Efforts to reduce livestock losses to large carnivores are widely regarded as essential for promoting human–carnivore coexistence. Predator‐proof enclosures, compensation programs, improved livestock guarding, and real‐time predator alert systems can reduce depredation and retaliatory killing while enhancing pastoralist livelihoods. However, reducing livestock production risks may also alter livestock management decisions in w...

Inferences about spatial variation in species richness and community composition are important both to ecological hypotheses about the structure and function of communities and to community‐level conservation and management. Few sampling programs for animal communities provide censuses, and usually some species in surveyed areas are not detected. Thus, counts of species detected underestimate the number of species present. We...

We developed a watershed index of biotic integrity that used whole watershed variables for metrics rather than site‐specific variables. We used the index to evaluate the biological health of 100 watersheds in the Sierra Nevada of California. The index scores, which were based on various measures of distribution and abundance of native fish and frogs, indicated that 7 of the watersheds were in excellent condition (high biotic h...

The amount of terrestrial protection achieved for biodiversity through designation of no‐take public wilderness areas in the United States is much greater than no‐take protection in the nation’s National Marine Sanctuary System. With the exception of a small area in the Florida Keys, no permanent reserve in the United States protects marine biodiversity from commercial fishing with gear that has strong effects on marine habita...

Skeptics have questioned the empirical evidence that corridors provide landscape connectivity. Some also have suggested dangers of corridors. We reviewed published studies that empirically addressed whether corridors enhance or diminish the population viability of species in habitat patches connected by corridors. A randomized and replicated experimental design has not been used—and we argue is not required—to make inferences...

Bottom trawling and use of other mobile fishing gear have effects on the seabed that resemble forest clearcutting, a terrestrial disturbance recognized as a major threat to biological diversity and economic sustainability. Structures in marine benthic communities are generally much smaller than those in forests, but structural complexity is no less important to their biodiversity. Use of mobile fishing gear crushes, buries, an...

Larger animals are more expensive to maintain in zoos than are smaller animals, and they breed at slower rates. Consequently, zoos could potentially contribute more to conservation efforts by concentrating on smaller‐bodied species, but they could lose patronage if the zoo’s public prefers to see larger species. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the popularity of zoo exhibits and the body sizes of the animals dis...

Ecotourism is often viewed as effective for promoting the conservation of endangered species and habitats in developing countries. By creating economic incentives for impoverished villagers or their communities, ecotourism is thought to encourage local guardianship of biological resources. To assess ecotourism’s effect on the income of villagers living near Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, one of the most heavily visited pa...

Edge‐related increases in nest predation rates have been reported in forest adjacent to clearcuts. Group selection is an uneven‐age silvicultural technique that may provide an alternative to clearcutting, but group selection creates more edge per unit area cut than does clearcutting. Thus, if edge‐related increases in nest predation exist in forest adjacent to groupcuts, group selection may potentially result in higher rates o...