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Siemer WF, Lauber TB, Stedman RC, Hurst JE, Sun CC, Fuller AK, Hollingshead NA, Belant JL, Kellner KF. Perception and trust influence acceptance for black bears more than bear density or conflicts. FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2023.1041393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionTo sustain black bear (Ursus americanus) populations, wildlife managers should understand the coupled socio-ecological systems that influence acceptance capacity for bears.MethodIn a study area encompassing a portion of New York State, we spatially matched datasets from three sources: human-bear conflict reports between 2006 and 2018, estimates of local bear density in 2017–2018, and responses to a 2018 property owner survey (n=1,772). We used structural equation modeling to test hypothesized relationships between local human-bear conflict, local bear density, and psychological variables. ResultsThe final model explained 57% of the variance in acceptance. The effect of bear population density on acceptance capacity for bears was relatively small and was mediated by a third variable: perception of proximity to the effects of human-bear interactions. The variables that exerted a direct effect on acceptance were perception of bear-related benefits, perception of bear-related risks, perceived proximity to effects of human-bear interactions, and being a hunter. Perception of bear-related benefits had a greater effect on acceptance than perception of bear-related risks. Perceived proximity to effects of human-bear interactions was affected by local bear density, but also was affected by social trust. Increased social trust had nearly the same effect on perceived proximity as decreased bear density. Social trust had the greatest indirect effect on acceptance of any variable in the model. DiscussionFindings suggest wildlife agencies could maintain public acceptance for bears through an integrated approach that combines actions to address bear-related perceptions and social trust along with active management of bear populations.
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Cusack JJ, Nilsen EB, Israelsen MF, Andrén H, Grainger M, Linnell JDC, Odden J, Bunnefeld N. Quantifying the checks and balances of collaborative governance systems for adaptive carnivore management. J Appl Ecol 2022; 59:1038-1049. [PMID: 35910004 PMCID: PMC9306889 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Recovering or threatened carnivore populations are often harvested to minimise their impact on human activities, such as livestock farming or game hunting. Increasingly, harvest quota decisions involve a set of scientific, administrative and political institutions operating at national and sub‐national levels whose interactions and collective decision‐making aim to increase the legitimacy of management and ensure population targets are met. In practice, however, assessments of how quota decisions change between these different actors and what consequences these changes have on population trends are rare. We combine a state‐space population modelling approach with an analysis of quota decisions taken at both regional and national levels between 2007 and 2018 to build a set of decision‐making models that together predict annual harvest quota values for Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Norway. We reveal a tendency for administrative decision‐makers to compensate for consistent quota increases by political actors, particularly when the lynx population size estimate is above the regional target. Using population forecasts based on the ensemble of decision‐making models, we show that such buffering of political biases ensures lynx population size remains close to regional and national targets in the long term. Our results go beyond the usual qualitative assessment of collaborative governance systems for carnivore management, revealing a system of checks and balances that, in the case of lynx in Norway, ensures both multi‐stakeholder participation and sustainable harvest quotas. Nevertheless, we highlight important inter‐regional differences in decision‐making and population forecasts, the socio‐ecological drivers of which need to be better understood to prevent future population declines. Synthesis and applications. Our work analyses the sequence of decisions leading to yearly quotas for lynx harvest in Norway, highlighting the collaborative and structural processes that together shape harvest sustainability. In doing so, we provide a predictive framework to evaluate participatory decision‐making processes in wildlife management, paving the way for scientists and decision‐makers to collaborate more widely in identifying where decision biases might lie and how institutional arrangements can be optimised to minimise them. We emphasise, however, that this is only possible if wildlife management decisions are documented and transparent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy J. Cusack
- Centro de Modelación y Monitoreo de Ecosistemas Universidad Mayor Chile
- Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Stirling UK
| | | | | | - Henrik Andrén
- Grimsö Wildlife Research Station Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Riddarhyttan Sweden
| | | | | | - John Odden
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Oslo Norway
| | - Nils Bunnefeld
- Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Stirling UK
