Arctic wildlife is often presented as being highly at risk in the face of current climate warming. We use the long-term (up to 24 years) monitoring records available on Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic to examine temporal trends in population attributes of several terrestrial vertebrates and in primary production. Despite a warming trend (e.g. cumulative annual thawing degree-days increased by 37% and snow-melt date advanced by 4–7 days over a 23-year period), we found little evidence for changes in the phenology, abundance or productivity of several vertebrate species (snow goose, foxes, lemmings, avian predators and one passerine). Only primary production showed a response to warming (annual above-ground biomass of wetland graminoids increased by 123% during this period). We nonetheless found evidence for potential mismatches between herbivores and their food plants in response to warming as snow geese adjusted their laying date by only 3.8 days on average for a change in snow-melt of 10 days, half of the corresponding adjustment shown by the timing of plant growth (7.1 days). We discuss several reasons (duration of time series, large annual variability, amplitude of observed climate change, nonlinear dynamic or constraints imposed by various rate of warming with latitude in migrants) to explain the lack of response by herbivores and predators to climate warming at our study site. We also show how length and intensity of monitoring could affect our ability to detect temporal trends and provide recommendations for future monitoring.

Scientists, policy makers, and journalists are three key, interconnected players involved in prioritizing and implementing solutions to mitigate the consequences of anthropogenic pressures on the environment. The way in which information is framed and expertise is communicated by the media is crucial for political decisions and for the integrated management of environmental issues. Here we present a comparative study of scientific literature and press articles addressing climate change and biodiversity. We extensively scrutinized the scientific literature, research funding, and press articles from the USA, Canada, and United Kingdom addressing climate change and biodiversity issues between 1991 and 2016. We found that media coverage of climate change was up to eight times higher compared to biodiversity. This discrepancy could not be explained by different scientific output between the two issues. Moreover, climate change media coverage was often related to specific events whereas no such indication of a connection was found in the case of biodiversity. An international communication strategy is urgently required to raise public awareness on biodiversity issues. We discussed several initiatives that scientists could undertake to better communicate major discoveries to the public and policy makers.

1. Mortality caused by power lines is a conservation problem for many vulnerable bird species. Many large species are especially threatened by electrocution as they frequently perch on pylons leading to electrocution that typically causes death. Electrocution mitigation measures have been implemented to protect several species; however, a resulting decrease in mortality due to these measures has not previously been demonstrated at the population scale. 2. In this study, we used data from a long-term capture-recapture programme (combining resightings of live birds and recovery of dead birds) carried out on the French population of the Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata from 1990 to 2009 to estimate the impact of the insulation of power lines on key demographic rates. 3. We found that the survival probability of all age classes increased after the insulation of dangerous power lines, due to a decrease in mortality caused by electrocution. This decrease was partially compensated for by an increase in other causes of death. 4. Our findings show that insulation of power lines has a strong positive impact on juveniles and immature birds and a lesser impact on adults. The overall increase in survival due to power line insulation led to a sharp increase in predicted population growth rates (from 0Á82 to 0Á98), although our findings still suggest that the population is not self-sustaining. Elasticity values indicate that adult survival is the key parameter in the population dynamics of this species, and since adult mortality caused by electrocution seemed close to zero, our ability to act on this parameter is limited. 5. This study demonstrates that insulation of power lines is relevant for the conservation of large bird species at a population scale as it allows the survival rate of all age classes to increase and thus in turn has a strong positive impact on population growth rates. 6. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrated that mortality rates induced by electrocution are considerable and have major consequences for the population viability of birds. We also demonstrated that electrocution mitigation measures can lead to a sharp increase in survival through reducing mortality from electrocution leading to improved population viability. In the light of these results, there is an urgent need that conservationists contact power line stakeholders not only to urge them to generalize retrofitting actions but also, in planning new infrastructure development, to plan for less harmful power lines, since this will be far less costly than developing a posteriori mitigation actions.