Recovery of large carnivores in Europe’s modern human-dominated landscapes
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences1, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna2, KORA Organics3, University of Zagreb4, Spanish National Research Council5, The Nature Conservancy6, University of Porto7, University of Tirana8, University of Bern9, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague10, Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests11, Sapienza University of Rome12, Transilvania University of Brașov13, Forest Research Institute14, University of Ljubljana15, University of Sarajevo16, Mendel University17, Friends of the Earth International18, Environment Agency19, University of Göttingen20, University of Warsaw21, American Museum of Natural History22, Norwegian University of Life Sciences23, Hedmark University College24, Sofia University25
19 Dec 2014-Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)-Vol. 346, Iss: 6216, pp 1517-1519
TL;DR: It is shown that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records, and coexistence alongside humans has become possible, argue the authors.
Abstract: The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records. The reasons for this overall conservation success include protective legislation, supportive public opinion, and a variety of practices making coexistence between large carnivores and people possible. The European situation reveals that large carnivores and people can share the same landscape.
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TL;DR: Biodiversity-based techniques can be used to manage most human-modified lands as “working landscapes” and ensure that the production of food, fiber, fuel, and timber can be sustained over the long run and be more resilient to extreme events.
Abstract: How can we manage farmlands, forests, and rangelands to respond to the triple challenge of the Anthropocene-biodiversity loss, climate change, and unsustainable land use? When managed by using biodiversity-based techniques such as agroforestry, silvopasture, diversified farming, and ecosystem-based forest management, these socioeconomic systems can help maintain biodiversity and provide habitat connectivity, thereby complementing protected areas and providing greater resilience to climate change. Simultaneously, the use of these management techniques can improve yields and profitability more sustainably, enhancing livelihoods and food security. This approach to "working lands conservation" can create landscapes that work for nature and people. However, many socioeconomic challenges impede the uptake of biodiversity-based land management practices. Although improving voluntary incentives, market instruments, environmental regulations, and governance is essential to support working lands conservation, it is community action, social movements, and broad coalitions among citizens, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies that have the power to transform how we manage land and protect the environment.
575 citations
Cites background from "Recovery of large carnivores in Eur..."
...Managing the matrix to promote biodiversity could also exacerbate human-wildlife conflict; however, the recovery of carnivore populationswithin human-dominated areas in Europe provides a hopeful and inspiring example for how landscapes can be shared between wildlife and people (14) (Box 3)....
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...invigorating traditional livestock-guarding practices using shepherds and dogs (14)....
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TL;DR: Many examples of conservation success show that losses can be halted and even reversed, and building on these lessons to turn the tide of biodiversity loss will require bold and innovative action to transform historical relationships between human populations and nature.
Abstract: Biodiversity is essential to human well-being, but people have been reducing biodiversity throughout human history. Loss of species and degradation of ecosystems are likely to further accelerate in the coming years. Our understanding of this crisis is now clear, and world leaders have pledged to avert it. Nonetheless, global goals to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss have mostly not been achieved. However, many examples of conservation success show that losses can be halted and even reversed. Building on these lessons to turn the tide of biodiversity loss will require bold and innovative action to transform historical relationships between human populations and nature.
528 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize and synthesize factors that contribute to conflict, approaches that mitigate conflict and encourage coexistence, and emerging trends and debates in the field of conservation and coexistence.
Abstract: Human interactions with wildlife are a defining experience of human existence. These interactions can be positive or negative. People compete with wildlife for food and resources, and have eradicated dangerous species; co-opted and domesticated valuable species; and applied a wide range of social, behavioral, and technical approaches to reduce negative interactions with wildlife. This conflict has led to the extinction and reduction of numerous species and uncountable human deaths and economic losses. Recent advances in our understanding of conflict have led to a growing number of positive conservation and coexistence outcomes. I summarize and synthesize factors that contribute to conflict, approaches that mitigate conflict and encourage coexistence, and emerging trends and debates. Fertile areas for scholarship include scale and complexity, models and scenarios, understanding generalizable patterns, expanding boundaries of what is considered conflict, using new tools and technologies, information sharing...
