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Conservation regulations are instrumental for effective nature preservation, but several compliance and implementation failures jeopardize the achievement of their objectives, with strong potential to erode their legitimacy. Understanding how such deficits impact on stakeholders' perceptions is a matter of concern in pursuing truly effective tools. Here, using as case study the heterogeneous implementation of EU sanitary regulations which allow livestock carcasses to be left in situ in the Iberian Peninsula, we evaluated how uneven implementation affects farmers' perceptions towards scavengers. We interviewed 109 farmers at the border between Spain, with designated Scavenger Feeding Zones (SFZs), and Portugal, where SFZs are still under way. We detected a deficit in the implementation of European sanitary regulation and a low knowledge of this legislation by farmers (10%), which led to marked differences between countries in the perception of farmers on scavengers. Despite being expected to benefit from SFZs, Spanish farmers valued scavengers worse than Portuguese farmers. This unexpected outcome would be mediated by ca. 95% of the Spanish farmers interviewed (n = 48) still using the carcass collection system set after the outbreak of the mad cow disease, instead of adopting the new rules allowing carcasses abandonment at SFZs. Contrastingly, ca. 28% of the Portuguese farmers (n = 61) left livestock carcasses in the field without official approval. Our results support the initial hypothesis of more positive perceptions of scavengers by farmers leaving livestock carcasses in situ, while warning against assuming effective implementation of sanitary regulations in reality. Worryingly, as illustrated by the negative perception of Spanish farmers towards vultures, these implementation failures could turn out to an emergent farmer-wildlife conflict, which can jeopardize scavenger conservation.

[Abstract]: Background: Different population trajectories are expected to impact the signature of neutral and adaptive processes at multiple levels, challenging the assessment of the relative roles of different microevolutionary forces. Here, we integrate adaptive and neutral variability patterns to disentangle how adaptive diversity is driven under different demographic scenarios within the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus) range. We studied the persistent, the expanding and a small, isolated group within the Iberian wolf population, using 3 MHC class II genes (DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1), which diversity was compared with 39 microsatellite loci. Results: Both the persistent and the expanding groups show evidence of balancing selection, revealed by a significant departure from neutrality at MHC loci, significant higher observed and expected heterozygosity and lower differentiation at MHC than at neutral loci, and signs of positive selection. However, despite exhibiting a significantly higher genetic diversity than the isolated group, the persistent group did not show significant excess of MHC heterozygotes. The expanding group, while showing a similar level of genetic diversity than the persistent group, displays by contrast a significant excess of MHC heterozygotes, which is compatible with the heterozygote advantage mechanism. Results are not clear regarding the role of drift and selection in the isolated group due to the small size of this population. Although diversity indices of MHC loci correspond to neutral expectations in the isolated group, accelerated MHC divergence, revealed by a higher differentiation at MHC than neutral loci, may indicate diversifying selection. Conclusion: Different selective pressures were observed in the three different demographic scenarios, which are possibly driven by different selection mechanisms to maintain adaptive diversity.

Laws aimed at preventing harm to the environment appear to be insufficient to halt or reverse environmental decline. In a Perspective, the authors highlight recent efforts to address this issue by recognizing intrinsic rights of nature. Going beyond the rights for individuals that animal rights advocates call for, the rights of nature proponents focus on natural communities, ecosystems and other natural entities. Several jurisdictions around the world have recognized rights of nature in specific circumstances, providing a potential means to protect natural entities even when their needs conflict with those of humans. Successful expansion and implementation of this concept will, however, depend on legal systems' ability to integrate ecological knowledge, as well as how much weight is given to rights of nature when they are in conflict with those of humans or corporations.

