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Habitat loss and deterioration represent the main threats to wildlife species, and are closely linked to the expansion of roads and human settlements. Unfortunately, large-scale effects of these structures remain generally overlooked. Here, we analyzed the European transportation infrastructure network and found that 50% of the continent is within 1.5 km of transportation infrastructure. We present a method for assessing the impacts from infrastructure on wildlife, based on functional response curves describing density reductions in birds and mammals (e.g., road-effect zones), and apply it to Spain as a case study. The imprint of infrastructure extends over most of the country (55.5% in the case of birds and 97.9% for mammals), with moderate declines predicted for birds (22.6% of individuals) and severe declines predicted for mammals (46.6%). Despite certain limitations, we suggest the approach proposed is widely applicable to the evaluation of effects of planned infrastructure developments under multiple scenarios, and propose an internationally coordinated strategy to update and improve it in the future.

Movement and selection are inherently linked behaviors that form the foundation of a species' space-use patterns. Anthropogenic development in natural ecosystems can result in a variety of behavioral responses that can involve changes in either movement (speed or direction of travel) or selection (resources used), which in turn may cause population-level consequences including loss of landscape connectivity. Understanding how a species alters these different behaviors in response to human activity is essential for effective conservation. In this study, we investigated the effects of anthropogenic development such as roads, power lines and oil wells on the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) movement and selection behaviors in the post-nesting and non-breeding season. Our first objective was to assess using integrated step selection analysis (iSSA) if greater prairie-chickens altered their movement behaviors or their selection patterns when encountering oil wells, power lines, or roads. Our second objective was to determine whether prairiechickens avoided crossing linear features such as roads or power lines by comparing the number of crossing events in greater prairie-chicken movement tracks to the number of movements that crossed these features in simulated movement tracks. Based on the iSSA analysis, we found that greater prairiechickens avoided oil wells, power lines, and roads in both seasons, and altered their rate of movement when near anthropogenic structures. However, changes in speed varied by season, with prairie-chickens increasing their movement rates in the post-nesting season when near to development and decreasing movement rates in the non-breeding season. Furthermore, prairiechickens crossed roads and power lines at much lower rates than expected. These changes in behavior can result in habitat loss for greater prairiechickens, as well as the potential loss of landscape connectivity. By considering both movement and selection, we were able to develop an ecological understanding of how increasing human activity may influence the space use of this species of conservation concern. Furthermore, this research provides insight into the decision-making processes by animals when they encounter anthropogenic development.

A growing body of evidence has documented how wildlife alter their behavior in response to human encroachment. For carnivores, behaviors related to reproduction and communication are particularly sensitive to human disturbance and can provide an early warning indicator of development’s negative impacts. Despite the important role carnivores play in an ecosystem, few tools have been developed to anticipate how future human development impacts these behaviors. We developed a set of models to understand spatial relationships between anthropogenic development and puma (Puma concolor) habitat selection for two critical reproductive behaviors: nursery habitat for raising young, and sites for communication with mates. Using geospatial location data from the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, USA, we found that female pumas use small nursery home ranges (9 km2 ± 1.72 SE) of predominantly natural habitat, potentially with low levels of human development (< 1 housing unit per 40 acres), when supporting kittens < 8 weeks old. Areas immediately surrounding (≤ 600 m) puma communication sites were also almost entirely composed of undeveloped habitat or low-density development. When modeling projected human development compared to current land use, we found that increases in human development may eliminate 20% of current puma nursery habitat and nearly 50% of current communication site habitat. Future development will also increase the patchiness of suitable habitat, intensifying the difficulty of locating and accessing suitable areas for nurseries and communication. Focusing on the habitat needed to support reproductive and communication behaviors may be an effective way to prioritize conservation planning for pumas and other apex carnivores.

Climate change and human interventions over the past few decades have significantly affected the groundwater resources in Ladakh Himalaya. Sparse or lack of suitable data and knowledge gaps are a major challenge in evaluating these impacts. Here, we synthesize the available data to assess the status of groundwater quantity, quality, withdrawal, and contamination in the Leh district of India. The study shows that glacier area has decreased by 40% whereas its volume has reduced by 25% since the Little Ice Age (∼1650 AD). The glacier melt, which influences the recharge, has reduced significantly. The growth of population by 15% per year, expansion of built-up area by 50%, and changes in the socio-ecology have further stressed the groundwater. The bore wells and groundwater draft have increased at ∼115 wells/year and ∼7 MCM/year, respectively. The increase of groundwater development by ∼26 times has reduced the reserves. Hence, for the sustainability of the resource, modeling and managing the impacts is urgently required. In this direction, this paper provides guidelines for researchers, policymakers, and water users to develop an integrative consortium management strategy for the sustainable utilization of the groundwater.

