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Given climate change, species' climatically suitable habitats are increasingly expected to shift poleward. Some imperilled populations towards the poleward edge of their species' range might therefore conceivably benefit from climate change. Interactions between climate and population dynamics may be complex, however, with climate exerting effects both indirectly via influence over food availability and more directly, via effects on physiology and its implications for survival and reproduction. A thorough understanding of these interactions is critical for effective conservation management. We therefore examine the relationship between climate, survival and reproduction in Canadian black-tailed prairie dogs, a threatened keystone species in an imperilled ecosystem at the northern edge of the species' range. Our analyses considered 8 years of annual mark-recapture data (2007-2014) in relation to growing degree days, precipitation, drought status and winter severity, as well as year, sex, age and body mass. Survival was strongly influenced by the interaction of drought and body mass class, and winter temperature severity. Female reproductive status was associated with the interaction of growing degree days and growing season precipitation, with spring precipitation and with winter temperature severity. Results related to body mass suggested that climatic variables exerted their effects via regulation of food availability with potential linked effects of food quality, immunological and behavioural implications, and predation risk. Predictions of future increases in drought conditions in North America's grassland ecosystems have raised concerns for the outlook of Canadian black-tailed prairie dogs. Insights gained from the analyses, however, point to mitigating species management options targeted at decoupling the mechanisms by which climate exerts its negative influence. Our approach highlights the importance of understanding the interaction between climate and population dynamics in peripheral populations whose viability might ultimately determine their species' ability to track climatically suitable space., (© 2017 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The intertwined, global issues of climate change, rapid biodiversity loss, and failure to eradicate poverty present a wicked problem; they need to be addressed jointly, because each has implications for communities on the ground, and one can fuel another. For decades, community-based conservation has tried to tackle these inter-related challenges with mixed success and, at times, counter-productive results, but has arisen as a promising and popular approach on global agendas. We undertook a horizon scan on community-based conservation and identified 15 topics that offer opportunities to yield positive change for people and the planet. The analysis also provides insights into pitfalls to avoid in achieving 2030 global policy targets. Community-based conservation can support livelihoods and biodiversity, while reinforcing local and Indigenous values, cultures, and institutions. Its delivery can help address cross-cutting global challenges, such as climate change, conservation, poverty, and food security. Therefore, understanding trends in community-based conservation is pertinent to setting and implementing global goals. We undertook a horizon scan to prioritize 15 emerging threats and opportunities expected to impact the future effectiveness of community-based conservation. Topics relate to global biodiversity policy; human rights; shifting human geography; inclusion, diversity, equity, and access; conservation finance and income; and economic reforms. Our findings offer guidance on strengthening community-based conservation to achieve global environmental and development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data paucity can seem to hinder science‐based approaches to the conservation of imperiled species. Yet, even individually limited datasets can improve understanding and management of complex ecological systems when carefully integrated. We demonstrate this approach to gain first insights on the transmission ecology of Yersinia pestis in Grasslands National Park (GNP), Canada, where both the bacterium and its rodent host, the nationally threatened black‐tailed prairie dog (BTPD, Cynomys ludovicianus), reach the northern limit of their distribution in North America. Primarily flea‐borne, Y. pestis causes sylvatic plague, a disease of exceptional relevance to both human health and wildlife conservation. We integrated data collected independently by multiple organizations in 2010–2017 across 17 BTPD colonies, where the species co‐occur with Richardson's ground squirrels (RGS, Urocitellus richardsonii). Available data included estimates of BTPD density and occupancy from visual counts and colony mapping; information on flea distribution, abundance, and prevalence of infection with Y. pestis from burrow swabbing, animal combing, and PCR assays; and the response of these variables to deltamethrin application on BTPD colony sections. Our analyses suggest that sylvatic plague in GNP is maintained at an enzootic level (i.e., chronic presence affecting a low proportion of individuals) with no evidence of widespread mortality, at least partially due to reduced flea activity after spring (percentage of prevalence in burrows: April–May = 11.69–33.89%; June–September: 1.75–3.19%), low prevalence of Y. pestis in flea samples (95% CI = 0.42–2.27%), and relatively low BTPD densities. Nonetheless, reducing flea prevalence through insecticide application had a positive effect on BTPD abundance, suggesting that enzootic plague is causing chronic mortality. Because flea prevalence on hosts was higher following drier years and higher on RGS than on BTPD (26.69% vs. 3.27%), insecticide application may be particularly important during dry periods and may need to take RGS and their movements into consideration. Differences between flea communities sampled by burrow swabbing and host combing suggest that plague surveillance should integrate both methods. Effects of projected climate change on vector life cycles, flea community composition, and host–parasite interactions warrant continued monitoring and an adaptive approach to species recovery actions and plague mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Given climate change, species' climatically suitable habitats are increasingly expected to shift poleward. Some imperilled populations towards the poleward edge of their species' range might therefore conceivably benefit from climate change. Interactions between climate and population dynamics may be complex, however, with climate exerting effects both indirectly via influence over food availability and more directly, via effects on physiology and its implications for survival and reproduction. A thorough understanding of these interactions is critical for effective conservation management. We therefore examine the relationship between climate, survival and reproduction in Canadian black‐tailed prairie dogs, a threatened keystone species in an imperilled ecosystem at the northern edge of the species' range. Our analyses considered 8 years of annual mark–recapture data (2007–2014) in relation to growing degree days, precipitation, drought status and winter severity, as well as year, sex, age and body mass. Survival was strongly influenced by the interaction of drought and body mass class, and winter temperature severity. Female reproductive status was associated with the interaction of growing degree days and growing season precipitation, with spring precipitation and with winter temperature severity. Results related to body mass suggested that climatic variables exerted their effects via regulation of food availability with potential linked effects of food quality, immunological and behavioural implications, and predation risk. Predictions of future increases in drought conditions in North America's grassland ecosystems have raised concerns for the outlook of Canadian black‐tailed prairie dogs. Insights gained from the analyses, however, point to mitigating species management options targeted at decoupling the mechanisms by which climate exerts its negative influence. Our approach highlights the importance of understanding the interaction between climate and population dynamics in peripheral populations whose viability might ultimately determine their species' ability to track climatically suitable space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biophysical conditions, including climate, environmental stress, and habitat availability, are key drivers of many ecological processes (e.g., community assembly and productivity) and associated ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and fishery production). Furthermore, anthropogenic impacts such as coastal development and fishing can have drastic effects on the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Scientists need to account for environmental variation and human impacts to accurately model, manage, and conserve marine ecosystems. Although there are many types of environmental data available from global remote sensing and open-source data products, some are inaccessible to potential end-users because they exist as global layers in high temporal and spatial resolutions which require considerable computational power to process. Additionally, coastal locations often suffer from missing data or data quality issues which limit the utility of some global marine products for coastal sites. Herein we present the Marine Socio-Environmental Covariates dataset for the global oceans, which consists of environmental and anthropogenic variables summarized in ecologically relevant ways. The dataset includes four sets of environmental variables related to biophysical conditions (net primary productivity models corrected for shallow-water reflectance, wave energy including sheltered-coastline corrections) and landscape context (coral reef and land cover within varying radii). We also present two sets of anthropogenic variables, human population density (within varying radii) and distance to large population center, which can serve as indicators of local human impacts. We have paired global, summarized layers available for download with an online data querying platform that allows users to extract data for specific point locations with finer control of summary statistics. In creating these global layers and online platform, we hope to make the data accessible to a wide array of end-users with the goal of advancing marine ecosystem studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]