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Riparian ecosystems comprise less than 2% of the landscape in the arid western United States, yet they provide habitat and resources to over half of arid‐land wildlife species, including a broad diversity of anurans (frogs and toads). Despite this, relatively few studies describe riparian herpetofaunal communities in the Southwest, and remote wilderness areas are particularly undersurveyed.We employed passive acoustic monitoring to capture anuran advertisement calls in wilderness area tributaries of the Verde River, Arizona, USA. In the spring and summer of 2021 and 2022, 13–29 autonomous recording units (ARUs) were deployed along perennial, intermittent and ephemeral tributary stream reaches. We characterized sites based on the per cent of pool, riffle, run and side channel habitat within 100 m of each ARU and quantified substrate, wetted channel width and canopy cover. To relate anuran occupancy to environmental and hydrological variables, we evaluated acoustic detection data using single‐species, single‐season occupancy models.Four species were detected in this study: canyon treefrog (Hyla arenicolor), red‐spotted toad (Anaxyrus punctatus), Woodhouse's toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii) and non‐native American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), with canyon treefrog being the most ubiquitous species observed. Vocal activity of canyon treefrog was higher at perennial and intermittent sites compared to ephemeral sites, and the presence of pools was most strongly associated with canyon treefrog occupancy.Persistent, slow‐moving water best predicted the presence of breeding canyon treefrogs. Notably, this study did not detect several species with historical records in the middle Verde River catchment, including Arizona toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) and northern leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens).Given climate change‐related flow declines and intensifying demands for water in arid lands globally, maintaining stream flows that provide consistent and suitable hydroregimes for anuran breeding and larval development is of increasing importance. Determining habitat use and flow regimes necessary to support anuran populations can aid in prioritization of conservation actions related to water management and predict how changes in water availability may impact stream‐breeding anurans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness areas are important in maintaining biodiversity, and "retaining existing intact and wilderness areas" is listed as the first of 21 action targets for 2030 in the first draft of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. However, the quantity and quality of regional-scale wilderness mapping and identification of priority areas for conservation are still insufficient. Here, an approach integrating Boolean and Multi-Criteria Evaluation is used to conduct wilderness mapping, and priority conservation areas are identified based on ecosystem service values and the current status of wilderness protection in protected areas in the state-owned forest region of Daxing'anling. It is found that the wilderness areas account for 96.72% of the total area of the study area, of which high-quality wilderness areas constitute for 50.34% of the total area of wilderness areas, and the quality of wilderness is greatly affected by the railroads. Secondly, wilderness areas have higher ecosystem service values per square kilometer than non-wilderness areas, except for food supply service. In addition, 72.26% of the wilderness areas are not protected, and 52.26% of these high-quality wilderness areas with high ecosystem service values still have conservation gaps. This study can provide data support and scientific reference for future wilderness conservation works in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an excerpt from the book "Hush of the Land: A Lifetime in the Bob Marshall Wilderness" by Arnold "Smoke" Elser with Eva-Maria Maggi. It reflects on the author's experiences as an outfitter and guide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. The text describes the beauty of the area, the challenges of preserving it, and the connection people can find with nature through horse travel. It also shares stories of encounters with grizzly bears and the impact of the author's work on visitors. The article discusses the opposition to logging and mining plans in the area and the efforts to protect and expand wilderness areas in Montana. [Extracted from the article]

