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European wildlife has been subjected to intensifying levels of anthropogenic impact throughout the Holocene, yet the main genetic partitioning of many species is thought to still reflect the late-Pleistocene glacial refugia. We analyzed 26,342 nuclear SNPs of 464 wild boar (Sus scrofa) across the European continent to infer demographic history and reassess the genetic consequences of natural and anthropogenic forces. We found that population fragmentation, inbreeding and recent hybridization with domestic pigs have caused the spatial genetic structure to be heterogeneous at the local scale. Underlying local anthropogenic signatures, we found a deep genetic structure in the form of an arch-shaped cline extending from the Dinaric Alps, via Southeastern Europe and the Baltic states, to Western Europe and, finally, to the genetically diverged Iberian peninsula. These findings indicate that, despite considerable anthropogenic influence, the deeper, natural continental structure is still intact. Regarding the glacial refugia, our findings show a weaker signal than generally assumed, but are nevertheless suggestive of two main recolonization routes, with important roles for Southern France and the Balkans. Our results highlight the importance of applying genomic resources and framing genetic results within a species’ demographic history and geographic distribution for a better understanding of the complex mixture of underlying processes. Nasl. z nasl. zaslona. Opis vira z dne 3. 2. 02023. Skupno št. avtorjev: 21. Bibliografija: str. 142-143.

Triangle Island on Canada's Pacific coast is home to a large, globally important seabird breeding colony. The shrub Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis and tussock‐forming Tufted Hairgrass Deschampsia cespitosa together form ~70% of vegetation coverage and contain the vast majority (~90%) of seabird nesting burrows. Salmonberry has in recent decades greatly expanded its coverage, while that of Tufted Hairgrass has receded. Seabirds prefer not to burrow under Salmonberry, making its ongoing expansion a potential conservation issue. We investigated three hypotheses proposed to explain Salmonberry's expansion (climate change, biopedturbation, and nutrient input), using comparisons of stomatal density of Salmonberry leaves sampled from Triangle Island, other seabird colonies, other coastal locations, and from historical specimens in herbaria. Stomatal density helps regulate photosynthetic gain and control water loss, and responds to light, nutrient, carbon dioxide, and water availability. Differing patterns of stomatal density are expected among sample locations depending on which of the hypothesized factors most strongly affects Salmonberry's performance. Our data are most consistent with the nutrient input hypothesis. We discuss possible reasons why Salmonberry has expanded so recently, even though Triangle has been a large seabird colony for at least a century and likely much longer., Measures of stomatal density made in leaves of the shrub Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis at sites along coastal British Columbia support the hypothesis that nutrient input from the large seabird colony is driving its expansion on Triangle Island. Previous papers on this issue identified “climate change” and “biopedturbation” as the causes. The approach is novel and provides another way to assess vegetation changes on seabird islands.

Plant available moisture and plant available nutrients in soils influence forage quality and availability and subsequently affect reproductive performance in herbivores. However, the relationship of soil moisture, soil nutrients and woody forage with reproductive performance indicators is not well understood in mega-browsers yet these three are important in selecting suitable areas for conservation of mega-browsers. Here, the eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli), a mega-browser, was studied in seven geographically distinct populations in Kenya to understand the relationships between its reproductive performance indicators and plant available moisture, plant available nutrients and woody cover. Reproductive parameters showed a complex relationship with plant available moisture and plant available nutrients. We found an increase in the predicted yearly percentage of females calving as plant available nutrients decreased in areas of high levels of plant available moisture but no relationship with plant available nutrients in areas of low plant available moisture. Age at first calving was earlier, inter-calving interval was longer and yearly percentage of females calving was higher at higher woody cover. Woody plant cover contributes positively to black rhino reproduction performance indicators, whereas plant available moisture and plant available nutrients add to the selection of conservation areas, in more subtle ways.

In areas where farmland borders protected areas, wildlife may be attracted to crops and cause substantial financial damage for farmers. Elephants, in particular, can destroy a year's harvest in a single night, and can also cause damage to buildings and other farm structures. Few studies have examined whether damage caused by wild elephants increases social inequalities in farmer communities. We interviewed settlement leaders and subsistence rice farmers living in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, Nepal, to examine (1) the variation and spatial distribution of wealth within the farmer community, (2) the severity and spatio-temporal distribution of damage inflicted by Asian elephants Elephas maximus, and (3) the willingness to insure against such damage. We investigated whether particular societal strata are disproportionally affected by negative interactions with elephants. We found that farmers near the boundary between agricultural and wilderness areas were significantly poorer and had smaller landholdings than those further into the cultivated lands. Concomitantly, damage to crops and houses was more frequent nearer the wilderness–agriculture boundary than further away from it. Hence, in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, farmers near the wilderness–cultivation boundary, with small landholdings, had a relatively higher cost of elephant damage, yet were less willing to pay for an insurance scheme. We infer that in areas where both social inequality and damage caused by wildlife are spatially structured, conservation success may cause economic hardship for the local community, particularly for the poorer class. We discuss causes of the current lack of communal mitigation measures against the damage caused by elephants in the Park, and potential solutions.

