that a hunting area with significant protection investment supports a leopard density comparable to similar habitat in a photographic tourism area. We also provide evidence that community-managed areas have the potential to effectively conserve large carnivore populations at relatively high densities, but may be vulnerable to edge effects.

Overexploitation is a frequently cited driver of species extinction. Throughout the Neotropics, balancing traditional practices and the needs of local people with protection of rare or declining species is challenging, especially given low capacity for control by authorities. We conducted interviews with wildlife professionals and residents, along with a camera-based field survey of wildlife occurrence, to gain insight into recent population trends, relative abundance, and drivers of harvest for large mammals in the northern Dry Chaco of Paraguay including but not limited to, Defensores del Chaco National Park. Although the endangered Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) was preferred regardless of hunter motivation, harvests of all species appeared largely opportunistic, and limited to immediate family use due to a lack of market forces, and constraints on refrigeration capacity in the region. This pattern may soon change given rapid deforestation, and an associated and growing road network providing greater access both to wildlife resources and commercial bushmeat markets. Notably, public perception of abundance and trends for Chacoan peccary differed from professional opinions—likely due in part to greater use of areas along roads by C. wagneri compared to other, relatively more abundant species. This discordance may pose future challenges if harvest restrictions become a conservation necessity, especially during a process of essentially self-imposed voluntary limitations.

Reflecting their species richness and ecological diversification, insects play a central role in terrestrial ecosystems but difficulties in species-level assignments have restricted large-scale analysis of their community structure. Employing South Africa's largest national park as a model system, we demonstrate that DNA barcoding can break this barrier. A year-long deployment of Malaise traps at 25 sites in Kruger National Park (KNP) generated 1000+ weekly collections containing about 800,000 specimens. Insect biomass averaged 1.05 g per trap-day but varied by up to 2-fold between months, being lower in the dry than wet season. Nearly 370,000 specimens were individually analyzed to reveal 19,730 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs; species proxy), a count equal to 43% of the known insect fauna of southern Africa. There was clear differentiation in insect richness and composition between KNP's two ecoregions, but little among the vegetation types comprising them. The spatial gradient in annual rainfall explained more than half of the variation in compositional similarity among sites with less similarity among samples in the wet season, particularly among those in high rainfall areas. These results suggest that the factors organising insect communities in KNP are not fine-scale vegetation differences, but larger-scale processes associated with ecoregions and rainfall. Estimates of sample coverage indicate that the species not collected are rare, comprising only 4% of the individuals in the community. With a well-parameterized DNA barcode reference library in place, metabarcoding can be used to assess future shifts in the insect fauna of KNP rapidly and inexpensively.

The global decline of amphibian populations has been widely-documented, based on the results of long-term studies, but few such data are available for Asia. In Indonesia, Mount Gede Pangrango National Park is unique in this respect, because a baseline amphibian study was conducted in the area > 40 years ago – the first of its kind for the country. A survey of the amphibians of Mount Gede Pangrango National Park was conducted during 2004–2007, concentrating on the Cibodas Trail, first surveyed by Liem in 1961–1964. Our findings indicate that the Park still retains significant amphibian habitats, but the elevational distribution of amphibians may have shifted compared to 40 years ago. One species, Leptophryne cruentata , has shown a possible shift in its distribution to lower elevations. Changes in climate may interact with the chytrid fungus and could affect the populations of several species, most notably L. cruentata. Other factors, such as increasing human recreational activities in the main habitat of L. cruentata , and the introduction of exotic species, could pose a threat to the amphibians there.

Natural World Heritage Sites (NWHS), via their formal designation through the United Nations, are globally recognized as containing some of the Earth's most valuable natural assets. Understanding changes in their ecological condition is essential for their ongoing preservation. Here we use two newly available globally consistent data sets that assess changes in human pressure (Human Footprint) and forest loss (Global Forest Watch) over time across the global network of terrestrial NWHS. We show that human pressure has increased in 63% of NWHS since 1993 and across all continents except Europe. The largest increases in pressure occurred in Asian NWHS, many of which were substantially damaged such as Manas Wildlife Sanctuary. Forest loss occurred in 91% of NWHS that contain forests, with a global mean loss of 1.5% per site since 2000, with the largest areas of forest lost occurring in the Americas. For example Wood Buffalo National Park and Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve lost 2581 km(2) (11.7%) and 365 km2 (8.5%) of their forest respectively. We found that on average human pressure increased faster and more forest loss occurred in areas surrounding NWHS, suggesting they are becoming increasingly isolated and are under threat from processes occurring outside their borders. While some NWHS such as the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and Mana Pools National Park showed minimal change in forest loss or human pressure, they are in the minority and our results also suggest many NWHS are rapidly deteriorating and are more threatened than previously thought. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The question, whether the forest management adopted in several European national parks following natural disturbances (windstorms, bark beetle) is in the long term the optimal one is currently widely discussed in a pan-European context. Instead of a clear management policy, however, only non-compulsory recommendations are suggested and management directives are missing. For example, it is established that non-intervention management is optimal for preserving biodiversity in mountain spruce stands, as logging diminishes biodiversity, but no such recommendation has been passed on to the managers of these stands. In the absence of such guidance park managers adopt various suboptimal strategies, which depend on who owns a particular area of the forest (private or state-owned) and their priorities. Here we present an example of this: the differences between the management practices applied by state and private owners in the central part of the Sumava NP. Using aerial photographs, we evaluated the effect of these practices by comparing the status of Natura 2000 habitats in 2004 (when the Natura 2000 area was designated), with that in 2011 (four years after the Kyrill wind storm, when the post-wind storm activities had more or less finished). The private owner logged and removed trees from significantly larger areas than the Sumava NP Authority. However, even management by the Sumava NP Authority was sometimes suboptimal: they managed some valuable habitats in a similar way to those of lower conservation value. We conclude that a clear definition of the long-term management strategy for national parks, obligatory on all owners, is critically important for the management of Natura 2000 habitats. A consensus of state representatives, regional politicians, scientists and all other stakeholders, expressed in obligatory international directives, is needed in order to guarantee that in the future the status of Natura 2000 habitats will still be favourable (required by the Habitats Directive, Article 6). Specifically, the managers of Natura 2000 sites would appreciate clearer European Commission guidance on how to maintain the favourable status of the stands in the areas under their control.