Fruit size can act as a physical barrier providing refuge for larvae of pest Anastrepha species against parasitoid attack. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of fruit size in six fruit species infested by Anastrepha larvae on the parasitism of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata after its augmentative release. About 1500 parasitoids were weekly released in disturbed wild vegetation patches. Fruit sampling was performed at the Coastal Lowlands of the Soconusco Region, southeastern Mexico, between June 2021 and October 2022. Overall, 310 ripe fruits belonging to grapefruit, creole mamey (large-size fruits), sweet orange, creole mango, wild guava (medium-size fruits), and wild hog plum (small-size fruit) were collected. The length, frontal width, lateral width and pulp thickness of all sampled fruits were measured. Such physical characteristics are indicators of the fruit size. Fruit collection was performed 48 h after release. Results indicated an inverse correlation between fruit size and parasitism, with a significant r2 value higher than 75%. Host larvae in all fruits were parasitised only by D. longicaudata. The highest mean parasitism, which exceeded 90%, was recorded on hog plum and the lowest, below 20%, on Citrus spp. and mamey. Results corroborated the influence of host fruit size on parasitism levels by D. longicaudata regardless of its large-scale, open-field releases. Augmentative releases of D. longicaudata can be focused on wilderness areas with prevalence of medium-size to small-size Anastrepha host fruits. This would encourage long-term sustainable conservation of released parasitoid populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The bioethical debate about using gene drives to alter or eradicate wild populations has focused mostly on issues concerning short-term risk assessment and management, governance and oversight, and public and community engagement, but has not examined big-picture— 'where is this going?'—questions in great depth. In other areas of bioethical controversy, big-picture questions often enter the public forum via slippery slope arguments. Given the incredible potential of gene drive organisms to alter the Earth's biota, it is somewhat surprising that slippery slope arguments have not played a more prominent role in ethical and policy debates about these emerging technologies. In this article, we examine a type of slippery slope argument against using gene drives to alter or suppress wild pest populations and consider whether it has a role to play in ethical and policy debates. Although we conclude that this argument does not provide compelling reasons for banning the use of gene drives in wild pest populations, we believe that it still has value as a morally instructive cautionary narrative that can motivate scientists, ethicists, and members of the public to think more clearly about appropriate vs. inappropriate uses of gene drive technologies, the long-term and cumulative and emergent risks of using gene drives in wild populations, and steps that can be taken to manage these risks, such as protecting wilderness areas where people can enjoy life forms that have not been genetically engineered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affect is a construct that has received substantial scholarly attention in non-representational theory and other fields. This study focuses on human-wilderness relations through a non-representational theoretical lens to reveal insights into the concept of affect. Research indicates that societal and cultural forces play an influential role in wilderness relationships. A focus is lacking on how wilderness may affectively influence, build, or sustain human – wilderness relations through emotional registers. Fifteen people participated in a study of how wilderness affect occurs in everyday life. For one week following a visit to a wilderness area, participants kept a diary and camera to take notes and photographs when certain feelings formed. The researcher augmented the diary-photograph, diary-interview method with exemplary and evocative anecdotes. The results show three ways the emergence of affect becomes perceptible. It offers an example of how affect-oriented inquiry is carried out and informs further affect-oriented outdoor recreation research. Conceptually, wilderness affect appreciates and responds to differences that emerge through relations with wild nature. The study furthers inquiry into emotional meaning making via human – wilderness relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper is a photographic summary of a scientific and touristic expedition carried out in August 2011 in Wyoming State, U.S. to know the natural beauties of the different ecosystems and the structure of the Yellowstone National Park. The photos show some of the Park and wilderness areas structures, important geological formations, and some of the species of flora and fauna registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an updated wilderness quality map, WQI 2.0, for Europe, which extends the existing map (WQI 1.0) to include non-EU states in Eastern Europe. The analysis utilizes the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform and incorporates contemporary datasets to assess wilderness quality across the continent. WQI 2.0 is compared to the previous version from the EU Wilderness register and global data from the WCS Human Influence Index (HII). Results indicate a high level of consistency between the versions, validating the robustness of the approach and the value of up-to-date datasets. WQI 2.0 serves as a valuable tool for developing a coordinated European policy on wilderness protection, encompassing both EU and non-EU states. By identifying areas outside current protected boundaries, the map helps to identify regions at