When in 2010 the world's governments pledged to increase protected area coverage to 17% of the world's land surface, several Central African countries had already set aside 25% of their northern savannas for conservation. To evaluate the effectiveness of this commitment, we analyzed the results of 68 multispecies surveys conducted in the seven main savanna national parks in Central Africa (1960-2017). We also assembled information on potential drivers of large herbivore population trends (rainfall and number of rangers) and on tourist numbers and revenues. In six out of the seven parks, wild large herbivore populations declined dramatically over time, livestock numbers increased severalfold, and tourism, the pillar under a once thriving local wildlife industry, collapsed. Zakouma National Park (Chad) stood out because its large herbivore populations increased, an increase that was positively correlated with rainfall and number of rangers (a proxy for management inputs). With increasing insecurity and declining revenues, governments find themselves confronted with too few resources to protect vast areas. To deal with this conversation overstretch, we propose to extend the repeatedly promoted solutions--scaled up funding, enhanced management--with a strategic retreat, focusing scarce resources on smaller areas to save wildlife in the Central African savannas.Sobredimensionamiento de la Conservación y la Declinación a Largo Plazo de la Fauna y el Turismo en las Sabanas de África Central Resumen Cuando los gobiernos del mundo se comprometieron en 2010 a incrementar la cobertura de áreas protegidas al 17% de la superficie terrestre del planeta, varios países del centro de África ya habían dispuesto el 25% de sus sabanas ubicadas al norte de la región para la conservación. Para evaluar la efectividad de este compromiso, analizamos los resultados de 68 censos multiespecies realizados en los siete parques nacionales principales de la sabana en África Central (1960-2017). También ensamblamos información sobre los causantes principales de las tendencias poblacionales de los grandes herbívoros (lluvias, número de guardaparques) y sobre las cifras e ingresos del turismo. En seis de los siete parques, las poblaciones de los grandes herbívoros silvestres declinaron dramáticamente con el tiempo, el número de cabezas de ganado incrementó varias veces y el turismo, el pilar de una industria faunística próspera en su momento, colapsó. El Parque Nacional Zakouma en Chad resaltó debido a que las poblaciones de herbívoros grandes incrementaron en esta localidad, un incremento que estuvo relacionado positivamente con las lluvias y el número de guardabosques (un sustituto para las aportaciones de manejo). Con el incremento en la inseguridad y la declinación de los ingresos, los gobiernos se encuentran de frente con muy pocos recursos para proteger áreas extensas. Para afrontar este sobredimensionamiento de la conservación, proponemos ampliar las soluciones que se promueven repetidamente - incrementos al financiamiento, manejo mejorado - con un repliegue estratégico, el cual enfoque los recursos escasos en las áreas más pequeñas para rescatar a la fauna de las sabanas del centro de África.

Habitat availability determines the distribution of migratory waterfowl along their flyway, which further influences the transmission and spatial spread of avian influenza viruses (AIVs). The extensive habitat loss in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) may have potentially altered the virus transmission and spread, but those consequences are rarely studied. We constructed 6 fall migration networks that differed in their level of habitat loss, wherein an increase in habitat loss resulted in smaller networks with fewer sites. The networks were integrated with an agent-based model and a susceptible-infected-recovered model to simulate waterfowl migration and AIV transmission. We found that extensive habitat loss in the EAAF can 1) relocate the outbreaks northwards responding to the distribution changes of wintering waterfowl geese, 2) increase the outbreak risk in remaining sites due to larger bird congregations, and 3) facilitate AIV transmission among wintering geese. Our modelling output suggested that there was a certain system resilience of migration network to confront the site removal. In addition, the outputs were in line with the predictions from the concept of “migratory escape”, affecting the pattern of infection prevalence in the waterfowl population. Our modelling shed light on the potential consequences of habitat loss in transmitting and spreading AIV at the flyway scale, and suggested the driving mechanisms behind these effects, advocating the importance of nature conservation in changing spatial and temporal patterns of AIV outbreak.Author summaryWhat are the possible consequences of extensive habitat loss on the transmission and spread of avian influenza viruses (AIVs)? We used a logistic regression model to select the suitable habitats of Greater white-fronted goose in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and treated these habitats as sites to construct 6 fall migration networks that differed in their level of habitat loss (i.e., site removal). We then simulate geese migration in these networks, and explore the impacts of habitat loss on habitat connectivity and AIV transmission. We found the extensive habitat loss can cause relocation of the outbreaks and increase the outbreak risk and AIV transmission. Our modelling outputs suggested a certain network resilience to confront the site loss, and a “migratory escape” to change the spatial and temporal pattern of infection prevalence in the population. Overall, our study showed that land use changes and habitat loss can affect disease distribution and prevalence, suggested the importance of habitat conservation in changing the spatial and temporal pattern of AIVs transmission and spread.

