Search

Conservation managers need to know the degree of connectivity showed by the populations to be preserved, especially when protected areas and/or species are involved. One of the conservation projects carried out by the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (Central Pyrenees, Spain) is the monitoring of the protected Spanish Moon Moth, Graellsia isabellae (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae), in several sites within the actual park, buffer zone, and peripheral area. Here we studied the genetic diversity, geographical structure, and connectivity of this iconic insect in those areas with the aim of producing evidence-based recommendations that might help the National Park staff in their decision-making. For this, we non-lethally sampled 402 adult moths from 17 sites and worked at two geographic scales: Western/Central Pyrenees and the area monitored by the staff of the National Park. The multilocus genotypes obtained for nine nuclear microsatellite markers allowed us to quantify genetic variation, investigate population structure, and calculate recent migration rates. Our results revealed a large-scale (ca. 125 km) west–east cline in allele frequencies that causes low overall genetic differentiation (FST = 0.038) and similar levels of diversity among sites. Habitat connectivity revealed as an important element determining dispersal for G. isabellae, given the patchy distribution of the host plant (Pinus sylvestris) in the study area. Gene flow within and outside the National Park was proved, with a particular site of the buffer zone (Bujaruelo) acting as a source of migrants to other localities within and outside the National Park. This finding underlines the importance of considering buffer zones to preserve genetic diversity within protected areas, and that safeguarding the connectedness of pine patches is key to the conservation of this iconic moth.

1. Genetic diversity is one of the three main levels of biodiversity recognised in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Fundamental for species adaptation to environmental change, genetic diversity is nonetheless under-reported within global and national indicators. When it is reported, the focus is often narrow and confined to domesticated or other commercial species. 2. Several approaches have recently been developed to address this shortfall in reporting on genetic diversity of wild species. While multiplicity of approaches is helpful in any development process, it can also lead to confusion among policy makers and heighten a perception that conservation genetics is too abstract to be of use to organisations and governments. 3. As the developers of five of the different approaches, we have come together to explain how various approaches relate to each other and propose a scorecard, as a unifying reporting mechanism for genetic diversity. 4. Policy implications. We believe the proposed combined approach captures the strengths of its components and is practical for all nations and subnational governments. It is scalable and can be used to evaluate species conservation projects as well as genetic conservation projects., Journal of Applied Ecology, 59 (9), ISSN:0021-8901, ISSN:1365-2664

Genetic monitoring of populations currently attracts interest in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity but needs long-term planning and investments. Genetic diversity has been largely neglected in biodiversity monitoring, and when addressed is treated separately, detached from other conservation issues, such as habitat alteration due to climate change. Genetic monitoring supports the conservation and management of fisheries, game, and threatened populations. It also can contribute to the assessment of predicted and realized impacts of climate change, and their management. We report the first accounting of genetic monitoring efforts among countries in Europe (their ‘genetic monitoring capacity’, GMC) to determine where GMC suggests the combination of national infrastructure, political support and resources for continued and expanded monitoring. Overlaying GMC with areas where species ranges approach current and future climate niche limits (i.e., niche marginality) helps identify whether GMC coincides with anticipated climate change effects on biodiversity. Our analysis suggests that country area extent, financial resources, and conservation policy influence GMC, high values of which inconsistently match joint species patterns of climate niche marginality. Populations at niche margins likely hold genetic diversity that is important to adaptation to changing climate, and our results illuminate the need in Europe for expanded genetic monitoring across the climate gradients occupied by species, a need arguably greatest in southeastern European countries.

Genetic diversity among and within populations of all species is necessary for people and nature to survive and thrive in a changing world. Over the past three years, commitments for conserving genetic diversity have become more ambitious and specific under the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). This Perspective article comments on how goals and targets of the GBF have evolved, the improvements that are still needed, lessons learned from this process, and connections between goals and targets and the actions and reporting that will be needed to maintain, protect, manage and monitor genetic diversity. It is possible and necessary that the GBF strives to maintain genetic diversity within and among populations of all species, to restore genetic connectivity, and to develop national genetic conservation strategies, and to report on these using proposed, feasible indicators. ispartof: CONSERVATION GENETICS vol:24 issue:2 pages:181-191 ispartof: location:Netherlands status: published

Recent technological advances in the field of genomics offer conservation managers and practitioners new tools to explore for conservation applications. Many of these tools are well developed and used by other life science fields, while others are still in development. Considering these technological possibilities, choosing the right tool(s) from the toolbox is crucial and can pose a challenging task. With this in mind, we strive to inspire, inform and illuminate managers and practitioners on how conservation efforts can benefit from the current genomic and biotechnological revolution. With inspirational case studies we show how new technologies can help resolve some of the main conservation challenges, while also informing how implementable the different technologies are. We here focus specifically on small population management, highlight the potential for genetic rescue, and discuss the opportunities in the field of gene editing to help with adaptation to changing environments. In addition, we delineate potential applications of gene drives for controlling invasive species. We illuminate that the genomic toolbox offers added benefit to conservation efforts, but also comes with limitations for the use of these novel emerging techniques.