risk of degradation and loss, due to resource exploitation. While small changes are seen between WQI 1.0 and WQI 2.0, expanding the coverage over the whole of continental Europe provides a foundation for the longer-term monitoring and evaluation of conservation targets. The findings contribute to meeting international commitments, such as the COP15 Kunming–Montreal Agreement and CBD targets, by highlighting the importance of preserving intact wilderness areas and increasing protected areas through restoration and rewilding efforts. Future iterations, such as WQI 3.0+, can track trends and potential threats to wilderness areas, while also identifying opportunities for ecosystem recovery through restoration and rewilding. To ensure comprehensive coverage, there is a need to update the existing Wilderness Register 1.0 and expand its scope to include non-EU states. This can be facilitated through collaboration with national WQI mapping programs, building on the experiences of countries such as Scotland, France, Iceland, and Germany, which have well-established national mapping initiatives. Overall, WQI 2.0 and the proposed updates provide valuable tools for informed decision-making in wilderness conservation and restoration efforts across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents the first detailed national wilderness mapping project conducted in Sri Lanka, aiming to identify and assess the spatial distribution of wilderness areas in the country. The study utilises a GIS-based Wilderness Quality Index (WQI), incorporating three main wilderness attributes: remoteness from public roads, absence of modern human interventions, and naturalness of land cover. The resulting wilderness quality map reveals several areas of high wilderness quality distributed throughout the country, with exceptions in the highly populated western region, where roads and built structures have significant impact. The research highlights the spatial correlation between the distribution of wilderness areas and protected areas, indicating that nearly all wilderness areas in Sri Lanka fall within the boundaries of existing protected areas. However, core wilderness areas outside existing protected areas, termed de facto wilderness areas, constitute a significant portion (19.7%) of total wilderness, raising concerns about their conservation status. The study emphasises the need for further evaluation to assess the ecological and landscape value of these areas and suggests new protected area boundaries. The wilderness quality map developed here provides policymakers with a valuable tool for future conservation planning, enabling informed decision making to preserve and protect Sri Lanka's diverse and unique wilderness areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-American wilderness literature mainly praised the vast, magical, beautiful, and pleasant natural wilderness, expressed ideas of returning to nature, and raised environmental protection awareness through the writers' personal experiences. In the late-twentieth century, American ecological literary eco-critics turned to Eastern philosophy, and then developed a post-modern ecological holism. Wilderness literature of this period also reflected a significant shift to the East mainly in three aspects: (1) In a manner recalling the observations of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, the range of wilderness literature extended to include wilderness in urban environments. (2) Corresponding to the East "Chaos" philosophy, literary speculation appeared in wilderness writing, trying to make the readers aware of limitations of a pure rational thinking from the level of ideology. (3) With the concept of "Dao," American wilderness literature reflected a consciousness returning to social issues and played a more engaged role in social responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new probabilistic coordinated search technique for finding a randomly located target in n-disjoint known regions using n-searchers. Each region contains one searcher. The searchers use advanced technology to communicate with each other. This paper aims to obtain the candidate utility function, namely the expected value of the time for detecting the target, and minimize this expected value considering a restricted amount of time. We present a particular case when the target has a multinomial distribution, which is essential for searching for a valuable target that is missing at sea or lost in a wilderness area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor recreation is an essential way many people engage with nature. The provision of public spaces for recreation intersects with conservation practices motivated by intertwined social and ecological values, such as strict practices associated with the concept of 'wilderness'. Debates persist about how such concepts and management practices influence people's recreation experiences.Many US public land management agencies facilitate opportunities for outdoor recreation, relying on management frameworks and tools intended to foster specific experiential qualities. But these frameworks and tools assume simplistic relationships between settings and people's