Simple Summary The Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province covers a unique mountainous ecosystem located on the eastern border of the Tibetan Plateau in China. We applied a popular non-invasive observational method, i.e., infrared-triggered camera trapping, to gain thousands of photographs of wildlife to monitor biodiversity over three years. Combined with data on the local abiotic factors, our integrative statistical analysis identified the key environmental drivers, i.e., temperature and vegetation, affecting the distribution and abundance of mammals and birds in the reserve. All species were classified into three main types by their tolerance of or fondness for different environmental conditions. The detectability of each species by camera trapping was quantified and ranked to provide insights on each species' relative abundance in the area. The high-altitude ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau in China is a biodiversity hotspot that provides unique habitats for endemic and relict species along an altitudinal gradient at the eastern edge. Acquiring biodiversity information in this area, where the average altitude is over 4000 m, has been difficult but has been aided by recent developments in non-invasive technology, including infrared-triggered camera trapping. We used camera trapping to acquire a substantial number of photographic wildlife records in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan, China, from 2013 to 2016. We collected information of the habitat surrounding the observation sites, resulting in a dataset covering 37 species and 12 environmental factors. We performed a multivariate statistical analysis to discern the dominant environmental factors and cluster the mammals and birds of the ecosystem in order to examine environmental factors contributing to the species' relative abundance. Species were generalized into three main types, i.e., cold-resistant, phyllophilic, and thermophilic, according to the identified key environmental drivers (i.e., temperature and vegetation) for their abundances. The mammal species with the highest relative abundance were bharal (Pseudois nayaur), Moupin pika (Ochotona thibetana), and Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana). The bird species with highest relative abundance were snow partridge (Lerwa lerwa), plain mountain finch (Leucosticte nemoricola), Chinese monal (Lophophorus lhuysii), and alpine accentor (Prunella collaris).

As a source of emerging infectious diseases, wildlife assemblages (and related spatial patterns) must be quantitatively assessed to help identify high‐risk locations. Previous assessments have largely focussed on the distributions of individual species; however, transmission dynamics are expected to depend on assemblage composition. Moreover, disease–diversity relationships have mainly been studied in the context of species loss, but assemblage composition and disease risk (e.g. infection prevalence in wildlife assemblages) can change without extinction. Based on the predicted distributions and abundances of 4466 mammal species, we estimated global patterns of disease risk through the calculation of the community‐level basic reproductive ratio R0, an index of invasion potential, persistence, and maximum prevalence of a pathogen in a wildlife assemblage. For density‐dependent diseases, we found that, in addition to tropical areas which are commonly viewed as infectious disease hotspots, northern temperate latitudes included high‐risk areas. We also forecasted the effects of climate change and habitat loss from 2015 to 2035. Over this period, many local assemblages showed no net loss of species richness, but the assemblage composition (i.e. the mix of species and their abundances) changed considerably. Simultaneously, most areas experienced a decreased risk of density‐dependent diseases but an increased risk of frequency‐dependent diseases. We further explored the factors driving these changes in disease risk. Our results suggest that biodiversity and changes therein jointly influence disease risk. Understanding these changes and their drivers and ultimately identifying emerging infectious disease hotspots can help health officials prioritize resource distribution., Emerging infectious diseases are serious global threats. Most of these diseases originate from wildlife, particularly mammals, which face an ongoing biodiversity crisis. Using predicted distributions and abundances of 4466 mammal species, we estimated global patterns of disease risk by calculating community‐level R0. High values in temperate European, Asian, and North American locations point to risks beyond the tropics. Forecasted effects of climate change and habitat loss from 2015 to 2035 suggested many mammal assemblages will change considerably in their composition, even without local extinctions. Simultaneously, most areas were predicted to have decreased density‐dependent disease risk but increased frequency‐dependent disease risk.

Habitat loss can trigger migration network collapse by isolating migratory bird breeding grounds from nonbreeding grounds. Theoretically, habitat loss can have vastly different impacts depending on the site's importance within the migratory corridor. However, migration‐network connectivity and the impacts of site loss are not completely understood. We used GPS tracking data on 4 bird species in the Asian flyways to construct migration networks and proposed a framework for assessing network connectivity for migratory species. We used a node‐removal process to identify stopover sites with the highest impact on connectivity. In general, migration networks with fewer stopover sites were more vulnerable to habitat loss. Node removal in order from the highest to lowest degree of habitat loss yielded an increase of network resistance similar to random removal. In contrast, resistance increased more rapidly when removing nodes in order from the highest to lowest betweenness value (quantified by the number of shortest paths passing through the specific node). We quantified the risk of migration network collapse and identified crucial sites by first selecting sites with large contributions to network connectivity and then identifying which of those sites were likely to be removed from the network (i.e., sites with habitat loss). Among these crucial sites, 42% were not designated as protected areas. Setting priorities for site protection should account for a site's position in the migration network, rather than only site‐specific characteristics. Our framework for assessing migration‐network connectivity enables site prioritization for conservation of migratory species., Article impact statement: Analysis of migration‐network connectivity enables the prioritization for site conservation.

Spatial variation in habitat riskiness has a major influence on the predator–prey space race. However, the outcome of this race can be modulated if prey shares enemies with fellow prey (i.e., another prey species). Sharing of natural enemies may result in apparent competition, and its implications for prey space use remain poorly studied. Our objective was to test how prey species spend time among habitats that differ in riskiness, and how shared predation modulates the space use by prey species. We studied a one‐predator, two‐prey system in a coastal dune landscape in the Netherlands with the European hare (Lepus europaeus) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as sympatric prey species and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as their main predator. The fine‐scale space use by each species was quantified using camera traps. We quantified residence time as an index of space use. Hares and rabbits spent time differently among habitats that differ in riskiness. Space use by predators and habitat riskiness affected space use by hares more strongly than space use by rabbits. Residence time of hare was shorter in habitats in which the predator was efficient in searching or capturing prey species. However, hares spent more time in edge habitat when foxes were present, even though foxes are considered ambush predators. Shared predation affected the predator–prey space race for hares positively, and more strongly than the predator–prey space race for rabbits, which were not affected. Shared predation reversed the predator–prey space race between foxes and hares, whereas shared predation possibly also released a negative association and promoted a positive association between our two sympatric prey species. Habitat riskiness, species presence, and prey species’ escape mode and foraging mode (i.e., central‐place vs. noncentral‐place forager) affected the prey space race under shared predation.

