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Hibernation is a life history strategy for conservation of energy during adverse conditions, primarily of temperature or resource availability. Whilst energy conservation is beneficial in itself, it is less clear whether hibernation confers wider conservation benefits or mitigates or exacerbates a wide range of threats.We briefly review how hibernation manifests in mammalian biology, primarily through energy budgets, activity levels and resource requirements, but then ask how these interact with existing pressures to affect conservation risk. We also explore conservation actions that could alleviate the negative relations between some pressures and hibernation biology and review the available evidence for these measures.Hibernation can convey some protection from disease and predation, though there are notable exceptions, for example white‐nose syndrome. There is well‐established evidence that hibernators are prone to hazards of disturbance during hibernation, necessitating careful mitigation. Hibernators exhibit diverse responses to the pressures related to climate change, including temperature variability and phenological and range mismatches. Yet for each aspect, there are examples of species and populations responding negatively, such as with reduced survival, which suggests that hibernation could exacerbate the negative consequences of climate change.Though there are times when hibernators do not respond as expected, we find several positive conservation actions, such as modern grilles and regulations reducing the disturbance of cave‐hibernating bat species. Understanding and working with hibernation biology can, therefore, successfully mitigate the additional risks it confers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐native plant pests and pathogens are increasing exponentially, causing extirpation of foundation species. The impact of large‐scale declines in a single host on associated biodiversity is widely documented. However, the impact of multiple host loss on biodiversity and whether these impacts are multiplicative has not been assessed. Ecological theory suggests that systems with greater functional redundancy (alternative hosts) will be more resilient to the loss of sympatric hosts. We test this theory and show its importance in relation to pest/pathogen impact assessments.We assessed the potential impact on biodiversity of the loss of two widely occurring sympatric European tree species, Fraxinus excelsior and Quercus petraea/robur, both of which are currently threatened by a range of pests and pathogens.At the UK scale, the total number of associated species at risk of extirpation from plant diseases affecting these two sympatric hosts is greater than the sum of the associated species at risk from declines in either host alone. F. excelsior hosts 45 obligate species (species only found on that host) and Q. petraea/robur hosts 326. However, a decline in both these trees would impact 512 associated species, across multiple taxon groups, a 38% increase. Assessments at a local scale, 24 mixed F. excelsior–Q. petraea/robur woodlands revealed that these impacts may be even greater due to a lack of functional redundancy. Only 21% of sites were able to provide functional redundancy for F. excelsior and Q. petraea/robur associated species which can use other tree species. In most woodlands, the tree species required to provide functional redundancy were not present, although the site conditions were often suitable for them to grow.Synthesis. Understanding of functional redundancy should be applied to assessments of pests/pathogens impact on biodiversity. In risk assessments, higher impact scores should be given to pests/pathogens affecting hosts occurring with other host plant species already impacted by pests/pathogens. Current pest/pathogen risk assessment approaches that ignore the cumulative, cascading effects shown in this study may allow an insidious, mostly overlooked, driver of biodiversity loss to continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conifer seed is a valuable forest resource; as well as being reproductive material, it is an important foodstuff for many woodland species. Information on cone and therefore seed production of the main forest species are useful in the fields of both forest management and forest ecology. Coning has been recorded since 1989 in plots of Norway spruce, Sitka spruce and Scots pine across Britain as part of the Forestry Commission's Forest Condition Monitoring programme. An 11-year period of these records was analysed and a summary of annual cone production by species and coning synchrony is presented. Both Norway spruce and Sitka spruce coned sporadically, with a 4-year period between mast crops during which cone density was very low or cone production absent, whereas Scots pine produced a good cone crop in most years throughout Britain. Coning was synchronous within and between Norway and Sitka spruce across the whole of Britain (at distances >600 km) but coning within Scots pine was in synchrony only over distances of up to 200 km. Synchrony of cone production was not evident between the spruce species and Scots pine. These findings have implications when planning and interpreting monitoring used to predict cone crops and in the design of forests for wildlife conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]