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Wildlife Dissertation Topics

Published by Owen Ingram at December 29th, 2022 , Revised On May 28, 2024

Animals, plants, and microorganisms that can live in their natural habitat and are not domesticated or cultivated are considered wildlife. A wide range of animal and plant species are included in wildlife, including uncultivated mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish.

Numerous studies have been conducted in this area over the last couple of decades due to the continuously declining wildlife. Research on wildlife conservation, in particular, has received substantial funding. If you are thinking about the possible wildlife topics for writing a dissertation , our team has compiled many appealing wildlife dissertation topics that are sure to inspire you.

So, without further ado, here is our selection of trending and focused wildlife thesis topics and ideas for your consideration whether you are an undergraduate, Master or PhD student.

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List Of Excellent Wildlife Dissertation Topics

• The impact of avian migration patterns on illness transmission in seasonal host bird populations
• A study of the conservation efforts for the Himalayan snow leopard
• An investigation on how building railroads has affected the choice of habitat for moose in rural Canada
• Studying Wildlife Tours in Protected Areas: A Review of the Security Protocols & Procedures
• Optimising Wildlife Management on Crop Farms Using Site-Specific Modeling
• Protecting Wildlife Herbivores on Private Game Ranches in Africa
• A research project on avian ecology and protection in monsoon environments
• Researchers investigate the impact of shifting weather patterns on the migration patterns of Asian geese
• A review of the impact of selective annual hunting licenses on Pakistani markhor conservation
• A study of the successful rehabilitation of the declining Markhor communities in northern Pakistan under communal ownership
• Structure of the Network and Perceived Legitimacy in Collaborative Wildlife Management
• Costs of the Transaction Private versus Public Wildlife Management Trade-offs
• Considering Tax Policy Ideas to Support Nongame Wildlife Programs
• A research project is looking at how beaver dams impact fish biodiversity
• How many other wildlife species are still undiscovered? Theory and proof
• A review of flagship species’ significance to conservation efforts
• A study of how politics affects the conservation of the African rhino. Are our concerns about doing business with China preventing us from saving rhinos?
• A study of how politics affects whale conservation. Does the imperative to protect the whale trump our political worries about Japan?
• The results of aggressive initiatives for animal rights. How does it impact conservation efforts?
• Relationships between Humans and Wildlife: Coronavirus Evolution
• Possibilities for Interdisciplinary Science to Reduce Bio-security Risks from Illegal Wildlife Trade and Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens
• Opposition to animal testing. What progress has been made during the past 50 years?
• The impact of imprisonment on a grey wolf’s mating habits
• An investigation of the behavioural similarities and differences between domestic dogs and wolves kept in captivity
• Grey wolves’ responses to various confinement conditions focused on their mating habits
• The impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on local wildlife habitat and ecology
• The conservation efforts of commercial zoos
• The impact of industrial waste on the preservation of wildlife
• Global legislative impact of animal conservation
• The impact of climate change on the preservation of animals
• What Can Integrated Conservation and Development Projects Achieve in Tourism, Poaching, and Wildlife Conservation Areas?
• Increased tourist support for nature conservation, both financially and in other ways, including wildlife-based tourism
• Supporting Wildlife Tourism-Based Sustainable Livelihoods
• Urban Wildlife Health Surveillance Developing into Intelligence for Monitoring and Mitigation of Pests
• The Identification and Evaluation of Potential Wildlife Habitat Corridors
• What are some of the things that prevent the wildlife sector of the economy from growing?
• How can wildlife be improved so that people and various animals can benefit from it?
• Why shouldn’t these animals be handled gently and with respect by everyone?
• What is the impact of tourists on the poor performance of wildlife sections in developing nations?
• Is it permissible for the government to use different types of trees and animals for scientific research?
• The influence of citizen science on wildlife conservation efforts.
• The impact of habitat fragmentation on wildlife dispersal and connectivity.
• The role of artificial intelligence in wildlife monitoring and population analysis.
• The economic value of healthy wildlife populations for local communities.
• Mitigating human-wildlife conflict through innovative coexistence strategies.
• The potential of rewilding projects in restoring ecological balance.
• Investigating the impact of light pollution on nocturnal wildlife behaviour.
• Effectiveness of environmental education programs in fostering wildlife appreciation.
• Exploring the role of zoos and aquariums in wildlife conservation and education.
• Deciphering the effects of microplastics on wildlife health and ecosystem functioning.
• Investigating the link between climate change and the emergence of zoonotic diseases.
• Exploring the role of keystone species in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
• The impact of invasive species on native wildlife populations.
• Investigating the potential of assisted reproduction techniques in wildlife recovery programs.
• The impact of noise pollution on wildlife communication and behaviour.
• The role of traditional ecological knowledge in wildlife conservation strategies.
• Investigating the potential of citizen science in combating illegal wildlife trade.
• Deciphering the role of social media in raising awareness and promoting wildlife conservation.
• Role of marine protected areas in safeguarding ocean wildlife.
• Impact of climate change on migratory patterns and breeding cycles of wildlife.
• Exploring the potential of synthetic biology in conservation efforts for endangered species.
• Ethical considerations of wildlife trophy hunting practices.
• Investigating the link between the decline of pollinators and ecosystem health.

We recommend you pick more than one topic and conduct a little research on all of them. You can use the internet or your local library to gather sources that were created on issues similar to your selection.

If you do not find enough information on one topic, move to the next option. Researching multiple issues will help you collect enough data for various dissertation topics and choose the one you found the most information on.

Take inspiration from our list of wildlife dissertation topics, and get started with your dissertation without any further delay. You can also order a professional dissertation writing service from our expert writers, so you focus on other areas of life.

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How to find wildlife dissertation topics.

To discover wildlife dissertation topics:

• Research conservation challenges.
• Explore biodiversity hotspots.
• Analyse habitat or species concerns.
• Review scientific journals.
• Consult experts or professors.
• Select a topic aligning with your passion and field of study.

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Sample proposal 3, perceived fairness, integrated conservation and development investments, and lemur conservation: a case study from northeastern madagascar, madagascar, 2011.

PROPOSAL NARRATIVE

Problem Statement, Research Questions, and Research Objectives

Habitat disturbance presents a significant threat to the survival of  Propithecus candidus , a lemur ranked among the world’s 25 most endangered primates (Mittermeier et al. 2009) that serves as a flagship species for the Marojejy region of northeastern Madagascar and promotes local income generation through tourism and foreign conservation-sector investments. A 2010 Patel et al. population survey for this species simultaneously documented exceptionally high lemur density and significant anthropogenic disturbance along the western boundary of Marojejy National Park, as compared with the Park’s eastern area. These regions support forest-bordering communities of comparable size where traditional livelihoods are characterized by swidden systems of rice cultivation and cash crop production. These communities are perceived to receive variable investments of Park finances for educational, infrastructural and agricultural-sector development. This study proposes to investigate perceptions of fairness in to-date integrated conservation and development investments in forest-bordering communities in the Marojejy region. Specifically, the study will ask the question: “Do community members increase their use of forest resources, protected within critical habitat for  Propithecus candidus , based on the perception that other communities are receiving more benefits from conservation investments than they are?” The ultimate objective of this research will be to determine a set of practical recommendations for Park managers and investors that will facilitate more equitable integrated conservation and development programs and/or systems of payment for ecological services that benefit local livelihoods while preserving habitat for remaining lemur populations.

Literature Review

In Madagascar, fire plays an integral role in rural agricultural production systems, (Humbert 1927; Jarosz 1993; Kull 2000; Gezon 2006) and is widely applied by Betsimisaraka and Tsimihety swidden farmers in landscapes surrounding Marojejy National Park to adapt upland regions for subsistence rice production and cash cropping of coffee and vanilla. (Laney 1999) Forest loss and fragmentation has restricted most remaining populations of  Propithecus candidus  to Marojejy National Park and Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve, (Patel et al. 2008) two protected areas managed by Madagascar National Parks that also provide essential ecological services to surrounding communities in an otherwise severely eroded landscape. In recent decades, integrated conservation and development programs have been implemented in Madagascar to promote community-scale conservation of the island’s remaining forested landscapes (USAID 2010), with systems of payment for ecological services emerging as a new investment strategy to support communities that lack alternative livelihoods by preserving carbon and water resources (Wendland et al. 2010). Sommerville et al.’s (2010) case study of a Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust community-based payment for ecological services intervention in Menabe, western Madagascar, has suggested households with the highest opportunity costs to engaging in forest conservation over food crop production perceive the lowest levels of net benefit from conservation incentives, and that perceived fairness in the governance of investment distribution systems plays a significant role in the effectiveness of conservation interventions (Sommerville et al. 2010). My proposed research will evaluate whether these findings apply to Marojejy National Park’s investment strategy for forest-bordering communities, with the aim of identifying perceived inequalities and encouraging community input on options for the improved design of locally- appropriate integrated conservation and development strategies in this remote region of Madagascar.

Field Site Selection and Justification

I plan to build a case-study of two communities located on the periphery of Marojejy National Park: (1) Mandena village, which borders the Park ecotourism zone and is highly ‘visible’ to Park managers, visitors, and international donors and has received notable development- sector investments in recent years, and (2) the geographically-isolated community of Antsahaberoahaka on the western Park border, a four-day walk from the nearest road, which is rumored to receive little compensation in the form of development assistance in exchange for respecting restrictions on natural resource use within Park boundaries. Limited research has been conducted in the field of environmental anthropology in this region of Madagascar, and documentation of local resource use patterns, local attitudes towards Marojejy National Park, and a community-oriented evaluation of equity in conservation investments would be highly valuable for environmental planning.

Methodology

Local land use mapping, interviews with local leaders, and household surveys are proposed for this study, as a means of giving voice to local perspectives, enhancing understanding of variables affecting anthropogenic pressure on remaining lemur habitat, and advising equitable and effective future conservation planning in Madagascar’s remaining forested regions. A randomly-selected representative sample of households in the villages of Antsahaberoahaka and Mandena (present number of households still to be determined) will be selected for closed-ended household surveys designed after Sommerville et al. (2010), Queslin and Patel (2008) and Holmes (2003) to (1) assess individual attitudes towards the Park and (2) quantify relative resource use patterns, including: (a) area used for rice cultivation, (b) area used for cash crop cultivation, and (c) fuelwood and non-timber forest product consumption. Formal meetings with community leaders and tangalamena (elders) will be conducted at the initiation of the study, with open-ended interviews documenting: (a) perceptions of community benefit from Park investments to-date, (b) broader community conservation attitudes, and (c) ethnographic details on historical occupation and resource reliance in the region. Local land use mapping performed with community leaders and tangalamena will be keyed to surveyed households, to document relative patterns of resource reliance. Structured interviews with National Park management staff will also be performed to quantify park proceeds and donor investments in community development projects to-date. Documentation of open-ended interviews will be done using tape recorders and coded for data analysis in field notebooks. Closed-ended household surveys will be documented on prepared questionnaires featuring simple yes/no and preference ranking questions for univariate statistical analysis. Data will be collected in dialect Malagasy (for Antsahaberoahaka and Mandena) and in French language (Andapa Marojejy National Park office), in collaboration with a local research assistant (Marojejy Guide Association field assistant, cook, and porters are required by the National Park) and Malagasy student from the University of Antananarivo (it is required that all foreign researchers in Madagascar engage a University student for the duration of their research).

Personal Qualifications and Research Collaborations

My personal qualifications for this research include three years experience (2006-2009) working on community-based conservation and ecological monitoring projects in northeastern Madagascar with the Peace Corps, in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Antanetiambo Nature Reserve. In 2008 I co-authored a report to WCS documenting a new population of  Propithecus candidus  lemurs in Makira Protected Area, following work with primatologist Erik Patel (Simpona.org) and local research assistants to design and perform interviews similar to those proposed in this more extensive study (see Patel et al. 2008). In a 2008 language examination I scored “advanced-high” proficiency in Betsimisaraka dialect Malagasy, and “advanced- medium” in French. I have local contacts within the Marojejy National Park guide association and with the National Park director and staff, and have been in communication with the Madagascar Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments to plan logistics and survey technique to begin the research permitting process, and to identify a Malagasy research assistant from the University of Antananarivo.

Gezon, L. L. 2006. Global Visions, Local Landscapes: A Political Ecology of Conservation, Conflict, and Control in Northern Madagascar. AltaMira Press: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. New Y ork.

Holmes, C. M. 2003. The influence of protected area outreach on conservation attitudes and resource use patterns: a case study from western Tanzania. Oryx. 37(3): 305-315.

Humbert, H. 1927. La destruction d'une flore insulaire par le feu. Principaux aspects de la végétation de Madagascar. Documents photographiques et notices, Mémoires de l'Académie Malgache. 5: 1–79 in: Humbert, H. et al. 1936/2002. Flore de Madagascar et des Comores. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Jarosz, Lucy. 1993. Defining and Explaining Tropical Deforestation: Shifting Cultivation and Population Growth in Colonial Madagascar (1896-1940). Economic Geography. 69(4):366-379.

Kull, C. A. 2004. Isle of fire: the political ecology of landscape burning in Madagascar. University of Chicago Press.

Laney, Rheyna. Agricultural change and landscape transformations in the Andapa region of Madagascar. Dissertation submitted to Clark University. April 1999. UMI Microform 9928102.

Mittermeier, R. A., Wallis, J., Rylands, A. B., Ganzhorn, J. U., Oates, J. F., Williamson, E. A., Palacios, E., Heymann, E. W., Kierulff, M. C. M., Long Yongcheng, Supriatna, J., Roos, C., Walker, S., Cortés- Ortiz, L. and Schwitzer, C. (eds.). 2009. Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2008–2010. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG), International Primatological Society (IPS), and Conservation International (CI), Arlington, VA. 84pp.

Nielson, M. and E. R. Patel. 2008. The role of taste preference and wealth in bushmeat hunting in villages adjacent to Marojejy National Park, Madagascar. XXII Congress of the International Primatological Society, Edinburgh, UK, 3-8 August 2008. Primate Eye (96) Special Issue: 222- 223.

Patel, E. R., Andrianandrasana, L. H., Haingo, Kramer, R. A. 2008. The silky sifakas ( Propithecus candidus ) of Andaparaty-Rabeson. Internal report to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Patel, E. R., Meyers D., Hawkins F. 2007 b. Silky sifaka, Propithecus candidus , 1871. In: Mittermeier RA, Ratsimbazafy J, Rylands AB, Williamson L, Oates JF, Mbora D, Ganzhorn JU, Rodríguez- Luna E, Palacios E, Heymann EW, Kierulff MCM, Yongcheng L, Supriatna J, Roos C, Walker S, Aguiar JM. Primates in peril: the world's 25 most endangered primates, 2006-2008. Primate Conservation. 22:1-40.

Queslin, E. and E. R. Patel. 2008. A preliminary study of wild silky sifaka ( Propithecus candidus ) diet, feeding ecology, and habitat use in Marojejy National Park, Madagascar. XXII Congress of the International Primatological Society, Edinburgh, UK, 3-8 August 2008. Primate Eye (96) Special Issue: 64.

Sommerville, et al. 2010. The role of fairness and benefit distribution in community-based Payment for Environmental Services interventions: A case study from Menabe, Madagascar. Environmental Economics. 69: 1262-1271.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 2010. Paradise Lost? Lessons from 25 years of Environment Programs in Madagascar. Executive Summary. Available:  http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/countries/madagascar/

Wendland, K.J. et al. 2010. Targeting and implementing payments for ecosystem services: Opportunities for bundling biodiversity conservation with carbon and water services in Madagascar. Ecological Economics. 69: 2093-2107.

RESEARCH SCHEDULE

June 2011 - Assemble and train Madagascar team for data collection: University of Antananarivo student assistant, local research assistants

July 2011 - Data collection (household surveys, community resource mapping, structured and unstructured interviews) in Antsahaberoahaka village

August 2011 - Data collection (household surveys, community resource mapping, structured and unstructured interviews) in Mandena village

                        - Data collection (archival research, structured interviews with Park staff) at Marojejy National Parks office

Sept-Nov 2011 - Data entry and analysis

Dec-Mar 2011-2012 - Writing

Apr-May 2012 - Yale Masters Symposium (presentation of research)

June 2012 - Poster presentation at Seneca Park Zoo Madagascar Event

July-Sept 2012 - Publication prep (Journal of Madagascar Conservation & Development/Oryx)

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Population genomics for wildlife conservation and management

Paul a. hohenlohe.

1 Department of Biological Sciences and Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, University of Idaho, Moscow Idaho, USA

W. Chris Funk

2 Department of Biology, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado, USA

Om P. Rajora

3 Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton New Brunswick, Canada

Associated Data

No new data were generated or analysed as part of this review article.

Biodiversity is under threat worldwide. Over the past decade, the field of population genomics has developed across nonmodel organisms, and the results of this research have begun to be applied in conservation and management of wildlife species. Genomics tools can provide precise estimates of basic features of wildlife populations, such as effective population size, inbreeding, demographic history and population structure, that are critical for conservation efforts. Moreover, population genomics studies can identify particular genetic loci and variants responsible for inbreeding depression or adaptation to changing environments, allowing for conservation efforts to estimate the capacity of populations to evolve and adapt in response to environmental change and to manage for adaptive variation. While connections from basic research to applied wildlife conservation have been slow to develop, these connections are increasingly strengthening. Here we review the primary areas in which population genomics approaches can be applied to wildlife conservation and management, highlight examples of how they have been used, and provide recommendations for building on the progress that has been made in this field.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. the need for population genomics in wildlife biology.

As increasing attention is focused on global change and loss of biodiversity (IPBES, 2019 ), it is critical to understand the changes and challenges that wildlife populations face and use the tools now available for management and conservation of wildlife species. Central issues in wildlife conservation include identifying populations and units for conservation, assessing population size and connectivity, detecting hybridization, assessing the potential of populations to persist and adapt to environmental change, and understanding the factors that affect this potential. Genetic information can inform all of these issues and provide critical information for designing management strategies to address them. The genomics revolution has democratized the field of population genomics, allowing high‐throughput sequencing to be applied in nearly any organism, including natural populations of rare or difficult‐to‐study species (Supple & Shapiro,  2018 ; Luikart et al., 2019 ; Rajora,  2019 ). As a result, genomics approaches are an important part of the toolkit for a basic understanding of wildlife biology, such as disease or population dynamics, and to inform direct conservation and management actions for wildlife populations and their habitats. At the same time, the power of genomics techniques presents new challenges for researchers in analysing and interpreting large genomic data sets.

Natural populations face a number of threats, including habitat loss and alteration, direct mortality from exploitation, invasive species, emerging infectious disease, pollution and climate change. These threats are pervasive and global, so that an estimated 1 million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction within the next few decades (IPBES, 2019 ). Threats to wildlife populations often act synergistically, and genetic factors are central to the challenges confronting wildlife. For instance, loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding due to population declines and fragmentation can reduce population fitness directly, but also can reduce a population's ability to adapt to novel conditions produced by invasive species or climate change (Ceballos et al.,  2017 ). Genetics and genomics concepts, and the ability to efficiently study genetic factors in nature, are important for quantifying and mitigating threats to wildlife populations.

Several years ago, spurred by technological advances in high‐throughput sequencing, a set of reviews and perspective articles assessed the potential for the field of conservation genomics (e.g., Allendorf et al.,  2010 ; Primmer,  2009 ; Steiner et al.,  2013 ). Genomics concepts and approaches have a wide range of applications in conservation, from seed sourcing for restoration to understanding community‐level effects of genomic diversity (Breed et al.,  2019 ; Hand et al.,  2015 ; Holliday et al.,  2017 ; Rajora,  2019 ). Here we focus on applications of population genomics to wildlife, which we define as natural populations of terrestrial vertebrate species that are the focus of specific attention for conservation or population management (although most of the tools and concepts we discuss are applicable to all of biodiversity, and in particular wildlife biology can learn from applications of population genomics in fisheries). Over the last decade, the field has made substantial progress in understanding how to apply population genomics in wildlife and what questions can be addressed. It is timely to take stock of the progress that has been made to date, learn from some of the successes, and identify avenues for future progress in wildlife population genomics research. Additionally, a critical need is to translate wildlife population genomics research to conservation actions, requiring concrete steps toward integrating the two.

