Human–Wildlife Conflicts: Does Origin Matter?

Abstract

Conservation biologists have divided wildlife in two antagonist categories—native and introduced populations—because they defend the hypothesis that the latter acquires or expresses harmful qualities that a population that remains in its original environment does not possess. Invasion biology has emerged as a branch of conservation biology dedicated exclusively to conflicts between introduced wildlife and human interest, including the protection of biodiversity. For invasion biology, the damage caused by native species is different and must be managed differently. However, the consensus around this native–introduced dichotomy is not universal, and a debate has intensified in recent years. The objective of this work was to compare the impacts of native and introduced species of terrestrial vertebrates of the United States using the dataset provided by Wildlife Services (WS), which depend upon the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture. Annually, they receive thousands of reports and complaints of human–wildlife conflicts. I analyzed the WS databases and found, against expectations, that native species produce significantly more damage than nonnative ones, especially regarding damage to agriculture, property and health and safety. In the category of impacts on biodiversity and natural ecosystems, the differences were minor. I discuss several potential explanations of these patterns in the results. I also discuss the ecological foundations of the native–introduced dichotomy hypothesis.

Methods to mitigate human–wildlife conflicts involving common mesopredators: a meta‐analysis

“…The red fox was originally found in North America, Europe, North Africa, and Asia and was introduced to Australia in the nineteenth century, making it the terrestrial carnivore with the widest geographical distribution (Larivière and Pasitschniak‐Arts 1996, Macdonald and Reynolds 2004). Among terrestrial vertebrate species in the United States, raccoons, striped skunks, and red foxes ranked second, third, and tenth, respectively, in the number of complaints received by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) Wildlife Services between 2014–2021 (Cassini 2022). Those species qualify as mesopredators: a mid‐ranking predator within an ecosystem (Prugh et al 2009).…”