Knowledge of species that are distributed in areas with forest management is essential to understand the negative and positive impacts of this activity on the conservation of species considered for protection by the Mexican government through NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca). The objective was to identify the species and sex of sympatric felines present in the Los Ocotones forest use area (LOSOCO), located 36 km from Cintalapa, Chiapas. Thirty-three fecal samples were collected and analyzed to identify individual genetic profiles. Two male pumas, a female puma, a male jaguar, a female ocelot/tigrillo and a male puma/jaguarundi were identified. The genetic analysis provided relevant information on the role played by the area in hosting priority feline species for conservation purposes. It is necessary to strengthen protection actions that help ensure their permanence in the region., El conocimiento de las especies que se distribuyen en zonas con manejo forestal es fundamental para comprender los impactos negativos y positivos de esta actividad en la conservación de especies consideradas en protección por el gobierno mexicano a través de la NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, como es el caso del jaguar (Panthera onca). El objetivo fue identificar especies y sexo de felinos simpátricos presentes en el área de aprovechamiento forestal Los Ocotones (LOSOCO), ubicada a 36 km de Cintalapa, Chiapas. Se colectaron 33 muestras fecales y se analizaron para identificar perfiles genéticos individuales. Se identificaron dos pumas machos, un puma hembra, un jaguar macho, un ocelote/tigrillo hembra y un puma/leoncillo macho. El análisis genético aportó información relevante sobre el papel que juega la zona por albergar especies de felinos prioritarias para su conservación. Se requiere fortalecer las acciones de protección que ayuden a garantizar su permanencia en la región.

[Abstract]: Decision-makers in wildlife policy require reliable population size estimates to justify interventions, to build acceptance and support in their decisions and, ultimately, to build trust in managing authorities. Traditional capture-recapture approaches present two main shortcomings, namely, the uncertainty in defining the effective sampling area, and the spatially-induced heterogeneity in encounter probabilities. These limitations are overcome using spatially explicit capture-recapture approaches (SCR). Using wolves as case study, and non-invasive DNA monitoring (faeces), we implemented a SCR with a Poisson observation model in a single survey to estimate wolf density and population size, and identify the locations of individual activity centres, in NW Iberia over 4,378 km2. During the breeding period, posterior mean wolf density was 2.55 wolves/100 km2 (95%BCI = 1.87–3.51), and the posterior mean population size was 111.6 ± 18.8 wolves (95%BCI = 81.8–153.6). From simulation studies, addressing different scenarios of non-independence and spatial aggregation of individuals, we only found a slight underestimation in population size estimates, supporting the reliability of SCR for social species. The strategy used here (DNA monitoring combined with SCR) may be a cost-effective way to generate reliable population estimates for large carnivores at regional scales, especially for endangered species or populations under game management.

Many conservation professionals are familiar with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Ramsar Convention, and the World Heritage Convention. Regional instruments, such as those focusing on Africa, Antarctica, or Europe, are also conspicuous features of the conservation arena. Other international wildlife agreements focus on particular species, such as polar bears or albatrosses, or particular transboundary protected areas, such as the huge Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (see table 1). These agreements are collectively known as international wildlife law (Bowman et al. 2010). The binding agreements themselves are typically accompanied and informed by an evolving set of nonbinding instruments, such as Conference of the Parties (COP) decisions and action plans.

The growing complexity and global nature of wildlife poaching threaten the survival of many species worldwide and are outpacing conservation efforts. Here, we reviewed proximal and distal factors, both social and ecological, driving illegal killing or poaching of large carnivores at sites where it can potentially occur. Through this review, we developed a conceptual social–ecological system framework that ties together many of the factors influencing large carnivore poaching. Unlike most conservation action models, an important attribute of our framework is the integration of multiple factors related to both human motivations and animal vulnerability into feedbacks. We apply our framework to two case studies, tigers in Laos and wolverines in northern Sweden, to demonstrate its utility in disentangling some of the complex features of carnivore poaching that may have hindered effective responses to the current poaching crisis. Our framework offers a common platform to help guide future research on wildlife poaching feedbacks, which has hitherto been lacking, in order to effectively inform policy making and enforcement.

The European Commission has finally buried its controversial plan to revise the EU's biodiversity conservation legislation in order to make it more "business-friendly". Such a revision would have meant a fatal setback for European wildlife conservation. The 1979 Birds Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive set out strict, enforceable obligations for EU member states to protect and restore vulnerable species and areas, and impose real limits on potentially harmful human activities. This legislation has the potential to actually do what it is supposed to do: protect vulnerable nature. Some governments and other stakeholders consider the Directives unduly restrictive, however, and in 2014 the new European Commission announced its wish to “modernize” the Directives as part of its broader deregulation agenda. The Directives have survived this most serious assault since their inception thanks to clear evidence of their effectiveness and an unprecedented public mobilisation campaign. The focus now shifts from revising the legislation to its effective application, including through litigation where necessary. Cooperation between lawyers and other conservation professionals will be crucial to achieve this.