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Bauder JM, Ruid D, Roberts NM, Kohn B, Allen ML. Effects of translocation on survival of nuisance bears. Anim Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/acv.12684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J. M. Bauder
- Illinois Natural History Survey Prairie Research Institute University of Illinois Champaign IL USA
| | - D. Ruid
- United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services Rhinelander WI USA
| | - N. M. Roberts
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Rhinelander WI USA
| | - B. Kohn
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Rhinelander WI USA
| | - M. L. Allen
- Illinois Natural History Survey Prairie Research Institute University of Illinois Champaign IL USA
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Cusack JJ, Bradfer‐Lawrence T, Baynham‐Herd Z, Castelló y Tickell S, Duporge I, Hegre H, Moreno Zárate L, Naude V, Nijhawan S, Wilson J, Zambrano Cortes DG, Bunnefeld N. Measuring the intensity of conflicts in conservation. Conserv Lett 2021; 14:e12783. [PMID: 34434253 PMCID: PMC8365684 DOI: 10.1111/conl.12783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Conflicts between the interests of biodiversity conservation and other human activities pose a major threat to natural ecosystems and human well-being, yet few methods exist to quantify their intensity and model their dynamics. We develop a categorization of conflict intensity based on the curve of conflict, a model originally used to track the escalation and deescalation of armed conflicts. Our categorization assigns six intensity levels reflecting the discourse and actions of stakeholders involved in a given conflict, from coexistence or collaboration to physical violence. Using a range of case studies, we demonstrate the value of our approach in quantifying conflict trends, estimating transition probabilities between conflict stages, and modeling conflict intensity as a function of relevant covariates. By taking an evidence-based approach to quantifying stakeholder behavior, the proposed framework allows for a better understanding of the drivers of conservation conflict development across a diverse range of socioecological scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy J. Cusack
- Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of StirlingStirlingUK
- Centro de Modelación y Monitoreo de EcosistemasUniversidad MayorSantiagoChile
| | - Tom Bradfer‐Lawrence
- Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of StirlingStirlingUK
- RSPB Centre for Conservation Science2 Lochside View, Edinburgh, EH12 9DH
| | | | | | - Isla Duporge
- Wildlife Conservation Research UnitUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Håvard Hegre
- Peace and Conflict ResearchUppsala UniversityUppsalaSweden
| | - Lara Moreno Zárate
- Grupo de Gestión de Recursos Cinegéticos y Fauna SilvestreInstituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC)Ciudad RealSpain
| | - Vincent Naude
- Institute for Communities and Wildlife in AfricaUniversity of Cape TownCape TownSouth Africa
| | - Sahil Nijhawan
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - John Wilson
- Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of StirlingStirlingUK
| | | | - Nils Bunnefeld
- Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of StirlingStirlingUK
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Population reduction by hunting helps control human-wildlife conflicts for a species that is a conservation success story. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237274. [PMID: 32780755 PMCID: PMC7418986 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the world's large Carnivores, American black bears (Ursus americanus) are the foremost conservation success story. Populations have been expanding across North America because the species is adaptable and tolerant of living near people, and because management agencies in the U.S. and Canada controlled hunting and other human-sources of mortality. As a result, human-black bear conflicts (damage to property, general nuisance, threat to human safety) have dramatically increased in some areas, making it urgently important to develop and deploy a variety of mitigation tools. Previous studies claimed that legal hunting did not directly reduce conflicts, but they did not evaluate whether hunting controlled conflicts via management of population size. Here, we compared temporal patterns of phoned-in complaints about black bears (total ~63,500) in Minnesota, USA, over 4 decades to corresponding bear population estimates: both doubled during the first decade. We also quantified natural bear foods, and found that large year-to-year fluctuations affected numbers of complaints; however, since this variation is due largely to weather, this factor cannot be managed. Complaints fell sharply when the management agency (1) shifted more responsibility for preventing and mitigating conflicts to the public; and (2) increased hunting pressure to reduce the bear population. This population reduction was more extreme than intended, however, and after hunting pressure was curtailed, population regrowth was slower than anticipated; consequently both population size and complaints remained at relatively low levels statewide for 2 decades (although with local hotspots). These long-term data indicated that conflicts can be kept in tolerable bounds by managing population size through hunting; but due to the bluntness of this instrument and deficiencies and uncertainties in monitoring and manipulating populations, it is wiser to maintain a population at a level where conflicts are socially-acceptable than try to reduce it once it is well beyond that point.