Animal population sizes are often estimated using aerial sample counts by human observers, both for wildlife and livestock. The associated methods of counting remained more or less the same since the 1970s, but suffer from low precision and low accuracy of population estimates. Aerial counts using cost-efficient Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or microlight aircrafts with cameras and an automated animal detection algorithm can potentially improve this precision and accuracy. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of the multi-class convolutional neural network RetinaNet in detecting elephants, giraffes and zebras in aerial images from two Kenyan animal counts. The algorithm detected 95% of the number of elephants, 91% of giraffes and 90% of zebras that were found by four layers of human annotation, of which it correctly detected an extra 2.8% of elephants, 3.8% giraffes and 4.0% zebras that were missed by all humans, while detecting only 1.6 to 5.0 false positives per true positive. Furthermore, the animal detections by the algorithm were less sensitive to the sighting distance than humans were. With such a high recall and precision, we posit it is feasible to replace manual aerial animal count methods (from images and/or directly) by only the manual identification of image bounding boxes selected by the algorithm and then use a correction factor equal to the inverse of the undercounting bias in the calculation of the population estimates. This correction factor causes the standard error of the population estimate to increase slightly compared to a manual method, but this increase can be compensated for when the sampling effort would increase by 23%. However, an increase in sampling effort of 160% to 1,050% can be attained with the same expenses for equipment and personnel using our proposed semi-automatic method compared to a manual method. Therefore, we conclude that our proposed aerial count method will improve the accuracy of population estimates and will decrease the standard error of population estimates by 31% to 67%. Most importantly, this animal detection algorithm has the potential to outperform humans in detecting animals from the air when supplied with images taken at a fixed rate.

Studies on the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 suggest that wild bird migration may facilitate its long-distance spread, yet the role of wild bird community composition in its transmission risk remains poorly understood. Furthermore, most studies on the diversity–disease relationship focused on host species diversity without considering hosts’ phylogenetic relationships, which may lead to rejecting a species diversity effect when the community has host species that are only distantly related. Here, we explored the influence of waterbird community composition for determining HPAI H5N1 occurrence in wild birds in a continental-scale study across Europe. In particular, we tested the diversity–disease relationship using both host species diversity and host phylogenetic diversity. Our results provide the first demonstration that host community composition—compared with previously identified environmental risk factors—can also effectively explain the spatial pattern of H5N1 occurrence in wild birds. We further show that communities with more higher risk host species and more closely related species have a higher risk of H5N1 outbreaks. Thus, both host species diversity and community phylogenetic structure, in addition to environmental factors, jointly influence H5N1 occurrence. Our work not only extends the current theory on the diversity–disease relationship, but also has important implications for future monitoring of H5N1 and other HPAI subtypes., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Context: Migratory species’ resilience to landscape changes depends on spatial patterns of habitat degradation in relation to their migratory movements, such as the distance between breeding and non-breeding areas, and the location and width of migration corridors. Objectives: We investigated to what extent the impact of habitat degradation depended on the seasonal distributions of migratory waterfowl. Methods: Using logistic regression, we selected wetland sites for eight waterfowl species in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF) by calculating the probabilities of species occurrence per wetland site in relation to environmental factors. We quantified landscape metrics related to habitat degradation within these wetland sites. We used general linear models to test for differences in the effects of habitat degradation on waterfowl species with different migration extents and at different latitudes. Results: The patterns of habitat degradation differed spatially across the EAAF and affected species to a different degree. Species with shorter and broader migration corridors (Anser cygnoid and A. anser) could benefit from improved habitat conditions in the west of the EAAF. Species with longer and narrower migration corridors (Cygnus columbianus, A. fabalis, A. albifrons, A. erythropus, Anas crecca, and Anas acuta) were under higher risk of habitat degradation in the coastal regions of China and Japan. Conclusions: Migratory species with longer and narrower migration corridors are more affected by habitat degradation, because they might have fewer alternative stopover sites at similar latitude. Our findings improve the understanding of species-specific effects of environmental changes on migratory species, and defines critical and endangered wetland sites, and vulnerable species.

Habitat availability determines the distribution of migratory waterfowl along their flyway, which further influences the transmission and spatial spread of avian influenza viruses (AIVs). The extensive habitat loss in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) may have potentially altered the virus spread and transmission, but those consequences are rarely studied. We constructed 6 fall migration networks that differed in their level of habitat loss, wherein an increase in habitat loss resulted in smaller networks with fewer sites and links. We integrated an agent-based model and a susceptible-infected-recovered model to simulate waterfowl migration and AIV transmission. We found that extensive habitat loss in the EAAF can 1) relocate the outbreaks northwards, responding to the distribution changes of wintering waterfowl geese, 2) increase the outbreak risk in remaining sites due to larger goose congregations, and 3) facilitate AIV transmission in the migratory population. In addition, our modeling output was in line with the predictions from the concept of “migratory escape”, i.e., the migration allows the geese to “escape” from the location where infection risk is high, affecting the pattern of infection prevalence in the waterfowl population. Our modeling shed light on the potential consequences of habitat loss in spreading and transmitting AIV at the flyway scale and suggested the driving mechanisms behind these effects, indicating the importance of conservation in changing spatial and temporal patterns of AIV outbreaks.

