No abstract

Aim Several large‐mammal species in Europe have recovered and recolonized parts of their historical ranges. Knowing where suitable habitat exists, and thus where range expansions are possible, is important for proactively promoting coexistence between people and large mammals in shared landscapes. We aimed to assess the opportunities and limitations for range expansions of Europe's two largest herbivores, the European bison (Bison bonasus) and moose (Alces alces). Location Central Europe. Methods We used large occurrence datasets from multiple populations and species distribution models to map environmentally suitable habitats for European bison and moose across Central Europe, and to assess human pressure inside the potential habitat. We then used circuit theory modeling to identify potential recolonization corridors. Results We found widespread suitable habitats for both European bison (>120,000 km2) and moose (>244,000 km2), suggesting substantial potential for range expansions. However, much habitat was associated with high human pressure (37% and 43% for European bison and moose, respectively), particularly in the west of Central Europe. We identified a strong east–west gradient of decreasing connectivity, with major barriers likely limiting natural recolonization in many areas. Main conclusions We identify major potential for restoring large herbivores and their functional roles in Europe's landscapes. However, we also highlight considerable challenges for conservation planning and wildlife management, including areas where recolonization likely leads to human–wildlife conflict and where barriers to movement prevent natural range expansion. Conservation measures restoring broad‐scale connectivity are needed in order to allow European bison and moose to recolonize their historical ranges. Finally, our analyses and maps indicate suitable but isolated habitat patches that are unlikely to be colonized but are candidate locations for reintroductions to establish reservoir populations. More generally, our work emphasizes that transboundary cooperation is needed for restoring large herbivores and their ecological roles, and to foster coexistence with people in Europe's landscapes.

1. World-wide, tropical savannas and dry forests are under increasing pressure from land use. The environmental impacts of agricultural expansion into these ecosystems have received much attention, yet subtler changes in natural vegetation remain severely understudied.

Primary forests, defined here as forests where the signs of human impacts, if any, are strongly blurred due to decades without forest management, are scarce in Europe and continue to disappear. Despite these losses, we know little about where these forests occur. Here, we present a comprehensive geodatabase and map of Europe’s known primary forests. Our geodatabase harmonizes 48 different, mostly field-based datasets of primary forests, and contains 18,411 individual patches (41.1 Mha) spread across 33 countries. When available, we provide information on each patch (name, location, naturalness, extent and dominant tree species) and the surrounding landscape (biogeographical regions, protection status, potential natural vegetation, current forest extent). Using Landsat satellite-image time series (1985–2018) we checked each patch for possible disturbance events since primary forests were identified, resulting in 94% of patches free of significant disturbances in the last 30 years. Although knowledge gaps remain, ours is the most comprehensive dataset on primary forests in Europe, and will be useful for ecological studies, and conservation planning to safeguard these unique forests.

Aim:Populations of large ungulates are dwindling worldwide. This is especially so for wild sheep, which compete with livestock for forage, are disturbed by shepherds and their dogs, and are exposed to disease transmissions from livestock. Our aim was to assess spatial patterns in realized niche overlap between wild and domestic sheep to better understand where potential competition might arise, and thus to identify priority areas for wild sheep recovery. Location: Southern Caucasus (220,000 km 2 ). Methods: We studied Gmelin's mouflon (Ovis orientalis gmelinii), an ancestor of domestic sheep, to investigate seasonal habitat use and niche overlap with domestic sheep. To map habitat, we analysed mouflon occurrences collected during 2006-2016, and domestic sheep occurrences from shepherd camp locations digitized on high-resolution satellite imagery. We mapped areas of potential competition between mouflon and domestic sheep and assessed potential habitat displacement. Results: Mouflon and domestic sheep niches overlapped substantially (overlap index I = 0.89, where 1 means perfect overlap) but were not identical. Mouflon habitat was less widespread than domestic sheep habitat (14,000 vs. 40,270 km 2 ) and tended to be located in more rugged areas with less vegetation cover. We identified 51 priority patches as reintroduction candidates if grazing pressure and poaching were reduced. Main conclusions: Our results suggest that competition with domestic sheep might have pushed mouflon into marginal habitat. Thus, conservation efforts focusing on current mouflon habitat might miss suitable reintroduction sites. We demonstrate that a combined habitat model for wild and domestic sheep can identify generalsheep habitat, which might be more useful for conservation planning than understanding current mouflon habitat selection. Our results highlight that considering competition with livestock is important for large ungulate conservation, both in terms of reactive (e.g., lessening livestock pressure in prime habitat) and proactive strategies (e.g., reintroduction in areas with low contemporary overlap).

No abstract

This study was realized and funded by the project "Policy and on-ground action for primary forest protection, boreal and temperate primary forests" funded through the Griffith University (Australia) and implemented by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and Wild Europe Initiative as well as the Naturwald Akademie. Additional funding derive from the European Commission (Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship to FMS, project FORESTS & CO, #658876).

Mountain ungulates around the world have been decimated to small, fragmented populations. Restoring these species often is limited by inadequate information on where suitable habitat is found, and which restoration measures would help to increase and link existing populations. We developed an approach to spatially target threat-specific restoration actions and demonstrate it for bezoar goats (Capra aegagrus) in the Caucasus. Using a large occurrence dataset, we identified suitable habitat patches and evaluate them in terms of connectivity, protection status, and competition with other mountain ungulates. We found extant bezoar goat populations to be highly isolated, yet with widespread areas of suitable, unoccupied habitat between them. Many unoccupied habitat patches were well-connected to extant populations, were at least partly protected,