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Reynolds-Hogland MJ, Ramsey AB, Seward AT, Pilgrim KL, Engkjer C, Ramsey PW. Response of a remnant marmot population to habitat enhancement yields insights into marmot ecology. J Mammal 2020; 101:658-669. [PMID: 32665739 PMCID: PMC7333880 DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyaa021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
We evaluated the response of a remnant population of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) to targeted habitat enhancement in an ecological system that had been degraded during ~100 years of intensive livestock management, including marmot eradication. We used capture-recapture data and a novel use of a multistate framework to evaluate geographic expansion of the marmot population pre- and post-habitat enhancement. We also estimated age-structured survival, reproduction, and sex ratios. The marmot population appeared to respond positively to new habitat opportunities created by habitat enhancement: the number of marmots captured increased from three marmots pre-habitat enhancement to 54 (28 adults and yearlings, 26 young) post-habitat enhancement at the end of the study. Marmots expanded geographically by transitioning into habitat-enhanced areas, and adult females occupied and reproduced in all habitat-enhanced areas. The sex ratio of the young population in 2019 was strongly female-biased, which may have been influenced by poor body condition of breeding females owing to unusually prolonged snow cover that year. Adult and yearling survival were within the range of that reported for colonial adults and yearlings in Colorado. Our results suggest that active habitat enhancement can assist in the recovery of marmot populations in systems where marmots historically existed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Cory Engkjer
- USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, MT, USA
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Florens F, Baider C. Mass-culling of a threatened island flying fox species failed to increase fruit growers’ profits and revealed gaps to be addressed for effective conservation. J Nat Conserv 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2018.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Tri AN, Edwards JW, Ryan CW, Carpenter CP, Carr PC, Ternent MA, Strager MP, Petty JT. Harvest rates and cause-specific mortality of American black bears in the wildland–urban interface of the Mid-Atlantic region, USA. URSUS 2017. [DOI: 10.2192/ursu-d-16-00033.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew N. Tri
- Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, 322 Percival Hall, P.O. Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
| | - John W. Edwards
- Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, 322 Percival Hall, P.O. Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
| | - Christopher W. Ryan
- Wildlife Resources Section, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, 322 Percival Hall, P.O. Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
| | - Colin P. Carpenter
- Wildlife Resources Section, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, 2006 Robert C. Byrd Drive, Beckley, WV 25801, USA
| | - Patrick C. Carr
- New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, Mail Code 501-03, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420, USA
| | - Mark A. Ternent
- Bureau of Wildlife Management, Pennsylvania Game Commission 2001, Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110, USA
| | - Michael P. Strager
- Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, 322 Percival Hall, P.O. Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
| | - J. Todd Petty
- Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, 322 Percival Hall, P.O. Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
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Garshelis DL, Baruch-Mordo S, Bryant A, Gunther KA, Jerina K. Is diversionary feeding an effective tool for reducing human–bear conflicts? Case studies from North America and Europe. URSUS 2017. [DOI: 10.2192/ursu-d-16-00019.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Kerry A. Gunther
- Bear Management Office, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, USA
| | - Klemen Jerina
- Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 83, 1000 Slovenia
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Morehouse AT, Boyce MS. Evaluation of intercept feeding to reduce livestock depredation by grizzly bears. URSUS 2017. [DOI: 10.2192/ursu-d-16-00026.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea T. Morehouse
- University of Alberta, CW405 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
| | - Mark S. Boyce
- University of Alberta, CW405 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
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