The survival of many populations of threatened mammals depends on the willingness of human communities to coexist with them. Gender is an important factor because men and women often have different perceptions of wildlife that influence their willingness to coexist with wildlife. While previous studies have hypothesized what may drive gendered perceptions of wildlife, research investigating the underlying drivers of these differences is lacking, especially in developing countries. The objective of this paper is to identify the underlying drivers of gendered differences in attitude toward globally endangered tigers (Panthera tigris) in Chitwan National Park (CNP), Nepal, where women are less likely to have a positive attitude. To accomplish this, we administered a social survey to 499 respondents living near the park. We analyzed survey data using nested linear regression models and decomposition analysis. Over 90% of the gender gap in attitude was explained through these analyses, with beliefs about tigers (e.g., benefits and costs) explaining two-thirds of the gap. The belief that tigers contribute to a healthy forest, by itself, accounted for one-third of the gender gap. Socio-economic characteristics explained 12% and experiences with tigers and perceptions of and control over risk each accounted for 6% or less of the gender gap. These results suggest that beliefs, rather than socio-economics, experience, or risk, underlie the majority of the gendered differences in attitudes toward tigers in CNP and that an appreciation of the ecosystem value of tigers plays a key role in people's positive attitudes. Analyses of gendered differences in attitudes are important for developing conservation interventions that address perspectives and issues of the entire population.

Wildlife tourism is an important cultural ecosystem service, benefiting regional economies and biodiversity conservation. Many wildlife tourism destinations remain below their visitor and income capacities. Management strategies are needed that increase visitor satisfaction and a destination's reputation to attract more visitors. Wildlife tourism can be directly linked to biodiversity, but might also be directly and indirectly influenced by other factors, such as landscape features or infrastructure. We investigated the relationships between visitor numbers and biodiversity, along with other factors, in a major wildlife tourism destination using structural equation modeling and additionally assessed visitors' expectations and viewing preferences. We simultaneously recorded large mammal and visitor data along 78 road transects in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, and conducted interviews with visitors. We also collected data on vegetation cover, visibility, landscape features and infrastructure. We found high visitor numbers at transects with high sighting probabilities of large predators, while other factors, e.g. ungulate densities or infrastructure, were only weakly associated with visitor numbers. Consistently, interview results suggested that seeing wildlife was the main reason for visiting the park, and large predators, especially lions and leopards, ranked highest among the visitors' wildlife preferences. Our results demonstrate that wildlife tourists in KNP are primarily attracted to large predators. To meet visitor expectations and to increase visitor numbers, park management should focus on the conservation of natural savannah ecosystems with large predator and prey populations. With such an ecosystem-based management, biodiversity conservation can be successful while securing wildlife tourism and its revenues.

Active restoration of rainforests is essential in enhancing the recovery of biodiversity in many tropical regions suffering from deforestation. However, the value of actively restored rainforests for birds is still relatively poorly understood because of the short history of active restoration programs. Here, we studied the recovery of bird communities in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We sampled birds along a restoration gradient consisting of six restoration areas (3–16 years old) and used five primary forests as reference areas. We found that bird community compositions changed in an orderly fashion along the restoration gradient. The abundance of arboreal insectivore frugivores and forest specialists increased, while that of foliage-gleaning insectivores, granivores and forest visitors decreased towards older sites. The similarity of the bird communities of the restored forests to those of the nearby primary forests increased linearly with time. If this recovery rate is extrapolated to the future, the bird communities could reach a pre-disturbance state after only approximately 20 years of active restoration. However, previous studies have shown that recovery is typically a non-linear process, and the time needed for bird communities to recover is more likely longer than this. Nevertheless, our study provides evidence that bird communities benefit from active rainforest restoration after human-induced deforestation.

The hyper-abundance of migratory wildlife in many ecosystems depends on maintaining access to seasonally available resources. In Eastern and Southern Africa, land-use change and a loss of connectivity have coincided with widespread declines in the abundance and geographic range of ungulate populations. Using photographic capture-mark-recapture, we examine the historical pattern of loss of connectivity and its impact on population trends in a partially migratory wildebeest population in northern Tanzania. To estimate abundance, we use a novel modeling approach that overcomes bias associated with photo misidentifications. Our data indicate (1) diminished connectivity within and between seasonal areas as a result of human activities, (2) a reduction in the overall population size compared to historical numbers, with high variability over time, (3) the continued use of highly constrained movement corridors between the three main seasonal ranges, (4) higher recruitment in the non-migratory subpopulation (Lake Manyara National Park) than in other areas of the ecosystem, and (5) an increase in the relative abundance of resident to migrant wildebeest. Recent conservation efforts to protect seasonal habitat and to enforce anti-poaching policies outside protected areas have likely helped stabilize the population, at least temporarily, but we caution that several key vulnerabilities remain.