Long-distance migrations influence the dynamics of host pathogen interactions and understanding the role of migratory waterfowl in the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) is important. While wild geese have been associated with outbreak events, disease ecology of closely related species has not been studied to the same extent. The swan goose (Anser cygnoides) and the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) are congeneric species with distinctly different HPAIV infection records; the former with few and the latter with numerous records. We compared movements of these species, as well as the more distantly related whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) through their annual migratory cycle to better understand exposure to HPAIV events and how this compares within and between congeneric and non congeneric species. In spite of their record of fewer infections, swan geese were more likely to come in contact with disease outbreaks than bar-headed geese. We propose two possible explanations: i) frequent prolonged contact with domestic ducks increases innate immunity in swan geese, and/or ii) the stress of high -elevation migration reduces immunity of bar-headed geese. Continued efforts to improve our understanding of species-level pathogen response is critical to assessing disease transmission risk.

High density of herbivore populations can lead to intense foraging competition and depletion of food consequently lowering diet quality and population performance. We tested for the effects of the density of eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) in nine in situ populations of 0.01–0.7 individuals per km2 density range on the quality of their diet while controlling for plant available moisture and plant available nutrients. We used faecal calcium, phosphorus, copper and zinc concentrations as proxy indices for dietary quality from 473 fresh faecal samples obtained from 77 adult animals in situ, after determining a positive faeces-diet mineral correlation in feeding trials with black rhinoceros in zoos. Some populations surpassed 70%–80% of their estimated maximum stocking densities expected to cause impact on forage. However, we did not find significant correlation between rhino population density and dietary quality, as measured via faecal mineral nutrient content. This suggests that black rhinoceros may have sufficient behavioural plasticity to adjust their diet to cover their nutritional requirements when density increases. Instead, 1-month lagged plant available moisture, reflecting precipitation over the 4 weeks preceding each sampling effort, significantly explained the mineral concentrations in the faeces. By contrast, plant available nutrients had no effect.

Wildlife crime is one of the most profitable illegal industries worldwide. Current actions to reduce it are far from effective and fail to prevent population declines of many endangered species, pressing the need for innovative anti-poaching solutions. Here, we propose and test a poacher early warning system that is based on the movement responses of non-targeted sentinel animals, which naturally respond to threats by fleeing and changing herd topology. We analyzed human-evasive movement patterns of 135 mammalian savanna herbivores of four different species, using an internet-of-things architecture with wearable sensors, wireless data transmission and machine learning algorithms. We show that the presence of human intruders can be accurately detected (86.1% accuracy) and localized (less than 500 m error in 54.2% of the experimentally staged intrusions) by algorithmically identifying characteristic changes in sentinel movement. These behavioral signatures include, among others, an increase in movement speed, energy expenditure, body acceleration, directional persistence and herd coherence, and a decrease in suitability of selected habitat. The key to successful identification of these signatures lies in identifying systematic deviations from normal behavior under similar conditions, such as season, time of day and habitat. We also show that the indirect costs of predation are not limited to vigilance, but also include (1) long, high-speed flights; (2) energetically costly flight paths; and (3) suboptimal habitat selection during flights. The combination of wireless biologging, predictive analytics and sentinel animal behavior can benefit wildlife conservation via early poacher detection, but also solve challenges related to surveillance, safety and health.

Despite ongoing loss of diversity in freshwater ecosystems, and despite mitigation measures to halt this loss, it is still not clear what ecological drivers underlies lotic biodiversity. A complicating factor is that two of the main drivers, oxygen and temperature, are correlated, and hence studies towards drivers of lotic diversity are confounded. Here, we undertook a systematic review, consisting of both qualitative and quantitative analyses, to disentangle these two drivers. We accessed two literature repositories and assessed papers for eligibility using a set of predetermined criteria. For the qualitative part of this systematic review, we used results on patterns of taxonomic richness and multivariate ordination analyses to expose effects of temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration on biodiversity. For the meta-analysis, we could only use raw data of a few papers in generalized linear models. The qualitative analysis did not show strong consistent effects of either dissolved oxygen concentration or temperature on diversity. However, the meta-analysis showed that taxonomic richness is positively related with dissolved oxygen concentration. Inversely a negative correlation with temperature was found, but adding temperature to a model which already included dissolved oxygen content did not significantly improve the model. These results show the strength of a systematic review and meta-analysis over a conventional review without a meta-analysis; we found no pattern with the qualitative analysis, but a strong pattern with the quantitative analysis.

