Invasive alien species are considered a major threat to biodiversity and seriously impact the economy and public health of recipient regions. Identifying the determinants of protected areas’ vulnerability to the establishment of invasive alien species (IAS) may improve management, prevention and early warning systems of biological invasions. We elicited the perceptions of 106 experts working in 56

Economical profitability of pasture-based beef production is necessary for continued maintenance of semi-natural pastures. In a situation of decreased cattle stocks, there is a potential to castrate male calves from dairy cows and raise them as grazing steers instead of intact bulls reared indoors, which is the common way in the Nordic countries. We examined the profitability in model enterprises with

The Cerrado is the most diverse tropical savanna in the world. As a fire-prone ecosystem, natural fire in the Cerrado shapes plant communities and drives evolutionary processes. Human activities and landscape management can alter natural fire regimes and reshape Cerrado dynamics, making biodiversity conservation a challenge, particularly in densely populated areas. We reconstructed the historical fire

Countless animals, including threatened species from invertebrates to vertebrates, are the victims of the world's largest illegitimate business—illicit sales of wildlife. Botia striata (zebra loach) is an endangered freshwater fish endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Because of its distinctive stripes, it is heavily exported and ranks second in the volume of trade in aquarium pets from India. However

Primula boveana Decne ex Duby is a threatened paleo-endemic plant in St. Catherine Protected Area (SCPA), south Sinai, Egypt which represents the remaining evidence from the Tertiary relict floras. Listed by IUCN Red List in 2014 as Critically Endangered, and there are urgent needs to carry out on-ground conservation actions. In this research we present steps to conserve Primula boveana through in-situ

Conservation genetics is a well‐established and essential scientific field in the toolkit of conservation planning, management, and decision‐making. Within its framework, phylogeography allows the definition of conservation strategies, especially in threatened endemic plants. Gypsum and salt-rich outcrops constitute a model example of an edaphic island-like habitat and contain rare and endemic species

African houbara (Chlamydotis undulata) and Asian houbara (C. macqueenii), classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, have been over-exploited across their global ranges. The highest-profile conservation response has been large-scale releases of captive-bred birds, potentially threatening wild populations through introgression. Options for increasing numbers of the species are habitat management

Using bio-economic modelling, this paper analyses conflicts between legal and illegal activities in the Campo-Ma’an National Park, Cameroon. We consider two different agents, a local community living near the Park - who hunt illegally to fulfil their welfare -, and a park manager who has received from the Cameroonian government the mandate to manage the wildlife found in the park. The park manager

Conservation initiatives carried out by informed, enthusiastic participants can be highly effective in conserving biodiversity, including the biodiversity of insect pollinators. It is important to understand how the public perceives insect pollinators, as it may have implications for the success of conservation initiatives and the initiation of protective policies. We used Ireland as a case study to

In the Northeast Atlantic deep-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) trawl fishery, the bycatch of juvenile fish and shrimp represents a problem. This study evaluated if inserting a 200 mm mesh size top-panel in the last three sections of the tapered upper belly section of the trawl could reduce bycatch of juveniles while maintaining the catch efficiency for deep-water shrimp. The bycatch species investigated

Restoration of plant-pollinator interaction has emerged as a critical issue in the maintenance of resilient and healthy ecosystems. However, some challenges remain, such as integrating ecological and practical information in plant species' choices to restore mutualistic interactions. We present a case-based experience that combines ecological information (i.e., plant attractiveness to pollinators as

Assessing wildlife habitat suitability has been an important tool in species conservation for generations of wildlife managers, despite changes in technology and theoretical frameworks. The goal of this study was to quantify differences in habitat suitability indices (HSIs) for blue-winged teal derived from our re-creation of traditional paper-based outputs and GIS-based outputs using the same inputs

We evaluated the vulnerability of nesting sites (sandbanks) available to Podocnemis expansa, P. unifilis and P. sextuberculata to human threats and the coverage of these areas by a public policy created to conserve turtles. Species distribution models were used to identify potential nesting areas in the Brazilian Amazon, where sandbanks were mapped through satellite imagery. Values of threats (deforestation

Expansive native species have the same ecological and economic consequences as invasive alien species through the reduction of ecosystem goods and services. We assessed human disturbance and environmental factors that are contributing to the expansion of two expansive shrubs, Cadia purpurea and Tarchonanthus camphoratus in Desa’a dry Afromontane forest, northern Ethiopia. We also evaluated their expansion

