Conflicts between the conservation of biodiversity and other human activities occur in all habitats and can impact severely upon socio-economic and biological parameters. In a changing environment, with increasing pressure on ecosystem goods and services and increasing urgency for biodiversity conservation, these conflicts are likely to increase in importance and magnitude and negatively affect biodiversity and human wellbeing. It is essential, however, to better understand what is meant by 'biodiversity conflicts' in order to develop ways to manage these effectively. In view of the complexity of the social and ecological contexts of conflicts, this paper explores 'biodiversity impacts' linked to agricultural, forestry and other sectoral activities in the UK. The paper then describes the transition from 'biodiversity impacts' to 'biodiversity conflicts', illustrating this concept with specific examples. While generalisations relating to conflict management are made difficult by their unique contextual settings, this paper suggests approaches for their management, based on the experiences of scientists who have been involved in managing conflicts. We consider the role of science and scientists; trust and dialogue; and temporal and spatial scales in biodiversity conflicts and highlight the combined role they play in successful biodiversity conflict management. Recommendations are also made for future research on biodiversity conflicts in a changing environment.

Collecting faeces is viewed as a potentially efficient way to sample elusive animals. Nonetheless, any biases in estimates of population composition associated with such sampling remain uncharacterized. The goal of this study was to compare estimates of genetic composition and sex ratio derived from Eurasian otter Lutra lutra spraints (faeces) with estimates derived from carcasses. Twenty per cent of 426 wild-collected spraints from SW England yielded composite genotypes for 7-9 microsatellites and the SRY gene. The expected number of incorrect spraint genotypes was negligible, given the proportions of allele dropout and false allele detection estimated using paired blood and spraint samples of three captive otters. Fifty-two different spraint genotypes were detected and compared with genotypes of 70 otter carcasses from the same area. Carcass and spraint genotypes did not differ significantly in mean number of alleles, mean unbiased heterozygosity or sex ratio, although statistical power to detect all but large differences in sex ratio was low. The genetic compositions of carcass and spraint genotypes were very similar according to confidence intervals of theta and two methods for assigning composite genotypes to groups. A distinct group of approximately 11 carcass and spraint genotypes was detected using the latter methods. The results suggest that spraints can yield unbiased estimates of population genetic composition and sex ratio.

Efficient body insulation is assumed to have enabled birds and mammals to colonize polar aquatic ecosystems. We challenge this concept by comparing the bioenergetics of cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) living in temperate and arctic conditions. We show that although these birds have limited insulation, they maintain high body temperature (42.3 °C) when diving in cold water (1–10 °C). Their energy demand at these times is extremely high (up to 60 W kg−1). Free‐living cormorants wintering in Greenland (water temperature −1 °C) profoundly alter their foraging activity, thus minimizing time spent in water and the associated high thermoregulatory costs. They then meet their daily food demand within a single intense dive bout (lasting 9 min on average). Their substantial energy requirements are balanced by the highest predatory efficiency so far recorded for aquatic predators. We postulate that similar behavioural patterns allowed early diving birds (Cretaceous) to colonize cold coastal areas before they evolved efficient insulation.

With 4 figures in the text)Althoug frequency of occurrence (either as percentage or relative frequency) is the most common method of expressing the content of otter Lutra lutra faeces (spraints), the accuracy of the method, and the effects of varying sampling procedures (e.g. inter-collection interval) and sample sizes, have not been quantified. The validity of the technique was assessed in the present study by feeding trials involving captive, tame otters and computer simulation of various spraint sub-sampling regimes. Four animals were fed known quantities (numbers and biomass) of a total of nine fish species, two bird species and one mammal over a 28-day period. Most prey remains were passed in spraints within 24 h, although perch Percafluviatilis scales appeared up to 10d after consumption. Remains from single meals of perch were recorded in 60 subsequent spraints from two otters, and remains of individual eels Anguillu anguillu were recorded in up to 11 spraints. Some single spraints contained the remains of up to seven individual salmonids, Salmo spp. Minnows Phoxinus phoxinus placed within the body cavities of larger rainbow trout Onrorhynchus nzykiss were easily identified in spraints, as were the remains of Dytiscus spp. beetles which were not included in trial meals. The latter confirms that otters actively consumed large free-swimming insects. Spraint analysis accurately determined the rank order of prey groups for individual otters and for all four combined. However, few of the true proportions consumed fell within the 95% confidence limits calculated from spraints. Over the month-long trial, the overall picture of otter diet was altered little by increased inter-sampling period for spraints. But as samples were reduced, coefficients of variation for the mean estimates of each prey group increased and were often too large for estimates to be meaningful. It is not possible to quantify otter diet accurately by frequency of occurrence methods, and the results of previous studies attempting to quantify the amount of a specific prey item consumed by otters using this method must be treated with caution. Diet could be estimated more accurately from spraint analysis by concentrating on the main prey species and using keybones, which are resistant to digestion, to determine relative size-frequency distributions.

No abstract