1.2. Approaches in population genomics

Traditional conservation genetics in wildlife has relied on techniques including allozyme and microsatellite genotyping or sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to provide a wealth of knowledge about natural populations (Allendorf,  2017 ). However, these techniques provide data on a limited number of genetic markers across individuals. Advances in next‐generation sequencing technology have led to a proliferation of techniques for population genomics studies, all of which have the potential to provide fine‐scale genetic data across the genome of multiple individuals (Holliday et al., 2019 ). Multiple genomics techniques provide sequence data on a reduced representation of the genome, such as the transcriptome or a pre selected set of loci targeted with primers or hybridization probes (Meek & Larsen, 2019 ). Anonymous reduced‐representation techniques provide sequence data from loci spread across all parts of the genome, which are determined by the molecular protocol, such as the choice of restriction enzymes used in the restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) family of techniques (Andrews et al.,  2016 ). Finally, whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) produces data from every part of the genome, and it is increasingly feasible for most taxa (Fuentes‐Pardo & Ruzzante,  2017 ). Importantly for studies of wildlife species, many of these techniques, including transcriptome, RADseq and WGS, do not require any prior genomic knowledge for the species.

The line between genetics and genomics, and whether it is even useful to make a distinction, is subject to differing opinions. The vast increase in the amount of data provided by genomics techniques can allow new questions to be addressed, such as detection of genes associated with important traits or fitness, that were not tractable with traditional techniques; this has been called “narrow‐sense genomics” (Garner et al., 2016 ; Hohenlohe, Hand, et al. 2019 ). With the availability of reference genome assemblies, placing genetic markers on chromosomes provides important information about physical linkage and recombination and connects genetic markers directly to candidate genes. This new perspective can be integral to a truly genomics study, and what Allendorf ( 2017 ) calls “the death of beanbag genetics.” Conversely, in a “broad‐sense genomics” approach (Garner et al., 2016 ), high‐throughput sequencing tools can be used to address questions that were already tractable with traditional genetic techniques. The advantage of using newer techniques is increased statistical power and resolution with more markers, and in many cases increased efficiency and cost‐effectiveness (Walters & Schwartz,  2020 ).

1.3. Applications to wildlife

Below we highlight a number of recent applications of population genomics to understanding wildlife populations. Progress in this field has revealed several general trends. First, all of the techniques described above, from traditional genetics tools through the wide range of next‐generation sequencing approaches, continue to have important roles to play (as predicted by Primmer,  2009 ). Determining which approach is best in a particular case depends on many factors, including the resources available and the data required to address a specific scientific question (Hohenlohe, Hand, et al. 2019 ). Second, population genomics studies are increasingly able to address multiple scientific questions with high precision from a single genomic data set. For instance, genomic data can allow population structure to be assessed from the perspective of both neutral and adaptive connectivity, with different implications for conservation actions (Funk et al.,  2012 ). WGS data from a relatively small number of individuals can provide information across a range of timescales, from demographic history and phylogenetic relationships among widely separated populations over the last two million years, to inbreeding within the last century (Saremi et al.,  2019 ). In part this is the result of new analytical approaches made possible by genomic data sets, such as demographic reconstruction (discussed below) and runs of homozygosity (ROH; Box 1 ).

Understanding Inbreeding: runs of homozygosity

Loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding in small populations is a central threat to many wildlife populations. With fine‐scale genomic data, such as short‐read WGS data, mapped to a reference genome, it is possible to identify runs of homozygosity (ROH) – chromosomal regions that have few or no heterozygous nucleotide sites because both chromosome copies derive from a single copy in a relatively recent common ancestor (Ceballos et al., 2018 ). The proportion of the genome that is in ROH, or identical by descent, has long been central to the concept of inbreeding, because it is the result of relatedness between parents. Being able to map these regions in the genome reveals several novel insights that illustrate the power of population genomics approaches. First, ROH provide precise estimates of individual‐level inbreeding which are more accurate than other methods (Kardos et al., 2015 ).

Further, the lengths of ROH reveal details of demographic history and the timescale of inbreeding (Grossen et al., 2020 ). Part a of the figure shows average heterozygosity across the genome of several wolf ( Canis spp.) individuals from Robinson et al. ( 2019 ); regions where heterozygosity is absent are ROH. The individual from and outbred population in Minnesota shows relatively high heterozygosity and very few ROH. The individual from Ethiopia had low genome‐wide heterozygosity due to long‐term small effective population size in an isolated population, but few long ROH suggesting relatively little contemporary inbreeding. In contrast, the individual from the severely declining (now extinct) population on Isle Royale, Michigan, USA, shows several long ROH across the genome, as expected with recent inbreeding. Because recombination breaks up haplotype blocks with each generation, smaller ROH reflect older inbreeding events, so that the distribution of ROH lengths tells the history of inbreeding in a population. For example, part b of the figure shows the distribution of ROH lengths in 10 puma ( Felis concolor ) individuals. Size classes of ROH correspond to the expected number of generations since the individual’s maternal and paternal lineages shared a common ancestor for that chromosomal region (Saremi et al. 2019 ).

Genes that cause inbreeding depression due to recessive deleterious alleles in the homozygous state or the loss of heterozygosity at particular genes can be mapped by comparing the locations of ROH across individuals. Further, the relative locations of ROH among individuals and populations can be informative for controlled breeding or genetic rescue attempts. For example, if two individuals share ROH at the same chromosomal region due to common ancestry, their offspring will also have those regions of reduced diversity. However, if two individuals have different ROH, mating between them can produce offspring with lower inbreeding coefficients, potentially relieving inbreeding depression. Part c shows the extent of ROH sharing among puma individuals (Saremi et al., 2019 ); many pairs show only minimal sharing of ROH, but two individuals from Florida (CYP47 and CYP51) share ROH across a relatively large portion of their genomes due to identity by descent from inbreeding, and any offspring from this pair would also be severely inbred.

Third, many approaches that are most useful for wildlife also combine multiple population genetics or genomics approaches. For instance, many applications of genetics tools in wildlife require the ability to genotype a set of genetic markers consistently over time across many individuals, for instance in long‐term monitoring of populations. Next‐generation sequencing tools can efficiently provide a large amount of data, from which a highly optimized set of marker loci can be extracted for specific objectives such as parentage analysis, population assignment or monitoring of adaptive loci (Förster et al.,  2018 ; Hess et al.,  2015 ; Meek et al.,  2016 ; von Thaden et al.,  2020 ). These marker panels may have relatively few loci (e.g., orders of magnitude fewer than the genomic data set on which they are based) and miss large parts of the genome, so they may not be considered “genomics” in a strict sense. Nonetheless, when a selected panel of marker loci is developed from a genome‐wide data set to include adaptively significant loci, it is able to address questions about adaptive variation in wildlife populations that were previously intractable with traditional genetics studies.

A variety of other technical advances and available resources facilitate the use of population genomics in wildlife species. Increasingly, sequencing technology is advancing to the point that it can be used in the field with only a backpack full of equipment and supplies, for instance using MinION nanopore sequencing technology (Oxford Nanopore Technologies; Krehenwinkel, Pomerantz, & Prost, et al.,  2019 ; Krehenwinkel, Pomerantz, Henderson, et al.,  2019 ). Increasing numbers of wildlife species have reference genome assemblies available, and these provide a number of benefits, including improved identification of loci, linking genetic markers to candidate genes, and haplotype‐based or other analyses that are not possible otherwise (Brandies et al.,  2019 ; Luikart et al., 2019 ; Box 1 ). If a reference genome is not available for a particular species, one from a closely related species can be used to align short‐read sequence data (e.g., Janecka et al.,  2020 aligned WGS data from snow leopards against the tiger genome assembly, both in the genus Panthera ), and it can also provide a backbone for creating a reference genome assembly for the focal species. The growing number of reference genome assemblies is facilitated by large collaborative initiatives focused on taxonomic groups, such as Australian mammals ( https://ozmammalsgenomics.com ), birds (Zhang et al., 2014 ; https://b10k.genomics.cn/index.html ) or all eukaryotes (Lewin et al.,  2018 ). Transcriptomic and epigenetic databases also provide complementary information, especially useful for genome annotation and gene functional insights.

1.4. Use of noninvasive and low‐quality DNA samples

A particular need in wildlife studies is the ability to use low‐quality and/or low‐quantity DNA, including DNA extracted from archival or historical samples, noninvasive samples from hair, feathers or faeces, and environmental DNA (eDNA) from water or other environmental samples. Although some genomics techniques such as WGS require DNA samples of relatively high concentration or molecular weight, a growing range of techniques can be applied to low‐quality DNA samples (Andrews et al.,  2016 ; Andrews, deBarba, et al.,  2018 ). In general, these methods target fewer loci than other approaches and may be particularly useful for monitoring (Carroll et al.,  2018 ). Targeted sequencing approaches, using primers for amplification or hybridization probes, are particularly effective (Bi et al.,  2019 ; Schmidt et al.,  2020 ), and White et al. ( 2019 ) provide detailed information on optimizing capture approaches using faecal samples from chimpanzees. These methods can be applied to fragmented DNA samples because they target relatively small chromosomal regions (e.g., sometimes <100 bp) but the trade‐off is that these loci must be identified from previous sequence data. Other methods, such as RADseq and WGS, have also seen progress in application to low‐quality samples (Andrews, deBarba, et al.,  2018 ). For instance, Chiou and Bergey ( 2018 ) present a methylation‐based method that enriches vertebrate DNA relative to bacterial DNA from faecal samples as an initial step, allowing for approaches such as RADseq. Conversely, sequencing focused on the microbial genomes of faecal samples, or other microbiome samples, can also provide useful information in wildlife studies (West et al.,  2019 ).

In difficult‐to‐study species, it can be useful to combine genotyping of noninvasive samples at traditional markers such as microsatellites with genomic sequencing of a few individuals, such as captive individuals, for which higher quality DNA samples are available (for instance in snow leopards, Panthera uncia ; Janecka et al.,  2020 ). Panels of single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) optimized from large genomic data sets can also be genotyped using low‐quality DNA samples (Andrews, deBarba, et al.,  2018 ; von Thaden et al.,  2020 ). Particularly in threatened wildlife species in which genetic variation has been lost in living populations but remains in archival museum or field‐collected ancient samples, techniques for analysing low‐quality DNA samples open a window into the genetic past that can inform current conservation efforts (Bi et al.,  2013 ; van der Valk, Díez‐del‐Molino, et al.,  2019 ). Techniques for low‐quality samples are also important for wildlife forensics; for instance, Natesh et al. ( 2019 ) tested amplicon sequencing methods in degraded tiger samples and even in cooked queen conch samples as a method to confirm species identity and even source population.

Sequencing of eDNA has primarily been used for detection of species presence in aquatic ecosystems (e.g., Marshall & Stepien,  2019 ). However, it has been applied to terrestrial wildlife species, for instance by sampling from footprints in snow (Franklin et al.,  2019 ; Kinoshita et al.,  2019 ). Use of eDNA for truly population genetic studies (e.g., to estimate allele frequencies) is challenging in aquatic systems because DNA fragments cannot be assigned to individuals (but see Sigsgaard et al.,  2017 ), but terrestrial samples such as footprints may alleviate this issue.

2. UNDERSTANDING WILDLIFE POPULATIONS

2.1. population size and demographic history.

Perhaps the most basic aspect of wildlife populations that can be addressed with population genomics tools is population size. The number of individuals is a key factor in determining demographic viability of populations and in determining management actions, such as harvest quotas based on numbers of adults, recruitment rates and knowledge of source sink dynamics. Genetics tools, such as marker panels designed for individual identification, can be used in genetic mark–recapture studies to estimate population densities, including noninvasive samples such as scat and hair (Mills et al.,  2000 ; von Thaden et al.,  2020 ). Genetic marker panels that are able to estimate close kinship relationships can similarly be used to estimate population size (Bravington et al.,  2016 ; Clendenin et al.,  2020 ). As described above, genomics tools can provide efficient methods for designing such marker panels from strict filtering of a much larger set of loci.

Population size is critical not only for demographic viability of wildlife populations, but also because of its effect on genetic diversity. This is captured by the effective population size ( N e ), defined as the size of an ideal, panmictic population that would experience the same loss of genetic variation, through genetic drift, as the observed population. N e is usually smaller than the observed “census” population size ( N c ), due to a number of factors common in natural populations, particularly wildlife taxa, including fluctuating population size, variance in reproductive success and overlapping generations, although there is wide variation in the N e / N c ratio (Charlesworth,  2009 ). N e influences the likelihood of accumulation of deleterious variants, inbreeding depression, and the capacity of populations to adapt to environmental change or disease, important factors in wildlife populations that are declining or have experienced bottlenecks.

Population genomics approaches can be used to estimate N e (Browning & Browning,  2015 ; Kardos et al.,  2017 ). For instance, Nunziata and Weisrock ( 2018 ) used simulations to test the potential for RADseq data sets to estimate N e and declines in N e over time, using methods based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) and the site frequency spectrum (SFS). They found that RADseq data are effective for precisely estimating N e and for detecting declines in N e over contemporary timescales (20 generations), and that LD‐based methods are superior, provided a sufficient sample size of individuals. If a reference genome assembly with data on recombination rate is available, methods to estimate N e based on LD among linked loci may be even more effective (Hollenbeck et al.,  2016 ; Lehnert et al.,  2019 ). Grossen et al. ( 2018 ) used RADseq to generate >100,000 SNPs to test the genetic effects of reintroduction of Alpine ibex ( Capra ibex ) in Switzerland and found markedly reduced LD‐based estimates of N e in reintroduced populations compared to the source population or the closely related Iberian ibex ( C. pyrenaica ) (Figure  1a ). Nunziata et al. ( 2017 ) also found that demographic model inference of changes in N e based on double digest RAD (ddRAD) data from two salamander species ( Ambystoma talpoideum and A. opacum ) agreed with population size changes inferred from mark–recapture data; because this study included ddRAD sequencing on samples collected decades ago, temporal trends in N e could be estimated for these two species using both mark–recapture and ddRAD. Jensen et al. ( 2018 ) compared variation at >2,000 SNPs in Pinzón giant tortoise ( Chelonoidis duncanensis ) samples from a single island in the Galápagos Island from before and after a bottleneck that reduced N e to just 150–200 in the mid‐20th century. They found that the extent and distribution of genetic variation in the historical and contemporary samples was very similar, which they attributed to a successful ex situ head‐start and release programme.

Two types of genomic data have been used to estimate population size and demographic history in Alpine ibex ( Capra ibex ). Several reintroduced populations in Switzerland were derived from the same Italian source population, Gran Paradiso (GP). Other populations are Albris (al), Brienzer (br), Pleureur (pl), Aletsch Bietschhorn (ab), Schwarz Mönch (sm), Cape au Moine (cm), Graue Hörner (gh), Rheinwald (rh), Weisshorn (wh), Sierra Nevada (SN), Maestrazgo (M), Zoo Interlaken Harder (ih), Bire Öschinen (bo), Oberbauenstock (ob), Pilatus (pi), Wildpark Peter and Paul (pp). (a) Contemporary estimates of N e across multiple populations of Alpine ibex and a related species based on RADseq‐derived SNP loci and analysis of linkage disequilibrium. Note that confidence limits, particularly the upper limit, can be large or even infinite. Reproduced from Grossen et al. ( 2018 ). (b) WGS data can provide estimates of current N e (shown as numbers in bold) as well as reconstruction of demographic history. Here time goes from top to bottom, and the width of the green bars corresponds to N e within a time period. Generation 3,023 represents current populations. Reproduced from Grossen et al. ( 2020 )

Even in the absence of historical samples, population genomic data can be used to uncover the demographic history of populations, including population bottlenecks and expansions. Because loss of genetic diversity and consequences for population fitness depend strongly on not only the severity but also the timescale of population bottlenecks, reconstructing demographic history in wildlife species can help explain current levels of genetic diversity. While historical trends can be estimated from large SNP data sets, WGS from a few individuals is effective in producing demographic reconstructions. In this case, conclusions rely on the assumption that the individuals sequenced are truly representative of the population under study, and inference from one or a few individuals does include some unavoidable sampling variance (King et al.,  2018 ). Estimates of N e are also affected by historical population structure and migration (Mazet et al.,  2016 ). Methods include the sequentially Markovian coalescent (SMC; Li & Durbin,  2011 ; Terhorst et al.,  2017 ) or the site frequency spectrum (SFS; Liu & Fu,  2015 ); SMC may better detect older population fluctuations, and SFS more recent ones (Patton et al.,  2019 ). This approach has provided additional insights into the Alpine ibex case, suggesting that despite a dramatic demographic recovery, Alpine ibex carry a persistent genomic signature of their reintroduction history (Grossen et al.,  2020 ; Figure  1b ; Box 1 ). Demographic analyses by Ekblom et al. ( 2018 ) using WGS of 10 Scandinavian wolverines ( Gulo gulo ) uncovered a long‐term decline of the population from an N e of 10,000 well before the last glaciation to <500 after this period, indicating that this population has been declining for thousands of years. Two subspecies of gorilla also provide an illustrative contrast: in Graur's gorilla ( Gorilla beringei graueri ), population declines have led to loss of genetic diversity and increased inbreeding, while the mountain gorilla ( G. beringei beringei ) population has remained small but genetically stable over the past century (van der Valk et al.,  2019 ). This study was enabled by WGS of both museum and contemporary samples. Historical demographic reconstruction can link population changes to environmental shifts, with the potential to predict the effect of ongoing environmental changes on population distributions and genetic diversity (Prates et al.,  2016 ).

Low genetic variation and small N e do not necessarily mean that a population will suffer from inbreeding depression. Genetic load, the negative consequences of deleterious variation that can accumulate from genetic drift, may be purged in small populations, and some populations appear to experience few negative fitness effects despite low genetic variation. Testing for inbreeding depression requires combining genetic data with fitness data or delving deeper into the function of alleles prevalent in small populations due to genetic drift. One approach for assessing the potential for inbreeding depression is to predict the physiological and fitness consequences of specific allelic variants at high frequency or fixed in small, inbred populations (e.g., Grossen et al.,  2020 ). Benazzo et al. ( 2017 ) found several private and deleterious amino acid changes fixed due to genetic drift in Apennine brown bears ( Ursus arctos marsicanus ) that are predicted to result in energy deficit, muscle weakness, skeletal and cranial anomalies, and reduced aggressiveness. Arguably the strongest evidence for inbreeding depression comes from studies that show a negative correlation between fitness and inbreeding coefficients. Huisman et al. ( 2016 ) found strong evidence for inbreeding depression in red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) by examining the relationship between several different fitness metrics and inbreeding coefficients estimated using SNPs. In contrast, inbreeding coefficients calculated from a deep and fairly complete pedigree in the same population found evidence for inbreeding depression for fewer traits (Huisman et al.,  2016 ), highlighting the emerging consensus that genomic estimates are better for quantifying inbreeding than pedigrees (Kardos, Taylor, et al.,  2016 ). Estimates of ROH, especially from WGS data, are particularly effective at both quantifying inbreeding coefficients and understanding candidate loci underlying inbreeding depression (Box 1 ).

2.2. Population structure and connectivity

A long‐standing goal of population genetics, and critical source of information for conservation and management actions in wildlife, is to identify populations and understand the relationships among them. Characterizing population structure, the distribution of genetic variation within and among populations, is key for inferring the relative importance of different evolutionary processes (gene flow, drift and selection) across populations. Given that gene flow infuses new genetic variation into populations, there is also a strong interest in wildlife and conservation biology in understanding the amount of gene flow among populations, particularly those isolated in fragmented landscapes (Crooks and Sanjayan, 2006 ; Walters & Schwartz,  2020 ).