1. A fundamental challenge to invasion ecology is to determine what factors cause an exotic species to spread rapidly long after the initial introduction. The increase of a resource (e. g. nitrogen) could trigger an expansion, but in other instances, species have overcome biological limitations (e. g. an Allee effect) like accumulating sufficient genetic diversity for successful reproduction. Understanding the ecological mechanisms governing plant invasions, such as nutrient enrichment or Allee effects, can be used to improve invasive plant management. 2. We used the invasive, introduced grass Phragmites australis as a model to evaluate the role of nutrient enrichment and Allee effects in invasion. Based on recent studies that demonstrated the importance of sexual reproduction in this plant's spread, we chose to focus our efforts on reproductive output. We examined the effects of patch-level genetic diversity on viable seed production across watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay, USA, with differing levels of anthropogenic development (a proxy for nutrient enrichment). In an outdoor mesocosm experiment, we treated Phragmites plants originating from forested and developed watersheds with elevated vs. ambient nutrients and cross vs. self-pollination and determined the effects on viable seed, floret and inflorescence production. 3. The proportion of viable seeds produced at field sites varied widely and was not directly related to watershed development. Instead, seed viability was positively related to patch-level genetic diversity, and patches in more developed watersheds had higher genetic diversity. Also, plants in larger patches produced a higher proportion of viable seeds. In the mesocosm experiment, seed viability was substantially higher for out-crossed plants. Elevated nutrients resulted in greater floret and inflorescence production, particularly for plants originating from developed vs. forested watersheds. 4. These findings have important management implications: small populations should be controlled before they accumulate sufficient genetic variation for prolific viable seed production, and landscape-scale nutrient management could further limit reproductive output. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our research shows how nutrient enrichment and a weak Allee effect can interact across multiple scales to impact invasion success and how understanding the ecological mechanisms governing plant invasions can be used to better inform invasive plant management.

Many large carnivores, despite widespread habitat alteration, are rebounding in parts of their former ranges after decades of persecution and exploitation. Cougars (Puma concolor) are apex predator with their remaining northern core range constricted to mountain landscapes and areas of western North America; however, cougar populations have recently started rebounding in several locations across North America, including northward in boreal forest landscapes. A camera‐trap survey of multiple landscapes across Alberta, Canada, delineated a range edge; within this region, we deployed an array of 47 camera traps in a random stratified design across a landscape spanning a gradient of anthropogenic development relative to the predicted expansion front. We completed multiple hypotheses in an information‐theoretic framework to determine if cougar occurrence is best explained by natural land cover features, anthropogenic development features, or competitor and prey activity. We predicted that anthropogenic development features from resource extraction and invading white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virgianius) explain cougar distribution at this boreal range edge. Counter to our predictions, the relative activity of native prey, predominantly snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), was the best predictor of cougar occurrence at this range edge. Small‐bodied prey items are particularly important for female and sub‐adult cougars and may support breeding individuals in the northeast boreal forest. Also, counter to our predictions, there was not a strong relationship detected between cougar occurrence and gray wolf (Canis lupus) activity at this range edge. However, further investigation is recommended as the possibility of cougar expansion into areas of the multi‐prey boreal system, where wolves have recently been controlled, could have negative consequences for conservation goals in this region (e.g. the recovery of woodland caribou [Rangifer tarandus caribou]). Our study highlights the need to monitor contemporary distributions to inform conservation management objectives as large carnivores recover across North America. Cougar populations are rebounding in North America after decades of persecution. We used camera traps to examine factors influencing cougar expansion at a range edge in Alberta's northeast boreal forest. We found that native prey, specifically snowshoe hare, is the best predictor of cougar occurrence at this range edge. Potential cougar expansion has implications for this area of intense conservation concern due to industrial resource extraction and shifting community dynamics.