The rapidly emerging field of macrogenetics focuses on analysing publicly accessible genetic datasets from thousands of species to explore large-scale patterns and predictors of intraspecific genetic variation. Facilitated by advances in evolutionary biology, technology, data infrastructure, statistics and open science, macrogenetics addresses core evolutionary hypotheses (such as disentangling environmental and life-history effects on genetic variation) with a global focus. Yet, there are important, often overlooked, limitations to this approach and best practices need to be considered and adopted if macrogenetics is to continue its exciting trajectory and reach its full potential in fields such as biodiversity monitoring and conservation. Here, we review the history of this rapidly growing field, highlight knowledge gaps and future directions, and provide guidelines for further research.

Many species are facing unprecedented population size declines and deterioration of their environment. This exposes species to genomic erosion, which we define here as the damage inflicted to a species’ genome or gene pool due to a loss of genetic diversity, an increase in expressed genetic load, maladaptation, and/or genetic introgression. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) bases its extinction risk assessments on direct threats to population size and habitat. However, it does not assess the long-term impacts of genomic erosion, and hence, it is likely to underestimate the extinction risk of many species. High-quality whole genome sequence data that is currently being generated could help improve extinction risk assessments. Genomic data contains information about a species’ past demography, its genome-wide genetic diversity, the incidence of genetic introgression, as well as the genetic load of deleterious mutations. Computer modelling of these data enables forecasting of population trajectories under different management scenarios. In this Perspective, we discuss the threats posed by genomic erosion. Using evolutionary genomic simulations, we argue that whole genome sequence data provides critical information for assessing the extinction risk and recovery potential of species. Genomics-informed assessments of the extinction risk complement the IUCN Red List, and such genomics-informed conservation is invaluable in guiding species recovery programs in the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and beyond.

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01376-9

Millette et al. (Ecology Letters, 2020, 23:55-67) reported no consistent worldwide anthropogenic effects on animal genetic diversity using repurposed mitochondrial sequences. We describe limitations to this study, some of which are common to other macrogenetic studies, that may lead to misinterpretations and unintended consequences for conservation.

International agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to conserve, and sustainably and equitably use, biodiversity. The CBD is a vital instrument for global conservation because it guides 195 countries and the European Union in setting priorities and allocating resources, and requires regular reporting on progress. However, the CBD and similar policy agreements have often neglected genetic diversity. This is a critical gap because genetic diversity underlies adaptation to environmental change and ecosystem resilience. Here we aim to inform future policy, monitoring, and reporting efforts focused on limiting biodiversity loss by conducting the largest yet evaluation of how Parties to the CBD report on genetic diversity. A large, globally representative sample of 114 CBD National Reports was examined to assess reported actions, progress, values and indicators related to genetic diversity. Although the importance of genetic diversity is recognized by most Parties to the CBD, genetic diversity targets mainly addressed variation within crops and livestock (a small fraction of all species). Reported actions to conserve genetic diversity primarily concerned ex situ facilities and legislation, rather than monitoring and in situ intervention. The most commonly reported status indicators are not well correlated to maintaining genetic diversity. Lastly, few reports mentioned genetic monitoring using DNA data, indigenous use and knowledge of genetic diversity, or development of strategies to conserve genetic diversity. We make several recommendations for the post-2020 CBD Biodiversity Framework, and similar efforts such as IPBES, to improve awareness, assessment, and monitoring of genetic diversity, and facilitate consistent and complete reporting in the future.