The first step in inferring population structure using genetic or genomic data is to delineate populations. What constitutes a population is not always obvious for natural populations, and it is important to distinguish demographic and genetic connectivity (Lowe & Allendorf,  2010 ; Waples & Gaggiotti,  2006 ). This is particularly true for continuously distributed populations, but also for species distributed in discrete habitat patches, which may or may not be equivalent to populations (Funk et al.,  2005 ). Fortunately, population genomics provides increased power to delineate populations, detect cryptic population structure and quantify how genetically different populations are. For example, Oh et al. ( 2019 ) identified a genetically very divergent population of greater sage‐grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ) in eastern Washington state using WGS of representative individuals, which has important implications for conservation of this imperiled species (Figure  2a ). The scale of genomic data also allowed the researchers to link population structure to adaptive divergence at candidate loci associated with detoxification of the birds’ primary food, sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.). In another example, mitogenomic (Hofman et al.,  2015 ) and RADseq‐generated SNP data (Funk et al.,  2016 ) revealed evidence for a low level of historical gene flow in island foxes ( Urocyon littoralis ) among island populations, which suggests recent human movement of foxes. In these examples, genetic and genomic data confirmed the expected delineation of populations by geography, but also quantified the differentiation among them.

Inferring population structure in wildlife species. (a) Principal Components Analysis based on WGS reveals genetically differentiated populations of sage‐grouse. The Gunnison sage‐grouse (GU; Centrocercus minimus ) had previously been recognized as a separate species, while the genetic distinctiveness of the Washington population (WA) of greater sage‐grouse ( C. urophasianus ) from all other populations of this species was revealed by this study. Reproduced from Oh et al. ( 2019 ). (b) Genomic analysis of bobcat ( Lynx rufus ) populations in southern California showing the effect of major highway corridors on gene flow. Coloured points represent individuals assigned to genetic population groups, and red and black lines represent major highways. Reproduced from Kozakiewicz et al. ( 2019 )

In other cases, geographical delineation of populations is not as clear. Landscape genetics combines population genetics, landscape ecology and spatial statistics to understand the effects of landscape and environmental heterogeneity on gene flow, genetic variation and microevolutionary processes, and to identify barriers between populations (Manel et al.,  2003 ). Genomics tools add statistical power and resolution to these studies, and also add the potential to identify loci associated with adaptation within and among populations. This has led to the distinction between neutral landscape genomics (addressing the questions of traditional landscape genetics with genomics tools) and adaptive landscape genomics (Forester et al.,  2018 ; Storfer et al.,  2018 ); we discuss genomics studies of adaptive genetic variation below. One advantage of landscape genetics and genomics is that the unit of analysis can be either the individual or the population, which facilitates studies of organisms that are continuously distributed, rather than clustered in discrete patches. A focus of landscape genetics and genomics studies of wildlife species has been to understand how anthropogenic habitat modification influences patterns and rates of gene flow. For instance, Kozakiewicz et al. ( 2019 ) found that urbanization impedes connectivity among bobcat ( Lynx rufus ) populations in southern California, and the barrier effect of major highway corridors can be seen in the genetic separation of wildlife populations (Figure  2b ). Genomic data can also reconstruct the historical patterns of gene flow among populations, whether natural or human‐mediated (Figure  1b ), and link these to the geographical and climatic factors causing changes in gene flow over time. This puts contemporary patterns of genetic variation and reductions in connectivity due to habitat fragmentation in a historical context. As an example, Hotaling et al. ( 2018 ) analysed SNPs generated using RADseq with coalescent‐based demographic modelling to investigate historical patterns of gene flow in a rare, stream stonefly ( Lednia tumana ) in the Rocky Mountains of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Their analyses supported divergence with gene flow among three genetic clusters since the end of the Pleistocene (~13,000–17,000 years ago), which they interpreted as the result of south‐to‐north recession of ice sheets.

2.3. Hybridization and admixture

An emerging view in evolutionary biology in the last few decades is that hybridization between animal species is relatively common and plays an important role in evolution and ecology. For instance, Toews et al., ( 2019 ) reviewed the evidence that admixture between bird species has been an important source of variation and has possibly led to the formation of new species. Population genomic approaches can provide large sets of markers that increase the ability to detect and quantify low levels of hybridization or admixture (the flow of genetic variation into a species or population as a result of hybridization) (Luikart et al., 2019 ). Large SNP data sets can estimate historical hybridization events among related taxa, using methods that rely on shared allelic variation across a phylogeny (e.g., Foote & Morin,  2016 ; Sinding et al.,  2018 ). Additionally, mapping genomic data onto a reference genome assembly can identify chromosomal tracts of ancestry. Because these blocks of ancestry break down through recombination following a hybridization event, the distribution of their sizes can be used to infer the history of hybridization and admixture in wildlife species, as well as evidence for selection in admixed genomes (e.g., Leitwein et al.,  2018 , 2019 ).

Admixture can have both negative and positive effects on population fitness. In snowshoe hares ( Lepus americanus ), Jones et al. ( 2018 ) found that brown winter coats probably originated from an introgressed black‐tailed jackrabbit ( L. californicus ) allele that has swept to high frequency in parts of the snowshoe hare range with milder winter climates. Adaptive introgression into this species may have allowed it to expand its range following Pleistocene glaciation (Jones et al.,  2020 ), and this genetic variation may play a key role in future adaptation as snowshoe hares encounter reduced winter snow cover across more of their range. Hybridization and admixture can also have negative consequences for fitness and local adaptation in wildlife species, particularly with massive increases in human‐facilitated movement of organisms (Allendorf et al.,  2001 ). One example is species invasions facilitated by hybridization (e.g., feral swine, Sus scrofa ; Smyser et al.,  2020 ), which can negatively impact native wildlife populations. More directly, hybridization between westslope cutthroat trout ( Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi ) and the widely introduced rainbow trout ( O. mykiss ) in western North America reduces fitness of the native species (Muhlfeld et al.,  2009 ). Muhlfeld et al. ( 2017 ) amassed an impressive, multidecadal data set consisting of >12,000 individuals from 582 sites genotyped at allozyme loci, microsatellite loci and SNPs to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of hybridization between these two species. They found that hybridization was more common in close proximity to historical stocking locations for rainbow trout, in warm water and with lower spring precipitation. Importantly, cold sites were not protected from invasion, meaning that even cutthroat trout populations in high‐elevation, cold water streams are not safe from hybridization by invasive rainbow trout. Large population genomic data sets will have greater power to detect and quantify even low rates of hybridization.

Identifying hybrids is also important from a legal standpoint, as hybrids between endangered and nonendangered species may not be protected under some endangered species laws (vonHoldt et al.,  2017 ). The red wolf ( Canis rufus ) is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), but recent hybridization with coyotes ( Canis latrans ) as well as historical hybridization with coyotes and other wolf taxa has resulted in substantial controversy. Nonetheless, Waples et al. ( 2018 ) found that under any historical pattern of hybridization, red wolves retain the basic features necessary to be considered a distinct population segment under the law and thus are eligible to remain on the list. Another North American canid species, eastern wolves ( Canis lycaon ), also has a complex history including recent hybridization. Heppenheimer et al. ( 2019 ) argue that such admixed populations still retain genetic variation representative of a distinct taxon and potentially important for local adaptation, warranting their protection under wildlife conservation measures.

3. ADAPTIVE VARIATION

3.1. the role of adaptive variation in wildlife.

Determining the genetic basis of adaptive traits has been a central goal in evolutionary biology since the genesis of the field but has proved elusive for nonmodel species, such as wildlife. Historically, testing for local adaptation and dissecting its genetic basis required controlled breeding, common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments, which are typically only feasible for some model plant and animal species. As predicted by Allendorf et al. ( 2010 ), Steiner et al. ( 2013 ) and others, population genomics approaches have been widely used in recent years to assess adaptive genetic variation in natural populations, with implications for conservation and management. Adaptive variation in wildlife populations determines their long‐term viability, potential for increases in distribution or population size, and extinction probability. Wildlife populations face a variety of threats, including climate change and other factors that can be projected into the future. The quick pace of environmental change means that sensitive species will have to move, acclimatize or respond plastically, or evolve to avoid extinction (Dawson et al.,  2011 ), but conservation actions can be targeted to facilitate these processes if they can be based on data about the genetic basis of adaptive variation. Additionally, some laws designed to protect endangered wildlife such as the U.S. ESA take adaptive potential into consideration in endangered species listing and delisting decisions (Funk et al.,  2019 ).

Basic estimates of heritability of potentially adaptive traits can be informative. For instance, Reed et al. ( 2011 ) developed an individual‐based model to explore potential evolutionary changes in migration timing and the consequences for population persistence in Fraser River sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ). Assuming a heritability of migration timing of 0.5, they predict that adult migration timing will advance by ~10 days in response to a 2°C increase in temperature and that quasi‐extinction risk will only be 17% of that faced by populations with no evolutionary potential. Many wildlife species that are the focus of long‐term studies have pedigree data that can be used to estimate heritability of phenotypic traits (e.g., de Villemereuil et al., 2019 ), and genomics tools can also be used in natural populations to provide estimates of heritability by providing pairwise estimates of individual relatedness (Gienapp et al.,  2017 ). Beyond assessing whether adaptive phenotypic traits have a genetic basis, population genomics now makes it possible to pinpoint the specific genes underlying this variation in natural populations, and better understand the processes and potential for adaptation. A genomic understanding of adaptive potential allows future projections of population viability and distribution under alternative scenarios of environmental change (Box 2 ).

Adaptive potential

Adaptive potential (also called evolutionary potential) is the ability of a population to evolve genetically based changes in traits in response to changing environmental conditions (Funk et al., 2019 ). This is a component of the broader concept of adaptive capacity, which also includes nongenetic responses to environmental change, such as phenotypic plasticity and dispersal (Dawson et al., 2011 ; Nicotra et al., 2015 ). Species or populations with high adaptive potential are thus predicted to be less vulnerable to environmental change and more likely to survive in parts of their current distribution. Currently, we have a poor understanding of adaptive potential in many wild populations, so we do not know the extent to which it can buffer populations from rapid environmental change.

Adaptive potential depends on genetic variation in resilience traits among individuals within populations, as well as genetic differences in these traits among populations and across environmental gradients. Population genomics provides methods for estimating the genetic variation or heritability of traits that are expected to be important for adaptation, or for fitness per se. de Villemereuil et al. ( 2019 ) assessed adaptive potential in the hihi ( Notiomystis cincta ), an endangered New Zealand passerine (Chen, 2019 ). Combining RADseq and long‐term phenotypic and fitness data, they found a lack of genome‐wide diversity, low heritability of traits under selection, and little additive genetic variance of fitness, all indicating low adaptive potential in the sole remaining natural population and in a reintroduced population. Genomic evidence for a response to selection under current environmental stressors can reveal genetic variation and adaptive potential, for example in the case of disease such as transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils (Epstein et al., 2016 ) or white‐nose syndrome in bats (Auteri and Knowles, 2020 ).

Another approach for assessing adaptive potential, particularly in the face of climate change, is to examine patterns of local adaptation to climate conditions across the current species range, and then project future climatic changes and species’ responses (e.g., Prates et al., 2016 ; Ruegg et al., 2018 ; Waterhouse et al., 2018 ). Adaptive differences among populations can contribute to adaptive potential and can also inform assisted migration efforts. For instance, Razgour et al. ( 2019 ) uncovered adaptive differences related to spatial variation in climate in two Mediterranean bat species ( Myotis escalerai and M. crypticus ) by analysing ddRAD data with GEA. Incorporating this climate‐adaptive potential into forecasts of range changes under climate change reduced projected range reductions, highlighting the importance of taking adaptive potential into consideration in climate change vulnerability predictions. The Figure shows this conceptual framework, reprinted from Razgour et al. ( 2019 ). Similarly, Bay et al. ( 2018 ) identified genomic variation associated with climate across the breeding range of yellow warblers ( Setophaga petechia ). They found that populations that will require the greatest shifts in allele frequencies at these adaptive loci to keep pace with climate change have already experienced the most severe population declines, suggesting that inability to adapt to a changing climate may already be causing declines.

3.2. Identifying adaptive genetic variation

Adaptative variation in contemporary wildlife populations is often most evident as differentiation among populations or across a landscape where selective factors, such as interacting species or climate, are heterogeneous. One analytical framework for identifying loci under selection is outlier tests (Beaumont & Nichols,  1996 ). These tests allow detection of loci with “outlying” behaviour, such as unusually high or low F ST values, potentially indicative of divergent or stabilizing selection, respectively. Although F ST outlier tests have proved an important approach for identifying loci under selection, a number of factors ranging from recombination rate variation across the genome to demographic fluctuations can produce large variance in F ST and related statistics. Several recent papers have cautioned that they can be subject to high type I error rates as a result (Hoban et al.,  2016 ; Whitlock & Lotterhos,  2015 ). Genotype environment associations (GEAs) are another method for identifying loci under selection in a landscape genomics framework (Forester et al., 2018 ). The goal of GEAs is to identify loci that have allele frequencies that are associated with environmental gradients hypothesized a priori to drive local adaption (Rellstab et al.,  2015 ). GEA analyses are more powerful than F ST outlier tests because they make use of an additional source of data (Forester et al.,  2018 ; De Mita et al.,  2013 ), but they can only identify loci associated with the environmental gradients included as predictor variables in the analysis. Environmental variables also may be strongly correlated with each other and with geographical distance, making associations with individual variables difficult to detect.

Within populations, adaptive variation and genomic signatures of selection can be detected if samples are available over multiple generations (Gompert,  2015 ; Mathieson & McVean,  2013 ). This is possible for many wildlife species that have been the subject of long‐term studies, and also where museum specimens can be used as historical genetic samples (Dehasque et al.,  2020 ). For example, Epstein et al. ( 2016 ) identified two genomic regions showing signatures of selection in response to an epidemic disease – devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) in Tasmanian devils ( Sarcophilus harrisii ) – by applying RADseq to samples collected both before and after the disease appeared in three independent populations that were the focus of long‐term field studies. Signatures of selection in this case are shifts in allele frequency and LD at specific genomic locations, and concordant signatures across populations are evidence for an adaptive response. Similarly, Bi et al. ( 2019 ) applied sequence capture methods to museum and contemporary samples from two chipmunk species ( Tamias spp.) spanning a century and identified significant shifts in allele frequencies. Neither of these studies specifically included phenotypic data on potential adaptive traits; nonetheless, both identified specific candidate genes with known function that may affect fitness under changing selection regimes in natural populations.

A complementary approach to determine the genetic basis of adaptative variation in natural populations is genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) (e.g., Bérénos et al.,  2015 ; Husby et al.,  2015 ). The goal of GWAS is to identify loci and alleles underlying phenotypic variation by gathering large‐scale genomic and phenotypic data on a set of individuals. For instance, using some of the same long‐term Tasmanian devil population studies described above, Margres et al. ( 2018 ) used GWAS to identify loci associated with three DFTD‐related phenotypes and found that genetic factors explained a large proportion of the variance in infection status and survival after infection of female Tasmanian devils. This study used a hybrid RADseq and sequence capture approach and a pre designed panel of nearly 16,000 markers that included some candidate selected loci from Epstein et al. ( 2016 ). GWAS often require large sample sizes for sufficient statistical power (Kardos, Husby, et al.,  2016 ), but this case illustrates how GWAS can be complementary to selection studies, providing a multi pronged population genomics approach to understand the genetic basis of adaptation in wildlife populations. All of these sources of data can be applied to predictive models of adaptation (Box 2 ) and to guide monitoring and genetic management of wildlife populations (discussed below).

3.3. Deleterious variation

In addition to identifying loci that can provide the capacity to adapt to environmental change or local conditions, population genomics can also reveal the genetic basis of reduced fitness in small populations. A central paradigm in conservation genetics is that genetic drift in small populations can cause inbreeding depression, reduce individual fitness, decrease population size and increase extinction probability, what has been referred to as the “extinction vortex” (Soulé & Mills,  1998 ). Deleterious alleles can rise to high frequency due to genetic drift, and mating between close relatives in a small population can increase the expression of recessive deleterious alleles in the homozygous state and reduce genome‐wide heterozygosity, reducing individual fitness. Identifying populations with low genetic variation, small effective population sizes and evidence of inbreeding depression is of paramount importance for the conservation of wildlife populations.

Population genomics provides tools to understand the genetic basis of reduced fitness in small wildlife populations and potentially address the issues through management actions. For example, Apennine brown bears ( Ursus arctos marsicanus ) comprise a small, isolated population in Italy. Benazzo et al. ( 2017 ) used WGS to discover that all variation was lost in the mitochondrial genome and parts of the nuclear genome, and several deleterious alleles were fixed, with predicted effects on physiology, development and behaviour. These analyses are possible with annotated reference genomes, on which regions of reduced variation can be mapped and the functional consequences of mutations in specific genes can be predicted (e.g., by analysing genomic data from island foxes [ Urocyon littoralis ] with the domestic dog [ Canis domesticus ] reference genome, Robinson et al.,  2016 ; also see Box 1 ).

In addition to current population size, the demographic history of a population can have important and sometimes counter intuitive effects on population fitness. For instance, the long‐term effective population size is lower in a population that has been small for a long time, compared to one with a recent rapid decline. Nonetheless, the genetic or mutational load – the fitness cost of accumulated deleterious mutations – can be lower in the first case and more severe in the second, because strongly deleterious mutations can be purged during an extended period of small size with inbreeding (Robinson et al.,  2018 ; van der Valk, Díez‐del‐Molino, et al.,  2019 ; van der Valk, de Manuel, et al.,  2019 ). In wildlife species, this means that reduced population fitness may be more of a problem in recent anthropogenic declines compared to populations that were small before human influence. Conversely, the genetic effects of a population bottleneck can linger even after the population has recovered demographically. Grossen et al. ( 2020 ) found that population bottlenecks in successfully reintroduced Alpine ibex populations (Figure  1 ) had purged highly deleterious mutations while allowing mildly deleterious ones to accumulate. As a result of all of these factors, there may often be little relationship between genetic diversity or genetic load and current population size, so that these genetic factors may not be reflected in conservation status assessments such as IUCN listing (Díez‐del‐Molino et al., 2018 ; van der Valk, de Manuel, et al.,  2019 ).

4. INFORMING MANAGEMENT ACTIONS

Although application of population genomics to wildlife conservation and management has been slow to develop (Shafer et al.,  2015 ), population genomics studies are already generating information that can help wildlife managers and conservation practitioners make difficult management decisions (Walters & Schwartz,  2020 ). We highlight specific examples of the application of population genomics to conservation and management of wildlife populations here.

4.1. Identifying population units

One of the most important first steps for managing populations is to identify and delineate the boundaries of intraspecific conservation units (CUs), such as evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and management units (MUs). We define an ESU as a classification of populations that have substantial reproductive isolation and adaptive differences so that the population represents a significant evolutionary component of the species (Funk et al.,  2012 ). An MU is a local population that is managed as a separate unit because of its demographic independence. An ESU may contain multiple MUs. CUs may be further defined on the basis of specific adaptive variation (e.g., Prince et al.,  2017 ). These definitions implicitly rely on multiple concepts of connectivity among populations, including demographic and multiple aspects of genetic connectivity, which may be substantially different; for instance, the level of migration needed to avoid inbreeding depression and loss of adaptive genetic variation may be much lower than that needed to maintain demographic connectivity and directly increase population size through immigration (Lowe & Allendorf,  2010 ).

