Thomas R. Dando, Robbie A. McDonald, Richard P. Young, Stephen P. Carter, Sarah L. Crowley
{"title":"Cat owners' perceptions of domestic cats and implications for European wildcat (Felis silvestris) restoration","authors":"Thomas R. Dando, Robbie A. McDonald, Richard P. Young, Stephen P. Carter, Sarah L. Crowley","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70056","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cat owners are key stakeholders and influencers in discourses around cat management. While research has examined cat impacts on wildlife, there is limited understanding of cat owners' perspectives on management responsibilities, particularly in regions where European wildcats <i>Felis silvestris</i> are threatened by hybridization with domestic cats <i>Felis catus</i>. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with rural-living cat owners within two regions of the UK where wildcat reintroductions are being contemplated. Interviewees were asked about their perspectives on the impacts of, and responsibility for, owned and unowned domestic cats and wildcats. We also explored cat owners' present knowledge of wildcats. We find a lack of consensus over who is, or should be, responsible for unowned cats to be a significant barrier to effective cat management. This is highlighted by the shifting perceptions of unowned cats between domesticated and wild. Moreover, the lack of cognizance of wildcats among cat owners is a primary challenge facing wildcat restoration and unowned cat management. We propose collaboration among a broad group of stakeholders to develop management strategies for unowned cats in the context of wildcat restoration and suggest a focus on cat welfare. The challenges of domestic cat management provide insight useful to wildlife restoration projects where there is a need to engage and highlight co-benefits with stakeholders who are interested but not necessarily engaged in conservation issues or practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70056","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hilary Byerly Flint, Aaron J. Enriquez, Drew E. Bennett, Leslie Richardson, Arthur D. Middleton
{"title":"Tradeoffs and win-wins between large landscape conservation and wildlife viewing in protected areas","authors":"Hilary Byerly Flint, Aaron J. Enriquez, Drew E. Bennett, Leslie Richardson, Arthur D. Middleton","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70051","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wildlife conservation around protected areas is critical and costly, yet its beneficiaries—particularly protected area visitors who enjoy viewing wide-ranging wildlife—rarely contribute towards landscape-scale conservation. We characterize the importance of wildlife viewing in two U.S. protected areas: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We surveyed park visitors (<i>N</i> = 991) and used the travel cost method to test whether changes in the viewing experience would justify support for visitor-funded conservation. We find that benefits from wildlife viewing are substantial and dependent on protecting wide-ranging species and maintaining their abundance. Large carnivores, particularly grizzly bears, are especially important to wildlife viewers, who are willing to pay more to visit the parks by about 50%. Additionally, we gauged support for three conservation fundraising mechanisms within parks: a mandatory fee, a voluntary fund, and a tax on goods and services. Overall, we find that species population declines could have a greater effect on visitation than that from imposing conservation costs onto visitors, which visitors largely support regardless of income or politics. Our results demonstrate tradeoffs between maintaining visitor experience quality and protected area visitation, with a potential win-win for conservation beneficiaries to contribute towards action at a scale necessary for biodiversity protection.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70051","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144255818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lara J. Hansen, Deborah A. Rudnick, Kathryn N. Braddock, Arden Drake, Scott Covington, Helen E. Fox, Kimberly R. Hall, James B. Hansen, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Eric E. Mielbrecht, Jordan M. West
{"title":"Are climate change adaptation strategies working? A call to expedite learning","authors":"Lara J. Hansen, Deborah A. Rudnick, Kathryn N. Braddock, Arden Drake, Scott Covington, Helen E. Fox, Kimberly R. Hall, James B. Hansen, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Eric E. Mielbrecht, Jordan M. West","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70060","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Evidence is lacking for what constitutes effective climate change adaptation to successfully conserve and steward ecosystems. Yet we urgently need this information to develop robust adaptation strategies to keep pace with unprecedented change, given our limited resources to do so. This includes not just understanding if a given strategy is effective in a single application, but perhaps more importantly if a given strategy has proven effective across sites where it has been applied, or has benefits only under certain sets of conditions. This learning across the field of adaptation is currently missing and is what is necessary for bringing adaptation to scale. We propose an approach that can guide adaptation efficacy testing under varying levels of baseline knowledge and ecosystem complexity. The approach includes clearly defining conservation goals and climate vulnerabilities, methodically collecting site and climate metrics to inform analysis of efficacy, and evaluating and communicating both positive and negative results in order to advance the adaptation field. Using this approach with meta-analyses and post-hoc testing can quickly scale efficacy testing in a meaningful way. Furthermore, explicitly incorporating efficacy testing into adaptation processes can support the growth of the adaptation field and spark creative, adaptive management approaches that will increase the likelihood of reducing climate change vulnerability.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70060","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sophie L. Loca, Amy Garbett, Jonathan D. R. Houghton, James Thorburn, Oliver Ó Cadhla, Maurice Clarke, Gary Hannon, Liz Pothanikat, Paul A. Mayo, Ruairí Gallagher, Mark D. J. Hoppner, Patrick Colman Collins
