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ABSTRACT Through killing and instilling fear in their prey, large terrestrial carnivores shape the structure and function of ecosystems globally. Most large carnivore species have experienced severe range and population declines due to human activities, and many are now threatened with extinction. Consequently, the impacts of these predators on food webs have been diminished or lost completely from many ecosystems. Kill rates provide a fundamental metric for understanding large carnivore ecology and assessing and comparing predation within and across ecological communities. Our systematic review of large terrestrial mammalian carnivore kill rates reveals significant positive geographic (North America, Europe, and Africa) and taxonomic (grey wolf Canis lupus, puma Puma concolor, lion Panthera leo, and Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx) bias, with most studies apparently motivated by human–carnivore conflict over access to ungulate prey and wildlife management objectives. Our current understanding of the behaviour and functional roles of many large carnivore species and populations thus remains limited. By synthesising and comparing kill rates, we show that solitary carnivores (e.g. brown bears Ursus arctos and most felids) exhibit higher per capita kill rates than social carnivores. However, ungulate predation by bears is typically limited to predation of neonates during a short period. Lower per capita kill rates by social carnivores suggests group living significantly reduces energetic demands, or, alternatively, that group‐living carnivores defend and consume a greater proportion of large prey carcasses, or may acquire more food through other means (e.g. scavenging, kleptoparasitism) than solitary hunters. Kill and consumption rates for Canidae – measured as kilograms of prey per kilogram of carnivore per day – are positively correlated with body mass, consistent with increasing energy costs associated with a cursorial hunting strategy. By contrast, ambush predators such as felids show an opposite trend, and thus the potential energetic advantage of an ambush hunting strategy for carnivores as body mass increases. Additionally, ungulate kill rates remain relatively constant across solitary felid body sizes, indicative of energetic constraints and optimal foraging. Kill rate estimates also reveal potential insights into trophic structuring within carnivore guilds, with subordinate carnivores often killing more than their larger counterparts, which may be indicative of having to cope with food losses to scavengers and dominant competitors. Subordinate carnivores may thus serve an important role in provisioning food to other trophic levels within their respective ecosystems. Importantly, kill rates also clarify misconceptions around the predatory behaviour of carnivores (e.g. spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta and wolverines Gulo gulo are often considered scavengers rather than the capable hunters that they are) and thus the potential impacts of various carnivore species on their ecological communities. Despite the importance of kill rates in understanding predator–prey interactions, their utility is not widely recognised, and insufficient research limits our ability to fully appreciate and predict the consequences of modified predation regimes, justify current management actions affecting carnivores, or inform effective conservation measures. Together with other important research on predator–prey interactions, robust kill rate studies that address the research deficiencies we highlight will provide a deeper understanding of the foraging behaviours and potential ecosystem impacts of many of the world's carnivores, thus aiding effective conservation and management actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy mobilities research has explored how policies—particularly urban development policies—spread among sites around the world, mutate along the way, and take hold in distinct contexts. Within the policy mobilities literature, there is particular attention to circulatory infrastructures, which facilitate encounters, learning, and exchange of knowledge that support the (re)production and movement of policies and "best practices." Policy mobilities scholarship thus understands policy implementation as emerging from relational assemblages of myriad actors and social processes. Drawing on assemblage theory, this work has been attentive to nonhuman objects and infrastructures, nonetheless it has given little attention to nonhuman life. This article draws on more-than-human geographies, particularly emerging work on nonhuman life and infrastructures, to incorporate nonhuman actors into an understanding of policy mobilization. We present a case study of suburban wildlife management programs in Massachusetts and discuss how human–nonhuman relationships undergird policy development, transfer, and change. Drawing insights from municipal surveys, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, we argue that nonhumans are active in the production of policy assemblages and the mobility of environmental policies. Deer, in particular, are lively actors entangled in the circulation of policies designed to manage social-ecological dynamics and processes that also include ticks, forests, bacteria, and many other nonhuman agents. Through this intervention to situate nonhuman life in policy mobilities, we highlight the political agency of nonhuman actors, the materialities of policy mobilization, and the role of nonhumans in shaping relational networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Releasing farmed mallards into the wild is a common practice in wildlife management worldwide, involving millions of birds annually, and is mainly carried out to increase hunting opportunities. Ringing and previous research show that released mallards have low survival also outside the hunting season, and that survivors may compromise migration habits, morphology, and adaptations of the wild population. Detailed local movements of released mallards have not been studied before, despite the importance of spatiotemporal patterns for understanding the impact of releases and their utility for hunting. We studied local movements in August–October of 11 wild and 44 released mallards caught in the same wetland in southern Sweden and provided with GPS tags. Wild mallards moved longer distances than farmed, over the whole diel cycle, as well as during three out of four separate periods of the day (dawn, day, and dusk). Mallards of both origins moved the longest distances during dusk and dawn, and the shortest during the night. Males and females did not differ significantly in distance moved, regardless of origin (wild versus farmed). Our study demonstrates large differences in spatiotemporal movement patterns between wild and farmed mallards. The typical day of wild mallards included movements between wetlands in the landscape, likely to foraging sites known from previous experience. However, wild mallards frequently returned to the study wetland, probably attracted by supplementary bait. On the other hand, farmed mallards seldom left the study wetland, despite the possibility of accompanying wild birds to other sites. The sedentary behavior of farmed mallards and the fact that wild birds come to join them are both beneficial for hunting purposes. Limited movements of farmed mallards, together with their low survival, could also be positive as they limit hybridization between wild and farmed mallards, as well as dispersal of nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wildlife management, differing perspectives among stakeholders generate conflicts about how to achieve disparate sustainability goals that include ecological, economic, and sociocultural dimensions. To mitigate such conflicts, decisions regarding wildlife management must be taken thoughtfully. To our knowledge, there exists no integrative modeling framework to inform these decisions, considering all dimensions of sustainability. We constructed a decision-support tool based on stakeholder workshops and a Bayesian decision network to inform management of wild ruminants in the federal state of Lower Austria. We use collaborative decision analysis to compare resource allocations while accounting for trade-offs among dimensions of sustainability. The tool is designed for application by non-technical users across diverse decision-making contexts with particular sets of wildlife management actions, objectives, and uncertainties. Our tool represents an important step toward developing and evaluating a transparent and replicable approach for mitigating wildlife-based conflicts in Europe and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth has >8 billion people. Scholarly publications number nearly 7 million annually with >1 million in the life and biomedical sciences, and ≥52 professional journals specializing in conservation, ecology, or related disciplines. The challenges of applying ecological data to conservation and wildlife management can easily become overwhelming. Herein we offer reflective perspectives about the changing face of applied knowledge and engagement from our personal employment histories as ecologists working in agency, university, and non‐governmental organization (NGO) biologist positions. We suggest natural history will always be nature's glue, but knowledge steeped mostly in muddy boots and field biology are no longer the soup du jour of our profession. In many ways, new technologies have changed data collection and the scientific questions asked. Arguably, such change is not welcomed by all, but a change in overlap across decades is needed to sustain and improve upon how the planet's biological diversity can coexist with increasingly difficult human conditions. Given that 80% of the people in the United States live in urban areas, with similar numbers internationally, a future possibility may be an even greater divide between wild nature, ecological services, and enjoyment in the field. This is disturbing. Despite fundamental scientific insights that help understand critical components of the natural world, once society loses touch with nature, what will remain? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of big game harvest is important for maintaining viable populations and providing recreational opportunities to hunters. There are numerous strategies used by management agencies to achieve these goals, but they are complicated by variation in factors that are difficult to control, such as harvest success rates. For harvest management decisions to have the desired effect on big game populations, the mechanisms affecting factors like harvest success rates need to be properly understood. We used Bayesian hierarchical survival models to explore the factors influencing spatial and temporal variation in moose (Alces alces) harvest success rates in Ontario, Canada. We estimated harvest success rates from hunter reports from 59 Wildlife Management Units from 2000–2019. Overall, harvest success rates were primarily influenced by variables under the control of management agencies, such as season length and tag allocations, but they were also affected by external factors like moose density and weather. Season length, while positively related to harvest success for shorter seasons (e.g., <25 days), exhibited limited influence for longer seasons (>25 days). Our results were largely consistent across spatial and temporal scales, with a similarly strong positive effect of moose density and negative effect of tag allocation between management units and across years. This study emphasizes the need for managers to recognize the inherent uncertainty in harvest outcomes beyond their control and the importance of open communication with hunters in achieving effective harvest management, while offering concrete pathways for influencing harvest success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insular evolution on archipelagos generates a significant proportion of global biodiversity, yet islands are among the ecosystems most sensitive to accelerating anthropogenic disturbance, introductions of non‐native species, and emerging pathogens, among other conservation challenges. The Alexander and Haida Gwaii archipelagos along North America's North Pacific Coast support a disproportionate number of endemic taxa compared to other high‐latitude terrestrial ecosystems. In this region, endemics in Canada are explicitly protected, but in the United States, endemics have been operationally ignored. We reviewed regional research on terrestrial mammals and endemics from 2000–2022 to guide wildlife management. Elevated regional endemism is due to a combination of deep and shallow temporal processes (i.e., long‐term refugial isolation vs. recent colonization). With adequate sampling, genomic analyses are well‐suited to identifying nuanced patterns of divergence and endemism, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of regional diversity. We identified 18 mammalian endemics in Southeast Alaska, USA, at varying taxonomic scales, but research effort has significant taxonomic biases and sampling infrastructure remains inadequate. Of the 66 terrestrial and aquatic mammal species in Southeast Alaska, only 55% are represented by ≥10 archived samples over the last 2 decades. Across taxa, major spatial and temporal sampling gaps limit interpretations of wildlife responses to changing environmental conditions. The Tongass National Forest is spread across an island archipelago, and climate change is projected to have disproportionate impacts on island endemics worldwide. In this case, the United States Forest Service is not closely monitoring endemic taxa, as was required by the Tongass Land Management Plan in 1997. Our review underscores a need for increased consideration of how endemism can be incorporated into land and wildlife management across the Alexander Archipelago. Moving forward, we encourage state and federal agencies, Indigenous communities, and international collaborators to continue to partner with natural history biorepositories to ensure strategic wildlife sampling infrastructure is built and made accessible to the broader scientific community as part of the land management process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel genomic tools can yield information important for the conservation of threatened species. Remains of hunted individuals may provide important genomic information; however, the ethics of using remains of hunted animals for conservation research, especially remains of trophy‐hunted animals, is controversial. While there are ongoing political discussions considering blanket bans on the import and use of trophy‐hunted specimens, the consequences of such bans for conservation science have not been broadly discussed. Should conservation science accept samples acquired through legal trophy hunting? We investigate the ethical and practical considerations surrounding the use of biological samples acquired through legal trophy hunting. We propose that trophy‐hunted specimens should not be banned from conservation genomic research. Specimens from hunting could contribute to science and conservation genomic monitoring of wildlife and provide information for biodiversity management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American black bear, Ursus americanus , is a widespread and ecologically important species in North America. In California, the black bear plays an important role in a variety of ecosystems and serves as an important species for recreational hunting. While research suggests that the populations in California are currently healthy, continued monitoring is critical, with genomic analyses providing an important surveillance tool. Here we report a high-quality, near chromosome-level genome assembly from a U. americanus sample from California. The primary assembly has a total length of 2.5 Gb contained in 316 scaffolds, a contig N50 of 58.9 Mb, a scaffold N50 of 67.6 Mb, and a BUSCO completeness score of 96%. This U. americanus genome assembly will provide an important resource for the targeted management of black bear populations in California, with the goal of achieving an appropriate balance between the recreational value of black bears and the maintenance of viable populations. The high quality of this genome assembly will also make it a valuable resource for comparative genomic analyses among black bear populations and among bear species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, spatial distributions and densities of ungulates have been increasing, triggering both negative and positive feelings. Ecosystem-based and collaborative approaches to wildlife management have been introduced to, among other things, consider the perspectives of the local public. Consequently, it becomes necessary to understand the public's emotional appraisals and feelings toward the presence of moose and other ungulates. We studied four socio-ecological contexts in Sweden. Statistical analyses of a postal questionnaire (N = 1111) showed that negative feelings were weak and positive feelings were modest across all settings. In particular, wildlife value orientation of mutualism and perceptions of moose and other ungulates as supporting recreation opportunities sustained positive feelings. Currently there seems to be little need among the public to cope with negative implications of ungulates. Management may benefit from informing about adequate strategies and building social trust if negative impacts of ungulates were to become salient to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the potential for wildlife habitat and public recreation on private lands in Ohio. Private land accounts for 80% of wildlife habitat in the United States and is relied upon by 85% of hunters. The study surveyed landowners in the Scioto watershed to assess their preferences for conservation and recreation on their land. The results showed that there were differences in the species seen on CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) land compared to other watershed land, and that CREP landowners were less likely to allow public recreation on their land. The article suggests that long-term maintenance and additional interventions may be necessary to ensure continued access to private lands for conservation and recreation. [Extracted from the article]

Government agencies and landowners use a variety of lethal methods to reduce invasive wild pig populations and resulting agricultural damages. To provide decision-makers with information regarding Alabama farmers' experiences with wild pigs and their preferences for management actions, we surveyed Alabama Farmers Federation members in 2020. We found that wild pigs were commonly present on livestock, timber, and crop production acreage, but wild pig damages and costs were much more common among crop producers. Respondents' wildlife acceptance capacity for wild pigs was low and all lethal control methods were considered acceptable by most respondents, particularly those performed by landowners. While there is likely a consensus among Alabama farmers that wild pig numbers need to be reduced within the state, managers should continue to build support by working closely with crop producers and by addressing potential concerns regarding the implementation of methods by government agencies in future initiatives and outreach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a neurodegenerative disease that threatens deer population health and management. This qualitative study explored processors' perception of CWD risks, and the solutions or barriers they experience regarding managing these risks. Processors can play a critical role preventing consumption of CWD-positive venison by keeping CWD-positive deer out of facilities and implementing practices that minimize the risk of cross-contamination should CWD-positive deer enter facilities. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews of wild game processors found that they are concerned about CWD but have not altered processing practices, believing that most of the responsibilities for preventing CWD spread lie with hunters. Processors suggested several practices that state regulatory agencies can implement to aid in efforts to ensure that no CWD-positive deer enter facilities. This research may inform state agencies' CWD communication efforts and identify actionable policies that better ensure processors can help prevent the consumption of CWD-positive venison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study investigates how "gender is done" within Swedish wildlife management by identifying prevailing gender norms, and how gender norms can be challenged from a norm-critical perspective, in order to promote women's participation. The basis for the study is an ongoing evaluation of the Swedish Hunters' Association training initiative to increase women's participation in moose management groups. Three main norm categories are identified: performance; social interaction; and hunting as a lifestyle. Recommendations for continued gender equality work include active leadership in gender equality issues, a review of potentially excluding structures, promoting female mentors and networks, and the use of formal and transparent recruitment procedures. An understanding of norms affecting women's participation (or nonparticipation) in wildlife management is fundamental to design effective training, recruitment and nomination strategies in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hair hormone analysis has received increasing attention in the fields of wildlife management and conservation over the last decade. However, few studies focused on sex steroid hormones, even though hair sex steroid hormone analysis has the potential to provide information on an individual's reproductive health, leading to a better understanding of animal reproductive biology and the assessment of individual and population health. Here, we tested the assay validation and examined whether hair progesterone concentration (HPC) differs between different sexes and age classes in the Asian black bear, Ursus thibetanus. We also investigated the effects of reproductive condition, age, and body condition index (BCI) on HPC to determine the utility of hair progesterone analysis in bears. The assay validation was reported in our study. We found a significantly higher HPC in adult females than in juvenile females and juvenile and adult males. In addition, we found no effects of age and BCI on HPC but a significant positive effect of reproductive condition, as the HPC in breeding adult females was significantly higher than in nonbreeding adult females. These results suggest that hair progesterone analysis has the potential to evaluate the reproductive condition of Asian black bears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulated hunting of large carnivores as a management tool is a contentious topic. We report the results of two public mail‐back surveys conducted using stratified random sampling to assess Colorado residents' opinions about hunting mountain lions (ML; n = 462) and black bears (BB; n = 458). After weighting the samples to be representative of state population demographics (i.e., age, gender, level of urbanization, geographical region, and hunting participation), we found that the approval of legal and regulated hunting of MLs and BBs was polarized and varied among stakeholder groups and hunting purposes. Most residents, to varying extents, disapproved of hunting for trophy (ML 77.9%; BB 85.6%), hide or fur (80.6%; 75.2%), and recreation (62.7%; 67.0%). Over three‐fourths disapproved of hunting MLs with dogs (88.2%) and electronic calls (75.2%). Moreover, hierarchical regression results revealed that men, hunters, and those who identified as Republican or Republican‐leaning showed more support for hunting. Also, mutualism wildlife value orientation was negatively related to hunting approval, whereas domination value orientation was positively linked. Understanding public perspectives on these issues can enable the social context of wildlife management to be considered in decision‐making, thereby improving large carnivore management outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome‐wide technologies open up new possibilities to clarify questions on genetic structure and phylogeographic history of taxa previously studied with microsatellite loci and mitochondrial sequences. Here, we used 736 individual red deer (Cervus elaphus) samples genotyped at 35,701 single nucleotide polymorphism loci (SNPs) to assess the population structure of the species throughout Europe. The results identified 28 populations, with higher degrees of genetic distinction in peripheral compared to mainland populations. Iberian red deer show high genetic differentiation, with lineages in Western and Central Iberia maintaining their distinctiveness, which supports separate refugial ranges within Iberia along with little recent connection between Iberian and the remaining Western European populations. The Norwegian population exhibited the lowest variability and the largest allele frequency differences from mainland European populations, compatible with a history of bottlenecks and drift during post‐glacial colonization from southern refugia. Scottish populations showed high genetic distance from the mainland but high levels of diversity. Hybrid zones were found between Eastern and Western European lineages in Central Europe as well as in the Pyrenees, where red deer from France are in close contact with Iberian red deer. Anthropogenic restocking has promoted the Pyrenean contact zone, admixture events in populations on the Isle of Rum and in the Netherlands, and at least partly the admixture of the two main lineages in central‐eastern Europe. Our analysis enabled detailed resolution of population structure of a large mammal widely distributed throughout Europe and contributes to resolving the evolutionary history, which can also inform conservation and management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies highlighted the potential of COVID-19 to reshape existing models of wildlife management, empirical research on this topic has been scarce, particularly in Europe. We investigated the potential of COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the ongoing decline in an aging population of recreational hunters in Italy. Namely, we modelled spatiotemporal trends between 2011 and 2021 in the number of recreational hunters in 50 Italian provinces with a varying incidence of COVID-19, and temporally delayed waves of infection. Compared to projections from 2011–2019 data, we detected a lower number of hunters who enrolled for the hunting season, both in 2020 (14 provinces) and in 2021 (15 provinces). The provinces with the highest incidence of COVID-19 in the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions were also those experiencing the most marked decrease in hunting participation. Our findings revealed that a wildlife management system based on recreational hunting can be rapidly destabilized by epidemics and their associated public health measures, particularly when the average age of hunters is high, like in Italy. Considered the high incidence attained by COVID-19 in many European countries, where hunters are pivotal for the management of large ungulates and where they were already declining before the pandemic, our findings call for further large-scale research about the impact of COVID-19 on hunting participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental goal in population genetics is to understand how variation is arrayed over natural landscapes. From first principles we know that common features such as heterogeneous population densities and barriers to dispersal should shape genetic variation over space, however there are few tools currently available that can deal with these ubiquitous complexities. Geographically referenced single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data are increasingly accessible, presenting an opportunity to study genetic variation across geographic space in myriad species. We present a new inference method that uses geo‐referenced SNPs and a deep neural network to estimate spatially heterogeneous maps of population density and dispersal rate. Our neural network trains on simulated input and output pairings, where the input consists of genotypes and sampling locations generated from a continuous space population genetic simulator, and the output is a map of the true demographic parameters. We benchmark our tool against existing methods and discuss qualitative differences between the different approaches; in particular, our program is unique because it infers the magnitude of both dispersal and density as well as their variation over the landscape, and it does so using SNP data. Similar methods are constrained to estimating relative migration rates, or require identity‐by‐descent blocks as input. We applied our tool to empirical data from North American grey wolves, for which it estimated mostly reasonable demographic parameters, but was affected by incomplete spatial sampling. Genetic based methods like ours complement other, direct methods for estimating past and present demography, and we believe will serve as valuable tools for applications in conservation, ecology and evolutionary biology. An open source software package implementing our method is available from https://github.com/kr‐colab/mapNN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: How people feel about large carnivores can be critical in determining the success of conservation efforts. In some cases, people's attitudes towards large carnivores are more influenced by policies dictating how people can interact with those species rather than the species themselves. Yet, the connections between policy and tolerance of large carnivores remain unclear. To better understand these connections, we surveyed residents of northern Wisconsin, USA, about wolves Canis lupus and wolf policies. We grouped survey respondents based on their general attitudes towards wolves and assessed whether respondents expected their tolerance of wolves to improve under different policy scenarios. Hunters, people with generally negative or ambivalent attitudes towards wolves, and people with wildlife conflict experience were more likely to expect their tolerance to improve under policy scenarios that allowed for the regulated killing of wolves under certain circumstances. However, we also observed important nuances in the relationship between tolerance of wolves and wolf policy. Large carnivore conservationists must balance conservation objectives with the preferences of local people. The fulcrum of this balance may shift over time as local preferences or species status change. Thus, monitoring local policy preferences may be just as important as carnivore population monitoring. Success in large carnivore conservation often hinges on local residents' tolerance towards those species. Feelings of powerlessness and frustration with wildlife policies can lead to intolerance of the species. In extreme cases, intolerance may manifest in poaching. Thus, changes in policy may influence the tolerance of wildlife. To examine the connections between policy and tolerance, we examined how policy scenarios influenced anticipated changes in tolerance to wolves Canis lupus. We administered a survey in 2015–2016 in the core wolf range within northern Wisconsin, USA. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, we clustered respondents into groups based on their current tolerance of wolves. We evaluated the behavioral intentions of the clusters and examined the influence of policy scenarios on respondents' anticipated changes in tolerance. Finally, using an information-theoretic model selection framework, we assessed the effects of tolerance clusters and demographic factors. The respondents were clustered into three clusters relative to their current tolerance towards wolves: positive, ambivalent, and negative. Each cluster exhibited significantly different behavioral intentions and anticipated changes in tolerance for all scenarios. In all scenarios, respondents who already held positive attitudes towards wolves were significantly less likely to report expected changes in tolerance toward wolves following changes in wolf management. However, respondents who held ambivalent or negative attitudes towards wolves were significantly more likely to report expected changes in tolerance towards wolves following changes in wolf management. Regarding a regulated wolf hunting and trapping season, we observed a Simpson's Paradox, wherein, when examined in aggregate, no clear pattern emerged, but when examined at the cluster level, important and intuitive patterns emerged. Our demographic model results suggest that policy changes resulting in greater state management authority over wolves, especially authority to implement certain forms of legal killing of wolves, could result in significant increases in tolerance for individuals who identify as hunters, have lost livestock to a predator, or are currently ambivalent or negative towards wolves. Our work elucidates the nuanced relationship between tolerance of wildlife and wildlife policy and identifies a potential ecological fallacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research and media attention has revolved around the environmental impacts of growing global human populations. While the conclusions remain contested, these assessments have largely neglected the ecological and conservation impacts of other key regional processes such as declining populations, ageing demographics and rural‐to‐urban migration. These demographic shifts are increasingly prevalent across many regions of the world, and will have significant direct effects on natural resource management and biodiversity conservation by altering individual consumption patterns, land use, land stewardship and natural disturbances. Given that the scientific foundation around this topic is still developing, we first present an initial examination of some of the key environmental impacts, aiming to elevate awareness and encourage further research in these areas. Beyond the ecological implications, declining populations, ageing demographics and rural‐to‐urban migration carry intricate social and cultural consequences that can affect people and nature interactions. Ecological studies that focus on single dimensions of biodiversity or ecosystem responses often overlook these complexities. Demographic changes are likely to be accompanied by shifts in environmental attitudes and connections with nature, all of which will influence our capacity to adapt to or mitigate environmental changes. Finally, environmental policy and practice frameworks are potentially unprepared and their success could be sensitive to these socio‐cultural and demographic shifts. Synthesis and applications: This brief overview demonstrates that population decline, ageing and rural‐to‐urban migration can have extensive implications for biodiversity and the socio‐cultural relationships between people and nature. However, the significance, dynamics and consequences of these processes are still largely overlooked. We believe that these changes warrant specific attention from the research, policy and practice communities, as understanding the outcomes and feedbacks associated with depopulation, ageing populations, loss of culture and tradition and ecological change could aid in designing landscapes and informing management that enhances both human well‐being and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of wild boars as beasts of the Anthropocene by examining their physicality and the policies focused on controlling their populations. Considering the labeling and perception of the species as a beast, the study investigates the sociopolitical implications of such categorization. Specifically, it examines how wild boars have been described and portrayed as intimidating, dangerous, and threatening within Uruguay’s hunting and conservation communities. By analyzing the processes that frame the lives of wild boars and render them legitimate targets of eradication, this article sheds light on the semiotics and naming of wild boars’ changing corporeality throughout history. It reveals how the hunting community motivates their practices by portraying themselves as guardians of biodiversity and agricultural production rather than mere leisure hunters. I argue that the notion of beastliness is instrumental in wildlife management strategies employed for wild boars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the mid-1990s to the present, we assessed correlations of Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) hunter cooperator reports from seven states to Breeding Bird Survey, Christmas Bird Count, and eBird data to determine which program's trends best reflected patterns seen in hunter-sourced data that has historically been used for monitoring purposes. Christmas Bird Count data most closely reflected state-wide long-term trends in cooperator flush rates. Using an analytical approach that accounts for sources of bias and examines abundance at a finer spatial scale, we observed a pattern of decline across our study area. In recent decades, Ruffed Grouse populations in the eastern United States are thought to have suffered persistent declines due to a combination of young forest habitat loss and West Nile virus mortality. Declining hunter participation in much of the species' range has highlighted the need to identify harvest-independent indices of grouse abundance to enable continued monitoring of regional long-term trends. Recent analytical methods can better capture complex trends in population dynamics, account for biases inherent to community-sourced data, and potentially inform designs of future survey efforts aimed at fulfilling priority monitoring and research needs. Comparable results across varying statistical methodologies suggest that our inferences are robust, demonstrating that Christmas Bird Count data can be used to inform regional monitoring efforts for grouse and other cryptic game bird populations, but require careful consideration of program designs and protocols to identify and implement data appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hunter is the key actor in unsustainable hunting of bushmeat in African forests and his behavior is driven by socioeconomic factors among others. However, not much is known about the effectiveness of incentive‐based conservation actions providing socioeconomic benefits to reduce hunting. This study, therefore, examined how changes in the socioeconomic situation of hunters brought about by reciprocal environmental agreements affects their hunting behavior. During a project implemented near the Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon), we recorded changes in socioeconomic characteristics of hunters for 15 months spanning 3 years. Bushmeat offtake and hunting effort parameters were also recorded. Comparisons of the evolution of these parameters over the years were made between hunters who signed the agreements and those who did not. We found that signatory hunters were older and had larger households than non‐signatories, and they earned more income from cocoa sales. Although both groups of hunters had similar characteristics regarding hunting behavior at the start of the project, signatory hunters harvested less bushmeat at the end of project. More time was spent in hunting by non‐signatory hunters compared to signatories who hunted less at the end of our monitoring period. Signatory hunters hunted less with firearms than non‐signatories, and they consumed more and sold less of their catches compared to non‐signatories. This study underlines the importance of reciprocal environmental agreements as an incentive‐based conservation scheme that can reduce hunting pressure. These findings show that economic incentives provided to individuals through reciprocal environment agreements can promote livelihood paradigm shifts, alleviating poverty, decreasing dependence on natural resources and benefiting animal conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative conservation approaches are urgently needed to balance biodiversity conservation with human development. Safeguarding elephant populations often involves active management, leading to direct intentional, direct unintentional, and indirect consequences for animals, people, and ecosystems. Drawing from One Health and One Welfare principles, our study introduces a multicriteria framework for developing conservation strategies that enhance well-being across dimensions. This approach establishes priorities, acceptability zones, and One Well-being scores that guide decision making toward optimal outcomes. We applied our One Well-being framework to evaluate 12 elephant management interventions currently or historically used in South Africa. Examining data from 3306 instances of these interventions, including on-the-ground data, we assessed their relative impact on environmental, human, and animal well-being. Our analysis identified 250 consequences of these interventions, categorized as 58 direct intentional, 127 direct unintentional, and 65 indirect. Although most direct intentional consequences were beneficial (93.4%), the direct unintentional and indirect consequences were predominantly harmful (96.9% and 75.4%, respectively). Although most interventions improved environmental well-being, their consequences for animal and human well-being were less positive. This highlights a conflict among the three well-being dimensions, underscoring the importance of incorporating human and animal well-being into elephant management strategies. Recognizing the interconnected nature of these dimensions and aiming for multiple, mutually reinforcing gains is imperative. This iterative process helps address social-ecological vulnerabilities and risks while advocating for ethical conservation practices, fostering multidisciplinary collaboration, and garnering broader support for conservation efforts. Our approach aligns with global goals for sustainable and equitable wildlife management outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions among predators can have cascading impacts on communities and ecosystems. These interactions often occur around carrion, where the carrion provides a food reward, but also a risk of encountering other, potentially dominant, predators. Understanding how predators balance risk and reward at carrion, and how perceived risk changes in response to carcass origins and conditions, provides valuable insight into intraguild interactions. We investigated Coyote (Canis latrans) behavior at carrion simulated as cache sites treated with Cougar (Puma concolor) scent versus carrion used as control sites to better understand