439 citations
TL;DR: A synthesis of its current scientific basis is provided, highlighting trophic cascades as the key conceptual framework, discussing the main lessons learned from ongoing rewilding projects, systematically reviewing the current literature, and highlighting unintentional re wilding and spontaneous wildlife comebacks as underused sources of information.
Abstract: Trophic rewilding is an ecological restoration strategy that uses species introductions to restore top-down trophic interactions and associated trophic cascades to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems. Given the importance of large animals in trophic cascades and their widespread losses and resulting trophic downgrading, it often focuses on restoring functional megafaunas. Trophic rewilding is increasingly being implemented for conservation, but remains controversial. Here, we provide a synthesis of its current scientific basis, highlighting trophic cascades as the key conceptual framework, discussing the main lessons learned from ongoing rewilding projects, systematically reviewing the current literature, and highlighting unintentional rewilding and spontaneous wildlife comebacks as underused sources of information. Together, these lines of evidence show that trophic cascades may be restored via species reintroductions and ecological replacements. It is clear, however, that megafauna effects may be affected by poorly understood trophic complexity effects and interactions with landscape settings, human activities, and other factors. Unfortunately, empirical research on trophic rewilding is still rare, fragmented, and geographically biased, with the literature dominated by essays and opinion pieces. We highlight the need for applied programs to include hypothesis testing and science-based monitoring, and outline priorities for future research, notably assessing the role of trophic complexity, interplay with landscape settings, land use, and climate change, as well as developing the global scope for rewilding and tools to optimize benefits and reduce human–wildlife conflicts. Finally, we recommend developing a decision framework for species selection, building on functional and phylogenetic information and with attention to the potential contribution from synthetic biology.
379 citations
TL;DR: This work provides a comprehensive conceptualization of coexistence in which mutual adaptations by both large carnivores and humans have a central role and helps to integrate large carnivore species into multi-use landscapes outside protected areas.
Abstract: There is a pressing need to integrate large carnivore species into multi-use landscapes outside protected areas. However, an unclear understanding of coexistence hinders the realization of this goal. Here, we provide a comprehensive conceptualization of coexistence in which mutual adaptations by both large carnivores and humans have a central role.
335 citations
Cites background from "Recovery of large carnivores in Eur..."
...Furthermore, the recent comeback of large carnivore species to regions of the USA and Europe after being nearly eradicated [1,2] indicates that changes in human tolerance to carnivores (e....
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References
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TL;DR: The status, threats, and ecological importance of the 31 largest mammalian carnivores globally are reviewed and a Global Large Carnivore Initiative is proposed to coordinate local, national, and international research, conservation, and policy.
Abstract: Large carnivores face serious threats and are experiencing massive declines in their populations and geographic ranges around the world. We highlight how these threats have affected the conservation status and ecological functioning of the 31 largest mammalian carnivores on Earth. Consistent with theory, empirical studies increasingly show that large carnivores have substantial effects on the structure and function of diverse ecosystems. Significant cascading trophic interactions, mediated by their prey or sympatric mesopredators, arise when some of these carnivores are extirpated from or repatriated to ecosystems. Unexpected effects of trophic cascades on various taxa and processes include changes to bird, mammal, invertebrate, and herpetofauna abundance or richness; subsidies to scavengers; altered disease dynamics; carbon sequestration; modified stream morphology; and crop damage. Promoting tolerance and coexistence with large carnivores is a crucial societal challenge that will ultimately determine the fate of Earth's largest carnivores and all that depends upon them, including humans.
2,441 citations
TL;DR: The species most likely to disappear from small reserves are those that range widely-and are therefore most exposed to threats on reserve borders-irrespective of population size, so that border areas represent population sinks.