Wild vertebrate populations all over the globe are in decline, with poaching being the second-most-important cause. The high poaching rate of rhinoceros may drive these species into extinction within the coming decades. Some stakeholders argue to lift the ban on international rhino horn trade to potentially benefit rhino conservation, as current interventions appear to be insufficient. We reviewed scientific and grey literature to scrutinize the validity of reasoning behind the potential benefit of legal horn trade for wild rhino populations. We identified four mechanisms through which legal trade would impact wild rhino populations, of which only the increased revenue for rhino farmers could potentially benefit rhino conservation. Conversely, the global demand for rhino horn is likely to increase to a level that cannot be met solely by legal supply. Moreover, corruption is omnipresent in countries along the trade routes, which has the potential to negatively affect rhino conservation. Finally, programmes aimed at reducing rhino horn demand will be counteracted through trade legalization by removing the stigma on consuming rhino horn. Combining these insights and comparing them with criteria for sustainable wildlife farming, we conclude that legalizing rhino horn trade will likely negatively impact the remaining wild rhino populations. To preserve rhino species, we suggest to prioritize reducing corruption within rhino horn trade, increasing the rhino population within well-protected 'safe havens' and implementing educational programmes and law enforcement targeted at rhino horn consumers. peerReviewed

Background Animals respond to environmental variation by changing their movement in a multifaceted way. Recent advancements in biologging increasingly allow for detailed measurements of the multifaceted nature of movement, from descriptors of animal movement trajectories (e.g., using GPS) to descriptors of body part movements (e.g., using tri-axial accelerometers). Because this multivariate richness of movement data complicates inference on the environmental influence on animal movement, studies generally use simplified movement descriptors in statistical analyses. However, doing so limits the inference on the environmental influence on movement, as this requires that the multivariate richness of movement data can be fully considered in an analysis. Methods We propose a data-driven analytic framework, based on existing methods, to quantify the environmental influence on animal movement that can accommodate the multifaceted nature of animal movement. Instead of fitting a simplified movement descriptor to a suite of environmental variables, our proposed framework centres on predicting an environmental variable from the full set of multivariate movement data. The measure of fit of this prediction is taken to be the metric that quantifies how much of the environmental variation relates to the multivariate variation in animal movement. We demonstrate the usefulness of this framework through a case study about the influence of grass availability and time since milking on cow movements using machine learning algorithms. Results We show that on a one-hour timescale 37% of the variation in grass availability and 33% of time since milking influenced cow movements. Grass availability mostly influenced the cows’ neck movement during grazing, while time since milking mostly influenced the movement through the landscape and the shared variation of accelerometer and GPS data (e.g., activity patterns). Furthermore, this framework proved to be insensitive to spurious correlations between environmental variables in quantifying the influence on animal movement. Conclusions Not only is our proposed framework well-suited to study the environmental influence on animal movement; we argue that it can also be applied in any field that uses multivariate biologging data, e.g., animal physiology, to study the relationships between animals and their environment.

Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires balancing demands on land between agriculture (SDG 2) and biodiversity (SDG 15). The production of vegetable oils, and in particular palm oil, illustrates these competing demands and trade-offs. Palm oil accounts for 40%1 of the current global annual demand for vegetable oil as food, animal feed, and fuel (210 million tons2 (Mt)), but planted oil palm covers less than 5-5.5%3 of total global oil crop area (ca. 425 Mha)4 , due to oil palm’s relatively high yields5. Recent oil palm expansion in forested regions of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, where >90% of global palm oil is produced, has led to substantial concern around oil palm’s role in deforestation. Oil palm expansion’s direct contribution to regional tropical deforestation varies widely, ranging from 3% in West Africa to 47% in Malaysia. Oil palm is also implicated in peatland draining and burning in Southeast Asia. Documented negative environmental impacts from such expansion include biodiversity declines, greenhouse gas emissions, and air pollution. However, oil palm generally produces more oil per area than other oil crops, is often economically viable in sites unsuitable for most other crops, and generates considerable wealth for at least some actors. Global demand for vegetable oils is projected to increase by 46% by 2050. Meeting this demand through additional expansion of oil palm versus other vegetable oil crops will lead to substantial differential effects on biodiversity, food security, climate change, land degradation, and livelihoods. Our review highlights that, although substantial gaps remain in our understanding of the relationship between the environmental, socio-cultural and economic impacts of oil palm, and the scope, stringency and effectiveness of initiatives to address these, there has been little research into the impacts and trade-offs of other vegetable oil crops. Greater research attention needs to be given to investigating the impacts of palm oil production compared to alternatives for the trade-offs to be assessed at a global scale.\ud Over the past 25 years, global oil crops have expanded rapidly, with major impacts on land use. The land used for growing oil crops grew from 170 million ha (Mha) in 1961 to 425 Mha in 2017 or ~30% of all cropland world-wide. Oil palm, soy, and rapeseed together account for >80% of all vegetable oil production with cotton, groundnuts, sunflower, olive, and coconut comprising most of the remainder (Table 1, Figure 1). These crops, including soy (125 Mha planted area) and maize (197 Mha planted area), are also used as animal feed and other products.\ud Oil palm is the most rapidly expanding oil crop. This palm originates from equatorial Africa where it has been cultivated for millennia, but it is now widely grown in Southeast Asia. Between 2008 and 2017, oil palm expanded globally at an average rate of 0.7 Mha per year, and palm oil is the leading and cheapest edible oil in much of Asia and Africa. While it has been estimated that palm oil is an ingredient in 43% of products found in British supermarkets, we lack comparable studies for the prevalence of other oils.\ud As a wild plant, the oil palm is a colonising species that establishes in open areas. Cultivated palms are commonly planted as monocultures, although the tree is also used in mixed, small-scale and agroforestry settings. To maximize photosynthetic capacity and fruit yields, oil palm requires a warm and wet climate, high solar radiation, and high humidity. It is thus most productive in the humid tropics, while other oil crops, except coconut, grow primarily in subtropical and temperate regions (Table 1). Moreover, because oil palm tolerates many soils including deep peat and sandy substrates, it is often profitable in locations where few other commodity crops are viable. The highest yields from planted oil palm have been reported in Southeast Asia5 . Yields are generally lower in Africa and the Neotropics, likely reflecting differences in climatic conditions including humidity and cloud cover, as well as management, occurrence of pests and diseases, and planting stock.\ud Palm oil is controversial due to its social and environmental impacts and opportunities. Loss of natural habitats, reduction in woody biomass, and peatland drainage that occur during site preparation are the main direct environmental impacts from oil palm development. Such conversion typically reduces biodiversity and water quality and increases greenhouse gas emissions, and, when fire is used, smoke and haze. Industrial oil palm expansion by large multi-national and national companies is also often associated with social problems, such as land grabbing and conflicts, labour exploitation, social inequity16 and declines in village-level well-being. In producer countries, oil palm is a valued crop that brings economic development to regions with few alternative agricultural development options, and generates substantial average livelihood improvements when smallholder farmers adopt oil palm. Here we review the current understanding of the environmental impacts from oil palm cultivation and assess what we know about other oil crops in comparison. Our focus is on biodiversity implications and the environmental aspects of sustainability, and we acknowledge the importance of considering these alongside socio-cultural, political, and economic outcomes.