how Coyotes assess risk while feeding on carrion. Coyotes displayed similar behavior between sites treated and untreated with Cougar scent, suggesting that the presence of Cougar scent did not alter perceived risk by Coyotes in our study. Instead, Coyote behavior responded to carcass age, elevation, and whether avian scavengers had visited the carcass. Coyotes spent more time feeding, more time on camera, and touched carcasses quicker as carcass age increased. Avian scavengers appeared to compete with Coyotes, and while the presence of avian scavengers reduced time to carcass detection by Coyotes, it also decreased time spent feeding. These results suggest that carcass condition is a more important indicator of risk and reward than the presence of dominant predator scent to Coyotes. Predator scent may be an unreliable cue of immediate predator presence. Alternatively, all carcasses may be risky because dominant predators also scavenge carrion, creating similar risk regardless of previous visitation by dominant predators. These results provide insights into predator interactions and can also inform the use of scent cues in wildlife management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring population trends is pivotal to effective wildlife conservation and management. However, wildlife managers often face many challenges when analyzing time series of census data due to heterogeneities in sampling methodology, strategy, or frequency. We present a three‐step method for modeling trends from time series of count data obtained through multiple census methods (aerial or ground census and expert estimates). First, we design a heuristic for constructing credible intervals for all types of animal counts including those which come with no precision measure. Then, we define conversion factors for rendering aerial and ground counts comparable and provide values for broad classes of animals from an extant series of parallel aerial and ground censuses. Lastly, we construct a Bayesian model that takes the reconciled counts as input and estimates the relative growth rates between successive dates while accounting for their precisions. Importantly, we bound the rate of increase to account for the demographic potential of a species. We propose a flow chart for constructing credible intervals for various types of animal counts. We provide estimates of conversion factors for 5 broad classes of species. We describe the Bayesian model for calculating trends, annual rates of population increase, and the associated credible intervals. We develop a bespoke R CRAN package, popbayes, for implementing all the calculations that take the raw counts as input. It produces consistent and reliable estimates of population trends and annual rates of increase. Several examples from real populations of large African mammals illustrate the different features of our method. The approach is well‐suited for analyzing population trends for heterogeneous time series and allows a principled use of all the available historical census data. The method is general and flexible and applicable to various other animal species besides African large mammals. It can readily be adapted to test predictions of various hypotheses about drivers of rates of population increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the significance of Indigenous research and co-stewardship of wildlife, particularly in the United States and Canada. It acknowledges the vast amount of land managed by Indigenous groups, which holds valuable natural resources. The article emphasizes the value of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in wildlife management and conservation, when combined with Western science. It introduces a special issue on Indigenous research and co-stewardship facilitated by The Wildlife Society and the Journal of Wildlife Management, highlighting the integration of IK and Western Science. The text also discusses challenges in publishing IK, including issues of Indigenous data sovereignty and the need for privacy. It emphasizes the importance of building trust and respecting Indigenous culture and perspectives when establishing relationships with Indigenous groups. The authors raise questions about the publication process for IK, including citation methods and authorship considerations, and stress the need for flexibility and collaboration to incorporate IK into scientific journals. [Extracted from the article]

Various aspects of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) continue to be integrated in the wildlife conservation and management discourse; however, there may be challenges in cross‐cultural understanding of the complex social‐ecological systems that make up the fabric of TEK. In a 2‐phased approach, we implemented research to better understand an Indigenous perspective of human–wildlife relationship. In phase 1, we conducted 16 semi‐structured interviews with Yurok and Yurok‐affiliated people about the relationship of Yurok people with wildlife and Yurok community hunting values. In phase 2, we conducted a secondary analysis of a subset of 10 interviews from phase 1. Permissions were obtained from the Yurok Tribe, under the project's previously established Institutional Review Board process, to access archived interview data for subsequent research relevant to the original research goals. We identified the following themes: Yurok conceptualizations of wildlife, cultural understanding of animals as people, animal harvesting protocols, cultural guidelines that maintain wildlife populations, and consequences for not following cultural guidelines as related to hunting. We explored how the terms wildlife and wildlife management are difficult to interpret within the context of Yurok TEK, as wildlife, in the same meaning as Western wildlife management, does not exist in the Yurok cultural paradigm. A fundamental, multifaceted aspect of the Yurok–wildlife relationship through a TEK context is the concept of animals as people, which we discuss in relation to Yurok spirituality. As Indigenous Knowledge continues to be recognized in scientific discourse, there may be opportunities to reconceptualize, Indigenize, and shift approaches to research, wildlife and wildlife habitat management, and conservation. Results of our study may support Yurok Tribe wildlife managers, Western‐trained biologists, and others in their considerations of Indigenous Knowledge in wildlife management and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), described as the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the ecosystem, has always been part of Indigenous communities and their daily lives; however, TEK has progressively been incorporated into the academic and professional field of North American wildlife management and ecology despite its historical domination by Western scientific attitudes, knowledge, and methods. The objective of this note is to provide an overview of such progression from the standpoint of the first author, an Indigenous professional trained in a Western scientific paradigm. More specifically, the paper categorizes the history and the current state of TEK in the wildlife management profession while providing insights for the future of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within governance agencies, academia, and communities alike, there are increasing calls to recognize the value and importance of culture within social‐ecological systems and to better implement Indigenous sciences in research, policy, and management. Efforts thus far have raised questions about the best ethical practices to do so. Engaging with plural worldviews and perspectives on their own terms reflects cultural evolutionary processes driving paradigm shifts in 3 fundamental areas of natural resource management: conceptualizations of natural resources and ecosystems, processes of public participation and governance, and relationships with Indigenous Peoples and communities with differing worldviews. We broadly describe evolution toward these paradigm shifts in fish and wildlife management. We then use 3 case studies to illustrate the ongoing cultural evolution of relationships between wildlife management and Indigenous practices within specific historical and social‐ecological contexts and reflect on common barriers to appropriately engaging with Indigenous paradigms and lifeways. Our case studies highlight 3 priorities that can assist the field of wildlife management in achieving the changes necessary to bridge incommensurable worldviews: acknowledging and reconciling historical legacies and their continued power dynamics as part of social‐ecological systems, establishing governance arrangements that move beyond attempts to extract cultural information from communities to integrate Indigenous Knowledges into dominant management paradigms, and engaging in critical reflexivity and reciprocal, accountable relationship building. Implementing these changes will take time and a commitment to processes that may initially feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar but have potential to be transformative. Ethical and culturally appropriate methods to include plural and multivocal perspectives and worldviews on their own terms are needed to transform wildlife management to achieve more effective and just management outcomes for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans and wildlife increasingly share urban space, which elevates the risk of negative interactions. Management efforts conventionally focus on controlling species that are considered problematic, but polarization in affected communities' perceptions and values may pose a greater problem for management in cities where ideas about preferred human–wildlife interactions vary greatly. This study uses Q‐method to investigate what type of human‐baboon relations are desirable among residents from seven areas in Cape Town regularly visited by chacma baboons. Two main perspectives emerged, each is motivated by a distinct set of values: 'Live with Baboons' is focused on positive outcomes for nature and society, recognizing humans' responsibility to mitigate negative interactions; whereas 'Control and Manage Baboons' views nature as something that should be controlled in order to maintain a stable and safe human society. Despite differences, the two perspectives also agree in rejecting abusive language toward baboons, recognizing that contexts differ and require different solutions, and acknowledging that resolving conflict requires collaboration. This has important bearing for recent public engagement processes led by local authorities to review management strategies. Residents' values and perceptions are manifestations of different lived realities and actively engaging with them can help