Population genomics tools can be applied to estimate multiple aspects of population structure and connectivity, and in some cases have led to changes in management. The population genomics work of Andrews, Nichols, et al. ( 2018 ) revealed that one population (of canary rockfish, Sebastes pinniger ) listed under the U.S. ESA did not actually merit listing as a discrete population, while a second (yelloweye rockfish, S. ruberrimus ) harboured previously unknown genetic differentiation. Genomics studies have more power than previous microsatellite studies to quantify overall (genome‐wide) population differentiation; for instance, McCartney‐Melstad et al. ( 2018 ) applied RADseq data to the declining foothill yellow‐legged frog ( Rana boylii ) and found five extremely differentiated clades that can serve as management units for this species of conservation concern. Barbosa et al. ( 2018 ) used reduced representation sequencing data following the framework of Funk et al. ( 2012 ) to delineate CUs in Cabrera voles ( Microtus cabrerae ): ESUs on the basis of overall differentiation, MUs on the basis of differentiation at neutral loci and adaptive units (AUs) on the basis of outlier loci (Figure  3 ). Previous results from environmental niche modelling and landscape genetics connectivity analysis are also informative for designing strategies in this species (Barbosa et al.,  2018 ). Once populations are delineated, the genomic data can also provide high‐throughput genotyping panels for assigning individuals to populations, and adaptive loci may be particularly useful for this effort (Larson et al.,  2014 ). For example, in anadromous fish species in which multiple breeding populations mix during the oceanic phase where they may be subject to harvest, breeding populations can be distinguished on the basis of some combination of neutral and adaptive genetic markers (Waples et al.,  2020 ).

Designation of conservation units in Cabrera voles ( Microtus cabrerae ) across the Iberian Peninsula. Genome‐wide variation estimated from reduced representation sequencing provides greater resolution of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) than previous microsatellite results. Neutral and adaptive variation facilitated delineation of management units (MUs) and adaptive units (AUs), respectively. Reproduced from Barbosa et al. ( 2018 )

4.2. Genetic monitoring

Genetic monitoring of natural populations has played an important role in conservation, including both monitoring of genetic diversity and using genetic tools to monitor other aspects such as population size or hybridization. The advent of population genomics presents new opportunities for improving the utility of genetic monitoring for wildlife (Flanagan et al.,  2018 ; Hunter et al.,  2018 ; Leroy et al.,  2018 ; Mimura et al.,  2017 ). First, as described above, genomics tools can be used to rapidly design a relatively small set of genetic markers that can be genotyped efficiently across many individuals, often using minimally invasive sampling (Carroll et al.,  2018 ). These marker panels can be designed for specific goals, such as estimating population size or detecting hybridization. More importantly, population genomics tools also allow monitoring of allele frequency changes at adaptive loci. Monitoring changes at these loci can track changes in adaptive potential as a result of environmental change or management actions, such as assisted migration or genetic rescue, so that management strategies can be continually updated (Flanagan et al.,  2018 ). Monitoring of deleterious variants, such as those that cause inbreeding depression, could also be informative to detect genomic erosion in small populations (Leroy et al.,  2018 ). If monitoring reveals that genetic problems are accumulating, or that a population is not showing evidence of an adaptive response to environmental stressors, it would suggest more active management strategies. Conversely, monitoring genetic variation at adaptive loci can inform managers on whether evolutionary rescue is possible. For instance, in the case of Tasmanian devils and their transmissible cancer described above, population genomics studies have revealed loci associated with a rapid response to selection and with particular disease‐related traits. Genetic monitoring panels could specifically assay these loci to ensure that sufficient variation exists, both in natural and in captive populations (Hohenlohe, McCallum, et al.,  2019 ).

4.3. Assisted gene flow, genetic rescue and translocations

As wildlife populations become increasingly isolated in a fragmented world, managers are faced with the decision of whether or not to restore gene flow by moving individuals between populations to rescue them from population declines caused by the loss of genetic variation. Genetic rescue is an increase in population fitness and decrease in extinction probability caused by gene flow (Bell et al.,  2019 ; Tallmon et al.,  2004 ; Whiteley et al.,  2015 ). Genetic rescue may occur by reducing inbreeding depression via masking deleterious alleles expressed in the homozygous state, or by infusing additive genetic variation on which selection can act so that populations can adapt to changing environments (evolutionary rescue). Fitzpatrick and Funk ( 2019 ) outline a variety of ways in which population genomics can help managers with decisions regarding genetic rescue. First, genomics tools can help identify populations suffering from low genetic variation and inbreeding depression, as outlined above, and map regions of low variation across the genome (Box 1 ). Second, genomics can help identify the best potential source populations that are not too adaptively divergent from the target recipient population. A fine‐scale genomic view could potentially identify source populations that best reduce genomic regions of homozygosity while minimizing disruption of local adaptation. Finally, if and when genetic rescue is implemented, genomic data can be used to monitor changes in genetic ancestry across loci and the relative fitness of immigrants, residents and hybrids to test whether gene flow is increasing fitness as desired (Miller et al.,  2012 ).

A number of genetic rescue attempts have been conducted in wildlife populations, and some general trends are emerging (Bell et al.,  2019 ). A risk of genetic rescue is outbreeding depression – reduced fitness when assisted migration comes from a divergently adapted source population. Some authors have suggested that outbreeding depression may be a low risk in most cases (Frankham,  2015 ; Chen, 2019 ; Fitzpatrick et al.,  2020 ). In many wildlife species, the problems of small populations and inbreeding depression may be the fairly recent effect of human‐caused fragmentation; in this case, these populations would not be expected to be highly divergent adaptively, and assisted migration is more likely to be appropriate (Ralls et al.,  2018 ). In contrast, attempts at genetic rescue could impede ongoing evolutionary rescue if populations are already rapidly evolving to a novel environmental condition, such as a disease (Hohenlohe, McCallum, et al.,  2019 ). In this case, population genomics tools can identify the pace and genetic nature of this adaptation and inform management decisions.

4.4. Managing for specific genetic variants

For threatened and declining populations, a major concern is that adaptive alleles might be lost by environmental stressors caused by humans. Prince et al. ( 2017 ) made the surprising discovery that variation in a major life history trait in salmon – migration timing – is underpinned by the same single locus across multiple populations in two different species, Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) and steelhead ( O. mykiss ). Thompson et al. ( 2019 ) then went on to test the effects of a recently constructed dam on adaptive potential at this locus, given that the dam selects against the spring‐run phenotype because fish with this phenotype historically spawned upstream of the dam. They found a dramatic reduction in the frequency of the spring‐run phenotype and allele underlying this phenotype. Simulations suggest that the dam could lead to the complete loss of this allele in the near future. This situation highlights a conundrum: in general, it may be inadvisable to manage populations on the basis of a single allelic variant, because it could neglect important factors across the rest of the genome. In this case, however, a substantial ecological role and associated phenotypes could be lost with the loss of this single allele.

Most genetic variation that is important to management is likely to be polygenic, although there may be wide variation among populations and taxa. The number of loci affecting fitness or adaptive capacity depends on the population history, and whether large‐effect or small‐effect allelic variation plays a bigger role in either adaptive or deleterious variation (Grossen et al.,  2020 ). Population genomics tools are able to identify dozens to hundreds of candidate loci associated with a trait or with fitness, and lead to high‐throughput genotyping assays that could target these loci (perhaps in combination with others). Most studies do not have the statistical power to resolve the specific effects of each locus or even identify them with high confidence (Hoban et al.,  2016 ), and this will remain an unavoidable problem with the sample sizes available in many wildlife populations (Margres et al.,  2018 ). Thus, active management to favour particular alleles could not be supported in these cases. However, management strategies with genetic monitoring could be designed to maintain variation at these loci, for instance in captive populations and with the additional goal of maintaining variation genome‐wide (Hogg et al.,  2019 ), so that adaptive evolution is possible in the wild.

4.5. Ex situ management

Many wildlife species are kept in captivity, and some of these are either extinct in the wild or limited to populations smaller than those in captivity, so that the captive populations represent the majority of genetic variation in the species (e.g., Humble et al.,  2020 ). These are often subject to intensive genetic management and some degree of controlled breeding, and genomics tools can be applied in multiple ways (Brandies et al.,  2019 ). For instance, methods to estimate demographic history, source population or admixture can reveal much about captive individuals. Genomics tools can rapidly provide marker sets for efficient genotyping. Even when pedigree relationships are completely known, genomic data can provide more precise estimates of actual genetic relatedness, inbreeding and the proportion of the genome that is identical by descent (Kardos et al.,  2015 ; Box 2 ). Controlled breeding can be precisely designed to maximize genome‐wide diversity, to maintain genetic distinctiveness of source populations, or potentially to manage for variation at particular loci as described above. Selection for traits that are favoured in captivity but maladaptive in the wild is a major problem for captive populations, and genetic monitoring could focus on specific loci associated with adaptation to captivity.

5. IMPROVING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN POPULATION GENOMICS AND CONSERVATION

We have several different recommendations to improve translating the power of population genomics research into better wildlife conservation and management decisions. Although population genomics clearly provides unprecedented power to peer into the genomes of wildlife species, a gap still remains between population genomics research and application to conservation practice (Garner et al.,  2016 ; Shafer et al.,  2015 ).

Our first recommendation is for population genomicists to develop professional relationships with managers and conservation practitioners. The old model of conducting research, writing a paper on the results with a “conservation recommendations” section at the end, and then expecting managers to find and use the research has been shown to be ineffective at impacting management decisions. Fabian et al. ( 2019 ) surveyed Swiss professionals in nature conservation and found that experience‐based sources (e.g., personal exchange with colleagues and experts) are more important than evidence‐based sources (e.g., printed products and journals). Articles in scientific journals were almost never consulted by conservation practitioners. Given that conservation professionals have limited time to read scientific articles and keep up with the rapid pace of advancement in fields such as population genomics, it is essential for scientists to build relationships and communicate directly with managers and conservation practitioners if they want their science to improve conservation management and policy. Holderegger et al. ( 2019 ) describe multiple frameworks, such as workshops, modes of communication and joint projects, that can facilitate connections between researchers and practitioners.

A second recommendation is to let conservation and management questions guide research. Often, a study or results that a researcher thinks are useful for conservation may not be what a manager needs to know to make decisions that affect wildlife species. Ultimately, research results can only guide conservation if they have bearing on management decisions. Thus, researchers first need to know what decisions managers face and what management actions are within the realm of possibility, and this communication should happen early in the research process (Holderegger et al., 2019 ). Only then can researchers know what questions managers need answered to help them decide the best management option. Building relationships with managers, as above, is extremely helpful for learning about the problems and issues that managers and conservation practitioners are faced with, where information gaps exist, and how research can fill these information gaps. Relationships with managers will also provide opportunities for researchers to communicate the types of questions that population genomics can and cannot help answer.

Another recommendation for improving the translation of population genomics into improved wildlife conservation and management is training for both aspiring population genomics students and conservation practitioners, ideally together to foster direct interaction between these groups. Population genomics workshops, for example, not only provide technical training in the ever‐expanding field of genomics; they can also provide opportunities for conservation practitioners to gain exposure to the field to give them a better appreciation of the capacity of population genomics, the steps involved, and how to apply it to the species they manage and the questions they face. Fortunately, several genomics workshops now provide venues to discuss the latest developments in population and conservation genomics, such as the annual Population and Conservation Genomics workshop at the International Plant and Animal Genomes Conference ( https://intlpag.org ), and hands‐on training in population genomic analysis, including the ConGen workshop at the University of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological station ( http://www.umt.edu/sell/cps/congen2019/ ), the Genomics of Disease in Wildlife workshop at Colorado State University ( https://gdwworkshop.colostate.edu/ ), and a variety of workshops given across Europe by the G‐BIKE (Genomic Biodiversity Knowledge for Resilient Ecosystems) programme ( https://sites.google.com/fmach.it/g‐bike‐genetics‐eu/home ).

A final recommendation is for the population genomics community to continue streamlining and standardizing bioinformatics tools and population genomics analyses. Many bioinformatic pipelines and population genomics analyses require fairly advanced computer and programming skills, in addition to understanding of population genetics concepts. These factors can act as a barrier to entering the “genomics world” for many students, scientists and conservation practitioners, given the relative ease of producing genomic data. Bioinformatics tools and population genomics analyses need to be developed that are more broadly accessible. Moreover, bioinformatics pipelines and guidelines for best practices have not yet been standardized. Fortunately, significant progress is being made in the development of more user‐friendly programs and clear guidelines for collecting and applying genomics to wildlife biology and management (Gomez‐Sanchez & Schlötterer,  2018 ; Gruber et al.,  2018 ; Ravindran et al., 2019 ).

6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Even in the relatively short time (~10 years) since genomic data have been applied to population genetic questions in nonmodel organisms, population genomics has already helped answer a wide variety of questions in the biology of wildlife species. There has been a relatively slow uptake of population genomics results in influencing policy decisions and wildlife management actions (Shafer et al.,  2015 ), with a number of factors contributing to significant time lags: researchers learning how to apply population genomics in wildlife species, studies being completed through publication of results, communicating results and interpretation of genomic data to conservation practitioners, integrating genomic results into the many sources of information that influence policy decisions or conservation actions, etc. Nonetheless, a decade on, examples of direct connections between population genomics research and wildlife conservation actions are now rapidly accumulating (Walters & Schwartz,  2020 ). A remaining question, however, is whether population genomics can help stem the tide of cataclysmic biodiversity declines given the accelerating urgency of the problems.

Population genomics research is by nature intensive and focused on one or a few species. It has, therefore, been applied to wildlife species that are high‐profile or of significant economic interest, such as captive populations or salmonid fish (Waples et al.,  2020 ), although the decreasing costs of genomic studies and proliferation of resources such as reference genome assemblies have allowed these techniques to spread across taxa, and this trend will continue. Future directions include expanding the “omics” toolkit to include transcriptomics, epigenomics or proteomics, which may improve our understanding of adaptive capacity in wildlife populations and the role of gene expression, epigenetics and phenotypic plasticity in population fitness. There may also be a role for genetic engineering techniques in wildlife, such as gene therapy or gene drive approaches to cause alleles to spread in a population (Breed et al.,  2019 ; Rode et al.,  2019 ). In species that suffer from a well‐understood, relatively simple genetic problem, it could be conceivable to use a “rescue drive” – an attempt to spread a favoured allele into a population to increase fitness (Rode et al.,  2019 ). However, this approach carries numerous poorly understood risks, including the pitfalls associated with focusing management on a narrow set of genetic factors (Kardos & Shafer,  2018 ). Another approach is to use gene drive techniques to control or eradicate invasive species that negatively affect native wildlife (Rode et al.,  2019 ). While invasive species can often require active management, and some level of risk may be acceptable compared to taking no action, the risks of such eradication or suppression drives are still poorly known.

A future need in conservation is to understand how population genomics tools can be applied more broadly beyond single focal species, for instance at the ecosystem level (Breed et al.,  2019 ). One avenue is metagenomics or metabarcoding approaches, where genetic samples include multiple species, for instance with eDNA (Goldberg & Parsley,  2020 ). Population genomics focused on species that are central to ecosystem interactions may also reveal the community effects of genomic diversity (Hand et al.,  2015 ). These may often be plants, such as the dominant tree species in a forest ecosystem in which many other species are affected by its genetics, and genomics tools can be important for seed sourcing in restoration efforts (Breed et al.,  2019 ). In other cases, wildlife species may play a similar role.

The field of population genomics continues to change rapidly, with technological and analytical advances expanding the tools that are available in wildlife biology at the same time as the need for conservation knowledge and action becomes more urgent. While it may be very difficult to keep up to date with all of the changes, it is critical for both researchers and wildlife professionals to maintain a broad understanding of the population genomics tools that are available and to foster communication between wildlife scientists and practitioners.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

All authors contributed to writing the manuscript.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge funding from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Rules of Life grant (DEB 1838282) to W.C.F., an NSF Evolutionary Ecology grant (DEB 1754821) to W.C.F. and P.A.H., an NSF Evolutionary Genetics grant (DEB 1655809) to P.A.H., and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant (RGPIN 2017‐04589) to O.P.R. We thank Robin Waples and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

Hohenlohe PA, Funk WC, Rajora OP. Population genomics for wildlife conservation and management . Mol Ecol . 2021; 30 :62–82. 10.1111/mec.15720 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

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Article Contents

Introduction, how can physiology inform conservation, environmental monitoring, individual responses, upscaling to ecology and ecosystem function, summary and conclusions, data availability, acknowledgments.

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How can physiology best contribute to wildlife conservation in a warming world?

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Frank Seebacher, Edward Narayan, Jodie L Rummer, Sean Tomlinson, Steven J Cooke, How can physiology best contribute to wildlife conservation in a warming world?, Conservation Physiology , Volume 11, Issue 1, 2023, coad038, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad038

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Global warming is now predicted to exceed 1.5°C by 2033 and 2°C by the end of the 21st century. This level of warming and the associated environmental variability are already increasing pressure on natural and human systems. Here we emphasize the role of physiology in the light of the latest assessment of climate warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We describe how physiology can contribute to contemporary conservation programmes. We focus on thermal responses of animals, but we acknowledge that the impacts of climate change are much broader phylogenetically and environmentally. A physiological contribution would encompass environmental monitoring, coupled with measuring individual sensitivities to temperature change and upscaling these to ecosystem level. The latest version of the widely accepted Conservation Standards designed by the Conservation Measures Partnership includes several explicit climate change considerations. We argue that physiology has a unique role to play in addressing these considerations. Moreover, physiology can be incorporated by institutions and organizations that range from international bodies to national governments and to local communities, and in doing so, it brings a mechanistic approach to conservation and the management of biological resources.

It is now likely that global warming will exceed 2°C by the end of the 21st century ( Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021 ; Pörtner et al., 2022 ). Increases in CO 2 emissions have slowed ( LeQuéré et al., 2019 ), but mitigation strategies are presently insufficient to limit global average temperature increases to 1.5°C or even 2°C ( Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021 ). Additionally, human activity may have already emitted sufficient carbon into the atmosphere to cause warming well beyond 1.5°C without any further emissions ( Matthews and Wynes, 2022 ).

Anthropogenic climate change is having and will continue to have impacts on wildlife from individuals to ecosystems ( Moore and Schindler, 2022 ). Global mean increases of 2°C or even 1.5°C are associated with much greater variation at regional and local levels, as well as with increasing frequencies of extreme events ( Meehl and Tebaldi, 2004 ; Wedler et al., 2023 ). Hence, while increases of 2°C may sound benign, this large-scale mean hides much greater variation at smaller scales, which are potentially damaging to wildlife ( Kingsolver and Buckley, 2015 ). Indeed, distributions and phenology of life-history events have already shifted in many species ( Chen et al., 2011 ; Bellard et al., 2012 ). Increasing mean temperatures are also accompanied by an increasing frequency of extreme events such as heat waves, which can have pronounced effects on animal physiology, resulting either from temperature increases directly or from changes to other environmental factors such as rainfall and the hydric environment ( Meehl and Tebaldi, 2004 ; Conradie et al., 2020 ; Schoen et al., 2021 ). For example, there is an increase in the temperature of the hottest days of the year from ~ 2°C to ~ 4°C associated with mean global temperature increases of 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively ( Lee et al., 2023 ). These increases can have detrimental physiological effects particularly for species with a low thermal safety margin ( Sinclair et al., 2016 ; Pollock et al., 2021 ). Changes in extreme temperatures are paralleled by a predicted increase in species loss under the 2°C warming scenario ( Lee et al., 2023 ). Environmental variability is characteristic of all habitats, and ecosystems typically undergo cycles of disturbance and recovery ( Paine et al., 1998 ). As a result, environmental variability exerts a selection pressure that can drive adaptation or plasticity so that disturbance–recovery cycles have little long-term effects ( Paine et al., 1998 ; Moore and Schindler, 2022 ). However, ecosystems are resilient only up to a tipping point beyond which dynamics change irreversibly and a new status quo emerges ( Gaucherel et al., 2017 ). Anthropogenic climate change and the consequent global warming are now increasing the likelihood of reaching tipping points as warming increases beyond a global average of 1.5°C ( Armstrong-McKay et al., 2022 ; Solé and Levin, 2022 ).