Connectivity between golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) populations is poorly understood. Field studies exploring natal dispersal suggest that this raptor is a philopatric species, but with the ability to roam far. However, little is known about the population structure of the species in Europe. Our study is based on 14 microsatellite loci and is complemented by new and previously published mitochondrial control region DNA data. The present dataset includes 121 eagles from Scotland, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the Mediterranean and Alpine regions. Our sampling focused on the Alpine and Mediterranean populations because both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages found in golden eagles, the Holarctic and the Mediterranean, are known to co-occur there. Cluster analyses of nuclear DNA support a shallow split into northern and southern populations in Europe, similar to the distribution of the two mtDNA lineages, with the Holarctic lineage occurring in the north and the Mediterranean lineage predominating in the south. Additionally, Scotland shows significant differentiation and low relative migration levels that indicate isolation from the mainland populations. Alpine and Mediterranean golden eagles do not show nuclear structure corresponding to divergent mtDNA lineages. This indicates that the presence of northern Holarctic mitochondrial haplotypes in the Alps and the Mediterranean is attributable to past admixture rather than recent long-distance dispersal.

Conservation genetics is a well-established scientific field. However, limited information transfer between science and practice continues to hamper successful implementation of scientific knowledge in conservation practice and management. To mitigate this challenge, we have established a conservation genetics community, which entails an international exchange-and-skills platform related to genetic methods and approaches in conservation management. First, it allows for scientific exchange between researchers during annual conferences. Second, personal contact between conservation professionals and scientists is fostered by organising workshops and by popularising knowledge on conservation genetics methods and approaches in professional journals in national languages. Third, basic information on conservation genetics has been made accessible by publishing an easy-to-read handbook on conservation genetics for practitioners. Fourth, joint projects enabled practitioners and scientists to work closely together from the start of a project in order to establish a tight link between applied questions and scientific background. Fifth, standardised workflows simplifying the implementation of genetic tools in conservation management have been developed. By establishing common language and trust between scientists and practitioners, all these measures help conservation genetics to play a more prominent role in future conservation planning and management.

Prevalence responses to anthropic factors differ across hosts and parasite species. We here analyzed the spatiotemporal variation of avian haemosporidian prevalence in bird assemblages of the Mooswald forest (i.e., urban greenspace; Freiburg, Germany), in response to local environmental features (e.g., water sources, human presence (visited)/absence (unvisited)) and bird-level traits (e.g., body condition, age, sex) in 2 years. We used a nested PCR protocol (mitochondrial (mt)DNA cytochrome b (cyt b) gene) and microscopy to determine haemosporidian infections. Prevalence was analyzed using a general linear multi-model (glmulti) approach with Akaike information criterion corrected for small samples (AICc), with subsequent model inferences using a GLMM on the best selected model, considering bird species as a random factor. Analyses were conducted for the main understory bird species (Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla, Chaffinch – Coereba flaveola, Great Tit – Parus major, Blue Tit – Cyanistes caeruleus, European Robin – Erithacus rubecula, Blackbird – Turdus merula, Song Thrush – Turdus philomelos). We further conducted spatial autocorrelation analyses for all haemosporidian infections, and classification and regression trees (CARTs) for focal species. We analyzed a total of 544 samples of seven bird species. In 2011 prevalence for Haemoproteus/Plasmodium was 25.8% and 11.7% for Leucocytozoon. In 2013 prevalence for Haemoproteus/Plasmodium was 26.5% and 35.5% for Leucocytozoon. Haemosporidian prevalence was significantly different between some focal species. There was a negative association between distance to the nearest water source and prevalence in the year 2011, and the opposite pattern for the year 2013. However, when analyzed for the six focal species separately, such a relationship could change from a negative to a positive one, or there could be no relationship at all. For Leucocytozoon there was higher prevalence in the section of the forest visited by humans. We did not find spatial autocorrelation for prevalence across the study site, but there were statistically significant local spatial clusters in the visited section. Although there were similar responses of prevalence to some factors, infection patterns were generally bird species-specific. Thus, prevalence is a labile epidemiological parameter, varying spatiotemporally in an idiosyncratic way.

Airspace is a key but not well-understood habitat for many animal species. Enormous amounts of insects and birds use the airspace to forage, disperse, and migrate. Despite numerous studies on migration, the year-round flight activities of both birds and insects are still poorly studied. We used a 2 year dataset from a vertical-looking radar in Central Europe and developed an iterative hypothesis-testing algorithm to investigate the general temporal pattern of migratory and local movements. We estimated at least 3 million bird and 20 million insect passages over a 1 km transect annually. Most surprisingly, peak non-directional bird movement intensities during summer were of the same magnitude as seasonal directional movement peaks. Birds showed clear peaks in seasonally directional movements during day and night, coinciding well with the main migration period documented in this region. Directional insect movements occurred throughout the year, paralleling non-directional movements. In spring and summer, insect movements were non-directional; in autumn, their movements concentrated toward the southwest, similar to birds. Notably, the nocturnal movements of insects did not appear until April, while directional movements mainly occurred in autumn. This simple monitoring reveals how little we still know about the movement of biomass through airspace., Remote Sensing, 13 (9), ISSN:2072-4292