to nuance dichotomies in the baboon discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries over the last few decades, arable fields dominate agricultural landscapes, leading to very intensive land-use practices. This seems to be the main cause of population declines for numerous farmland species, including the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778). The Research Institute for Animal Production (National Agricultural and Food Centre—NPPC, Luzianky, Slovakia) has been engaged in a long monitoring project (a project currently running), collecting certain indicators of brown hare population dynamics during hunting season from 1987 to 2023 in the Slovak Danubian Lowland. In the same macro-area (Čiližská Radvaň and Lehnice), a study was conducted on the influence of permanent semi-natural vegetation in relation to recruitment, population density and production. The entire monitored period was aggregated into 5-year intervals (for a total of seven time intervals), with the aim of analyzing the brown hare population dynamics. Spring hare density in the Danubian Lowland is currently 20.8 hares/km2, with harvests of 4.6 hares/km2. During the monitoring period, bag animals have been examined following the regular hunting operations for the purpose of age determination (weight of eye lenses), sex ratio and productivity. There was a large positive effect of set-aside with special mixtures created for hares in large-scale farmed agrarian landscapes on brown hare density, bag and recruitment. In-model hunting grounds with such set-asides increased the spring stock by 25%, bag by 100% and recruitment by 20%. This study reveals that the management of European brown hare is not sustainable in the Slovak Danubian Lowland, and the population is decreasing. This is proven through the decline in harvest brown hares and by population dynamic parameters. Our data suggest that improvements in the habitat quality of arable landscapes by the adoption of permanent semi-natural vegetation may be more effective in the increase in the brown hare population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few landscapes on earth remain free of human‐modification, which may influence resource selection in wildlife. To investigate the effects of anthropic pressure on wild boar (Sus scrofa) and explore management implications, we studied how diel resource selection of the species' main life stages changed with spatial variations of human access (e.g., for recreation), temporal changes in hunting pressure, and habitat type. Using 206,461 hourly GPS‐locations of 15 males, 11 females with dependent young, and 17 other females from south‐western Germany, we found anthropic pressure influenced resource selection more than ecological factors. All boars were more likely to select for low human‐access areas than high human‐access areas, regardless of habitat. Hunting pressure was most avoided by females with dependent piglets, followed by males and other females. Since both hunting activity and general human access affected resource selection, they should be considered simultaneously in wildlife management and conservation. We suggest the further establishment of wildlife reserves that are inaccessible to people where boar may remain more localized, thereby reducing the risk of disease transmission, and boar hunting to focus on open lands and refuge boundaries to reduce crop damage. This may also benefit overall human‐wildlife coexistence, animal welfare, and biodiversity conservation in anthropized environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to slow biodiversity loss have ushered in an era of proactive conservation for rare species, or species that have any combination of low relative abundance, high habitat specificity, and limited geographic range. Approaches to wildlife management and conservation were often developed for more abundant, generalist species, and frequently do not translate well to rare species. Conservation for rare species therefore requires adapting knowledge, action and inquiry tools for common species to rare species. We therefore present 10 lessons for adapting conservation tools to rare species, each with advice to implement the lessons. Several themes emerge from these lessons. Information scarcity necessitates high standards of information for rare species. Missing rare species information can be complemented with multiple forms of knowledge, particularly when the need for conservation action precludes additional data collection. Investment in depth (over breadth) of information for individuals of rare species can provide alternatives to population trend, which has lower reliability for rare species. Natural history documentation can improve rare species conservation strategies. Finally, curiosity‐driven inquiry can inspire rare species conservation innovation. We hope providing guidance that addresses challenges for rare species will help others bridge the gap between common wildlife approaches and proactive rare species conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding whether hunting mortality is additive to or compensated by other mortality sources is at the heart of managing harvested populations. Long‐lived species are expected to exhibit hunting mortality additive to other sources of mortality, making them ideal candidates for population management through sport harvest. Previous studies on these processes have focussed on density‐dependent natural mortality compensating for hunting mortality, but when harvest occurs in distinct periods of the year, heterogeneity in hunting vulnerability between individuals could also lead to compensatory mortality between these periods. We explore this new idea using the case of the greater snow goose (Anser caerulescens atlantica), a harvested species whose population became overabundant in the late 20th century. To control this population, wildlife agencies liberalised hunting regulations with unprecedented actions such as special hunting seasons implemented in spring 1999 in Canada and in winter 2009 in the USA. To determine the relative impact of each measure on survival, we estimated survival of adult geese on a seasonal basis using 30 years of capture‐mark‐reencounter data in a joint live‐and‐dead‐encounter multievent model. We also used this quasi‐experimental set‐up to evaluate possible compensation in hunting mortality between seasons. We found that both special hunting seasons decreased goose survival in the seasons and periods in which they were implemented. However, survival increased during the spring hunting season after the establishment of the special winter hunting season in the USA in 2009. There was a negative relationship between annual spring and winter mortalities, suggesting that the increase in hunting mortality in winter was compensated by a reduction in spring mortality after 2009. Synthesis and applications: To our knowledge, we report the first documented instance of hunting mortality in one season being compensated by a reduction in hunting mortality in a subsequent season. We suggest that heterogeneity in hunting vulnerability among individuals, possibly linked to the presence of juveniles, may explain this phenomenon. A better knowledge of seasonal patterns and relationships between mortality components is needed to improve our understanding of population dynamics and management of harvested populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of endangered primates often relies on data on population dynamics and health obtained from individuals captured with baited traps. This could increase the risk of injury or predation by attracting competitors and predators to the baited locations. It also can lead to unforeseen interactions of ecological significance among nontarget species. We evaluated these hypotheses by monitoring visits by multiple species to capture platforms for endangered golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). We placed camera traps on ten platforms baited with bananas resulting in more than 1500 species records. We calculated species richness and temporal patterns of visitation overlap among lion tamarins, predators, and competitor species. We also fitted a lion tamarin group with a GPS telemetry transmitter to assess whether movements toward and visits to the platform occurred more than expected by chance. Thirteen mammals and 12 bird species visited the platforms. There was high temporal overlap, albeit with peaks at different times, with the tayra (Eira barbara)—a main predator. Introduced hybrid marmosets (Callithrix spp.) were present on the platforms in 42% of visits by lion tamarins, and we recorded fights between the two species. There was significant temporal overlap between lion tamarins and capuchin monkeys. The lion tamarin visitation rate to platforms did not differ from random locations, nor did they show significant recursive behavior. Lion tamarins were vigilant in 90% of platform visits and emitted mild alarm calls, mobbing calls, and food calls. Their vocal output increased when marmosets were on the platforms. We suggest that lion tamarins consider the platforms an attractive, albeit risky, food resource. Baited platforms attract species beyond the target species and create conditions for unintended potentially negative effects on multiple species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunting has a long tradition in human evolutionary history and remains a common leisure activity or an important source of food. Herein, we first briefly review the literature on the demographic consequences of hunting and associated analytical methods. We then address the question of potential selective hunting and its possible genetic/evolutionary consequences. Birds have historically been popular models for demographic studies, and the huge amount of census and ringing data accumulated over the last century has paved the way for research about the demographic effects of harvesting. By contrast, the literature on the evolutionary consequences of harvesting is dominated by studies on mammals (especially ungulates) and fish. In these taxa, individuals selected for harvest often have particular traits such as large body size or extravagant secondary sexual characters (e.g. antlers, horns, etc.). Our review shows that targeting individuals according to such genetically heritable traits can exert strong selective pressures and alter the evolutionary trajectory of populations for these or correlated traits. Studies focusing on the evolutionary consequences of hunting in birds are extremely rare, likely because birds within populations appear much more similar, and do not display individual differences to the same extent as many mammals and fishes. Nevertheless, even without conscious