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Reliable assessments of low-density carnivore populations such as brown bears Ursus arctos are often limited by a lack of sufficient information for strong inference at appropriate scales. Standard approaches often rely on physical marking of individuals or the use of inherently field-intensive hair-snag or distance sampling techniques. Although these tools are very useful, logistical and monetary costs often limit their successful application, particularly in large, remote areas. We developed a novel photographic mark-resight approach using physical characteristics and spatial locations of individual brown bears to temporarily mark individuals over a short revisit interval. We applied this approach along with site-occupancy techniques to evaluate a low-density brown bear population in northwestern Alaska. Based on the mark-resight approach, we estimated there were 420 [95% CrI:274–650] independent and 713 [95% CrI:474–1070] total brown bears in our 19,998km 2 study area. When expressed as densities, these estimates were consistent with those of other low-density populations from the surrounding area. Estimated den and bear site-occupancy rates were similar, 0.48 [95% CrI:0.37–0.63] and 0.40 [95% CrI;0.28–0.55], respectively. Close congruence among occupancy and abundance estimates supported the robustness of our new mark-resight approach and provided additional metrics for population monitoring. Together, these parallel metrics provide a general framework for monitoring low density populations of brown bears and other rare carnivores when physical marking or intensive survey techniques are impractical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been claimed that a better understanding of human or social dimensions of environmental issues will improve conservation. The social sciences are one important means through which researchers and practitioners can attain that better understanding. Yet, a lack of awareness of the scope and uncertainty about the purpose of the conservation social sciences impedes the conservation community's effective engagement with the human dimensions. This paper examines the scope and purpose of eighteen subfields of classic, interdisciplinary and applied conservation social sciences and articulates ten distinct contributions that the social sciences can make to understanding and improving conservation. In brief, the conservation social sciences can be valuable to conservation for descriptive, diagnostic, disruptive, reflexive, generative, innovative, or instrumental reasons. This review and supporting materials provides a succinct yet comprehensive reference for conservation scientists and practitioners. We contend that the social sciences can help facilitate conservation policies, actions and outcomes that are more legitimate, salient, robust and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Epiphytes are used to indicate conservation priority woodland. [•] We provide a statistical test in the utility of lichen epiphyte indicators. [•] The utility of indicators depends on biogeographic distribution, with failure rates >80% for certain groups. [•] We identify a subset of species which are robust indicators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Robust abundance estimates for five cetacean species in EU Atlantic shelf waters. [•] No evidence for large-scale change in abundance between 1994 and 2005 in 3 species. [•] Large shift in harbour porpoise distribution demonstrated by spatial modelling. [•] Results allow assessment of conservation status at large spatial scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We provided the first assessment of global change effects on a threatened spider. [•] We applied a robust ensemble protocol to model the distribution of Dolomedes plantarius. [•] Models predicted the high sensitivity of this species to future global change. [•] Our results provide important insights for the existing conservation and translocation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bats are often killed in large numbers at wind farms over a wide geographical range. We aimed to predict which areas conferred higher fatality risks to bats at wind farms. In an innovative approach, we combined species distribution modelling with mortality data and the ecological conditions at wind farms located in Portugal. We then generated predictive models to determine areas of probable mortality and which environmental factors were promoting it. Mortality data for four bat species, Hypsugo savii, Nyctalus leisleri, Pipistrellus kuhlii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus, were used. These experienced the highest levels of fatalities at wind farms in Portugal, comprising 290 of the 466 fatalities recorded from 2003 to 2011. The mortality risk models showed robust performances. Wind farms sited at humid areas with mild temperatures, closer than 5km to forested areas and within 600m of steep slopes showed higher probabilities of mortality. High mortality risk areas also overlapped highly with the potential distribution of N. leisleri in Portugal, suggesting that populations of this species may be at high risk due to wind farm fatalities. Moreover, a large extent of the area predicted to be a hotspot for mortality (i.e. areas likely to confer high mortality risk for four species) overlaps with sites highly suitable for wind farm construction. In summary, the approach used in this study could be paradigmatic for the development of important pre-emptive conservation measures for bat populations by identifying mortality risk in areas prior to wind farm installation and determining which conditions promote mortality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation (OS), and its software platform Miradi, are becoming central tools for conservation management. There is, however, very little literature on either after 5years of widespread implementation. We applied the OS, using Miradi, to five widely varied conservation projects as the foundation for this perspective. We find, in general, that the OS are logical, clear, and provide a robust hierarchical structure from which to organize management action and track progress toward conservation project goals. One goal of the Conservation Measures Partnership in creating the OS is to foster a community of practice for conservation. To better accomplish this, we recommend working toward: (1) creating a library of case studies to illustrate tension between structure and flexibility in the OS for project management; (2) broadening definitions of conservation targets and threats to accommodate the variety of conservation projects; (3) developing critical linkages between the OS to complementary conservation tools (e.g., structured decision-making, spatial planning tools); (4) clearly distinguishing between using threats rankings for action prioritization given expert opinion versus testing hypotheses to gain a mechanistic understanding of cause and effect; and (5) developing rapid assessment tools for the OS to better discern when conservation projects should invest in the cost of fully developing a plan using the OS. We call on both academics and the conservation practitioners to better engage with one another for the benefit of training, cross-project learning and better conservation action. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: When dealing with small populations of elusive species, capture–recapture methods suffer from sampling and analytical limitations, making abundance assessment particularly challenging. We present an empirical and theoretical evaluation of multiple data source sampling as a flexible and effective way to improve the performance of capture–recapture models for abundance estimation of small populations. We integrated three data sources to estimate the size of the relict Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) population in central Italy, and supported our results with simulations to assess the robustness of multiple data source capture–recapture models to violations of main assumptions. During May–August 2008, we non-invasively sampled bears using systematic hair traps on a grid of 41 5×5km cells, moving trap locations between five sampling sessions. We also live-trapped, ear-tagged, and genotyped 17 bears (2004–2008), and integrated resights of marked bears and family units (July–September 2008) into a multiple data source capture–recapture dataset. Population size was estimated at 40 (95% CI=37–52) bears, with a corresponding closure-corrected density of 32 bears/1000km2 (95% CI=28–36). Given the average capture probability we obtained with all data sources combined (), simulations suggested that the expected degree of correlation among data sources did not seriously affect model performance, with expected level of bias <5%. Our results refine previous simulation work on larger populations, cautioning on the combined effect of lack of independence and low capture probability in application of multiple data source sampling to very small populations (N <100). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Habitat connectivity is important for the survival of species that occupy habitat patches too small to sustain an isolated population. A prominent example of such a species is the European bison (Bison bonasus), occurring only in small, isolated herds, and whose survival will depend on establishing larger, well-connected populations. Our goal here was to assess habitat connectivity of European bison in the Carpathians. We used an existing bison habitat suitability map and data on dispersal barriers to derive cost surfaces, representing the ability of bison to move across the landscape, and to delineate potential connections (as least-cost paths) between currently occupied and potential habitat patches. Graph theory tools were then employed to evaluate the connectivity of all potential habitat patches and their relative importance in the network. Our analysis showed that existing bison herds in Ukraine are isolated. However, we identified several groups of well-connected habitat patches in the Carpathians which could host a large population of European bison. Our analysis also located important dispersal corridors connecting existing herds, and several promising locations for future reintroductions (especially in the Eastern Carpathians) that should have a high priority for conservation efforts. In general, our approach indicates the most important elements within a landscape mosaic for providing and maintaining the overall connectivity of different habitat networks and thus offers a robust and powerful tool for conservation planning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biodiversity loss is unevenly distributed in space and time. Species have reached critically low population sizes in some areas, and remain abundant in others. Similarly, some species may benefit from successful conservation plans, while others still experience severe population depletions driven by negative impacts of human activities. Although several indicators have been proposed to measure the fate of biodiversity, they are generally only implemented globally so their relevance for regional assessment is still unclear. Here, we calculated the first regional trend in the Living Planet Index for the Mediterranean wetlands (Med LPI), an indicator that summarizes the fate of global biological diversity based on the temporal trends in abundance of vertebrate populations. The Med LPI was based on 1641 vertebrate populations of 311 species recorded in Mediterranean wetlands from 1970–2008, in 27 different countries. We investigated whether trends in the Med LPI differed between eastern and western Mediterranean countries, which have different socio-economic contexts. Finally, we assessed whether and how the trend in the Med LPI was robust to changes in the number and identity of species considered. We found that, at the Mediterranean scale, the Med LPI increased steeply, which could be taken at first sight, as a general recovery of wetland biodiversity in this biogeographical region. However, we found highly contrasting spatial trends within the Mediterranean region: the average trend was positive for western and negative for eastern countries. Moreover, we showed that depending on the method used to estimate the trend in Med LPI, it can be sensitive to the number and identity of the species considered. We suggest that understanding the regional discrepancies of the trend in biodiversity indicators as well as their robustness to the species represented in the index will enhance progress assessment towards global and regional conservation strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Strategies for biodiversity conservation require society to make choices between competing outcomes. However, these choices are complicated by an incomplete understanding of the ecological significance of different species and the lack of robust measures of conservation outcomes in relation to investments. Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) provides an objective assessment process that can help us to evaluate the effectiveness of different conservation programmes and adjust them in an adaptive manner to improve the chances of success. CEA and other objectively-constructed methods should form an important part of the evidence base for conservation decision-making and evaluation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]