ispartof: CONSERVATION GENETICS vol:22 issue:4 pages:533-536 status: published

Freshwater crayfish are among the most threatened animal taxa in Central Europe. Effective conservation measures for endangered native and management of invasive alien crayfishes requires knowledge about distribution, monitoring of existing and early detection of newly established populations. eDNA has recently emerged as a promsing, highly sensitive, and non-invasive detection tool in this regard. To evaluate eDNA as detection tool for freshwater crayfish, we developed a novel set of specific eDNA-assays for all native (Austropotamobius torrentium, Austropotamobius pallipes, Astacus astacus) and the most relevant invasive crayfish species (Pacifastacus leniusculus, Faxonius limosus, Faxonius immunis) in Central Europe. To ensure specificity each primer pair was tested in silico, in vitro, and in situ, including a total of 13 lotic and lentic waterbodies (Fig. 1). Moreover, we assessed the influence of spatio-temporal variables (distance to upstream population, season, and stream size) on eDNA detection in seven streams using two different detection methods (qualitative endpoint PCR and quantitative droplet digital PCR, ddPCR). The newly developed eDNA assays successfully detected all crayfish species across different lotic and lentic habitats. Multiple linear mixed-effects analysis revealed a significant effect of distance and season on eDNA detection rate (endpoint PCR) and eDNA-concentration (ddPCR). Year-round detection was successful up to 7 km downstream of the source population, although detectability was lowest in winter. eDNA detection rate further decreased with increasing stream size. Finally, eDNA-concentration correlated positively with estimated upstream population size. Overall, our study provides easily applicable eDNA assays for six crayfish species, enabling year-round detection, which represents a clear benefit over conventional methods. Due to its high sensitivity, eDNA detection is also suitable for the targeted search of as-yet unrecorded or newly emerging populations. Using quantitative ddPCR might further allow for a rough estimation of population size, provided that the identified spatio-temporal factors are accounted for. We therefore recommend implementing eDNA-detection as a complementary survey tool, particularly for a large-scale screening of data-deficient catchments or a year-round monitoring (Chucholl et al. 2021).

ispartof: BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION vol:253 status: published

The health of the world's oceans is intrinsically linked to the biodiversity of the ecosystems they sustain. The importance of protecting and maintaining ocean biodiversity has been affirmed through the setting of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 to conserve and sustainably use the ocean for society's continuing needs. The decade beginning 2021-2030 has additionally been declared as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. This program aims to maximize the benefits of ocean science to the management, conservation, and sustainable development of the marine environment by facilitating communication and cooperation at the science-policy interface. A central principle of the program is the conservation of species and ecosystem components of biodiversity. However, a significant omission from the draft version of the Decade of Ocean Science Implementation Plan is the acknowledgment of the importance of monitoring and maintaining genetic biodiversity within species. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of genetic diversity to adaptive capacity, evolutionary potential, community function, and resilience within populations, as well as highlighting some of the major threats to genetic diversity in the marine environment from direct human impacts and the effects of global climate change. We then highlight the significance of ocean genetic diversity to a diverse range of socioeconomic factors in the marine environment, including marine industries, welfare and leisure pursuits, coastal communities, and wider society. Genetic biodiversity in the ocean, and its monitoring and maintenance, is then discussed with respect to its integral role in the successful realization of the 2030 vision for the Decade of Ocean Science. Finally, we suggest how ocean genetic diversity might be better integrated into biodiversity management practices through the continued interaction between environmental managers and scientists, as well as through key leverage points in industry requirements for Blue Capital financing and social responsibility. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Efforts to understand the process of speciation have been central to the research of biologists since the origin of evolutionary biology as a discipline. While it is well established that geographic isolation has played a key role in many speciation events, particularly in birds, there is ongoing debate about how frequent speciation is in the partial or complete absence of geographical isolation. In the red crossbill Loxia curvirostra, good arguments do exist for sympatric speciation processes. In this species, several classes of calls are clustered in distinct groups, so‐called ‘call types', which mate assortatively. Often, several call types can be found at a single site, breeding and feeding next to each other. It has been hypothesized that red crossbill call types evolved by specialising in extracting seeds from cones of different conifer species. Alternatively, call types might have evolved in temporal geographic isolation. Within Europe, little is known about the distribution of the various call types and preferences for distinct food resources. In this study, we analysed the temporal and spatial occurrence of red crossbill call types in the Palearctic, investigated potential reasons for call‐type composition at a site, and compared the occurrence of call types with the fructification of conifers. Call‐type composition changed with site and season but hardly with conifer species. With our data, we could localise range areas of twelve different call types, which cannot be explained by conifer species occurrence. Therefore, we suggest that call types evolved in parapatry in most of the northern Palearctic region, and, although contradictory results exist from Iberia, we argue that differentiation might be driven by the same drivers there as well. Additionally, we discuss the potential influence of anthropogenic changes of forest composition and distribution on call types, which offers a unique possibility for future studies.