How human societies function is tightly coupled to ecological systems ( Haines-Young and Potschin, 2010 ), and ecological changes resulting from climate warming impact the services that ecosystems provide to support human life ( Burke et al., 2015 ). The nexus between human and ecological systems is particularly pronounced in food supply. On the one hand, human food systems rely on suitable environmental conditions to grow or locate food species for agriculture or wild harvest ( Ortiz et al., 2008 ; Nardone et al., 2010 ; Pecl et al., 2017 ). Climate change has already affected global food production negatively ( Pörtner et al., 2022 ), and the impacts of changing climates may be more complex than just volumes of production. Global fisheries, for example, are vulnerable not just in the volume of fish caught but also in the nutritional quality of the fish caught, with 40% of fisheries displaying high vulnerability to climate-induced nutritional decline ( Maire et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, agriculture and harvesting of natural populations alter the physical environment and biodiversity ( Tilman, 1999 ). Food systems are now one of the most important contributors to climate change and account for a third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions ( Zurek et al., 2022 ).

This Perspective is not the first to make the case that physiology can direct conservation in the context of climate change ( Helmuth et al., 2005 ; Helmuth, 2009 ; Feder, 2010 ; Burraco et al., 2020 ; Lefevre et al., 2021 ). However, our purpose here is to emphasize the role of physiology in the light of the latest assessment of climate warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( Pörtner et al., 2022 ) and to position physiology within contemporary conservation programmes, particularly with respect to the Conservation Standards (CS) . We focus in particular on thermal responses to climate warming; we acknowledge that climate change is far more complex ( Pörtner et al., 2022 ), but a detailed review is beyond the scope of this article. Nonetheless, the approach we describe here can be applied to different aspects of climate change beyond warming. Physiology has a unique role to play because it is at the interface between environment and organisms. Any change in the environment will first and foremost affect physiology, and the physiological responses will then impact fitness and ecology ( Ricklefs and Wikelski, 2002 ). We outline how physiology can be incorporated into conservation programmes, and we provide examples of how knowledge of thermal physiology can improve conservation strategies. Our examples are from animals, but the principal points we make can be applied to any organism.

Climate warming causes changes in mean temperatures and in temperature variation, with an increased frequency of extreme events ( Vasseur et al., 2014 ). It is likely that there is a gradient of responses for different species within ecosystems, where those with greater resilience to temperature changes persist better in the face of climate warming, thus altering the species composition within ecosystems ( Zoller et al., 2023 ). These high-level changes are underpinned by thermal responses of individuals, which scale up to populations, species and communities ( Sentis et al., 2015 ). Understanding and predicting the ecological impacts of climate warming therefore requires resolution at different scales: from individuals to communities, and from microhabitats to landscape characteristics. A conservation physiology programme will be invaluable by integrating different biological and geographical scales and by integrating with existing conservation actions ( Cooke et al., 2021 ).

Conservation can have multiple goals, such as predicting threats and responses of conservation targets, removing threats and protecting vulnerable populations, geographical areas and ecosystems. Conservation typically follows a prescribed process: identification of challenges and goals, defining the spatial scale and actions, implementing actions and monitoring, and evaluation followed either by further updated rounds of the conservation process or by completion if goals have been achieved ( Tallis et al., 2021 ). This process of conservation is formalized in the CS designed by the Conservation Measures Partnership, which is composed of government agencies and nongovernment organizations from around the globe ( https://www.conservationmeasures.org/ ). We focus on the CS here, which has been implemented in the context of climate change in the past ( Brown et al., 2022 ), but acknowledge that there are other conservation frameworks such as the Cambridge Conservation Forum ( https://www.cambridgeconservationforum.org.uk/ ). The CS identifies and describes the steps that define the conservation process: assess, plan, implement, analyse and adapt, and share. The latest version of the CS includes several explicit climate change considerations (below we refer to these as Climate Change Considerations ), to which the conservation physiology toolbox ( Madliger et al., 2018 ) can make important contributions ( Tudor et al., 2023 ). The assess step is the most important for incorporation of physiological responses, and the subsequent steps of planning and implementing will be guided by the physiological data. Below, we outline a conservation physiology approach that can contribute to positive conservation outcomes under climate warming. We divide the conservation physiology approach into three steps: environmental monitoring, individual responses and upscaling to ecological processes and ecosystems ( Fig. 1 ). We point out how this approach integrates with CS Climate Change Considerations and provide brief examples where similar measures have already been implemented.

Summary of the interaction between conservation and physiology. The conservation process (A) as outlined in the CS comprises the sequential steps of assess, plan, implement, analyse, and share. Physiological research (B) can contribute to the assessment phase, and we suggest that the physiological approach comprises environmental monitoring, measuring individual responses to environmental change, and scaling these responses to ecosystem level to predict species distributions and changes to food web dynamics in response to climate warming, for example (all images by FS except for the clipart tree, which was used under a Creative Commons licence).

Identifying an appropriate geographical scale for conservation in the context of climate warming would almost always require assessment of the biophysical environment and the predicted shifts in the environment under different climate change scenarios. Climate Change Consideration 1 emphasizes this need to define the scope of a conservation project and recognizes the difficulty that changing climates may alter the spatial extent of species ranges and ecosystems, thereby altering the geographical scope. The definition of geographical scope may therefore require repeated rounds of the conservation process ( Fig. 1 ) ( Tallis et al., 2021 ). Geographical scope may be defined by different factors. For example, conservation of a defined area would set the geographical scope, and environmental monitoring would characterize that specific area. Conservation of particular species or ecosystems would define geographical scope by the presence or absence of those particular species or assemblages and would need to be repeated in changing climates.

The resolution at which environments are measured is crucial and must be biologically relevant ( Helmuth et al., 2014 ). Standard equipment for measuring temperatures, wind speed and solar radiation can be used to measure environmental variability and describe operative temperatures in local environments ( Stupski and Schilder, 2021 ; Youngsteadt et al., 2022 ) that influence individual and population level responses. For example, such environmental information can inform opportunities for behavioural thermoregulation in lizards ( Buckley et al., 2015 ). Although recorded at a local scale, these data can give valuable information about thermal habitat needs of individual species ( Sears et al., 2016 ; Basson et al., 2017 ) that can be used in assessing the consequences of habitat modifications resulting from degradation or restoration. Using drones to map the physical environment of a rocky shore at fine resolution (2 ×2 cm) was the most effective scale to predict responses of intertidal organisms to climate change ( Choi et al., 2019 ). These microclimate data could then be integrated with physiological responses (e.g. respiration rate or heart rate) of resident organisms to thermal change to produce ‘physiological landscapes’ that permit modelling of species vulnerabilities to different scenarios of climate warming ( Choi et al., 2019 ). On the other hand, distributions or movement across large geographical scales, such as bird migration, requires modelling at a global level ( Burnside et al., 2021 ; Snell and Thorup, 2022 )

Physiologically explicit modelling of different landscapes or geographical areas integrates environmental data with physiological responses to map fundamental niches of different species and at different scales ( Kearney and Porter, 2016 ). ‘Niche Mapper’ is a tool developed for this purpose ( Kearney and Porter, 2016 ) and is freely available ( http://niche-mapper.com/ ). This biophysical niche modelling approach has been used very successfully to predict the efficacy of thermoregulation to buffer ectotherms from climate warming ( Kearney et al., 2009 ; Sunday et al., 2014 ), model behavioural responses of a large mammal (moose, Alces alces shirasi ) to climate variation ( Verzuh et al., 2023 ), assess heat stress in a vervet monkey ( Chlorocebus pygerythrus ) ( Mathewson et al., 2020 ) and assess the overwintering energetics of wood frogs ( Lithobates sylvaticus ) under climate warming ( Fitzpatrick et al., 2020 ), among many other applications. The strength of this biophysical niche modelling lies in the incorporation of specific physiological data, thereby linking environmental conditions explicitly to physiological responses ( Briscoe et al., 2023 ).

Climate Change Consideration 2 recommends an assessment of the extent to which climate change can impact the viability of conservation targets and of the efficacy with which conservation can improve performance of individuals and thereby population persistence of conservation targets. Environmental temperature changes impact physiological functions first and foremost. There is a plethora of laboratory studies that measured responses of many taxa to temperature variation (e.g. see database in Seebacher et al., 2015 ). The most commonly measured physiological traits include rates of oxygen consumption as an indicator of energy use in ectotherms and of heat production potential in endotherms ( Rummer et al., 2014 ; Chouchani et al., 2019 ; Norin and Metcalfe, 2019 ), mitochondrial bioenergetics to reflect cellular energy production (in the form of adenosine triphosphate) ( Salin et al., 2015 ; Treberg et al., 2018 ; Sokolova, 2021 ) and aspects of muscle contractile function underpinning locomotor performance ( James and Tallis, 2019 ). These physiological traits often scale up to influence energetics, growth and movement, which are central components in the ecology and therefore conservation of many species. Note, however, that not all individual traits have the same thermal sensitivities ( Bozinovic et al., 2020 ), and the choice of response measures is important. Whole-animal traits such as locomotor performance may be more suitable to assess thermal sensitivities than reductionist traits (e.g. single enzyme activities), because they integrate across physiological systems (e.g. cardiovascular system, metabolism and muscle function in the case of locomotion).

Mean temperature shifts and variability can cause chronic stress in wildlife that impacts performance and fitness ( Skomal and Mandelman, 2012 ). These glucocorticoid-mediated stress responses support animals in coping with acute stressors through physiological and behavioural adjustments but may be detrimental in the long term ( Schoenle et al., 2021 ). Monitoring endocrine indicators of stress (e.g. glucocorticoid levels) is a useful and readily applicable tool to assess stress in wildlife that can be incorporated into conservation assessments ( Narayan and Hero, 2014a , 2014b ; Zimmer et al., 2020 ; Schoen et al., 2021 ; Schoenle et al., 2021 ). However, the validity of using glucocorticoid concentrations as an indicator of stress, indicating decreased performance and fitness, should be assessed on a case-by-case basis because responses are not always consistent between and even within taxa ( Jimeno et al., 2018 ; Injaian et al., 2020 ).

Responses to warming

The impacts of increasing body temperatures range from modifying biochemical reaction kinetics to breaking down membranes and proteins, and different groups of organisms have quite different responses to temperature ( Tattersall et al., 2012 ). In ectotherms, environmental temperature can determine body temperature directly. In heterogeneous environments, thermoregulation by habitat selection and cardiovascular adjustments in ectotherms (e.g. in reptiles) and endotherms (e.g. birds and mammals) buffers the internal environment from external fluctuations ( Angilletta, 2009 ), but only up to a point. Behavioural thermoregulation requires sufficient environmental heterogeneity to permit selection of favourable thermal habitats ( Angilletta et al., 2002 ). Endotherms can additionally thermoregulate by changing metabolic heat production ( Chouchani et al., 2019 ). Most biological reaction rates are sensitive to changes in temperature variation. Understanding the thermal sensitivity of physiological processes on one hand, and the potential for thermoregulation to maintain relatively stable body temperature on the other, is therefore essential to assess habitat quality for conservation. The range of temperatures at which animals perform well is defined by the thermal performance breadth in ectotherms ( Sinclair et al., 2016 ), and the thermal neutral zone in endotherms defines the range of temperatures at which metabolic heat production is minimized ( Chouchani et al., 2019 ). The temperature extremes that organisms can withstand before cellular integrity is compromised are defined by their thermal tolerance range, which is bounded by critical thermal limits in ectotherms ( Gunderson and Stillman, 2015 ; Tomlinson, 2019 ). The thermal sensitivity of physiological rate functions is not fixed within organisms but can change with ontogeny or prior experience, for example ( Sinclair et al., 2016 ). Nonetheless, physiological thermal tolerance can be linked to patterns of endemism, and species or populations with narrow tolerance bounds can be constrained to small distributions that match these limits ( Huey et al., 2009 ; Rummer et al., 2014 ). With climate warming, these species are expected to be most vulnerable to extinction as their suitable habitat and distributions contract to higher altitudes or latitudes, ultimately resulting in their being ‘pushed off the top of the mountain’ ( Elsen and Tingley, 2015 ).

Climate warming may compromise thermoregulation by reducing the availability of suitable (cool) microhabitats for behavioural thermoregulation ( Kearney et al., 2009 ) and by increasing the need for evaporative cooling in endotherms ( McKechnie et al., 2016 ). Evaporative heat loss requires access to water, and as temperatures increase and available surface water decreases with climate warming, thermoregulation can become unattainable, ultimately leading to mortality of birds and mammals ( McKechnie et al., 2021 ). Effective biodiversity conservation for many birds and mammals therefore requires knowledge of the relationship between metabolic heat production and thermal tolerance on the one hand, and the efficacy of evaporative heat loss in the context of habitat features such as available surface water on the other ( Mitchell et al., 2018 ; Conradie et al., 2020 ). This codependence of physiology and ecology is not restricted to conservation problems in hot arid areas. In the snow bunting ( Plectrophenax nivalis ), an Arctic songbird, metabolic and evaporative heat loss data indicate that global warming has already reached levels where the species must limit its activity levels to reduce metabolic heat production, which in turn is associated with reduced reproductive success ( O'Connor et al., 2022 ). Indeed, this is another example where effective conservation is contingent on detailed physiological knowledge to identify upper temperature thresholds and habitat requirements for different species and populations.

Phenotypic plasticity and adaptation

Adaptation by natural selection is fundamental to how organisms evolve in response to environmental change. However phenotypic variation is more complex than just intergenerational change in response to selection pressures or genetic drift, and plasticity of physiological traits is a widespread response to environmental variability ( Guderley, 2004 ; Schulte et al., 2011 ). Plasticity may be induced by parental effects on their gametes (transgenerational plasticity), conditions experienced during early development (developmental plasticity), or in response to environmental changes at the scale of weeks or longer in adult organisms (reversible acclimation) ( Shama et al., 2014 ; Burggren, 2018 ; Loughland et al., 2021 ). Plastic responses to temperature change are much quicker than genetic adaptation, and developmental plasticity, for example, can be mediated by epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation ( Loughland et al., 2021 ). Different forms of plasticity can thereby alter how well animals perform in different and changing environments and may buffer organisms from the impacts of climate warming to a certain extent ( Gunderson and Stillman, 2015 ; Seebacher et al., 2015 ; Fox et al., 2019 ). It is therefore important to incorporate plastic responses and adaptation into predictive models such as species distribution models (see below).

Climate Change Consideration 3 recommends the need for vulnerability assessments to determine the extent to which climate change can cause new threats or interact and exacerbate existing threats. Physiological knowledge of individual responses and upscaling these to ecosystem-level analyses and predictions can quantify how closely species operate to their optimal performance breadth currently and under future climates, and how higher-level interactions are likely to change ( Seebacher and Franklin, 2012 ). Analysing climate predictions in the context of this physiological knowledge provides a data-driven assessment of the threats that climate change poses, particularly for ecosystems that are already under threat from overexploitation ( Gaines et al., 2018 ). Species distribution models are an essential tool for extinction risk analysis, and incorporating physiological data into models generally improves the accuracy of predictions of current and future suitable ranges of individual species or ecosystems ( Evans et al., 2015 ; Mathewson et al., 2017 ; Tomlinson et al., 2018 ). We have already described how physiological data can be incorporated into predictive models such as biophysical models [e.g. Niche Mapper ( Kearney and Porter, 2016 )]. These models can be used to predict species distributions based on their fundamental (physiological) niches. A future challenge will be to incorporate plastic responses into mechanistic species distribution models. Phenotypic plasticity and adaptation can broaden the range of suitable environments, and plasticity may buffer organisms from environmental variation up to a point ( Seebacher et al., 2015 ). The relatively rapid plastic responses to environmental variation and, in specific cases, of genetic adaptation ( Lescak et al., 2015 ) may render populations less vulnerable to climate warming ( Seebacher et al., 2015 ; Bush et al., 2016 ). A recent species distribution modelling approach (ΔTraitSDM) incorporates adaptation and plasticity ( Garzón et al., 2019 ) and confirms that these evolutionary responses to environmental change can have beneficial effects on species distributions. It is therefore desirable to incorporate physiological plasticity and adaptation into species distribution models to improve the accuracy of conservation assessments.

Trophic interactions and food web dynamics

In addition to altering suitable habitat availability, climate warming can also disrupt interactions between species via differential effects on their physiology ( Van der Putten et al., 2010 ). For example, different responses to warming changed the relative swimming performance of predator and prey species and thereby reduced the likelihood of prey being captured at higher temperatures ( Grigaltchik et al., 2012 ). Such temperature-induced mismatches in physiological rates between species can fundamentally change food web dynamics ( Bideault et al., 2020 ; van Moorsel et al., 2023 ). Additionally, trophic transfer efficiency is projected to decrease with climate warming ( Pontavice et al., 2021 ). For example, in zebrafish, the food-derived energy used to produce a given amount of new biomass (energetic cost of growth) rose sharply with an increase in temperature from 25°C to 32°C ( Barneche et al., 2019 ). Using nitrogen transfer as an indicator of energy transfer, an increase of 4°C in water temperature reduced growth efficiency by 56% in a long-term mesocosm experiment with plankton communities ( Barneche et al., 2021 ). These temperature effects on interacting species within food webs are driven by the thermal sensitivity of underlying physiological rates ( Sokolova, 2021 ; van Moorsel et al., 2023 ; Wootton et al., 2023 ), and physiological data (e.g. metabolic rates and growth rates) can complement ecological analyses to lead to more accurate assessments of changes in food web dynamics and trophic cascades ( Galiana et al., 2021 ).

Ecosystem level responses to climate warming and associated extreme events can have pronounced impacts on human societies. Disruption of food web structures and trophic interactions affect the relative abundance of different species within ecosystems with potentially negative impacts on food security ( Beas-Luna et al., 2020 ). Changes in species distribution can alter availability of food species directly ( Yang et al., 2022 ), or they can alter the availability of ecological services such as pollination ( Pyke et al., 2016 ; Tomlinson et al., 2018 ), both of which can affect food security. Additionally, the physiological effects of warming on individuals can negatively impact the sustainability of wild harvests. For example, recreational fishing with rod and reel is a popular activity around the globe, and even though it is not ‘essential’ for food supply, it nonetheless has major impacts on target species. Although a portion of fish caught by recreational anglers are harvested, even more (~70%) are released, equating to billions of fish each year ( Cooke and Cowx, 2004 ). The premise of catch-and-release fishing is that most fish survive, although that is not always the case. Water temperature is a key factor influencing the fate of fish that are caught and released ( Gale et al., 2013 ). When fish are caught at ‘high’ (relative for a given population) temperatures, physiological stress responses and exhaustion are likely and may lead to unintended mortality ( Holder et al., 2022 ). Recreational fishing mortality has increased with climate warming, which has elicited a range of management responses that restrict fishing ( Jeanson et al., 2021 ). Already there are water temperature thresholds that if exceeded lead to the closure of some high-value fisheries as a result of physiological dysfunction ( Wilkie et al., 1997 ; Lennox et al., 2017 ; Van Leeuwen et al., 2020 ). Knowledge of these physiological sensitivities has guided conservation interventions, and different jurisdictions have enacted various triggers to close rivers for fishing that reflect population-level thermal thresholds ( Van Leeuwen et al., 2020 ).