choice by hunters, there remains the potential for selection through hunting in birds, for example by genetically inherited traits such as personality or pace‐of‐life. We emphasise that because so many bird species experience high hunting pressure, the possible selective effect of harvest in birds and its evolutionary consequences deserves far more attention, and that hunting may be one major driver of bird evolutionary trajectories that should be carefully considered in wildlife management schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescribed burning is the primary method used to reduce wildfire risk in a range of ecosystems globally. Knowledge of how animal populations respond to prescribed burns is essential for designing fuel management plans that are sensitive to ecological values. We conducted a before–after, control‐impact experiment in the temperate jarrah forest ecosystem of south‐western Australia to examine how reptiles respond to season of burning (spring or autumn) and time since burning (0–5 years). Through pitfall trapping at 10 survey grids over 7 years, we captured 1808 reptiles from 22 species. Bayesian mixed effects models revealed that six of the eight species analysed showed either a decrease or increase in capture rate at burnt compared to unburnt sites, and most of these effects only occurred within the first 2 years post fire. Species richness showed a weak negative response to one autumn burn and no relationship with time since fire. Fire effects were more common in autumn compared to spring burns, which is likely a reflection of differing fire severities. These results suggest that prescribed burning can temporarily reduce habitat suitability and abundance for some species, particularly those that rely on leaf litter for shelter and foraging. Our findings emphasise the dynamic nature of reptile responses to prescribed burns and underscore the importance of considering both fire seasonality and recency of burning in wildlife management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behaviour of vertebrate pests, such as invasive species and nuisance native animals, towards control devices present a major challenge for wildlife managers. Physical devices, such as live capture or kill‐traps, serve as essential management tools, yet the efficacy of these devices can be compromised when some individuals fail to engage with devices, risking the failure of an entire management operation. A more nuanced understanding of how behavioural variability within target populations influences interactions with different device types is needed to improve the detectability of recalcitrant individuals that fail to engage with devices and are subsequently missed by research and management activities. We tested the behavioural responses of 28 wild‐caught stoats Mustela erminea, a highly successful invader in Aotearoa New Zealand, to three devices representing a range of styles commonly used for mesopredator research and management (box trap, tunnel trap and head‐up trap). We assessed the influence of stoat personality, sex and device type on susceptibility to devices (probability and latency to trigger) and found all had independent and interactive effects. In general, stoats which were shyer, less active, less exploratory and less neophiliac (low attraction to novelty) took significantly longer to trigger devices and had significantly lower probabilities of triggering devices. The influence of boldness on the probability of stoats triggering devices during first encounter differed significantly by trap type, and the box and tunnel traps targeted opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Trap recalcitrance (avoidance of the standard control measures) was greatest in shy female stoats and females generally had lower susceptibility to all devices compared to males. Synthesis and applications: Targeting recalcitrant individuals may pose a considerable problem if a failure to trigger a trap result in a long‐term and generalised avoidance of devices. We emphasise the importance of accounting for inter‐individual differences in responses to devices, addressing the motivations of recalcitrant individuals during fieldwork and accounting for these differences during data interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The golden jackal has rapidly expanded across Europe in recent decades and was one of the first to reappear in Hungary. Using hunting bag data from the National Game Management Database from 1995 to 2021, we examined the spatial expansion of the species and its population dynamics. Our findings reveal an exponential increase in the golden jackal population since the mid-1990s, with an average annual growth rate of 40% in the hunting bag and an occupancy of 86% of the country. The average speed of the range expansion was 536.9 km2 year-1 until 2007 and increased to an average of 5,289.1 km2 year-1 during the second part of the expansion process. The density of shot golden jackals also shows an increasing trend with a substantial presence of outliers, indicating that nearly 10% of the hunting bag demonstrates exceptionally high numbers, particularly in southwestern Hungary. The spread originated in the southwest and extended towards the northeast and northwest. However, the increase of the hunting bag slowed down and the expansion rate has decreased in the previous two years, leading us to anticipate that the golden jackal population will stabilize soon, as the expansion has reached its maximum in Hungary. This indicates that from the initial settlement to the stabilization of the population, the time span can be two to three decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Wildlife Management (JWM) has seen a steady increase in its impact factor from 2017 to 2024, with a slight decrease in 2022. The representation of women on the Editorial Board has also increased, and the current group of Associate Editors has the highest number of women on record. In 2023, the number of new submissions was the lowest since 2011, and the median turnaround time for new submissions was 55 days. Manuscripts were submitted from authors in 35 countries, with the majority coming from the United States. Efforts are being made to further reduce the turnaround time. The rejection rate for manuscripts remained steady at 58%, and 131 research papers were published in 2023. The journal is committed to addressing concerns raised by TWS members, such as improving review quality, reducing publication time, increasing open access options, and lowering publication costs. The journal welcomes submissions on a wide range of wildlife species and aims to provide a diverse range of topics. [Extracted from the article]

The maintenance of biological diversity is frequently enhanced in a heterogenous landscape by some level of disturbance. Thus, when a landscape becomes stabilized and homogenized through the spread of an invasive plant species, there may be consequences for native biodiversity, particularly for those biotas that depend on the pre‐existing, natural disturbance regime of that landscape. At Long Point, Ontario, Canada, a sandspit in Lake Erie, the community of anuran amphibians experienced the co‐incidence of 2 major disturbance events, 1 anthropogenic and 1 natural: an intervention to remove the invasive form of the common reed (Phragmites australis australis) and a spate of extensive dune washouts caused by high water levels and storms. As a result of the unequal distribution of disturbance in the landscape, different areas were affected by only the dune washouts, only the common reed treatment, both disturbances, or neither disturbance. From May to August 2021, we explored how the disturbances affected the resident frog and toad species habitat associations in the 4 different disturbance conditions in the landscape. By means of minnow traps, acoustic surveys, and visual surveys, we determined that the dune washouts had a greater influence on resident anurans than the common reed treatment. Ranid frogs (Ranidae) tended to inhabit non‐washout sites, whereas Fowler's toads (Anaxyrus fowleri) congregated in the newly formed, sand flats and shallow, de‐vegetated pools resulting from the washouts. Neither ranid frogs nor Fowler's toads demonstrated avoidance of the sites affected by the herbicide treatment and mechanical rollover of the common reed. This evidence of species sorting, which enables multiple species to persist in a dynamic and heterogeneous landscape, suggests that wildlife management in aid of threatened species recovery may find success by encouraging natural disturbance regimes in dynamic landscapes. Future management endeavors should consider refraining from complete dune stabilization in these landscapes to allow the natural washouts to occur at a higher frequency, while ensuring the continued effectiveness of the invasive common reed eradication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatial requirements of exploited wildlife species, including population density and home range size, is important for wildlife management and conservation. Wolverines (Gulo gulo) are hunted and trapped across the Arctic, and are vulnerable to numerous, often interrelated, threats resulting from anthropogenic changes in their environment. Previous population density estimates for wolverines in the Arctic range tenfold, from the lowest to highest available for the species, limiting their utility outside the specific areas and times they were derived. The most recent density estimate in Arctic Alaska, USA, was produced 4 decades ago and was derived from a relatively small study area. We evaluated wolverine population density and home range size across the North Slope of Alaska during 2017–2022 using global positioning system (GPS)‐based collar data and spatial capture‐recapture models. Population density estimates were 2.0 individuals/1,000 km2 (95% credible interval = 1.3–3.5) in 2018 and 2.8 individuals/1,000 km2 (95% credible interval = 1.7–3.5) in 2021. Median home range sizes modeled with autocorrelated kernel density estimators and Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck foraging movement processes were 699 km2 (range = 158–2,895 km2) among 12 females and 2,332 km2 (range = 797–4,699 km2) among 10 males. These population density estimates are nearly 10 times lower than the previous estimate for Arctic Alaska. We recommend incorporating this information into management strategies to ensure sustainable harvest, particularly as the region's remote areas are more efficiently accessed by hunters and are being considered for transportation corridors supporting new industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunting triggers behavioral responses in wildlife that may have