Genetic diversity is critically important for all species-domesticated and wild- to adapt to environmental change, and for ecosystem resilience to extreme events. International agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to conserve and sustainably and equitably use all levels of biodiversity-genes, species and ecosystems-globally. However, assessment and monitoring of genetic diversity are often overlooked, and there are large knowledge and policy gaps regarding genetic diversity conservation. In this study, we present the first quantitative analysis of genetic diversity assessments conducted by Parties to the CBD. We conducted a detailed, systematic analysis of 114 CBD 5th (submitted 2014) and 6th (submitted 2018) National Reports to quantitatively assess actions, progress on targets, values and indicators related to genetic diversity. First, we found that the importance of genetic diversity is recognised by most Parties to the CBD, and that recognition increased over time. However, genetic targets mainly addressed genetic diversity within cultivated plants, farm animals, and crop wild relatives, with little focus on other wild species. Also, actions for conserving genetic diversity primarily concerned ex-situ facilities and policy, rather than monitoring and intervention for maintaining genetic diversity in situ. The most commonly used indicators of genetic diversity status were the number of genetic resources in conservation facilities, number of threatened breeds, and Red List Index, which are not well correlated to genetic erosion in most species -- highlighting that genetic change is poorly monitored by current indicators. Lastly, analyses of genetic data observations, indigenous use and knowledge of genetic diversity, and strategies being developed and implemented to conserve genetic diversity are highly under-reported. We make several recommendations for the post-2020 CBD Biodiversity Framework to improve awareness, assessment, and monitoring, and facilitate consistent and complete reporting of progress of genetic diversity in future National Reports.Article Impact StatementAn analysis of genetic diversity in CBD National Reports neglects non-domesticated species and demonstrates need for sufficient indicators.

The 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will soon agree to a post-2020 global framework for conserving the three elements of biodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity) while ensuring sustainable development and benefit sharing. As the most significant global conservation policy mechanism, the new CBD framework has far-reaching consequences- it will guide conservation actions and reporting for each member country until 2050. In previous CBD strategies, as well as other major conservation policy mechanisms, targets and indicators for genetic diversity (variation at the DNA level within species, which facilitates species adaptation and ecosystem function) were undeveloped and focused on species of agricultural relevance. We assert that, to meet global conservation goals, genetic diversity within all species, not just domesticated species and their wild relatives, must be conserved and monitored using appropriate metrics. Building on suggestions in a recent Letter in Science (Laikre et al., 2020) we expand argumentation for three new, pragmatic genetic indicators and modifications to two current indicators for maintaining genetic diversity and adaptive capacity of all species, and provide guidance on their practical use. The indicators are: 1) the number of populations with effective population size above versus below 500, 2) the proportion of populations maintained within species, 3) the number of species and populations in which genetic diversity is monitored using DNA-based methods. We also present and discuss Goals and Action Targets for post-2020 biodiversity conservation which are connected to these indicators and underlying data. These pragmatic indicators and goals have utility beyond the CBD; they should benefit conservation and monitoring of genetic diversity via national and global policy for decades to come.\ud\ud Previous article in issue