A synthesis between physiology, distribution models and climate predictions can feed into the conservation planning process to attain conservation goals in the context of current and future climate warming ( Climate Change Consideration 4 ). Ultimately, assessment and planning must lead to conservation interventions to achieve the conservation goal. Detailed physiological knowledge of sensitivities to temperature change will benefit climate-related conservation strategies provided that such information is shared with conservation managers in relevant formats ( Laubenstein and Rummer, 2021 ). Identifying climate refugia, creating artificial habitat, or enhancing the viability of a conservation target are suggested in Climate Change Consideration 5 as potentially effective conservation strategies. Knowledge of physiological sensitivities to temperature change can be invaluable to test the efficacy of these interventions. For example, the effects of habitat restoration or creation of new habitat features to provide suitable thermal habitats can be assessed directly from laboratory studies testing thermal responses of target species. Climate warming may alter environments in protected areas so that their habitat characteristics no longer match the requirements of conservation targets ( Araújo et al., 2011 ; Basen et al., 2022 ). While protected areas remain valuable and necessary ( LeDee et al., 2021 ; Rummer et al., 2022 ), they may not always be sufficient ( Fernando and Pastorini, 2021 ; LeDee et al., 2021 ; Moore and Schindler, 2022 ). Landscapes worked by humans (e.g. urban and agricultural landscapes) can also provide important habitats for wildlife and harbour functioning ecological communities ( Fahrig et al., 2011 ; Pedroza-Arceo et al., 2022 ). Physiological assessments can offer an effective approach to identify the conservation value of different environments by mapping environmental conditions (e.g. heterogeneity of thermal habitats) to physiological performance (e.g. thermal sensitivity of locomotion and other performance measures). The utility of physiological data thereby extends beyond individual species to habitat conservation and biodiversity. More complex habitats also support a broader range of species and thereby improve biodiversity ( Wild et al., 2011 ; Sato et al., 2014 ; Hekkala et al., 2023 ). Complexity and heterogeneity of habitats are therefore essential criteria to establishing novel ecosystems, for example, ecosystems created in urban environments, which can be an effective tool for maintaining biodiversity ( Ignatieva et al., 2023 ). Knowledge of physiological sensitivities (e.g. thermal sensitivity) of key biodiversity components is important to inform establishment of appropriate habitat features ( Sato et al., 2014 ).

This Perspective has focused particularly on the impacts of climate warming. However, the impacts of climate change are much broader and encompass changes in rainfall and drought, ocean acidification and impacts on nutritional environments, for example ( Pörtner et al., 2022 ). A more comprehensive review was beyond our scope, but a similar approach to the one we describe here to assess the impacts of warming could also be applied to changes in other environmental variables. Enlisting physiology, ecology (including demography and behaviour) and genetics together will inform the development of the most robust conservation decisions and interventions. Physiology can detect the sensitivity of individuals to environmental change and assess the potential for populations to respond to change via phenotypic plasticity ( Seebacher and Franklin, 2012 ; Fox et al., 2019 ); genetic research can determine mutation rates and changes in allele frequencies to assess the potential for genetic adaptation in responses to environmental change ( Lescak et al., 2015 ; McGaughran et al., 2021 ); physiological and genetic insights can contribute to ecological analyses of higher-level responses and interactions ( Loria et al., 2022 ; Wootton et al., 2023 ), and estimates of rates of ecological change in the face of climate change ( Williams et al., 2021 ). Such integrated mechanistic approaches to conservation are lacking ( Cooke et al., 2023 ) despite great potential to ensure that conservation actions are targeted and effective.

How can physiology be integrated into the conservation process? Conservation is a political process, to a large extent ( Büscher and Fletcher, 2019 ), and funding may be allocated for reasons other than solely ecological value. Nonetheless, the responsibility for biology and its practitioners lies in providing the best possible assessment of conservation problems to lead to the most effective conservation outcomes given financial and other constraints. To achieve this, biological assessments need to be inclusive. Physiology is part of this assessment. Much of the needed physiological knowledge is already in the literature so that evidence syntheses ( Cook et al., 2017 ) are a first step in incorporating physiological knowledge into conservation, particularly by higher-level organizations such as government institutions and global NGOs that have access to a broad range of evidence and the expertise to interpret and synthesize it. Bespoke physiological knowledge to address specific conservation problems can be generated by research funding by government and government–industry or government–NGO partnerships. Physiological data generation may be perceived to be complicated and restricted to specialist laboratories. However, there are several widely accepted physiological measurements ( Madliger et al., 2018 ) that are relatively easy to collect in the field at a local scale to determine thermal sensitivities of particular populations, for example. Together with ecological and genetic techniques, these approaches can provide effective conservation assessment that will enable evidence-based conservation and environmental management.

Areas for future research include broader geographical coverage. Most research on physiological responses to environmental variation has focused on Europe and North America, and there are next to no data for geographical areas of high biodiversity in Africa and South America, for example ( White et al., 2021 ). Similarly, there are taxonomic biases ( Palma et al., 2016 ; Dornburg et al., 2017 ) that limit the generality of current understanding how wildlife responds to environmental change. Finally, treatment conditions in experimental studies often do not represent natural conditions so that experimental insights, while being conceptually important, may have limited utility for conservation ( Morash et al., 2018 ; Hall and Warner, 2020 ).

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP220101342 to F.S.), the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (to J.L.R.), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (D.G. to S.J.C) and Genome Canada via the GenFish project (to S.J.C).

There are no data associated with this article.

We thank Neil Metcalfe and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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Call for Research and Outreach Proposals

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Save the date for the virtual Gopher Tortoise Research Symposium: January 12, 2024, 10 a.m. to noon EST. The annual symposium showcases research that helps inform conservation and management for gopher tortoises and their commensals. 

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The deadline for submission of Proposals for FY 24-25 is April 15, 2024. Please submit proposals and budget forms to [email protected] with the project title in the subject line. 

Applicants with high-ranking proposals will be notified by email before  July 15, 2024 .

Effective management of gopher tortoises requires science-based policy and practices.

To promote actionable science, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is funding scientific research and outreach projects on an annual basis using gopher tortoise mitigation contributions. For all projects, we encourage incorporation of gopher tortoise commensal species to maximize the conservation benefit of gopher tortoise mitigation contributions.

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Outreach is also funded to educate the public, policy-makers, and the media about gopher tortoise conservation in Florida. Projects which align with outreach goals in the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan are especially encouraged.

Research Proposals

Funded research projects help address knowledge gaps and inform policies and practices. These projects may vary from basic life-history studies to improving relocation methodologies to human dimensions research.

Current research needs identified by FWC staff and the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan:

• Factors that enhance recipient site fidelity and overall relocation success
• Impacts of relocated gopher tortoises on natural and adjacent gopher tortoise populations
• Updated Florida-wide gopher tortoise population estimate
• Compatibility of solar sites with gopher tortoises
• Gopher tortoise disease outbreak
• Agricultural/Silvicultural best management practices efficacy 
• Identifying mass mortality indicators
• Site fidelity of tortoises inhabiting burrows proximal to development and/or on preserves of developed property
• Methods to reduce road mortalities
• Efficacy of burrow survey methodologie
• Impact of captivity on survivorship and behavior of released tortoises
• Impacts of gopher tortoise relocation practices on other species, especially commensals/SGCN
• Influence of capture method on survivorship and fitness of translocated tortoises
• Shell disarticulation studies to predict time since death

Permit Information

Please note that handling and/or possession of gopher tortoises, their eggs, or parts thereof, or conducting activities that may impact burrows is prohibited without a Scientific Collecting permit or a FWC-issued permit for relocation purposes. Refer to Appendix 14 of the Gopher Tortoise Permitting Guidelines for more information about these no-cost Protected Wildlife Permits . For projects that meet Scientific Collecting permit criteria, we recommend coordinating with the Gopher Tortoise Program Coordinator in advance and submitting a scientific collecting permit application prior to the proposal submission date (permits are issued within 90 days of receiving a complete application).

Proposal Content Requirements

Please submit proposal in a Microsoft Word document. Text should be Times New Roman, size 12 font, and single-spaced.

Be sure to include the name, affiliation, address, phone, cell, and email for each investigator or applicant. 

Relate the proposed work to gopher tortoise conservation in Florida and set forth one or more specific objectives. Please list these research/outreach objectives in bullet format within the text of this section. Provide adequate information to facilitate project evaluation, including detailed expected outcomes. Extensive references to background literature are not necessary.

Succinctly outline the specific activities that will accomplish the research/outreach objective(s) (e.g., the proposed methods for data collection and analysis). Collaboration or partnering with other agencies or organizations is encouraged. Specify whether or not a Scientific Collecting permit application has been submitted for these activities, and include the application number if so.

A mid-progress status report (due six months after contract start date) and final report (due 12 months after contract start date) will be provided to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The status report will indicate progress toward the objectives, a Florida Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) biostatistician-approved analysis plan and any preliminary results. The final report will include results that align with the FWRI biostatistician-approved analysis plan, discussion, and recommendations as appropriate. The investigators will give a presentation about this research at the annual FWC Gopher Tortoise Research Symposium . Notification of presentations made and reprints of published results from funded projects are encouraged.

Provide a brief timeframe for the proposed work. Keep in mind that funded projects are intended to be short-term (1 to 3 years). If the proposed tasks cover more than one state fiscal year (July 1 - June 30), group them by year. Also, consider the actual activity time may be shortened within a given year due to the time necessary for establishing a formal contract or contract task assignment.

Budget form . Briefly summarize a proposed budget in terms of time-frame. Funds available for these projects vary from year to year and can be committed only on a yearly basis; thus, projects are evaluated annually for new and continued funding. For proposals spanning more than one state fiscal year, group the costs by year. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does not fund capital outlay expenses (computers, vehicles, etc.), tuition fees, or faculty salaries; university administrative overhead is limited to 10%. Keep in mind that funds are limited; cost sharing is encouraged, please list outside contributions. A typical maximum funding for a year of university-research ranges from $5,000 to $20,000. The proposal must have a completed FWC Budget Form. Failure to complete the form will prevent your proposal from being considered for FWC funding.

The deadline for submission of Proposals for FY 21-22 is  April 15, 2023.  Please submit proposals and budget forms to  [email protected]  with the project title in the subject line.

Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative

Sample Proposals

Missouri bird conservation grant proposal.

Grant Title: Kansas City WildLands-Bridging The Gap                                                             Blue River Parkway Restoration Project

The purpose of this proposal is to restore native habitat for birds and other wildlife in an urban riparian forest along the Blue River. Primary restoration will be accomplished through a large scale elimination of invasive shrub honeysuckle from bottomland and upland riparian forest along the Blue River Parkway. This ongoing restoration effort will improve habitat, enhance and protect biological diversity and improve the aesthetic and recreational value of this area to the urban public.

This proposal will provide funding for additional and continued work in the Blue River Parkway riparian corridor.  Initial funding was provided for this work through a MoBCI grant for 2004-05 and continued funding has been received in subsequent years to address new areas in the linear parkway.

Project Location

The Blue River Parkway is a linear park system administered by Jackson County Parks and Recreation along the upper Blue River from Swope Park to the Kansas state line in southern Kansas City. The parkway totals over 2,300 acres; however, this figure includes ball fields and other park infrastructure.  Private land inholdings and other public lands (most notably Kansas City’s Minor Park) are also present in the corridor.

The area addressed by this funding lies in the Upper Blue River Conservation Opportunity Area.  The Upper Blue River COA is the only one of its kind located within an urban context.  The Blue River riparian corridor–where MoBCI habitat work will occur–is the key public land feature of the COA and provides linkage and connectivity to the other natural communities within the COA.  Over 3,000 acres of public land are present in the COA and along with riparian forest includes limestone glades, woodlands and the only remnant prairie in Jackson County.

The majority of the parkway land is free from formal park development and is composed of bottomland forest, upland forest and old fields in various stages of succession.  The upper Blue River is a notable feature itself and is contained in the Natural Heritage Database as a good example of a small river in the State’s prairie region.  The channel of the upper river has not been significantly altered; it has a mostly rocky substrate with a good pool and riffle structure and a largely intact riparian corridor.  This upper portion of the Blue River contains a diverse fish fauna including healthy populations of typically Ozarkian species such as orangethroat darter and slender madtom.

Project Description

Previous MoBCI funds have been expended in three separate locations in the parkway lands.  Initial work (2004) took place in a ~35-acre section of bottomland forest bordered by Minor Park on the north, Martha Truman Road junction to the south, the Blue River to the west and Blue River Road to the east.  The second area (addressed in 2005) is bounded by Blue Ridge Boulevard to the north, 139 th Street to the south and the Blue River to the west.  The third area (treated in 2006) is on the west side of the river in the uplands and is bordered by 118 th St. trailhead to the south, Minor Park to the north and the Blue River to the east. Work scheduled for fall of 2007 will address additional land bounded by Martha Truman Road junction to the north, Blue Ridge Blvd to the south, the Blue River to the west and Blue River Road to the east, encompassing land between the sites previously treated.   All of the locations are in Kansas City, Missouri.

Work scheduled for fall 2008 will incorporate new locations along the Parkway not previously restored, expanding on and connecting the restored areas of the riparian corridor. Kansas City WildLands (KCWL) will implement the MoBCI project in cooperation with Jackson County Parks and Recreation, which administers Blue River Parkway lands.  Approximately 25% of allocated funds will be used to re-treat the four sites covered in previous years.

A number of invasive exotic species are present in this forest including garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata ), wintercreeper ( Euonymus fortunei ) and Japanese honeysuckle ( Lonicera japonica ).  However, the greatest threat to the area is posed by shrub honeysuckle ( Lonicera maackii ), which forms dense stands in many places.

Shrub honeysuckle, an escapee from urban landscaping use, suppresses the herbaceous ground flora and eliminates recruitment of other shrubs and trees due to its rapid proliferation, fast growth and the effects of shading by large plants. These shrubs leaf out in March and retain green leaves into December, thus providing a dense sunlight-screening canopy. It is suspected that these shrubs also possess allelopathic properties that additionally inhibit other plant growth. The lack of vegetation at the ground level in an area severely impacted by honeysuckle can also lead to significant amounts of erosion and soil loss, especially on slopes.

Shrub honeysuckle does produce prolific crops of berries in fall that persist into winter.  These fruits are consumed by birds that in turn readily disperse the seeds to create new infestations.  Prescribed fires can in some situations control shrub honeysuckle, but this application is limited.  Plants must be small, fire must be repeated, and adequate fuels must be present to provide sufficient heat to be effective.  Hand or mechanical removal is difficult, impractical and can cause significant soil disturbance.  For these reasons, control of this noxious shrub must rely on herbicides applied either as a foliar spray to young plants, cutting or stump treating, or basal applications. Manually cutting and treating honeysuckle will require thousands of hours of volunteer time and take several years to complete. Funding through the MoBCI grant will provide a one-time basal application to the honeysuckle, thus greatly accelerating the successful restoration of this bottomland forest.

Project Timeline

Fall 2008 :  Shrub honeysuckle basal application.  Work to be done from late October to early December after first frost when vegetation is dormant but honeysuckle is retaining green foliage.  [Optional:  Reserve two days for follow-up in early spring, 2009 to assess, kill and treat surviving plants.]

Spring 2009 : Plant appropriate native shrubs and trees within previously treated areas.

Measurable Outcomes/Deliverables

Measurable outcomes and deliverables will include acres of bottomland forest cleared of exotics, increased quantity of hard and soft mast habitat-specific trees planted as food/shelter for birds and other wildlife, a complete and continually updated bird list for the corridor, restoration management plans for short and long term restoration/conservation goals of the corridor (for ongoing use by the land manager and as a model for future greenway restoration planning in the two-state urban watershed), restoration volunteer hours and new partners/stakeholders committing to the project to ensure its long-term success.

Grant Request

Kansas City WildLands is requesting $20,000 for the Blue River Parkway Project.

Matches for the Project will come from:

·       Key Partner and Project site landowner, Jackson County Parks and Recreation, will provide in-kind contributions in the form of staff time (administrative, supervisory and labor), equipment and maps.   $1,000 minimum in-kind.

·       Other key KCWL partners directly involved in the Project include Bridging The Gap, Kansas City Parks and Recreation, Burroughs Audubon Society, Missouri Department of Conservation, University of Missouri – Kansas City and Rockhurst University. Partners will provide in-kind coordination, biological, environmental and educational expertise, monitoring, restoration/management plans, equipment, workday supplies, staff time, transportation, promotions and recruitment via website, newsletters and mailings and meeting facilities.     $12,900 in-kind.

·       KCWL volunteers’ in-kind hands-on restoration, minimum of 325 hours. In-kind based on nationally recognized Independent Sector 2006 published volunteer time value of $18.77 per hour, national average.     $6,100.25 in-kind.

Total in-kind contributions: $20,000.25

Kansas City WildLands partners and volunteers will provide the following to ensure and measure the success of the project:  1) monitor and eliminate any re-growth of shrub honeysuckle in the treated area; 2) maintain vegetation monitoring plots in treated areas; 3) continue to keep a detailed bird list in the Project area.

Time Table for Reporting/Monitoring

Lead Organization

Kansas City WildLands , an affiliate of Bridging The Gap (BTG), will act as the lead organization. KCWL is a coalition of 31 Partners from Missouri and Kansas representing academic institutions, federal, state and local government entities, conservation organizations, conservation-minded individuals and businesses committed to conserving, protecting and restoring the remnant natural communities of the Kansas City region, by involving people in the stewardship of these lands.

Since its inception in 2001, KCWL Partners have worked together to conduct over 120 Ecological Restoration Workdays on 13 sites in and around Kansas City, in both Kansas and Missouri. Over 2,200 volunteers have committed 13,000 plus hours of restoration and conservation work and have conducted a large variety of outreach events to educate the public about the importance of these natural communities. The KCWL Partners have committed their time, in-kind and fiscal contributions, and expertise towards the success of the KCWL goals.

Applied Ecological Services, Inc.

·       Blue River Watershed Association

·       Bridging The Gap

·       Burroughs Audubon Society

·       Citizen Representation –William Eddy, Dr. Patrick Woolley

·       Clay County Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites

·       Environmental Protection Agency – Region 7

·       Friends of Lakeside Nature Center

·       Grassland Heritage Foundation

·       Jackson County Parks and Recreation – Natural Resources Division

·       Johnson County Parks and Recreation District

·       Kansas City Herpetological Society

·       Kansas City Parks and Recreation

·       Kansas City Power and Light Co

·       Kansas City Zoological Park

·       Little Blue River Watershed Coalition

·       Mid-America Regional Council

·       Missouri Department of Conservation

·       Missouri Native Plant Society

·       Missouri Prairie Foundation

·       Powell Gardens

·       Rockhurst University

·       Sierra Club – Thomas Hart Benton Group

·       The Nature Conservancy

·       UMKC – Geosciences and Environmental Studies Department

·       Westar Energy, Inc

·       William Jewell College

While all KCWL Partners will participate in the Blue River Parkway Project, the key Partners for the Project are described and listed separately within this proposal.

The point of contact is Linda Lehrbaum, Program Coordinator, 435 Westport Rd #23, Kansas City, MO 64111, 816-561-1087, [email protected] .

2007 KCWL Executive Committee:

Paul Klawinski – Chair, 816-415-7628, [email protected]

Larry Rizzo , MDC, 816-655-6250 x 246, [email protected]

Sarah Hatch, Friends of Lakeside Nature Center, 913-551-7199, [email protected]

Chad Scholes, Rockhurst University, 816-501-4160, [email protected]

Marci Jones , KCMOPR, 816-513-7530, [email protected]

Joe Werner , KCP&L, 816-654-1741, [email protected]

Jason Dremsa, Applied Ecological Services, 785-542-3090 x101, [email protected]

Patrick Woolley , citizen rep, [email protected]

Key Partners for the Project

Bridging The Gap , a community based environmental non-profit, will provide volunteer coordination and recruitment, fiscal management and administrative oversight as the parent corporation for KCWL. Contact Linda Lehrbaum, Program Coordinator, 816-561-1087, [email protected] .