Fear of predation can elicit strong behavioral responses from prey, with impacts that cascade through food chains. While this indirect effect of natural predators on ecosystems is becoming better understood, far less is known about how humans—the world’s most ubiquitous super‐predator—influence subsequent trophic levels through changes in carnivore habitat use and behavior. Here, we combined puma GPS tracking data with field experiments to understand the extent to which anthropogenic development has cascading impacts from pumas to plants. We examined spatial patterns in puma feeding sites and found that pumas preferentially kill deer away (>340 m) from human development. This aversion appears to create refugia for deer, as deer more than doubled their relative activity near (<70 m) human development. In addition, deer more than quadrupled their consumption of woody vegetation at low‐risk sites close to humans relative to comparable high‐risk sites far from humans and consumed a greater percent of the forage available in sites near humans than in comparable sites farther away. Increased browsing by deer in near human, or low‐risk, sites induced woody plants to become bushier (by removing apical dominance) than those away from humans, or high‐risk sites. The cascading interactions from pumas avoiding people to changes in plant architecture appear to have increased available food to deer (i.e., bushier plants have more available branch ends providing potential bites of food than less bushy individuals) and may have other, as yet undocumented, ecological effects.

CONTEXT: Over the last decade, we have seen a massive increase in the construction of wind farms in northern Fennoscandia. Wind farms comprising hundreds of wind turbines are being built, with little knowledge of the possible cumulative adverse effects on the habitat use and migration of semi-domesticated free-ranging reindeer. OBJECTIVES: We assessed how reindeer responded to wind farm construction in an already fragmented landscape, with specific reference to the effects on use of movement corridors and reindeer habitat selection. METHODS: We used GPS-data from reindeer during calving and post-calving in the Malå reindeer herding community in Sweden. We analysed data from the pre-development years compared to the construction years of two relatively small wind farms. RESULTS: During construction of the wind farms, use of original migration routes and movement corridors within 2 km of development declined by 76 %. This decline in use corresponded to an increase in activity of the reindeer measured by increased step lengths within 0–5 km. The step length was highest nearest the development and declining with distance, as animals moved towards migration corridors and turned around or were observed in holding patterns while not crossing. During construction, reindeer avoided the wind farms at both regional and landscape scale of selection. CONCLUSIONS: The combined construction activities associated with even a few wind turbines combined with power lines and roads in or close to central movement corridors caused a reduction in the use of such corridors and grazing habitat and increased the fragmentation of the reindeer calving ranges.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels will rise by up to 0.82 m in the next 100 years. In natural systems, coastlines would migrate landwards, but because most of the world’s human population occupies the coast, anthropogenic structures (such as sea walls or buildings) have been constructed to defend the shore and prevent loss of property. This can result in a net reduction in beach area, a phenomenon known as “coastal squeeze”, which will reduce beach availability for species such as marine turtles. As of yet, no global assessment of potential future coastal squeeze risk at marine turtle nesting beaches has been conducted. We used Google Earth satellite imagery to enumerate the proportion of beaches over the global nesting range of marine turtles that are backed by hard anthropogenic coastal development (HACD). Mediterranean and North American nesting beaches had the most HACD, while the Australian and African beaches had the least. Loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley turtle nesting beaches had the most HACD, and flatback and green turtles the least. Future management approaches should prioritise the conservation of beaches with low HACD to mitigate future coastal squeeze.

Coastal environments and their associated biota provide numerous environmental, economic and societal services. Cockburn Sound, a temperate embayment on the lower west coast of Western Australia, is immensely important for the State and adjacent capital city of Perth. However, urbanisation and associated terrestrial and marine development has the potential to threaten this important ecosystem. This study collated published and unpublished data to review the current state of the ecological resources of Cockburn Sound and describe how they have changed over the past century. Post-WWII, the embayment began undergoing pronounced anthropogenic changes that limited oceanic water exchange, increased nutrient load, modified benthic habitats and increased fishing pressure. The most visual outcome of these changes was substantial eutrophication and the loss of 77% of seagrass habitats. However, the increased primary productivity from elevated nutrient inputs produced high commercial fishery yields of up to ~1,700 t in the early 1990s before improved wastewater regulation and restricted fishing access steadily reduced commercial catches to ~300 t in recent years. Despite substantial anthropogenic-induced changes, Cockburn Sound has remained a diverse and ecologically important area. For example, the embayment is a key spawning area for large aggregations of Snapper, is a breeding and feeding site for seventeen marine bird species (including Little Penguins) and, is frequented by numerous protected species such as pinnipeds, dolphins, and White and Grey Nurse sharks. In recent decades, numerous projects have been initiated to restore parts of Cockburn Sound with mixed success, including seagrass transplantation, deployment of artificial reefs and stocking of key fish species, mainly Snapper. Nevertheless, while still biodiverse, there are signs of considerable ecological stress from escalating anthropogenic pressures and the cumulative impacts of ongoing and future developments, including climate change, which may severely impact the functioning of this important ecosystem.