important consequences for conservation and wildlife management. We studied movement and habitat selection in 51 global positioning system‐collared red deer (Cervus elaphus) in response to 63 large‐scale (x̄ = 18.8 km2) drive hunts conducted in 2015‐2022 on a military training area in southern Germany. The drive hunts were characterized by a low density of beaters and dogs to avoid rapid and long‐distance displacement of red deer. We determined if red deer spatial responses to drive hunts differed in various forest covers, between sexes, and in relation to the individual position prior to the hunt. On the hunting days, red deer increased their hourly displacement rates and shifted their preference for forest versus open habitats from early morning to late morning hours. Individuals initially located within the boundaries of the hunted areas exhibited longer maximum net displacements, had a greater probability of leaving their home ranges, and spent longer times outside of their home ranges than individuals outside the hunted areas. All these parameters were greater in the more forested site than in the less forested site. Males displayed shorter net displacements than females. Red deer moved away (i.e., fled) from their initial positions for variable periods, either only during the hunt or until the next day. The probability of prolonged flight was greater in the more forested site and more likely if the individuals were deeper in the forest in the less forested site. The prolonged flight behavior was desired from the hunters' perspective because red deer displaying this type of response were less likely to leave the hunted area during the hunt. Prolonged flight was associated with greater costs for the red deer, such as greater movement distances after the hunt and longer times outside of home ranges. Wildlife managers should consider that drive hunts may cause prolonged behavioral responses in game that occur both inside and outside the hunted areas. These responses depend on habitat characteristics and may be stronger in more forested landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deliberate release of captive‐bred individuals, the accidental escape of domesticated strains, or the invasion of closely related conspecifics into wild populations can all lead to introgressive hybridization, which poses a challenge for conservation and wildlife management. Rates of introgression and the magnitude of associated demographic impacts vary widely across ecological contexts. However, the reasons for this variation remain poorly understood. One rarely considered phenomenon in this context is soft selection, wherein relative trait values determine success in intraspecific competition for a limiting resource. Here we develop an eco‐genetic model explicitly focussed on understanding the influence of such competitive interactions on the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of wild populations experiencing an influx of foreign/domesticated individuals. The model is applicable to any taxon that experiences natural or human‐mediated inputs of locally maladapted genotypes ('intrusion'), in addition to phenotype‐dependent competition for a limiting resource (e.g. breeding sites, feeding territories). The effects of both acute and chronic intrusion depended strongly on the relative competitiveness of intruders versus locals. When intruders were competitively inferior, density‐dependent regulation limited their reproductive success (ability to compete for limited spawning sites), which prevented strong introgression or population declines from occurring. In contrast, when intruders were competitively superior, this amplified introgression and led to increased maladaptation of the admixed population. This had negative consequences for population size and population viability. The results were sensitive to the intrusion level, the magnitude of reproductive excess, trait heritability and the extent to which intruders were maladapted relative to locals. Our findings draw attention to under‐appreciated interactions between phenotype‐dependent competitive interactions and maladaptive hybridization, which may be critical to determining the impact captive breeding programmes and domesticated escapees can have on otherwise self‐sustaining wild populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated community models—an emerging framework in which multiple data sources for multiple species are analyzed simultaneously—offer opportunities to expand inferences beyond the single‐species and single‐data‐source approaches common in ecology. We developed a novel integrated community model that combines distance sampling and single‐visit count data; within the model, information is shared among data sources (via a joint likelihood) and species (via a random‐effects structure) to estimate abundance patterns across a community. Parameters relating to abundance are shared between data sources, and the model can specify either shared or separate observation processes for each data source. Simulations demonstrated that the model provided unbiased estimates of abundance and detection parameters even when detection probabilities varied between the data types. The integrated community model also provided more accurate and more precise parameter estimates than alternative single‐species and single‐data‐source models in many instances. We applied the model to a community of 11 herbivore species in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, and found considerable interspecific variation in response to local wildlife management practices: Five species showed higher abundances in a region with passive conservation enforcement (median across species: 4.5× higher), three species showed higher abundances in a region with active conservation enforcement (median: 3.9× higher), and the remaining three species showed no abundance differences between the two regions. Furthermore, the community average of abundance was slightly higher in the region with active conservation enforcement but not definitively so (posterior mean: higher by 0.20 animals; 95% credible interval: 1.43 fewer animals, 1.86 more animals). Our integrated community modeling framework has the potential to expand the scope of inference over space, time, and levels of biological organization, but practitioners should carefully evaluate whether model assumptions are met in their systems and whether data integration is valuable for their applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baiting is widely used in wildlife management for various purposes, including lethal control, fertility control, disease and parasite control, and conditioned aversion programs for many invasive vertebrate species. The efficacy of baiting programs relies on the likelihood that target animals will encounter the bait, consume it and receive an appropriate dose of the active ingredient. However, there has been little focus on encounter rate of toxic baits combined with behavioural aversion, which are likely to be significant factors affecting efficacy.Following optimal foraging theory, the likelihood of an animal encountering and consuming a toxic grain bait should increase in proportion to its availability relative to background food quantity if it is neither more or less detectable or palatable. Furthermore, the probability of consuming toxic baits might also be influenced by bait aversion following ingestion of a non‐lethal dose of toxin.Using a model system of wild house mice (Mus musculus L.) in mouse‐proof enclosures in Australia, we manipulated background food, applied zinc phosphide (Zn3P2) baits and measured mouse mortality. When background food was scarce, mouse mortality was high, whereas an increasing abundance of background food led to reduced mortality. A scenario modelling random encounters and including bait aversion explained 78% of the variation in observed mortality outcomes and achieved a closer fit to the data than modelling random encounters alone. Mortality rates were predicted to be higher with a higher strength bait, which would overcome behavioural aversion.Ensuring that animals locate and consume a lethal dose of toxic bait is a critical factor for successful bait delivery and efficacy. This is particularly significant in toxic baiting programs, where sublethal doses can make animals feel sick, leading to a negative association with the bait, and the development of aversion.Synthesis and applications: Our findings explain why some toxic baiting programs might fail. To achieve successful control, efforts should be directed at reducing the availability of background food to increase the probability of encounter and uptake of toxic baits. It is important to measure and understand the role of background food on toxic baiting programs to explain variable outcomes and inform strategies for successful bait delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic utilization of woody vegetation by African savanna elephants may transform woodland vegetation to open savanna and threaten the extirpation of targeted species. This situation has arisen in Gonarezhou National Park (GNP), Zimbabwe, where a large elephant population (>2 km−2) threatens the persistence of the long‐lived baobab (Adansonia digitata) tree, through elevated mortality levels. This study investigated whether complete or partial refugia from elephant utilization existed for baobabs, and whether protection of trees by management, using wire netting or log‐ or rock‐packs around a tree base, had been effective. A total of 563 baobabs were sampled across northern GNP. Elephants had debarked 99% of trees to some degree, and gouged holes in the stem of 22% of trees. The probability, and severity, of debarking and gouging decreased with increasing distance to permanent water, increasing slope, and the amount of boulder cover. Slope gradient had the greatest effect on elephant impact, with trees located on steep slopes being less affected by elephants than those on flat ground. Distance to water had an effect despite the farthest tree, at 9 km from water, being within the 15 km foraging range of bull elephants. Large boulders partly protected trees even on gentle terrain. None of these factors provided a complete refuge from elephant impact within GNP, but, individually and collectively, provided a partial refuge at current elephant densities. Protection measures doubled tree survival over approximately 5 years, with fencing wire wrapped around baobab stems proving to be the most effective method. Assessment of the future security of baobabs in GNP requires knowledge of their distribution and that of the refugia provided by distance from permanent water, slope, and boulder cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]