Burroughs Audubon Society will provide avian expertise, monitoring and promotion of Project. Contact Don Arney, [email protected] , 816-931-8536

Jackson County Parks and Recreation , as landowner of the Project site, will provide extensive land and natural resource management expertise. Contact John Jansen, Natural Resources Supervisor, [email protected] , 816-554-1265

Kansas City Parks and Recreation will provide strong support in equipment, facilities, volunteers and staff. Contact Marci Jones, Superintendent, South Region, [email protected] , 816-513-7530

Missouri Department of Conservation will provide biological, environmental and educational expertise, management plan experience and monitoring. Contact Larry Rizzo, Natural History Biologist, [email protected] , 816-655-6250 x246

Rockhurst University will provide extensive biological and environmental expertise, volunteers, monitoring. Contact Chad Scholes, Professor, Biology, [email protected] , 816-501-4160

Fiscal Responsibilities/Management

Bridging The Gap hosts KCWL as a subsidiary non-profit organization. KCWL has its own policy-making structure, similar to a Board of Directors. BTG provides the staff, supervision and expertise in project coordination, and acts as fiscal agent for this project, overseeing all aspects of grant management in collaboration with the KCWL Partners. The fiscal management entails monthly reporting to the KCWL Executive Committee which will then report to the Partner organizations. Bridging The Gap has an annual audit of its finances, including subsidiaries, by an independent CPA firm, Keller & Owens, LLC.

Habitat Type, Bird/Wildlife Benefits

Bottomland forest and intact wooded riparian corridors are valuable habitat for birds and many other species of wildlife wherever they occur.  However, in the context of a largely urbanized landscape, they become even more critical. The Blue River Parkway is a vital pathway for wildlife travel and dispersal in south Kansas City as it connects the urban parklands of Swope Park to less intensely developed lands in the southern city limits. From a bird conservation perspective, the habitat provided by the parkway is home to a wide variety of birds including permanent residents and wintering species, but most notably is used heavily by neotropical migrants. Broad-winged Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Yellow-throated Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher and Louisiana Waterthrush nest here, however its greatest value is as a refuge and resting and foraging area for migrants. At least 46 species of neotropical birds were documented in the project area of the corridor in 2004.  In Spring 2006, monitoring by members of Burroughs Audubon Society revealed a male Cerulean Warbler singing on territory in June and the rare Connecticut Warbler was seen by several observers in May during migration.

Partners In Flight (PIF) priority birds for Missouri (prairie peninsula physiographic area) include Red-headed Woodpecker, Eastern Wood Pewee and Cerulean Warbler. Each of these species is present in the parkway during nesting season.  The broader goal of this project to benefit neotropical migrants is certainly compatible with PIF’s goals.

The following Audubon watch-list species have utilized the project area from 2004-2007: Red-headed woodpecker, Golden-winged Warbler, Canada Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, and Olive-sided Flycatcher.

The infestation of shrub honeysuckle, however, threatens the value of this habitat. Exotic honeysuckle eliminates a diverse herbaceous flora, reduces the structural heterogeneity of the forest and threatens the long-term viability of the forest by suppressing young trees and eliminating recruitment. Studies have documented that shrub honeysuckle provides inadequate nesting habitat and that birds choosing to nest in honeysuckle shrubs are more vulnerable to predation. Although over 20 species of warblers have been observed in the project area, ground-nesting and foraging species like the Kentucky Warbler and Ovenbird are seldom documented, nor is the Wood Thrush, a species with similar needs. It is reasonable to suspect that the presence of exotic honeysuckle may be affecting the suitability of the habitat for these and other species.

Public Benefits

Trails in the Blue River Parkway are heavily used for a variety of recreational purposes. Parkway lands are easily accessed by birders and represent one of the best places to see several species (such as Pileated Woodpecker) in the Kansas City area.  In good migration years, birders have a realistic chance to see 20 species of warblers on an outing in early May.

Aside from improving the bird and wildlife habitat and subsequent viewing opportunities for the public, the removal of the dense shrub honeysuckle layer will dramatically improve the aesthetic quality of the area. In many sections of the parkway, visitors today confront a wall of dense green shrub foliage nine months of the year. A small area cleared by Kansas City WildLands in the past year now offers a view of a jack-in-the-pulpit population previously hidden or totally suppressed by shrub honeysuckle.

Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) includes the south Blue River in its Metrogreen comprehensive trail plan for Kansas City.  The honeysuckle eradication work being performed today will greatly enhance the quality of this area for future users when a formal trail system is constructed.

GRANT TITLE:     RIVER HILLS FOREST HABITAT PROJECT

PURPOSE OF GRANT:

This grant would provide funds that would be used to encourage private landowners through cost share funding and educational efforts to help achieve a goal of maintaining 10 – 15 % of the project area in a regenerating oak-hickory forest condition.  Currently, less than one percent of the forest in the project area is in this condition.

PROJECT LOCATION: 

The River Hills Project Area in Central Missouri includes portions of Callaway, Montgomery and Warren Counties.  The area is bounded by Highway 54 to the west, Interstate 70 to the north but does include the Whetstone Conservation Area, Warren County’s eastern boundary on the east and the Missouri River to the south.  Included within this area are state-managed ownership’s that form the core of the project area (Daniel Boone, Danville, Little Lost Creek, and Reform Conservation Areas (CA’s), Reifsnider State Forest and Whetstone Creek Wildlife Management Area).  Of these, Daniel Boone and Little Lost Creek CA’s have been identified as Important Bird Area by Audubon Missouri.  The Focus Area includes and mostly consists of the Missouri River Hills Conservation Opportunity Area which is recognized in the Missouri Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 

Oak-hickory forest types have dominated Missouri forests for the last 6,000 years but have been changing at an accelerated rate since European settlement.  Frequent and uncontrolled burning of oak forests ended less than a century ago in the Missouri Ozarks.  From an ecological perspective, the current control of fire is likely the single most significant human-induced alteration to the central hardwood forest landscape (Thompson and Dessecker 1997). The pre-settlement and early settlement history indicates the Central States were heavily impacted by humans, and the widespread abundance of oak today is largely a result of this disturbance history.  Many of today’s oak dominated stands are successional in nature and will likely convert to forests comprised primarily of shade-tolerant species in the absence of continued disturbance (Johnson 1993). Active forest management will be required to maintain oak as an important component of future forests (Healy et al. 1997).  Generally, where the objective is to perpetuate oak, an even-aged management silvicultural system is considered the most appropriate regeneration method.

Oaks have a fundamental role in central hardwood wildlife communities.  Acorns are the base of a complex ecological web that affects the regeneration and abundance of oaks, the abundance of mast-consuming wildlife, the predators and parasites of mast-consuming species, and the abundance of defoliators and decomposers of oaks (Healy et al. 1997).  Resident and migratory birds use a wide range of forested and semi-forested habitats in central hardwood landscapes.  Probst and Thompson (1996) reported that of 187 species of neotropical migratory birds that breed in the Midwest, 95 use shrub-sapling or young-forest habitats to some degree during the breeding season.  Several of the bird species of highest management concern on the Partners in Flight Database for Missouri breed in young forest or shrub habitats.  Thompson et al. (1992) found that recently regenerated stands in the Missouri Ozarks supported significantly higher densities of blue-winged warbler, prairie warbler and field sparrow than did older stands.

The ruffed grouse has a fragmented distribution throughout the Central Hardwood Region.  This distribution is largely the result of land-use patterns and active efforts to restore ruffed grouse populations (Thompson and Dessecker 1997).  In Missouri, ruffed grouse have ranged from a common bird to one near extirpation, and have been the focus of a long-term, restoration effort (Kurzejeski and Thompson 1999).  The ruffed grouse restoration program in Missouri covered a span of almost 40 years, from 1959 to 1996.  Complete area counts of drumming male grouse have been conducted since 1974 on a 633 acre section of the Daniel Boone Conservation Area, one of the initial release sites.  The number of drumming males on this site has averaged 1.25 drummers per 100 acres of habitat. Densities of drumming males on the Daniel Boone decreased over time most likely associated with a decrease in seedling-sapling habitat from 16 to 7 percent of the area (Kurzejeski and Thompson 1999).  Grouse can be locally abundant in Missouri and will always be most abundant where appropriate habitat, particularly young dense forest cover, exists.  Thompson and Dessecker (1997) suggest that central hardwood forests from 3 to 15 years old provide brood and/or adult cover for grouse.

Management activities to maintain this important young forest habitat component and the long-term maintenance of the oak-hickory forest type in Missouri are mostly limited to public land holdings.  Currently in the project area, less than one percent of the forest is in this young forest condition with the majority found on the Daniel Boone and Little Lost Creek CA’s.  Non-industrial private landowners currently control 85% of the forestlands in Missouri and play a major role in the populations of wildlife in the state.  In the Ozark/Ouachitas Bird Conservation Plan, Fitzgerald and Pashley (2000) recommend that management for early successional birds should be encouraged on private lands through incentive programs.

To address these needs, a partnership was formed in 2000 to regenerate oak/hickory forest habitat in three counties in Central Missouri. Landowners are encouraged through a cost-share assistance program to conduct approved management practices to promote young oak/hickory forest habitat on the landscape.  The partners, listed below, developed a comprehensive plan and have sought out and received project funding.   Practices that can be implemented to provide young forest habitat include woodland improvement and woody edge enhancement.  Woodland improvement is the elimination of shade tolerant competitors and providing conditions more conducive to regenerating an oak/hickory forest.  Woody edge enhancement consists primarily of creating small openings in mature oak/hickory forests to stimulate natural regeneration.  Landowners of high priority project sites, especially those on property immediately adjoining state conservation areas, can be reimbursed up to 90% of actual project costs.

On the ground project work began in the spring of 2003.  As of 1 September 2007, 58 different cooperating landowners had completed woodland improvement projects on 2,017 acres and received reimbursements totaling $120,299.  Cooperators are already signed up for funding assistance for all remaining funds on hand (nearly $20,000), with more on a waiting list.

HABITAT TYPES AND WILDLIFE BENEFITED: 

This project will increase young forest habitat and provide conditions more conducive to regenerating oak/hickory forests.  In addition, practices that enhance woody edge habitat would be promoted.  Dense young forest and edge habitat would be expected to benefit local birds such as ruffed grouse and Northern bobwhite as well as migratory songbirds, including American woodcock, Bell’s vireo, Bewick’s wren, brown thrasher, blue-winged warbler, Eastern towhee, field sparrow, great-crested flycatcher, prairie warbler, white-eyed vireo and yellow-breasted chat.  Of these, American woodcock, Bell’s vireo, blue-winged warbler and prairie warbler are included on the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners in Flight Watch List (Pashley et al. 2000) as species not listed under the Endangered Species Act but warrant conservation attention. Bell’s vireo, Bewick’s wren, blue-winged warbler and prairie warbler have been identified as priority birds for the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region (BCR 24) (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2002). All of these species, except blue-winged warbler, have shown significantly declining population trends in Breeding Bird Survey reports.

According to the Missouri Breeding Bird Atlas Project, American woodcock, Bell’s vireo, Bewick’s wren, brown thrasher, blue-winged warbler, Eastern towhee, field sparrow, great-crested flycatcher, loggerhead shrike, Northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse and yellow-breasted chat are confirmed breeders in the project area with prairie warbler and white-eyed vireo identified as possible breeders (Jacobs and Wilson 2000). Mammals including the endangered Indiana bat, flying squirrels and bobcat are expected to respond favorably to these activities (Wade 2003).

PUBLIC BENEFITS:

The public benefits from this project in several ways.  First, private landowners obtain education and funding to help implement important forestry and wildlife habitat activities as part of a landscape level project.  These activities are expected to bring about a better appreciation of the role private landowners can have on maintaining and enhancing wildlife populations.  Since private landowners control the majority of forestland in Missouri it is essential that they are important participants in wildlife management activities.  These activities would also be expected, over the long term, to improve habitat and populations of wildlife species that require young forest or edge habitat for all or part of their life cycle.  Game and non-game wildlife populations of targeted species should increase, providing greater recreational and viewing opportunities for the general public.  In addition, forestry contractors will be hired by the landowners with the allotted funds to conduct these management activities generating taxable income.

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES:

The River Hills Forest Habitat Project Assistance Agreement form provides a tracking tool for all accomplishments of this project.  These accomplishments will include the amount of funding received, the type, level, and amount of management practices conducted per landowner.

MEASUREABLE DELIVERABLES:

The grantee will provide an annual report at the end of the calendar year to all partner organizations regarding the dispersal of project funds and accomplishments.

GRANT REQUEST AMOUNT: 

This grant request is for $20,000 to be matched with $ 20,000 from a portion of the value of the Yale and Alicia Muhm 1,000 acre conservation easement in the River Hills Focus Area.  Following is a summary of funds received so far and those involved:

Funds Received to Date – $140,157

Missouri Department of Conservation, Private Lands Services – $38,000

Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Grant – $46,767

Ruffed Grouse Society – $41,500

US Fish and Wildlife Service – $7,090

National Wild Turkey Federation – $5,000

Quail Unlimited – $1,000

Enterprise Leasing – $500

Anonymous Donor – $300

Additional Contributions Pledged or Available – $40,910

Ruffed Grouse Society – $10,000 ($5,000 in-kind services)

Missouri Department of Conservation, Private Lands Services – $5,000

Audubon Missouri – $1,000 (in-kind services)

US Fish and Wildlife Service (Partners for Wildlife Program) – $4,910

Yale and Alicia Muhm Conservation Easement – $20,000  Match Funds

REPORTING AND MONITORING PLAN:

The MDC or RGS field representatives review all projects prior to the allocations of funds.  Annual status reviews of fifty percent of completed MDC cost-share projects are conducted by MDC Resource Coordination Team members.  Failure by a landowner to comply with terms of the assistance agreement will result in termination of the agreement and reimbursement for contractor services provided.  Landowners who fail to comply with the terms of the agreement will not be eligible for future participation in this program.

The project contact person, Gary Zimmer, [email protected] , will provide an annual report to all partner organizations regarding the dispersal of project funds and accomplishments.

Monitoring of bird populations will be ongoing to assess project impacts.  These include the continuation of the 11 ruffed grouse survey transects on the Daniel Boone Conservation Area as well as survey routes on Little Lost Creek Conservation Area.  Spring turkey hunters will continue to be surveyed in the project area for ruffed grouse observations either with mail in surveys or by personal contacts.  These surveys will be coordinated by MDC wildlife research staff.  Federal breeding bird survey routes are included in the project area and will provide useful monitoring data on songbird populations in the area.  Audubon Society of Missouri will continue to conduct bird surveys on selected project sites across the project area to monitor population.

LEAD ORGANIZATION:                                        CONTACT PERSON:

The Ruffed Grouse Society                                          Gary Zimmer, Regional Biologist

(National and Missouri Chapter)                                   Ruffed Grouse Society

451 McCormick Road                                                 P.O. Box 116

Coraopolis, PA  15108                                                Laona, WI  54541

Phone: 412-262-4044                                                 Phone: 715-674-7505

Email: [email protected]

ADDITIONAL PARTNERS:

Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)

Contact: Bob DeWitt, Private Land Services Reg. Sup., 1907 Hillcrest Dr.,Columbia, MO 65201

Phone: 573-882-8388 ext. 234           Email:  [email protected]

Audubon Society of Missouri

Contact: Edge Wade,             1221 Bradshaw Ave., Columbia, MO 65202

Phone 573-445-6697 Email: [email protected]

US Fish and Wildlife Service (Partners in Fish and Wildlife Program)

Contact: Kelly Srigley Warner, 101 Park DeVille Drive, Suite A, Columbia, MO 65203

Phone: 573-234-2132 ext. 112  Email: [email protected]

National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited, and Enterprise Leasing

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY/MANAGEMENT:

Landowners apply for assistance through the MDC Private Land Conservationists and Resource Foresters in the project area.  Only projects that address project goals related to woodland improvement and/or encourage woody cover along field edges and within woodlands are authorized.  Assistance is not authorized for commercial thinning but is authorized for post harvest timber stand improvement and forest regeneration.  Assistance can not be obtained from management practices where profits from the sale of products created by the practice take place.  All landowners complete an assistance agreement that identifies the cooperator and land where the practices would take place, the contractor, cost and scope of the practices and approval signatures of the contractor and a MDC or RGS representative. Projects are prioritized by potential benefits to the project goals and lay on the landscape.  MDC or RGS representatives make payments for completed projects only after field verification.

All project funds are deposited in a specific River Hills Project Account at the Bay-Hermann Berger Bank in Herman.  Copies of all payments are forwarded to the MDC Private Land Services Regional Supervisor, RGS National Office, Missouri RGS Chapter representatives and the MDC Private Land Conservationist or Forester involved.  The RGS Regional Biologist provides quarterly updates of account funds to the project steering team.

LITERATURE CITED:

Fitzgerald, J.A., and D.N. Pashley. 2000. Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plan for the Ozarks/Ouachitas (Physiographic Area 19).

Healy, W.M., K. Gottschalk, R. Long, and P.M. Wargo. 1997. Changes in Eastern Forests: Chestnut is Gone, are the Oaks Far Behind? In: Transactions of the 62 nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, 1997 March 14 – 18, Washington, D.C. Wildlife Management Institiute: 249-263.

Johnson, P.S. 1993. Perspectives on the Ecology and Silviculture of Oak-dominated Forests in the Central and Eastern States.  Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-153. St. Paul, MN: U.S.D.A. Forest Service, North Central Forest Experimental Station. 28 p.

Kurzejeski, E.W. and F.R. Thompson, III. 1997. Ruffed Grouse Status, Hunting , and Response to Habitat Management in Missouri.  Research Paper NC-333. St. Paul, MN: U.S.D.A. Forest Service, North Central Forest Experimental Station. 14 p.

Pashley, D.N., C.J. Beardmore, J.A. Fitzgerald, R.P. Ford, W.C. Hunter, M.S. Morrison and K.V. Rosenberg. 2000. PIF – Conservation of the Land Birds of the U. S.. Amer. Bird Conservancy.  92 p.

Thompson, F.R., III and D.R. Dessecker. 1997. Management of Early-successional Communities in Central Hardwood Forests: With Special Emphasis on the Ecology and Management of Oaks, Ruffed Grouse, and Forest Songbirds.  Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-195. St. Paul, MN: U.S.D.A. Forest Service, North Central Forest Experimental Station. 33 p.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2002. Birds of Conservation Concern 2002.  Division of Migratory Bird Management, Arlington, VA. 99 pp.

Wade, E. 2003. Ruffed Grouse in Missouri – Past, Present and Future. Pp. 6 – 17 in The Bluebird. Vol. 70:2. The Audubon Society of Missouri.

wildlife conservation Recently Published Documents

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How much Fear? Exploring the Role of Integral Emotions on Stated Preferences for Wildlife Conservation

AbstractScientific evidence suggests that emotions affect actual human decision-making, particularly in highly emotionally situations such as human-wildlife interactions. In this study we assess the role of fear on preferences for wildlife conservation, using a discrete choice experiment. The sample was split into two treatment groups and a control. In the treatment groups the emotion of fear towards wildlife was manipulated using two different pictures of a wolf, one fearful and one reassuring, which were presented to respondents during the experiment. Results were different for the two treatments. The assurance treatment lead to higher preferences and willingness to pay for the wolf, compared to the fear treatment and the control, for several population sizes. On the other hand, the impact of the fear treatment was lower than expected and only significant for large populations of wolves, in excess of 50 specimen. Overall, the study suggests that emotional choices may represent a source of concern for the assessment of stable preferences. The impact of emotional choices is likely to be greater in situations where a wildlife-related topic is highly emphasized, positively or negatively, by social networks, mass media, and opinion leaders. When stated preferences towards wildlife are affected by the emotional state of fear due to contextual external stimuli, welfare analysis does not reflect stable individual preferences and may lead to sub-optimal conservation policies. Therefore, while more research is recommended for a more accurate assessment, it is advised to control the decision context during surveys for potential emotional choices.