experiences, and managers rarely assess these relationships.This study uses a data set of nearly 70,000 crowdsourced trip reports from a hiking website to understand the qualities of visitors' experiences on trails. We study the geographic distribution of experiential qualities commonly associated with US wilderness areas: aesthetics, awe, challenge, pristineness, quietness, solitude and timelessness. Using analytical methods that rely on machine learning and natural language processing, we identify these experiential qualities in trip reports from hundreds of routes, and use generalized linear models to analyse relationships between the frequency of each experiential quality and the route's administrative, built, biophysical, geographic and social settings.We find that four of the seven experiential qualities (aesthetics, awe, challenge and solitude) are commonly described in trip reports, each appearing in 15%–55% of manually coded reports. The extent to which setting characteristics explained variability in experiences differed, ranging from 34% of the variability in the proportion of trip reports describing aesthetics to 55% for awe. The setting characteristics associated with each experiential quality also differed, with characteristics such as trail mileage and summit destinations having stronger influences on experiential qualities than characteristics such as wilderness designation.Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest the need to consider more diverse variables in experience–setting relationships, develop more robust models to characterize those relationships and create new data sources to represent understudied variables. These advances would help empirically inform and improve frameworks and tools used for recreation and wilderness planning and monitoring, and potentially promote more responsive management to evolving social–ecological values. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vulgate idea of the medieval forest as uncultivated and remote land does not correspond to the reality of the documentation: since the early Middle Ages, in fact, the forest was part of the human consortium and was intensively exploited for its resources, also thanks to the systematic agricultural conversion of some of its portions. However, the image that emerges from the works of courtly narrative is decidedly the opposite and is rather influenced by the cultural heritage responsible for the literary portrayal as a disturbing place, in which supernatural forces stir. This image, certainly preponderant and thus privileged in studies, has overshadowed the observation of the actual features of the wilderness in the authors of the Western Middle Ages. In this essay, an attempt is made to detect traces of the real woodland landscape in the novels of Chrétien de Troyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sub‐Antarctic forests in Tierra del Fuego mountains are considered one of the few remaining wilderness areas on the planet; however, human disturbances like wildfires, exotic species, and so forth exacerbate their degradation. In 2012, a human‐caused wildfire started in a remote forest‐mountain area, and 2 years after that, a reforestation project began to restore the natural canopy layer. Saplings of the native Nothofagus trees were obtained through the bare root method from undisturbed areas. In this study, we evaluated the influence of (1) macro‐ (considering natural topography and vegetation physiognomy) and micro‐environments (topography, canopy cover, substrate, and understory cover) affected by fire; and (2) the extraction size of the saplings (initial size), on survival and growth of planted saplings, over 5 years. Total sapling survival was 41.4% with a mean growth rate of 8.46 cm year−1. Survival and growth were influenced by the studied variables. At a macro‐environment level, tree saplings showed higher success in well‐drained zones, meanwhile at the micro‐environment level saplings performed better in those that contribute to retain soil moisture and avoiding evapotranspiration. We conclude that environmental features influence differentially depending on the scale of analysis. To restore burnt temperate forests applying the bare root method, we recommended using Nothofagus saplings <40 cm tall for better results. In this sense, we demonstrated the effectiveness of the method since comparable results were obtained in other restoration experiences. This method can also be applied in areas without nursery material, when the biology of tagged plants was appropriated, for example shallow growth of root systems, formation of natural tree seedling banks. This work represents one of the few medium‐term restoration experiences reported for the southernmost forests of the planet: our findings could be applied in other reforestation experiences, making noticeable improvements in the recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The epiphytic lichen Letharia vulpina has been commonly sampled in-situ for nitrogen (N) deposition biomonitoring studies but has never before been transplanted for this purpose. In the high-elevation wilderness areas of southern California Letharia vulpina is generally uncommon, making in-situ sampling difficult. In this study, we compared thallus N accumulation between in-situ Letharia vulpina reference samples from the relatively low N deposition environment of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains and Letharia vulpina transplants that were deployed at nine plots of varying climatic and N deposition regimes in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains for 12 months. Survival of transplants was low (33%) and only occurred at the plots within the current range of Letharia vulpina. Transplant N concentrations became higher than those of the reference samples, while transplants that died had a net loss of N. Transplants that survived had strong relationships of N concentrations to N deposition and approached N concentrations of in-situ Letharia vulpina at the same plots. At the same time, reference plot N concentrations in a relatively clean environment increased substantially from early summer 2020 to 2021, presumably in response to extended exposure to smoke from huge wildfires in summer and fall of 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colonization of suitable yet unoccupied habitat due to natural dispersal or human introduction can benefit recovery of threatened species. Predicting habitat suitability and conflict potential of colonization areas can facilitate conservation planning.Planning for reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to the US state of Colorado is underway. Assessing which occupancy sites minimize the likelihood of human–wolf conflict during dispersal events and seasonal movements is critical to the success of this initiative.We used a spatial absorbing Markov chain (SAMC) framework, which extends random walk theory and probabilistically accounts for both movement behaviour and mortality risk, to compare the viability of potential occupancy sites (public lands >500 km2 to minimally meet wolf pack range area). The SAMC framework produced spatially explicit predictions of wolf dispersal, philopatry and conflict risk ahead of recolonization prior to reintroduction efforts. Our SAMC model included: (1) movement resistance based on terrain, roads and housing density; (2) mortality risk and potential conflict (absorption) based on livestock presence, social tolerance, land ownership and state boundaries; and (3) site fidelity based on habitat quality. Using this model, we compared 21 public land units by deriving predictions of: (A) relative survival time outside each site, (B) intensity of use and retention time within each site and (C) the probability of use on adjacent public lands. We also predicted and mapped potential conflict hotspots associated with each site.Among the units assessed, a complex of USFS Wilderness areas near Aspen, chiefly the Hunter‐Fryingpan and Collegiate Peaks Wilderness areas, had the best overall rankings when comparing predictions of each metric. The area balances high‐quality, well‐connected habitat with relatively low livestock density and high social tolerance.Synthesis and applications. Our findings highlight the utility of the SAMC framework for assessing colonization areas and the capacity to identify locations for effective proactive management, especially of conflict prone species. The flexibility of the SAMC framework enables predicting likely areas of philopatry and human–wildlife conflict using spatially explicit metrics which can improve the success of conservation translocations and management of species with changing geographic extents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities have placed significant pressure on the terrestrial biosphere, leading to ecosystem degradation and carbon losses. However, the full impact of these activities on terrestrial biomass carbon remains unexplored. In this study, we examined changes in global human footprint (HFP) and human‐induced aboveground biomass carbon (AGBC) losses from 2000 to 2018. Our findings show an increasing trend in HFP globally, resulting in the conversion of wilderness areas to highly modified regions. These changes have altered global biomes' habitats, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. We also found accelerated AGBC loss driven by HFP expansion, with a total loss of 19.99 ± 0.196 PgC from 2000 to 2018, especially in tropical regions. Additionally, AGBC is more vulnerable in the Global South than in the Global North. Human activities threaten natural habitats, resulting in increasing AGBC loss even in strictly protected areas. Therefore, scientifically guided planning of future human activities is crucial to protect half of Earth through mitigation and adaptation under future risks of climate change and global urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: How much stronger would the effects of herbivorous mammals be in natural ecosystems if human‐linked extinctions and extirpations had not occurred? Many mammal species have experienced range contractions, and numerous species have gone extinct in the late Quaternary, completely or in large part linked to human pressures. Therefore, herbivore consumption rates in seemingly natural ecosystems will deviate from their pre‐anthropogenic state. Here, we estimate the size of this deviation. Location: Terrestrial systems, globally. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: All late‐Quaternary terrestrial mammals. Methods: We estimated and mapped vegetation consumption rate by all late‐Quaternary terrestrial mammals. We did this through the estimation of natural densities and dietary needs. We mapped their consumption rate in both current ranges and present‐natural ranges, that is estimated ranges in the absence of human‐linked range contractions and extinctions. We compared these estimated consumption rates to current net primary productivity (NPP). We summarized the results across ecosystem types everywhere as well as for only the last remaining wilderness areas. Results: We estimate that wild mammals consume a median of 11% of NPP (at the scale of 96.5 km × 96.5 km grid cells) in current natural areas and that this would have been much higher in the absence of extinctions and extirpations, namely 21%. Looking at the change per grid cell, the mammal losses result in a median 42% reduction in consumption rate. Importantly, we estimate very similar declines in herbivory in what are considered the last remaining wilderness areas. Main conclusions: Our results suggest that the natural interaction of mammalian herbivores with vegetation in ecosystems across the world is strongly reduced by prehistoric and historic to recent species losses, even in the last remaining wilderness areas, likely with major effects on ecosystem structure and functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intraspecific interactions between mesocarnivores are not commonly observed and consequentially not well understood, particularly for species inhabiting wilderness regions. Using a remote camera, we captured interactions between a Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and wolverine (Gulo gulo) scavenging on the remains of a bison (Bison bison). Over a 23‐min period representing nine photographic sequences (1–3 photographs per sequence), we observed (1) a wolverine approach the remains that were being fed on by a lynx, (2) the two animals feeding on the remains at the same time for about 19 min, (3) the wolverine chasing the lynx off of the carcass and, thereafter, (4) the wolverine excluding the lynx from the carcass. Our observation is of potential scientific value because it sheds light on behavioral interactions between these two species, particularly at a rich food source. Intraguild interactions between these species appear to include tolerance toward one another, as well as interference competition, with the wolverine being the dominant species. Our observation highlights the new information on interactions between mesocarnivores that are becoming illuminated with the use of remote cameras, revealing that these interactions may be more complex than once thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epiphytic lichen Letharia vulpina has been commonly sampled in-situ for nitrogen (N) deposition biomonitoring studies but has never before been transplanted for this purpose. In the high-elevation wilderness areas of southern California Letharia vulpina is generally uncommon, making in-situ sampling difficult. In this study, we compared thallus N accumulation between in-situ Letharia vulpina reference samples from the relatively low N deposition environment of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains and Letharia vulpina transplants that were deployed at nine plots of varying climatic and N deposition regimes in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains for 12 months. Survival of transplants was low (33%) and only occurred at the plots within the current range of Letharia vulpina. Transplant N concentrations became higher than those of the reference samples, while transplants that died had a net loss of N. Transplants that survived had strong relationships of N concentrations to N deposition and approached N concentrations of in-situ Letharia vulpina at the same plots. At the same time, reference plot N concentrations in a relatively clean environment increased substantially from early summer 2020 to 2021, presumably in response to extended exposure to smoke from huge wildfires in summer and fall of 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Canadian North, close to the Arctic and the embodiment of the exotic faraway realm of ice and enigmatic inhabitants, is explored through the perspective of a Canadian writer of Romanian origin, Felicia Mihali, as depicted in her very recent novel Pineapple Kisses in Iqaluit (2021). Summarisable as the initiatic journey of a disabused French teacher in her thirties towards the happiness that she eventually finds in the least expected, most hostile environment imaginable, Iqaluit, the seat of the most northern French school in Nunavut, the case of this novel is quite interesting, as it was written in English and subsequently translated into French by its Romanian author. Thus, the issue of the multiplicity of perspectives and the culturally filtered perception of an exotic, unfamiliar, unrelenting landscape bearing upon the evolution of the female protagonist becomes the centre of attention, providing the opportunity to assess the