The unique geochemistry surrounding the Palabora Mining Company (PMC) land may act as a micronutrient hotspot, attracting elephants to the area. The PMC produces refined copper and extracts phosphates and other minerals. Understanding the spatial influence of geochemistry on the home range size of African elephants is important for elephant population management and conservation. The home ranges of collared elephants surrounding the PMC were significantly smaller (P = 0.001) than conspecifics in surrounding reserves, suggesting that their resource needs were met within these smaller areas. Environmental samples (soil, water and plants) were analysed from the mine area and along six transects radiating from the mine centre. Tail hair and faecal samples from elephants at the PMC, and conspecifics within the surrounding area were analysed. All samples were analysed for minerals essential to health and potentially toxic elements (PTEs; As, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Pb, Se, U, V and Zn). Results show that the geochemistry at the PMC is different compared to surrounding areas, with significant elevations seen in all analysed minerals and PTEs in soil closer to the mine, thereby drawing the elephants to the area. Additionally significant elevations were seen in elements analysed in water and vegetation samples. Elephant tail hair from elephants at the mine was significantly greater in Cd, whilst Mg, P, Cu, As, Cd, Pb and U concentrations were significantly greater in elephant faecal samples at the mine compared to the non-mine samples. When micronutrient hotspots overlap with human activity (such as mining), this can lead to poor human-elephant coexistence and thus conflict. When managing elephant populations, the influence of mineral provision on elephant movement must be considered. Such detailed resource information can inform conservation efforts for coordinated programmes (UN SDGs 15 and 17) and underpin sustainable economic activity (UN SDG 8, 11 and 12).

Many ungulate populations have a complex history of isolation and translocation. Consequently, ungulate populations may have experienced substantial reductions in the level of overall gene flow, yet simultaneously have augmented levels of long-distance gene flow. To investigate the effect of this dual anthropogenic effect on the genetic landscape of ungulates, we genotyped 35K SNPs in 47 red deer (Cervus elaphus) of The Netherlands, including putative autochthonous relic populations as well as allochthonous populations established in private estates and rewilding areas. We applied FST and ordination analyses to determine the meta-population genetic structure and thereby the occurrence of hybridization. At population level, we investigated levels of inbreeding through individual-based diversity measures, including Runs of Homozygosity. We documented that both spatial genetic structure and within-population genetic variation differed markedly from patterns assumed from present-day abundance and distribution. Notwithstanding the small spatial scale, red deer populations formed distinct genetic clusters, and some had higher genetic similarity to distant than to nearby populations. Moreover, the putative autochthonous relic deer populations had much reduced levels of polymorphism and multi-locus heterozygosity, despite relatively large current population sizes. Accordingly, genomes of these deer contained a high proportion of long (>5Mb) Runs of Homozygosity. Whereas the observed high levels of inbreeding warrant defragmentation measures, the presence of adjacent autochthonous and allochthonous genetic stocks imply that facilitation of gene flow would cause genetic homogenization. Such distortions of the genetic landscape of ungulates creates management dilemmas that cannot be properly anticipated without baseline genetic monitoring.

Migration can influence dynamics of pathogen-host interactions. However, it is not clearly known how migration pattern, in terms of the configuration of the migration network and the synchrony of migration, affects infection prevalence. We therefore applied a discrete-time SIR model, integrating environmental transmission and migration, to various migration networks, including networks with serial, parallel, or both serial and parallel stopover sites, and with various levels of migration synchrony. We applied the model to the infection of avian influenza virus in a migratory geese population. In a network with only serial stopover sites, increasing the number of stopover sites reduced infection prevalence, because with every new stopover site, the amount of virus in the environment was lower than that in the previous stopover site, thereby reducing the exposure of the migratory population. In a network with parallel stopover sites, both increasing the number and earlier appearance of the stopover sites led to an earlier peak of infection prevalence in the migratory population, because the migratory population is exposed to larger total amount of virus in the environment, speeding-up the infection accumulation. Furthermore, higher migration synchrony reduced the average number of cumulative infection, because the majority of the population can fly to a new stopover site where the amount of virus is still relatively low and has not been increased due to virus shedding of infected birds. Our simulations indicate that a migration pattern with multiple serial stopover sites and with highly synchronized migration reduces the infection prevalence.