In the Alps, mires, ranging from fens to bogs, are rare habitats mainly restricted to high elevation ranges where anthropogenic pressures are relatively low. However, they are threatened by multiple impacts, among which intensive cattle grazing and draining predominate. In particular, overgrazing effects are still poorly explored and we urgently need an assessment of the conservation status of these

The use of lethal methods to manage locally overabundant wildlife populations is rarely without some level of public opposition or debate. While a range of factors have been found to be associated with public support for the use of lethal methods, research has predominately focused on a small set of species in a limited number of countries. We build the evidence base in this area by presenting the

Mediterranean coastal ecosystems are major tourist destinations that support intensive real estate business developments. However, these areas are also important as biodiversity hotspots. Coastal spiders have been poorly studied as indicators of habitat disturbance, especially those that depend on certain environmental variables. Plesiolena bonneti is a trapdoor spider that exclusively inhabits the

Erosion of natural habitats due to urban sprawl constitutes a major threat to biodiversity. The development of the Plant Micro-Reserve (PMR) is an efficient concept for the in situ conservation of rare plants with narrow ecological niche and threatened by human impacts. We provide a framework for initiating site selection of PMRs, including evolutionary and ecological uniqueness. The proposed cross-analysis

Wildlife rehabilitation is the treatment and subsequent release of injured wildlife. Wildlife rehabilitation benefits individual animals receiving care, but also supports Conservation Medicine approaches by providing opportunities to monitor wildlife health, contaminant loads, and disease prevalence. However, it is typically considered to have negligible effects on population growth, and has not traditionally

Roads constitute just 1% of the total land in the US, but their impacts on wildlife are significant and far-reaching. Snakes are particularly susceptible to road mortality because many species do not avoid crossing roads, may use the road’s surface to thermoregulate, or freeze when approached by a vehicle. We conducted opportunistic surveys to collect road mortality points for snakes in southeastern

This paper presents a methodology that uses fishery data collected for the purpose of administering and monitoring harvest quotas in a recreational fishery to give additional insights into effectiveness of various fishing methods, and expected catch rates associated with different licence types. The empirical application is based on the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) recreational fishery in Ireland

Deforestation is considered the main human-induced and short-term threat to the persistence of forest species in the Amazon. Long-lasting and high-intensity deforestation, low coverage of protected areas, and high level of species endemism make the Belém Endemism Area (BEA) particularly more vulnerable than the rest of the Amazon area. However, this occurrence remains strongly neglected in global and

Strategies to achieve agricultural production and biodiversity conservation fall into two categories, land-sparing or land-sharing. Plant species richness under organic arable (land sharing) versus conventional arable with land set-aside for conservation (land sparing) was evaluated on adjacent farms to compare these strategies. Sampled plant species richness was significantly higher under organic

Leopard print is a proliferating fashion design with perpetual, cross–market appeal. But as demand for textiles replicating the leopard’s pattern soar, leopards themselves have disappeared from more than 75 % of the historic range. This study quantifies the fashion interest in leopard print to evaluate whether its popularity reflects an interest in wildlife, specifically in leopards or spotted cats

African elephant populations are under substantial anthropogenic pressure, but these are not spatially homogenous. Elephant densities are high in parts of southern Africa, leading to conflict with human populations. Conservationists working to mitigate impacts of human-elephant conflict (HEC) will turn to mechanisms or incentives to achieve this, mostly financial (such as compensation, or income generation

Endemic marine species are useful in determining and evaluating areas for conservation. Particularly Warm Temperate Province of the Northeast Pacific (WTPNP) includes priority conservation areas, but records of endemic marine species are limited, their distributions remains generally unknown, and often excluded in extant conservation plans. Within the WTPNP, the Balandra Protected Natural Area (BPNA)

The wild camel (Camelus ferus) is a critically endangered species found in extremely arid environments of Central Asia. The wild camel population and its distribution areas have decreased significantly since the middle of the 19th century. The species is now restricted to four isolated habitats in China and Mongolia, and more than 20 years have passed since the most recent surveys of its status and

The chelonian fauna of West Africa is relatively understudied and experiencing a multitude of threats. Moreover, the IUCN Red List status of several African species is both outdated and, we believe, underestimated. Herein, we cover projections for freshwater turtle and tortoise status trends in West Africa over the next decade. This geographic prioritization was chosen based on our current understanding

It is widely accepted that nature conservation practice benefits from incorporating scientific evidence into decision-making. However, even when the evidence is already collated, the task of applying evidence to all of the decisions undertaken by conservation professionals can seem overwhelming. The apparent magnitude of this task may deter individuals and organisations from applying evidence-based