{"title":"A research toolbox for regional data collection to support the conservation of large batoids: A case study on the critically endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)","authors":"Sophie L. Loca, Amy Garbett, Jonathan D. R. Houghton, James Thorburn, Oliver Ó Cadhla, Maurice Clarke, Gary Hannon, Liz Pothanikat, Paul A. Mayo, Ruairí Gallagher, Mark D. J. Hoppner, Patrick Colman Collins","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70052","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Elasmobranchs, specifically skate species (superorder Batoidea), are at risk of extinction, with over one-third currently listed as Endangered, exacerbated due to their k-selected life strategy. A regional conservation approach is required to support the collection of rigorous, species-specific data alongside collaborative efforts across sectors and jurisdictions. Skate species that extend beyond jurisdictional boundaries encounter additional complexities from divergent national legal frameworks, monitoring requirements, and conservation priorities, resulting in inconsistent data collection. Here we present an innovative research “toolbox,” initially devised for the Critically Endangered flapper skate (<i>Dipturus intermedius</i>) in the North-East Atlantic, but applicable to most demersal elasmobranchs. This toolbox offers a systematic approach (Why, What, Who, Where, and When?) to obtain critical information for the conservation of elasmobranchs, with a focus on standardization and cross-border collaboration. Recent advancements in understanding flapper skate ecology highlight the potential for regional conservation initiatives, emphasizing the importance of coordinated actions, and serve as an illustrative example within the context of the “toolbox.”</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70052","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jennifer E. Helm, Elizabeth G. Simpson, Lorelle I. Berkeley, Mark Szczypinski, Shea P. Coons, Victoria J. Dreitz
{"title":"The influence of a conservation-based grazing program on greater sage-grouse habitat selection","authors":"Jennifer E. Helm, Elizabeth G. Simpson, Lorelle I. Berkeley, Mark Szczypinski, Shea P. Coons, Victoria J. Dreitz","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70053","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding how vegetation management affects animals' habitat selection patterns is critical for comprehensive conservation planning. As part of a decade-long study (2011–2019) of 486 adult female sage-grouse in central Montana, we investigated how a conservation-based grazing program (CGP) affected greater sage-grouse (<i>Centrocercus urophasianus</i>) habitat selection at two temporal scales: (a) the seasonal scale (four biologically relevant seasons) and (b) the annual scale. We used resource selection functions to assess sage-grouse selection for pastures enrolled in a CGP as well as plant functional type and topography. We found that sage-grouse strongly selected shrub cover, flatter slopes, and less tree cover. They selected CGP-enrolled pastures (Pre-, During-, and Post-grazing system implementation) over Non-CGP pastures during all seasons except the summer–fall. During the summer–fall, they selected pastures where CGP implementation was complete. Future research is needed to determine whether selection for CGP-enrolled pastures was due to unmeasured, underlying differences between CGP and non-CGP pastures or CGP enrollment patterns rather than effects of different grazing systems, as well as whether these habitat selection differences are linked to demographic rates or population dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70053","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
James A. Fitzsimons, Rene Woods, Jamie Woods, Ian Woods, Kathryn Ridge, Mark Brettschneider, Chris Perceval, Alan Goodwin, Kate Smillie, Paul Elton, Richard T. Kingsford
{"title":"Establishing large, permanent protection outcomes on Indigenous-owned private land: Innovations at Gayini, Australia","authors":"James A. Fitzsimons, Rene Woods, Jamie Woods, Ian Woods, Kathryn Ridge, Mark Brettschneider, Chris Perceval, Alan Goodwin, Kate Smillie, Paul Elton, Richard T. Kingsford","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70055","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In order to meet global targets for area-based conservation, new and innovative models for land protection will be increasingly required to suit different tenure and governance arrangements and to ensure the protected and conserved area estate is representative of the full range of biodiversity. Here we outline innovations in conservation and protection at Gayini, a large wetland restoration project in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, where a legally-binding conservation covenant was co-developed with the land's Traditional Custodians.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70055","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. D. Goergen, M. P. Louis, K. F. Kellner, G. J. Roloff, M. Lindeque, J. L. Belant
{"title":"Local management and governance improve natural resource incomes of communal conservancies in Namibia","authors":"J. D. Goergen, M. P. Louis, K. F. Kellner, G. J. Roloff, M. Lindeque, J. L. Belant","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70054","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Effective governance of communal institutions is critical to financial sustainability of community-based natural resource management economies. We evaluated effects of local management and governance on income earned by communal conservancies in Namibia during 2011–2022. We compiled annual income and performance scores for natural resource management and institutional governance using conservancy accounting and ‘event book’ monitoring data (governance performance collected since 2019). Conservancies earning >$0 income generated a median annual $60,518 since 2011 and $50,283 since 2019 (17% less than during 2011–2022), which reflected a decline in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic despite an increase in grants received. Income increased with years since conservancy establishment, higher management performance, presence of nongovernmental organization (NGO) support within conservancies, and annual general meeting (AGM) occurrence. Higher management performance positively affected the probability conservancies earned >$0 since 2011 and 2019. Income earned during 2019–2022 also increased with higher governance performance. Median management and governance performances across conservancies were only about 50% of their maximum scores, indicating higher income potential with improved performance. Support from NGOs remained critical to financial sustainability of conservancies and AGMs were important governance functions. Natural resource management and institutional governance facilitated income generation by Namibia's conservancies, but more emphasis on benefit distribution could increase socioeconomic impact. We recommend that Namibia's conservancies, particularly those established more recently or without NGO presence, prioritize improving local management and governance to develop more sustainable community-based natural resource economies.