Sandy beach biodiversity is under increasing pressure from anthropogenic stressors across the ocean-land interface, creating an urgent need for cost-effective conservation tools. Umbrella taxa can serve as proxies for co-occurring biodiversity in spatial conservation planning and guide habitat-based conservation actions that benefit broader communities. However, quantitative frameworks for identifying and validating umbrella approaches remain limited. We developed a framework combining co-occurrence potential, rarity, and sensitivity to human modification to assess the umbrella potential of 71 taxa across 30 wave-exposed beach sectors in southeastern Brazil. The resulting portfolio integrated resident arthropods, particularly Cicindelidae and Staphylinidae, with sea turtle nests, shorebirds, and taxa associated with adjacent habitats, notably wrack deposits and coastal vegetation. Umbrella combinations consistently outperformed random sets of equivalent size in taxonomic and spatial coverage. Pairs of selected umbrella taxa achieved high biodiversity representation across relatively few beach sectors. Our results provide a reproducible framework for identifying regional umbrella portfolios, guiding spatial prioritization and potential monitoring of habitat-based conservation outcomes.
Growing demand for meat is increasing livestock production, which could boost carrion resources for threatened scavenger species. This potential benefit, however, can be offset by the intensification of livestock farming, where higher livestock densities are generally accompanied by carcass removal to prevent problems associated with decomposition. In northern Patagonia, the decline of native ungulates and the expansion of livestock have made Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) highly dependent on domestic species. Here, we evaluated how Andean condor feeding locations relate to livestock density across different farming systems. We identified 1854 potential feeding events from GPS data of 27 Andean condors tracked between 2011 and 2018 and analyzed habitat selection using a matched case–control design. Andean condors avoided feeding where livestock densities were highest. However, within landscapes dominated by extensive farming, their feeding events were positively related with livestock density. In both contexts, thermal uplift also strongly influenced Andean condor feeding space use. Our results suggest that livestock density alone may not reliably indicate carrion accessibility for Andean condors, highlighting the need to assess how different production systems affect food resources for this species. As livestock production intensifies globally, associated management practices may have unintended consequences for scavenger conservation and the ecosystem services they provide.
Wolves have been recovering across human-dominated Europe, successfully recolonizing large parts of the continent thanks to their remarkable adaptability. Although wolves generally avoid direct contact with humans, in this scenario, it would not be realistic to expect them entirely avoiding human settlements, infrastructures, or even people under some circumstances. Such recovery inevitably increases the likelihood of encounters between wolves and people. Increasing public concerns on the potential outcomes from close interactions between wolves and people demands a better understanding of what type of wolf behaviours or situations could lead to a potentially risky situation to human safety. Understanding such early warning signs is crucial for the timing and implementation of appropriate management interventions. Here, we propose definitions for strongly habituated and bold wolves, as we assume they are those that pose a higher risk to human safety. Our definitions assume a recurrence of unwanted behaviours over time. We collected cases from 2012 to 2022 across Europe in which wolves repeatedly approached people or allowed people to approach at close distance. Although there is a lack of homogenous definitions for strongly habituated or bold wolves across Europe, systematic monitoring of potential cases, and awareness and motivations to report cases, so far, available information suggest that these cases are rare events. Overall, 21 records from six countries matched the criteria to qualify as cases of strongly habituated or bold wolves, an average of 1.9 cases annually. Remarkably, inappropriate human actions were a key factor in the development of undesirable behaviour in wolves.
Genetic diversity, a cornerstone of biodiversity, is fundamental for adaptation and the long-term survival of species. Here, we assess the current state of genetic research on the endemic flora of the European Alps. We identified 323 studies, of which only 61 studies showed some intraspecific genetic diversity. A Genetic Monitoring Effort Index (GME) was developed to quantify the depth of genetic knowledge per species and study, and used it to analyse monitoring trends. Our survey reveals that advancements in genetic techniques, such as high-throughput sequencing, have enabled continued improvement in genetic knowledge of endemic species, but pervasive knowledge deficits remain. This is striking, given that the European alpine flora has historically received considerable attention from scientists and botanists. Specifically, 78.8% of species have not been the subject of any genetic diversity study, and only 4.6% of species have had their genetic diversity assessed more than once. Additionally, we found that GME is positively associated with large-ranged taxa, pointing to the greater vulnerability and underrepresentation of narrow-ranged and micro-endemic species. In addition, very few taxa (9.5%) have been subject to a global IUCN conservation assessment. Our results demonstrate an urgent need to study the genetics of the alpine endemic flora in more detail. If this well-studied biodiversity hotspot is poorly known genetically, it is likely that other biodiversity hotspots have even greater knowledge deficits. Nextgen sequencing technologies promise a path toward rapid genetic knowledge gain, but the underlying fieldwork to obtain the specimens still needs to be done.
Animal reintroductions are a key conservation strategy and central to trophic rewilding efforts, yet many reintroduction projects fail, with scarce evidence on why. This knowledge gap largely stems from a lack of clear and practical guidelines for how to define reintroduction success and thus what to monitor. Here, we evaluate early outcomes of a European bison reintroduction in the southwestern Romanian Carpathians by assessing whether released individuals establish a population, whether this population increases, and what financial investment was required to monitor these indicators. Specifically, we assessed (i) establishment through survival, (ii) displacement from the release site and spatial expansion, and (iii) proxies of population increase for the period 2014–2024. Our results provide clear evidence of early reintroduction success: released animals had a higher survival rate after improved animal selection, GPS-tracked European bison individuals showed low displacement, progressively expanded their range to cover a total of 127.5 km2, and genetic capture-recapture and population estimates showed that the European bison population increased substantially, from 91 surviving reintroduced individuals to 211 (95% CI: 209–290) in 2024, retaining genetic diversity. However, we also show that tracking reintroduction progress required substantial and sustained monitoring investment (€800,000, field personnel making up 75% of these costs), stressing the importance of clearly defining indicators and budgeting associated costs. More broadly, we highlight that monitoring the early phases of post-release establishment and population growth is critical to enable adaptive management of reintroduced megafauna, to proactively mitigate human-megafauna conflict, and to ultimately restore the ecological roles of these species.