Habitat fragmentation and isolation are considered important causes of biodiversity loss in cultural landscapes. To counter the negative effects of fragmentation such as reduced connectivity and increased risks of population extinction due to stochastic processes and genetic erosion, it has been proposed to establish linear ecological corridors to facilitate dispersal between isolated habitat patches

Social norms are commonly used to investigate visitor beliefs about acceptable wildlife encounters in parks and protected areas. However, there is little information detailing if self-reported norms match actual behaviors. This study compared self-reported norms (n = 304) for viewing distances of adult and cub black bears with behavioral observations (n = 355) of actual encounters at Alligator River

The ecology of most squamates from the Republic of Korea is poorly understood: information on tolerances to environmental variables, movement patterns, home range sizes, and other aspects of their natural history and ecological requirements are lacking. In turn, this lack of knowledge presents an obstacle to effective conservation management. Currently and at the national level, two of Korea’s eleven

The decline of numerous bird species worldwide has been attributed to increased nest predation pressure often associated with anthropogenic factors. Identifying effective management strategies to reduce nest predation is therefore a conservation priority, but tests of management strategies often lack appropriate control treatments. Conditioned Food Aversion (CFA) is a non-lethal method of predator

The Mongolian plateau is a hotspot for mammals and a perfect environment for nomadic herding. The long-term co-existence with the local wildlife is nowadays threatened by a recent drastic increase of livestock numbers, and associated modifications in the ecosystems. Official hunting and livestock data were used to understand historical links between certain selected species (grey wolf, red fox, corsac

In this study we aimed to assess the perceived impacts of a Western conservation program, the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP), on communities in the Yopno, Uruwa, Som landscape in Papua New Guinea, with regard to local livelihoods, tradition and culture, hunting and wildlife populations. We interviewed 104 households from across the landscape to gain a broad understanding of perceptions of

Several species of lizards are disappearing around the world. Their populations are declining on a global scale and for carrying out conservation actions, it is necessary to identify the real risks of extinction and the threats that affect the species. Alternative methodologies that are commonly applied and also the use of different approaches are important tools to fill gaps concerning various threats

Ecologists and wildlife managers require useful tools to reduce the human-wildlife conflict. So far, little attention has been paid to the damage caused by avian nesting on man-made structures. We weighed 145 occupied nests of the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) in eastern Poland and applied general linear models (multiple regressions) to predict a nest’s mass from its measurements. Nests measured showed

The survival of endangered species often depends on conservation management actions aiming to modify some of the biotic or abiotic characteristics of the environment. Owing to numerous limitations, most often only short-term responses to management are evaluated. However, lack of correlation between short- and long-term effects can result in the implementation of erroneous conservation management plans

This study attempts to analyze Japan’s pricing policy alternatives for protected area management by assessing the general public’s preferences through best–worst scaling. Through best–worst scaling, researchers can quantitatively understand people’s preferences with fewer burdens. The conditional logit model showed that the mean response of the respondents placed a relatively high value on strategies

Macaronesian islands display a high degree of plant endemicity and correspond to some of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots due to several human driven impacts such as habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation or climate change. The conservation status of the largest of the two known population of Musschia isambertoi M. Seq., R. Jardim, Magda Silva and L. Carvalho (Campanulaceae) was

In recent decades, research on ecosystem services and ecological compensation has increasingly become a focal area in ecological research in the face of the degrading ecological environment. Recently, some institutions and studies have paid attention to ecosystem services and ecological compensation at World Heritage (WH) sites. However, no comprehensive literature review has covered ecosystem services

This study presents examples of successful restoration projects for biodiversity conservation. In West France, the Pinail National Nature Reserve is a protected wetland interspersed with more than 6000 ponds. This wetland is inhabited by 50 species of Odonata and thus is a key biodiversity area for damselflies and dragonflies conservation. In the past, when the limestone was exploited, the streams

Global wildlife populations face multiple threats, from an ever-growing human population. The Carnivora, especially species of large body size are at risk of local extinction from habitat loss, as they depend on large home-ranges and are highly susceptible to changes in prey populations. The objective of this study was to detect responses of carnivorans of different body sizes to anthropogenic disturbance

Wildlife is used for a range of purposes such as food, healthcare and ornamentation. Most wildlife trade is legal, contributing to livelihood and income generation for many people including some of the world’s poorest. However, the part of wildlife harvesting and trade occurring outside the laws is considered the biggest threat to conservation after habitat loss and overexploitation. Although illegal