Social Repercussion of Translocating a Jaguar in Brazil

The translocation of “problem-animals” is a common non-lethal strategy to deal with human-wildlife conflict. While processes of wildlife translocation have been widely documented, little is known about the social repercussions that take place once the capture and the return of a problem-animal to its natural habitat fail and it has to be permanently placed in captivity. We investigated how the public, an important stakeholder in wildlife conservation, perceived the translocation of a female jaguar to a wildlife captivity center. The objectives were to (1) assess the public's perceptions (e.g., attitudes, emotions, awareness) toward the jaguar and its translocation process, and (2) how these psychological constructs are related. We used the social media profiles of the three institutions involved in the process (one responsible for the jaguar rescues, one that supported its recovery, and the one responsible for the jaguar's final destination) and analyzed the comments left by their followers on posts related to the jaguar and the translocation itself during 25 days. A total of 287 comments were analyzed through coding, a categorizing strategy of qualitative analysis; 33 codes were identified. Results showed high admiration for the work done, positive attitudes and emotions, and concern toward the animal. Lack of awareness about the translocation process was high, with comments of curiosity toward the situation being one of the most commonly found. To a lesser extent, people felt sad for the jaguar not being able to return to the wild and criticized the need for translocation. Admiration for the work had a strong relation with gratitude and broader positive perceptions toward the jaguar's story. Criticism related to concern, which was also related to a need for more information and curiosity. Our findings suggest that the public who engaged with those institutions through their Instagram accounts were grateful for seeing the jaguar safe, but were not aware of the complexity of the operation nor about the nature of the conflict with farmers. The public can either reinforce a particular action or jeopardize an entire operation, depending on their perceptions of the matter. In the case of this jaguar, the public held a positive view; however, we acknowledge the limitations of our sample and recommend further analyses of social repercussions among people who are not followers of these organizations. Furthermore, we recommend engaging other stakeholders to fully understand the human dimensions of translocating this jaguar. Finally, for social acceptance, we highlight the importance of transparency and reliability of the organizations operating the translocation.

A Review of Human-Elephant Ecological Relations in the Malay Peninsula: Adaptations for Coexistence

Understanding the relationship between humans and elephants is of particular interest for reducing conflict and encouraging coexistence. This paper reviews the ecological relationship between humans and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in the rainforests of the Malay Peninsula, examining the extent of differentiation of spatio-temporal and trophic niches. We highlight the strategies that people and elephants use to partition an overlapping fundamental niche. When elephants are present, forest-dwelling people often build above-the-ground shelters; and when people are present, elephants avoid open areas during the day. People are able to access several foods that are out of reach of elephants or inedible; for example, people use water to leach poisons from tubers of wild yams, use blowpipes to kill arboreal game, and climb trees to access honey. We discuss how the transition to agriculture affected the human–elephant relationship by increasing the potential for competition. We conclude that the traditional foraging cultures of the Malay Peninsula are compatible with wildlife conservation.

Staff perceptions of COVID‐19 impacts on wildlife conservation at a zoological institution

Community-based tourism and local people's perceptions towards conservation.

Uganda is among the most bio-diverse countries and a competitive wildlife-based tourism destination in the world. Community-based tourism approach has been adopted in the country's conservation areas as a strategy to ensure that local communities benefit and support wildlife conservation. This chapter analyses local communities' perceptions of conservation and the benefits they get from tourism in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area. The study reveals that local communities were concerned about loss of protected resources and support their conservation irrespective of the benefits they get from tourism in the conservation area. There is need to design conservation programmes that focus on local community-conservation-benefits nexus which take into consideration the perceived conservation values, strategies for benefit sharing and incorporation of indigenous knowledge systems.

KONSERVASI HUTAN PADA JURNAL BIOLOGI INDONESIA PERIODE 2010-2020: SEBUAH STUDI BIBLIOMETRIK

A bibliometric analysis was carried out on the Indonesian Biology Journal for the period 2010 – 2020, with the aim of knowing 1) the distribution of keywords to see the description of the research published in the Indonesian Biology Journal 2010-2020; 2) article classification; 3) distribution of articles by year; 4) distribution of articles by issue number; 5) authorship pattern; 6) the most prolific writer; 7) affiliations of authors who contribute to the Indonesian Biology Journal; 8) the type of document used as a reference in the Indonesian Biology Journal 2010-2020. The bibliometric method was used, and the data was taken from the Indonesian Biology Journal from 2010 to 2020, which was downloaded via the address https://e-journal.biologi.lipi.go.id/index.php/jurnal_biologi_indonesia. Furthermore, the analysis of the distribution of articles based on keywords, distribution of class numbers, distribution of articles by year, distribution of articles by number of publications, pattern of authorship, most productive authors, pattern of authorship affiliation was carried out. Based on the results and discussion, it can be concluded that during 2010-2020, 315 article titles have been published and there are 1,343 keywords. Of the 50 most keywords, the keyword Biodiversity often appears 21 times (1.56%) then Genetic variation and Wildlife conservation each 20 times (1.48%), then Animal population 18 times (1.34 %), followed by Plant conservation 17 times (1.19%) and Animal conservation 16 times (1.19%). Next is Feeds and Plant growth substances each with 15 (1.11%), then In vitro culture and Plant diversity each with 14 (1.04%). Next, Vegetation is 13 (0.90%), followed by Habitat conservation and Plant species, each with 11 (0.82%). On the order of 50 keywords Drought resistance, with a total of 4 (0.29%). The highest class is class 635 with a frequency of 35 (11.11%). Articles written by a single author (71 titles; 22.54%) and articles written by collaboration (244 titles; 77.46%). the least number of articles published is in 2020, which is 1 article title (3,17). For issue number 1 starting from volume 6 to volume 16, 164 article titles have been published (52.06%). As for number 2 with the same volume, there were 151 article titles (47.94%). The most prolific writer is Hellen Kurniati with 13 writings, followed by Wartika Rosa Farida with 12 writings and then Witjaksono with 11 writings. Then Andri Permata Sari, Niken Tunjung Murti Pratiwi, NLP. Indi Dharmayanti, Tri Muji Ermayanti with 10 each, followed by Didik Widyatmoko and Risa Indriani with 9 each, Atit Kanti and Yopi with 7 each and Dwi Astuti, Eko Sulistyadi, Ibnu Maryanto, Inna Puspa Ayu each. 6 posts. LIPI is the first institution that contributes the most articles, with a frequency of 260 times. It is known that 7,354 document titles are used as references and the journal is in the first order of cited documents, with 4,591 titles (62.42%).

Fauna diversity in the southern part of the Kon Ka Kinh National Park, Gia Lai province

Kon Ka Kinh National Park (KKK NP) is a priority zone for biodiversity protection in Vietnam as well as ASEAN. In order to survey the current fauna species diversity in the southern part of the KKK NP, we conducted camera trapping surveys in 2017, 2018, and 2019. 28 infrared camera traps were set up on elevations between 1041 to 1497 meters. In total, there were 360 days of survey using camera trap. As result, we recorded a total of 27 animal species of those, five species are listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2020). The survey results showed a high richness of wildlife in the southern park region, and it also revealed human disturbance to wildlife in the park. The first-time camera trap was used for surveying wildlife diversity in the southern region of the KKK NP. Conducting camera trap surveys in the whole KKK NP is essential for monitoring and identifying priority areas for wildlife conservation in the national park.

The Growing Importance of Sustainable Wildlife Tourism in India and Involving Indian Youth in Promoting Wildlife Conservation

Federal funding and state wildlife conservation, human-wildlife conflict and community perceptions towards wildlife conservation in and around wof-washa natural state forest, ethiopia: a case study of human grivet monkey conflict.

Abstract Background: Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is predicted to increase globally in the vicinity of protected areas and occurs in several different contexts and involves a range of animal taxonomic groups whose needs and requirements overlap with humans. Human-monkey conflict exists in different forms more in developing countries and ranks amongst the main threats to biodiversity conservation. Grivet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops aethiops) are any slender agile Old-World monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus. This study was conducted to investigate the status of human grivet monkey conflict and the attitude of local communities towards grivet monkey conservation in and around Wof-Washa Natural State Forest (WWNSF), Ethiopia from September 2017 to May 2018. Questionnaire survey (143) was used to study the human-grivet monkey conflict and its conservation status. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the responses were compared using a nonparametric Pearson chi-square test. Results: Majority of respondents from both gender (male= 67.1%; female= 74.1%) were not supporting grivet monkey conservation due to its troublesome crop damaging effect. There was significant difference in respondents perceptions towards grivet monkey conservation based on distance of farmland from the forest (χ2= 12.7, df =4, P = 0.013). There was no significant difference in the techniques used by villagers to deter crop raiders (χ2= 14.73, df =15, P = 0.47). There was significant difference in respondents expectations on the mitigation measures to be taken by government (χ2= 40.01, df =15, P = 0.000). Based on the questionnaire result, 42.5 ± SD 8.68 of respondents in all villages elucidated that the causes of crop damage was habitat degradations.Conclusion: The encroachment of local communities in to the forest area and exploitation of resources that would be used by grivet monkey and enhanced crop damage by grivet monkey exacerbated the HGMC in the study area. As a result grivet monkeys have been killed relentlessly as a consequence of crop damage. This was due to negative energy developed in human perspective. Thus, awareness creation education program and feasible crop damage prevention techniques need to be implemented.

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College of Natural Resources

Physical Address: 975 W. 6th Street Moscow, Idaho

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Courtney Conway

Courtney conway, ph.d., professor of wildlife sciences, and unit leader of the idaho cooperative fish & wildlife research unit.

208-885-6176

Email Courtney Conway

The Conway Lab

Idaho Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit College of Natural Resources University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1141 Moscow, ID 83844-1141

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Fish and Wildlife Sciences

• Ph.D., University of Montana, Organismal Biology & Ecology, 1998
• M.S., University of Wyoming, Zoology and Physiology, 1990
• B.S., Colorado State University, Wildlife Biology, 1985

Research Interests:

• Wildlife management
• Conservation biology
• Behavioral ecology
• Life history evolution

Find out more about how to support my research and the Burrowing Owl Migration Fund ; Ridgway’s Rail Dispersal and Migration Fund; Idaho Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Fund.

Publications

Stevens, B. S., C. J. Conway, C. Tisdale, K. Denny, A. Meyers, and P. Makela. 2023. Backpack satellite transmitters reduce survival but not nesting propensity or success of greater sage-grouse. Ecology and Evolution 13:e10820.

Allison*, A. Z. T., C. J. Conway, and A. R. Goldberg*. 2023. Weather influences survival probability in two coexisting mammals directly and indirectly via competitive asymmetry. Ecology 104:e4229.

Lundblad*, C. G., and C. J. Conway. 2023. Investing in a nest egg: Intraspecific variation in the timing of egg-laying across a latitudinal gradient. Oecologia 202:83-96.

Allison*, A. Z. T., A.E. Morris*, and C. J. Conway. 2023. Why hibernate? Tests of four hypotheses to explain intraspecific variation in hibernation phenology. Functional Ecology 37:1580-1593.

Stevens†, B. S., S. B. Roberts, C. J. Conway, and D. K. Englestead. 2023. Effects of large-scale disturbance on animal space use: Functional responses by greater sage-grouse after megafire. Ecology and Evolution 13:ece3.9933.

Stevens†, B. S., C. J. Conway, J. M. Knetter, S. B. Roberts, and P. Donnelly. 2023. Multi-scale effects of land cover, weather, and fire on Columbian sharp-tailed grouse. Journal of Wildlife Management 87(2):e22349. Lachman*, D. A., C. J. Conway, K. T. Vierling, T. Matthews, and D. Evans Mack. 2022. Drones and bathymetry show the importance of optimal water depth for nest placement within breeding colonies of Western and Clark’s Grebes. Wetlands 42:1-10.

Goldberg*, A. R., D. E. Biggins, S. Ramakrishnan, J. W. Bowser, C. J. Conway, D. A. Eads, and J. Wimsatt. 2022. Deltamethrin reduces survival of non-target small mammals. Wildlife Research 49:698-708.

Stevens†, B. S., C. J. Conway, K. Luke, A. Weldon, C. Hand, A. Schwarzer, F. Smith, C. Watson, and B. D. Watts. 2022. Large-scale distribution models for optimal prediction of Eastern black rail habitat within tidal ecosystems. Global Ecology and Conservation 38:e02222.

Allison*, A. Z. T., and C. J. Conway. 2022. Daily foraging activity of an imperiled ground squirrel: effects of hibernation, thermal environment, body condition, and conspecific density. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 76:28.

LaRoche, D. D., C. J. Conway, and C. Kirkpatrick. 2022. Small-scale variation in trap placement affects arthropod capture rates on sticky traps in riparian woodlands. Southwestern Naturalist 66:275-279.

Macías-Duarte*, A., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Geographic variation in dispersal of western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) populations. Behavioral Ecology 32:1339-1351.

Harrity*, E. J., L. E. Michael, and C. J. Conway. 2021. Sexual dimorphism in morphology and plumage of endangered Yuma Ridgway’s Rails: a model for documenting sex. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 12:464-474.

Stevens†, B. S., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Mapping habitat quality and threats for eastern black rails. Waterbirds 44:245-256.

Barbosa†, S., K. R. Andrews, A. R. Goldberg*, D. Singh-Gour, P. A. Hohenlohe, C. J. Conway, and L. P. Waits. 2021. The role of neutral and adaptive genomic variation in population diversification and speciation in two ground squirrel species of conservation concern. Molecular Ecology 30:4673–4694

Lundblad*, C. G., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Intraspecific variation in incubation behaviours along a latitudinal gradient is driven by nest microclimate and selection on neonate quality. Functional Ecology 35:1028-1040.

Lundblad*, C. G., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Ashmole’s hypothesis and the latitudinal gradient in clutch size. Biological Reviews 96:1349-1366

Dillon*, K. G., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Habitat heterogeneity, temperature, and primary productivity drive elevational gradients in avian species diversity. Ecology and Evolution 11:5985-5997.

Goldberg*, A. R., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Hibernation behavior of a federally-threatened ground squirrel: climate change and habitat selection implications. Journal of Mammalogy 102:574-587.

Lundblad, C.G., and C. J. Conway. 2021. Nest microclimate and limits to egg viability explain avian life-history variation across latitudinal gradients.   Ecology , in press. 

Riley, I. P., C. J. Conway, B. S. Stevens, and S. Roberts. 2021. Aural and visual detection of greater sage-grouse leks: Implications for population trend estimates.   Journal of Wildlife Management  85:508-519.

Helmstetter, N. A., C. J. Conway, B. S. Stevens, and A. R. Goldberg. 2021.  Balancing transferability and complexity of species distribution models for rare species conservation.  Diversity and Distributions  27:95-108.

Connelly, J. W., and C. J. Conway.  2021. Managing wildlife at landscape scales.  Pages 143-157 in Wildlife Management and Landscapes: Principles and Applications (W.F. Porter, C.J. Parent, R.A. Stewart, and D.M. Williams, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press in affiliation with The Wildlife Society, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Garton, E. O., J. L. Aycrigg, C. J. Conway, and J. S. Horne.  2020.  Research and experimental design.  Pages 1-39 in The Wildlife Techniques Manual, Volume 1: Research, 8th Edition (N. J. Silvy, ed.).  Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Conway, C. J., C. P. Nadeau, and M. A. Conway. 2020. Broadcasting regional call dialects has little influence on the effectiveness of call-broadcast surveys for marsh birds.   Wetlands  40:2055-2059.

Macías-Duarte, A., C. J. Conway, and M. Culver.  2020. Agriculture creates subtle genetic structure among migratory and non-migratory populations of Burrowing Owls throughout North America.   Ecology and Evolution  2020;10:10697–10708.

Stevens, B. S., and C. J. Conway. 2020.  Mapping habitat suitability at range-wide scales: spatially-explicit distribution models to inform conservation and research for marsh birds.   Conservation Science and Practice  2:e178.

• University of Idaho Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Efforts, Office of the Provost, University of Idaho, 2024.
• Group Achievement Award from The Wildlife Society for the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program Collaborative, 2023.
• Science Leadership Award, USGS Cooperative Research Units Program, 2023.
• Excellence in Science Award, USGS Cooperative Research Units Program, 2021.
• Elected Fellow of The Wildlife Society, 2019.
• Elected as Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, 2015.
• Presidential Migratory Bird Federal Stewardship Award from the Council for the Conservation of Migratory Birds, Washington D.C., 2013.
• “Top-cited Paper Award” from the Association of Field Ornithologists for a paper cited most in the society’s journal, 2010.
• “Outstanding Course Award” in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, 2009.
• Outstanding Science Award, CRU Program, U.S. Department of Interior, 2008.
• Service Excellence Award, CRU Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2007.
• Elective Member of the American Ornithological Society, 2006.
• “Outstanding Course Award” in the School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, 2006.
• Excellence in Cooperator Support Award, USGS Cooperative Research Unit Program, 2005.
• Shirley O'Brien Diversity Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, 2005.
• Effects of cattle grazing on demographic traits and nest-site selection of greater sage-grouse. Location: Idaho.
• Causes and consequences of changes in migratory strategies for burrowing owls in North America. Location: western North America.
• Effectiveness of forest restoration treatments on demography of the Northern Idaho Ground Squirrel. Location: central Idaho. 
• Effects of sylvatic plague on survival of the Northern Idaho Ground Squirrel. Location: central Idaho. 
• Causes of latitudinal gradients in avian clutch size. Location: southeastern Arizona.
• Modeling habitat suitability of marsh birds in North America. Location: North America.
• Habitat suitability of and effects of forest management actions on Pileated Woodpeckers on Craig Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Location: northern Idaho.
• Causes of latitudinal gradients in hatching asynchrony in birds. Location: western U.S.
• Utility of LIDAR to predict habitat suitability of red-faced warblers. Location: southeastern Arizona.
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List Of The Most Intriguing Dissertation Writing Ideas On Wildlife

Wildlife is an area that has attracted a huge amount of research. General research and especially wildlife conservation research have attracted significant funding. Here is a list of some great dissertation ideas on wildlife:

• The effects of tourism and roads on the ecology of the Markhor in Pakistan.
• A study of the ecology of avian life in the British Isles.
• The effects of avian migration patterns on the spread of disease in bird populations of the seasonal host geography.
• The snow leopard of the Himalayas: a study of the conservation efforts.
• A study of the effects of construction of railways on the habitat selection of moose in remote Canada.
• A study of avian ecology and conservation in monsoon climates.
• A study of how changing weather patterns have affected migratory habits of geese in Asia.
• A study of the effectiveness of selective yearly hunting licenses on Markhor conservation in Pakistan.
• A study of how community ownership has successfully rehabilitated dwindling Markhor populations in northern Pakistan.
• A study of the effects of beaver dams on the biodiversity of fish.
• A study of the discovery of new species in the last 100 years.
• How many new species of wildlife remain undiscovered? Theory and evidence.
• A study of the importance of flagship species on conservation efforts.
• A study of the role of politics in conservation of the African Rhino. Do our business concerns with China stand in the way of saving the rhino?
• A study of the role of politics in the conservation of whales. Do our political concerns regarding Japan outweigh the need to conserve the whale?
• The effect of violent animal rights campaigns. What is the effect on conservation efforts?
• The fight against animal testing. What has been achieved in the last 50 years?
• The effect of captivity on the mating behaviors of the grey wolf.
• A study of the similarities and differences in the behaviors of domesticated dogs and wolves in captivity.
• The effects of variation in captivity environments on grey wolves with a specific focus on mating behavior.
• The effect of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on the habitat and ecology of local wildlife.
• The effectiveness of commercial zoos in the conservation effort.
• The effect of industrial waste on wildlife conservation.
• The effect of wildlife conservation on legislature worldwide.
• The effect of climate change on wildlife conservation.

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