Seasonal migration is a taxonomically widespread behaviour that integrates across many traits. The European blackcap exhibits enormous variation in migration and is renowned for research on its evolution and genetic basis. We assembled a reference genome for blackcaps and obtained whole genome resequencing data from individuals across its breeding range. Analyses of population structure and demography suggested divergence began ~30,000 ya, with evidence for one admixture event between migrant and resident continent birds ~5000 ya. The propensity to migrate, orientation and distance of migration all map to a small number of genomic regions that do not overlap with results from other species, suggesting that there are multiple ways to generate variation in migration. Strongly associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were located in regulatory regions of candidate genes that may serve as major regulators of the migratory syndrome. Evidence for selection on shared variation was documented, providing a mechanism by which rapid changes may evolve., eLife digest Every year as the seasons change, thousands of animals migrate huge distances in search of food or better climates. As far as migrations go, there might be none so impressive as the trans-oceanic flights made by small migrating songbirds. These birds can weigh as little as three grams and travel up to 15,000 kilometres. Most migrate alone and at night and yet still manage to return to the same location each year. Several strands of research suggest there could be a genetic basis to their migratory behaviour, but exactly which genes control this phenomenon remains poorly understood. One small songbird that has been studied for decades is the European blackcap. This species exhibits a real variety of migration patterns. Some blackcaps travel rather short distances, others much further, and some populations do not migrate at all. Populations that share the same breeding grounds in the summer may migrate in different directions in the autumn. These features make it a good species to study the genetic variation between populations that migrate in different directions and over different distances. However, only in recent years has advancing technology made it possible to comprehensively study an animal’s entire genome, leaving no gene unturned. Now, Delmore et al. have used high-throughput sequencing technologies to trace the evolutionary history of migration in European blackcap and started by assembling a reference genome for the species. Then, the genomes of 110 blackcaps from several populations that take different annual migrations were compared to the reference. This revealed that the populations began to diverge some 30,000 years ago and that there was some apparent gene mixing between groups of migrating and resident blackcaps around 5,000 years ago. The analysis showed only a small set of genes code for their differences in migration. Additionally, while the candidate genes were shown to be common among blackcaps, the genes identified did not match those reported from studies of other migrating songbirds. Finally, Delmore et al. also noted that the differences between the populations tend to be in the parts of the genome that control whether a given gene is switched on or off, which could explain how new migratory behaviours can rapidly evolve. This study is one of the most comprehensive genomic analysis of migration to date. It is important work as songbirds, like other animals, are responding to increasing pressures of environmental and climate change. In time, the findings could be used to support conservation efforts whereby genetic analyses could determine if certain populations possess enough variation to respond to coming changes in their habitats.

M.H. receives funding from an “Investissement d’Avenir” grant managed by Agence Nationale de la Recherche [Centre d’etude de la biodiversite amazonienne (CEBA), ref. ANR-10-LABX-25-01].

Tropical cloud forests are under severe distress, as deforestation leads to forest fragmentation and degradation. This represents a severe threat to small-ranged, forest-dependent species, as they ...

As part of forest management guidelines, most North American jurisdictions require the preservation of forested areas adjacent to streams and rivers (i.e. riparian zones). Forested buffer strips with restrictions on timber harvest and road-building (i.e. riparian buffer zones) were originally implemented to protect aquatic functions and resources. Riparian buffer zones now also target terrestrial habitats and wildlife. Even so, forestry managers who implement guidelines seldom consider the value of riparian zones (RZs) for large carnivores, partly due to a lack of data available. In the present study, our objective was to understand the role of riparian zones and riparian buffer zones for large carnivores in managed boreal forests. We used nine years of GPS telemetry data (2007–2015) from radio collared grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Kakwa region of west-central Alberta, Canada to quantify both the use (i.e. the amount of time grizzly bears spend in RZs) and selection (i.e. use in relation to the available riparian habitat) of RZs. We examined the effects of season, sex, distance class (0–30 or 30–60 m from streams and rivers), and the surrounding forest (harvested versus non-harvested) on use and selection of RZs. We found grizzly bears spent 19.1% of their time within 60 meters from streams and rivers. Selection of RZs declined relative to the distance from streams and rivers (10.8% within 0–30 m and 8.4% within 30–60 m). During summer, grizzly bears selected RZs in harvested areas and avoided them in non-harvested areas. There was no difference in selection of RZs in harvested areas between males and females; however, in non-harvested areas, females avoided RZs and selected RZs less compared to males. These results, particularly the selection of RZs in harvested areas where RZs consist mostly of riparian buffer zones, suggest that riparian buffers provide valuable grizzly bear habitat in multiple-use landscapes. Forest management practices can support grizzly bear habitat conservation efforts by implementing riparian buffer zones in identified grizzly bear habitat and considering grizzly bear habitat use of RZs and riparian buffers as one component of riparian zone management.