Irrigation canals are an important cause of wild mammal mortality in the Piedmont forest of the Argentine Yungas. To improve the permeability of this infrastructure, specific wildlife crossings were added to the existing non-wildlife crossings built for other purposes. However, the effectiveness of these wildlife-specific crossings has still not been evaluated. Here, we identified the mammalian species

Chelonians (turtles and tortoises) are key, but highly endangered, ecological components. Pet trade is a pervasive threat that often results in the confiscation of specimens, or their release in non-native regions. Emys orbicularis is considered near threatened, with declining populations across its western Palaeartic range. Individuals of unknown origin (confiscated or wild-caught) are maintained

Understanding human influence on ecosystems and their services is crucial to achieve sustainable development and ensure the conservation of biodiversity. In this context, the human footprint index (HFI) represents the anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems and the natural environment. Our objective was to characterize the HFI in Southern Patagonia (Argentina) across the landscape, qualifying the differences

The piedmont dry forest of northwestern Argentina has been under intensive and unplanned forest logging focused on 12 tree species, without any attempts having been made to ensure their regeneration or long-term conservation. In this study, we assessed the conservation status of these timber species in the piedmont dry forest of northwestern Argentina and compared our results with the IUCN assessment

Fencing, including electric fencing, is widely used across South Africa for livestock and game ranching practices. Leopard tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) are particularly prone to being killed by electric fences, but no published studies have assessed the impact of fence structure or quantified tortoise mortality along non-electric fences. This is a conservation concern, especially because South

National parks occur in most nations around the globe and tend to have a dual role of protecting natural heritage features while also providing opportunities for the public to interact with natural areas through recreation and leisure. National parks are afforded varying degrees of protection with recreational fishing allowed in some form within the boundaries of some parks. However, little is known

Millions of reptiles are both legally and illegally traded annually. However, the number of species being exploited for the live animal trade far exceeds any other demand, such as for use in the exotic leather trade. The huge diversity and abundance of reptiles traded globally is concerning as commercial consumer demand can result in unsustainable harvests which could lead to species declines or even

Degraded ecosystems worldwide are in need of restoration in order to recover essential ecosystem services, promoting biodiversity and enhancing carbon stock. Methods to restore vegetation differ widely in economic cost and effectiveness, but economic evaluations are scarce in the literature. The aim was to perform an economic appraisal of different restoration options for gypsum habitats after mining

In the core areas of National Parks (NPs), there might be a conflict between the approaches of process-based conservation, i.e. allowing natural ecological processes to develop without intervention, and of species-based conservation, i.e. active management to protect specific aspects of biodiversity. To better understand this conflict and its consequences, we collected data on non-native plant species

Land consolidation can negatively affect biodiversity, as it is usually followed by the expansion of arable land, a decrease in crop and land cover diversity, and an increase in the application of agrochemicals. The aim of our study was to compare the species’ composition and abundance of farmland birds, as well as habitat structure, on consolidated and non-consolidated sites in Goričko, NE Slovenia

The anthropogenic spread of pathogens contributes to the decline of some species. However, restocking programs implemented to counteract the decline of such populations can also contribute to the spread of pathogens, in particular for endangered species that cannot be bred in captivity, where populations used in restocking must be sourced from the wild with no control over sanitary status. A prime

Wildlife crime, including illegal harvesting, poaching, use, and trade, is a global issue. While studies on wildlife crimes have been performed on a global scale, it is also essential to assess their impact on native species at national scales. Investigating illegal activities involves analyzing law enforcement and seizure data, especially in areas with high biodiversity. In this study, we analyzed

The area of heathland has declined substantially in southern England since the eighteenth century but recent incentives and financial encouragement through lottery grants and agri-environment schemes have promoted restoration projects. A restoration programme on three contrasting habitats was carried out within Burnham Beeches NNR in southern England, using managed vs control areas to aid evaluation

Finding a good breeding site, especially for those bird species that build large nests, is a crucial element in the settlement of a new potential area. Understanding the site selection process is not only interesting from an ecological theoretical point of view, but also has strong conservation implications. How do birds assess the quality of a site? How can we manipulate that process to encourage

The Yangtze River supports rich biodiversity and provides important ecosystem services for human survival and development. Indices of the ecosystem health of the river are deteriorating and an increasing proportion of the 4,300 species is at highly depleted levels or at risk of extinction, including many rare and endemic species. The purpose of this article is to (i) introduce the current status of