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Wildlife managers and others charged with resolving human-coyote conflict in urban and suburban areas cannot focus solely on ecology and coyote behavior. The perceptions of the people living in the affected communities play a significant role in the resolution of human-coyote conflict. In this study, we explore how residents of two communities in suburban Denver, CO, USA, mentally processed, made sense of, and acted upon human–coyote interactions in the face of conflict. By conducting interviews and using qualitative content analysis to explore existing documents, we examined how the use of language reflected and exacerbated the conflict over coyote management. Themes of violence, crime and war ran throughout our data. Anger and accusations of extremism were prevalent. Closely tied to the violent language and imagery used was a discussion of tolerance and intolerance, taking what is generally human-centric language and using it with wildlife. In addition, labeling coyotes as not belonging in an area (although they are a native species) further increased the urge to protect family and pets from the perception of the threat against ‘the other’, sometimes expressed in inflammatory language. Political and other messaging can either enhance or reduce a sense of threat, and we found that the language used in this debate enhanced the perceived threat of both coyotes and policy opponents. Finding ways to defuse this language could be a step toward a greater understanding of how to live with local wildlife in a way that minimizes harm to people and to the animals.

The ocean provides food, economic activity, and cultural value for a large proportion of humanity. Our knowledge of marine ecosystems lags behind that of terrestrial ecosystems, limiting effective protection of marine resources. We describe the outcome of 2 workshops in 2011 and 2012 to establish a list of important questions, which, if answered, would substantially improve our ability to conserve and manage the world’s marine resources. Participants included individuals from academia, government, and nongovernment organizations with broad experience across disciplines, marine ecosystems, and countries that vary in levels of development. Contributors from the fields of science, conservation, industry, and government submitted questions to our workshops, which we distilled into a list of priority research questions. Through this process, we identified 71 key questions. We grouped these into 8 subject categories, each pertaining to a broad component of marine conservation: fisheries, climate change, other anthropogenic threats, ecosystems, marine citizenship, policy, societal and cultural considerations, and scientific enterprise. Our questions address many issues that are specific to marine conservation, and will serve as a road map to funders and researchers to develop programs that can greatly benefit marine conservation. Setenta y Un Preguntas Importantes para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad Marina Resumen Los océanos proporcionan alimento, actividad económica y valor cultural para una gran porción de la humanidad. Nuestro conocimiento de los ecosistemas marinos está atrasado con respecto al que tenemos de los ecosistemas terrestres, lo que limita la protección efectiva de los recursos naturales. Describimos el resultado de dos talleres en 2011 y 2012 para establecer una lista de preguntas importantes, las cuales al ser respondidas, mejorarían sustancialmente nuestra habilidad de conservar y manejar los recursos marinos del mundo. Entre los participantes se incluyeron a individuos de la docencia, el gobierno y organizaciones no-gubernamentales, con una amplia experiencia que atraviesa disciplinas, ecosistemas marinos y países que varían en el nivel de desarrollo. Los contribuyentes de los campos de la ciencia, la conservación, la industria y el gobierno, presentaron preguntas a nuestros talleres, las cuales separamos en una lista de preguntas de investigación prioritarias. Por medio de este proceso, identificamos 71 preguntas clave. Las agrupamos en ocho categorías temáticas, cada una perteneciente a un componente amplio de la conservación marina: pesquerías, cambio climático, otras amenazas antropogénicas, ecosistemas, ciudadanía marina, política, consideraciones sociales y culturales, y la iniciativa científica. Nuestras preguntas se dirigen a muchas cuestiones que son específicas de la conservación marina, y servirán como una ruta a seguir para patrocinadores e investigadores que busquen desarrollar programas que puedan beneficiar ampliamente a la conservación marina.