Abstract: Theory predicts that small populations may be driven to extinction by random fluctuations in demography and loss of genetic diversity through drift. However, population size is a poor predictor of extinction in large carnivores inhabiting protected areas. Conflict with people on reserve borders is the major cause of mortality in such populations, so that border areas represent population sinks. The species most likely to disappear from small reserves are those that range widely-and are therefore most exposed to threats on reserve borders-irrespective of population size. Conservation efforts that combat only stochastic processes are therefore unlikely to avert extinction.
1,612 citations
"Recovery of large carnivores in Eur..." refers result in this paper
...However, our results underline that if the separation model had been applied in Europe, there would hardly be any large carnivore populations at all, because most European protected areas are too small to host even a few large carnivore reproductive units (13)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors anticipate greater success in modifying the manner and frequency with which the activities of humans and domestic animals intersect with those of carnivores, which should permit carnivore populations to persist for decades despite human population growth and modification of habitat.
Abstract: Carnivore conservation depends on the sociopolitical landscape as much as the biological landscape. Changing political attitudes and views of nature have shifted the goals of carnivore management from those based on fear and narrow economic interests to those based on a better understanding of ecosystem function and adaptive management. In parallel, aesthetic and scientific arguments against lethal control techniques are encouraging the development of nonlethal approaches to carnivore management. We anticipate greater success in modifying the manner and frequency with which the activities of humans and domestic animals intersect with those of carnivores. Success should permit carnivore populations to persist for decades despite human population growth and modification of habitat.
1,397 citations
TL;DR: Compared crop yields and densities of bird and tree species across gradients of agricultural intensity in southwest Ghana and northern India, land sparing is a more promising strategy for minimizing negative impacts of food production, at both current and anticipated future levels of production.
Abstract: The question of how to meet rising food demand at the least cost to biodiversity requires the evaluation of two contrasting alternatives: land sharing, which integrates both objectives on the same land; and land sparing, in which high-yield farming is combined with protecting natural habitats from conversion to agriculture. To test these alternatives, we compared crop yields and densities of bird and tree species across gradients of agricultural intensity in southwest Ghana and northern India. More species were negatively affected by agriculture than benefited from it, particularly among species with small global ranges. For both taxa in both countries, land sparing is a more promising strategy for minimizing negative impacts of food production, at both current and anticipated future levels of production.
1,383 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the perceptions of traditional agriculture in Europe and their influence in land management policies and argue that, contrary to the common perception, traditional agriculture practices were not environmentally friendly and that the standards of living of rural populations were low.
Abstract: For millennia, mankind has shaped landscapes, particularly through agriculture. In Europe, the age-old interaction between humans and ecosystems strongly influenced the cultural heritage. Yet European farmland is now being abandoned, especially in remote areas. The loss of the traditional agricultural landscapes and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services is generating concerns in both the scientific community and the public. Here we ask to what extent farmland abandonment can be considered as an opportunity for rewilding ecosystems. We analyze the perceptions of traditional agriculture in Europe and their influence in land management policies. We argue that, contrary to the common perception, traditional agriculture practices were not environmentally friendly and that the standards of living of rural populations were low. We suggest that current policies to maintain extensive farming landscapes underestimate the human labor needed to sustain these landscapes and the recent and future dynamics of the socio-economic drivers behind abandonment. We examine the potential benefits for ecosystems and people from rewilding. We identify species that could benefit from land abandonment and forest regeneration and the ecosystem services that could be provided such as carbon sequestration and recreation. Finally, we discuss the challenges associated with rewilding, including the need to maintain open areas, the fire risks, and the conflicts between people and wildlife. Despite these challenges, we argue that rewilding should be recognized by policy-makers as one of the possible land management options in Europe, particularly on marginal areas.
624 citations
"Recovery of large carnivores in Eur..." refers background in this paper
...The impact of human land-use activities has also been declining in many areas because of a widespread exodus from rural areas and the associated abandonment of agricultural land (22)....
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