symbolic meaning of the descriptive passages and their role in shaping the character's evolution. These landscapes making up the corpus under study take the most varied forms, from the wilderness to the urban area, the school environment, or the inserts referring to the polar expeditions in search of the Northern Passage, and last but not least, the Inuit folk tales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a working definition for the term 'lost wilderness tourist' and uses this definition to examine lost wilderness tourist events through the lenses of tourism literature, lost person behaviour literature, search and rescue literature and wilderness tourists in Australia. A tool was developed using existing literature to recruit self-identifying lost wilderness tourists. Firstperson stories were collected through open ended, one-on-one qualitative interviews. Interview data were analysed using 3-step coding. The findings propose a definition for the term 'lost wilderness tourist', establish that lost wilderness tourist events can be categorised as 'disorientated' or 'stuck' and that these 2 meta categories can be further divided into subcategories. The findings offer insights into the lived experiences of lost wilderness tourists. These insights are useful for anyone with an interest in lost wilderness events and the safety of people in Australia's wilderness areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aim: Land use is the most pervasive driver of biodiversity loss. Predicting its impact on species richness (SR) is often based on indicators of habitat loss. However, the degradation of habitats, especially through land‐use intensification, also affects species. Here, we evaluate whether an integrative metric of land‐use intensity, the human appropriation of net primary production, is correlated with the decline of SR in used landscapes across the globe. Location: Global. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Birds, mammals and amphibians. Methods: Based on species range maps (spatial resolution: 20 km × 20 km) and an area‐of‐habitat approach, we calibrated a "species–energy model" by correlating the SR of three groups of vertebrates with net primary production and biogeographical covariables in "wilderness" areas (i.e., those where available energy is assumed to be still at pristine levels). We used this model to project the difference between pristine SR and the SR corresponding to the energy remaining in used landscapes (i.e., SR loss expected owing to human energy extraction outside wilderness areas). We validated the projected species loss by comparison with the realized and impending loss reconstructed from habitat conversion and documented by national Red Lists. Results: Species–energy models largely explained landscape‐scale variation of mapped SR in wilderness areas (adjusted R2‐values: 0.79–0.93). Model‐based projections of SR loss were lower, on average, than reconstructed and documented ones, but the spatial patterns were correlated significantly, with stronger correlation in mammals (Pearson's r = 0.68) than in amphibians (r = 0.60) and birds (r = 0.57). Main conclusions: Our results suggest that the human appropriation of net primary production is a useful indicator of heterotrophic species loss in used landscapes, hence we recommend its inclusion in models based on species–area relationships to improve predictions of land‐use‐driven biodiversity loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One free-ranging adult male Indian gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus) entered into a tea garden in Tarfat village, near Farkating of Jorhat district of Assam, India in May, 2020. Two villagers were injured during theirattempt to drive away the animal into the nearby wilderness areas. When this failed, the gaur necessitated chemical immobilization and translocation to a safer habitat.A combination of narcotic (etorphine HCl 9.8mg/ml) and neurleptic(butyrophenone) (azaparone 40mg/ml) wereselected as chemical anaesthetics. The immobilization cocktail of 6.86 (0.013 mg/Kg) of etorphine HCl + 80 (0.16 mg/kg) mg azaparone was taken in an air-pressurized 3 ml plastic dart. A single dart usingthe syringe projector Dan inject (CO2 powered) pressurized at 7 psi was fired at thegluteus maximus muscle from 15 metres distance. Induction was observed after five minutes of dartingand the down time was at 8 min 36 seconds showing effective narcolepsies. Though the animal was approachable in 10 minutes, it had to be physically restrained. Data for various physiological parameters were obtained at 15th, 35th and 50th minute of induction. The gaur was carried on a makeshift stretcher prepared with bamboo and wood and loaded in a transport vehicle. Antidote diprenorphine HCl (1.5 ml) was administered intramuscularly, whichrevived the animal in 5 minutes. It was then transported from the site of capture (N 260 29' 58.2" E 94001' 24.2") to the site of release (N 26030' 13.0" E 93056'28.0"), a distance of 15 km by road of the choice of theanaesthetics and reversalandthedose administered, appeared to be apt as no untowardafter-affect was noticed during the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]