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70054","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144255861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantifying the cumulative impact of winter habitat loss on a critically endangered migratory parrot","authors":"Ross Crates, Robert Heinsohn","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70057","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Habitat loss is a major driver of biodiversity decline, often occurring in a slow-paced, piecemeal way. The cumulative impacts of such loss can be substantial for threatened species but are challenging to quantify and thus factor into planning decisions—particularly for mobile species with large ranges and irregular settlement patterns. We combined remote sensing and population viability analysis to estimate the cumulative impact of various winter habitat loss scenarios on the critically endangered, migratory swift parrot <i>Lathamus discolor</i> in south-eastern Australia. Swift parrots suffer from predation during nesting and logging of their Tasmanian breeding habitat, but the Hunter-Central Coast (HCC) of New South Wales is an important wintering area for the species and also amogst the most rapidly developing. If threats from predation and logging in Tasmania are addressed but habitat loss occurs throughout the species' wintering range at the rate observed in the HCC, the swift parrot population is expected to decline by 16% over 50 years. If observed rates of habitat loss in the HCC continue, halve, or double, the additional impact from that region alone on the swift parrot population could lead to a decline of 32% over 100 years. Our study emphasizes the need to avoid cumulative impacts across the full range of mobile species to help prevent their extinction.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70057","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144256484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thibaut Ferraille, Christian Kerbiriou, Charlotte Bigard, Fabien Claireau, Eric Durand, John D. Thompson
{"title":"A data-driven approach to multi-facet prioritization of biodiversity in regional conservation planning","authors":"Thibaut Ferraille, Christian Kerbiriou, Charlotte Bigard, Fabien Claireau, Eric Durand, John D. Thompson","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of land-use planning is a major tool to minimize the environmental impact of urbanization. SEA implementation is, however, often based on incomplete biodiversity diagnostics and almost entirely focused on lists of priority species with high conservation value. At the same time, recent studies in Systematic Conservation Planning illustrate how to integrate the multidimensionality of biodiversity on a large scale, such as ecosystem function and species' evolutionary uniqueness, which could broaden the spectrum of stakes for SEA on a regional scale. The objective of this study is to assess the complementarity and feasibility of adopting a multi-facet approach to define spatial biodiversity priorities and inform regional SEA stakeholders. To do so, we used a spatial prioritization tool based on Species Distribution Models (SDM) to assess four facets of biodiversity (“priority species list”, “threatened species”, “functional distinctiveness” and “phylogenetic distinctiveness”). In a study of three taxonomic groups (Aves, Flora, and Papilionidae) in three regional administrative entities in France, our results confirm the pertinence of different facets of biodiversity to identify new and complementary priority areas for conservation. However, the limited amount of data adequate for SDM may bias the choice of conservation priorities. We conclude on the clear need to promote a holistic approach to biodiversity conservation if we are to correctly reduce the impacts of development projects on a land-use planning scale.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143919985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mitchell A. Green, Brittany F. Barnes, Kamal J. K. Gandhi, Elizabeth F. Pienaar
{"title":"Examining park users' support for emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) control in urban parks","authors":"Mitchell A. Green, Brittany F. Barnes, Kamal J. K. Gandhi, Elizabeth F. Pienaar","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Emerald ash borer (<i>Agrilus planipennis</i> Fairmare; EAB) is a woodboring beetle that is considered one of the most damaging invasive forest insects in North America, causing near-complete mortality of native ash (<i>Fraxinus</i> spp.) trees across multiple states. Management options include both biological control using parasitoid wasps from EAB's native range, and chemical control with systemic insecticides. Although both strategies are being used to control EAB, the public's support for these methods is not well understood. In 2023, we surveyed 174 urban park users in northeastern Georgia, United States, to identify determinants of their support for EAB control. Most respondents were not previously aware of EAB and ash trees, although they valued the ecosystem services provided by park trees. Respondents were more supportive of biological control than chemical control, perceiving greater ecological and human well-being risks from chemical control. Respondents' risk perceptions pertaining to control methods and EAB, and their attitudes towards ash trees influenced their support for EAB control. Birdwatchers were less likely to support chemical control and individuals who like to sit and enjoy nature were more likely to support biological control. Our results suggest that park managers' outreach about EAB control should emphasize the aesthetic appeal and ecosystem services provided by urban ash trees and the invasion impacts of EAB. Outreach should also highlight that EAB control does not pose ecological or human well-being risks, that parasitoid wasps help to secure ecosystem function through pest control and do not pose a risk to people, and that EAB control will not adversely impact recreational activities within the park.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"7 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143919438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}