Theory on the density?body-mass (DBM) relationship predicts that the density of animal species decreases by the power of ?0.75 per unit increase in their body mass, or by the power of ?1 when taxa across trophic levels are studied. This relationship is, however, largely debated, as the slope often deviates from the theoretical predictions. Here, we tested the ability of the DBM relationship to reflect changes in the structure of communities subjected to an anthropogenic disturbance. The slope would become less steep if smaller animals were more impacted by the disturbance than the larger ones, whereas the slope would become steeper if larger animals were more affected than the smaller ones. We tested the changes in the DBM relationship by sampling soil fauna, i.e., nematodes, Collembola, and larger arthropods, from a semiarid grassland before and after spraying diesel fuel as disturbance. We applied three different treatments: a control, a light disturbance, and an intense disturbance. We found that the slopes of the DBM relationships before the disturbance were around ?1 as predicted by theory. The slope became more positive (i.e., less steep) just after the disturbance, especially after the intense disturbance as smaller fauna suffered the most and early colonizers had larger body mass. Interestingly, we observed that the slopes converged back to ?1 by 2 months post-disturbance. Our findings show that the response of soil fauna communities to anthropogenic disturbances could explain the large variation in observed slopes of the DBM relationships. We experimentally demonstrate that an animal community, when disturbed, shows a temporal pattern of DBM relationships ranging from deviations from the predicted slope to convergence to the predicted slope with time. We recommend that deviations in the DBM relationships after disturbances can provide insights in the trajectory of community recovery, and hence could be used for biomonitoring.

During times of high activity by predators and competitors, herbivores may be forced to forage in patches of low‐quality food. However, the relative importance in determining where and what herbivores forage still remains unclear, especially for small‐ and intermediate‐sized herbivores. Our objective was to test the relative importance of predator and competitor activity, and forage quality and quantity on the proportion of time spent in a vegetation type and the proportion of time spent foraging by the intermediate‐sized herbivore European hare (Lepus europaeus). We studied red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as a predator species and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a competitor. We investigated the time spent at a location and foraging time of hare using GPS with accelerometers. Forage quality and quantity were analyzed based on hand‐plucked samples of a selection of the locally most important plant species in the diet of hare. Predator activity and competitor activity were investigated using a network of camera traps. Hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained a higher percentage of fibers (i.e., NDF). Besides, hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained relatively low food quantity and quality of forage (i.e., high percentage of fibers) during days that foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were more active. Also during days that rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were more active, hares spent a higher proportion of time foraging in vegetation types that contained a relatively low quality of forage. Although predation risk affected space use and foraging behavior, and competition affected foraging behavior, our study shows that food quality and quantity more strongly affected space use and foraging behavior than predation risk or competition. It seems that we need to reconsider the relative importance of the landscape of food in a world of fear and competition.

Continuing declines in abundance of many waterbird species on wetland ecosystems require explanations to support effective management interventions. We used 6 year survey data from Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve in the Yangtze River Floodplain, China, to study the effects of ecological and anthropogenic variables as determinants of waterbird species abundance. Our results showed that effects were guild-dependent, although distance to nearest human settlements had the largest adverse effects on bird abundance across all guilds. These results suggested that although the abundance of waterbird species could be affected by habitat conditions and buffalo grazing activities, Yangtze River Wetlands would most likely benefit most from reduced pressure from the proximity to the surrounding human population. We suggest that screening and/or restricting public access at some key sites may be the most cost-efficient way to restrict or reduce human activity in these wetlands, to improve the conservation status and wintering conditions for these waterbirds. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1076-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Current understanding of the effects of condensed tannins (CTs) on productivity of mixed-feeding ruminants is largely based on simple laboratory and feeding experiments. These experiments do not allow mixed feeders such as goats to adequately employ their behavioural and physiological responses to plant secondary metabolites. In a field experiment, we investigated the effects of CTs on growth performance of goats. We hypothesized that CTs reduce blood circulatory nutrient and increase nitrogen in faeces. We divided 45 yearling females into three groups of 15 animals that were orally dosed daily with either CTs, polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG, a polymer that neutralizes dietary tannins), or water (control). We measured the average daily gains, live weights, faecal nitrogen and four blood metabolites from each goat during dry and wet seasons. Live weights increased over time in both dry (P < 0.001) and wet seasons (P < 0.001). The average daily gain was consistently greatest for animals dosed with PEG and least for those dosed with CTs. Goats dosed with CTs had the greatest faecal nitrogen and the least blood protein concentrations, while the opposite was true for PEG goats in both seasons. Blood urea and non-esterified fatty acids indicated a negative influence of CTs on energy and protein metabolism. We concluded that CTs limit growth and PEG mitigates the negative effects of CTs on growth performance of free-ranging mixed feeding ruminants.