Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (3 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2024)

The recovery of large carnivores beyond protected areas presents significant conservation and management challenges as both wildlife and humans adapt to shared landscapes. This issue is particularly acute in working landscapes where carnivores, such as wolves, frequently prey on livestock, causing hardship for rural ranching communities and potentially hindering carnivore recovery efforts. Thus, research investigating the factors driving and mitigating carnivore depredation on livestock is needed to better inform conflict reduction management practices. This study takes place in a working lands frontier east of Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, near the towns of Cody and Meeteetse, where ranchers and wildlife managers have contended with wolf-livestock conflict for over two decades. Given that conflict dynamics are influenced by both wildlife behavior and management decisions, this research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate ecological and social dimensions of conflict. The first two chapters focus on predator-prey dynamics between wolves and migratory elk, as prey availability and distribution are believed to impact wolf-livestock conflict patterns. In Chapter 1, I use elk and wolf GPS collar data to investigate how wolves respond to seasonal elk migrations and describe conditions conducive to migratory coupling and decoupling. In Chapter 2, I collected wolf predation data from kill sites in winter and summer to characterize wolf seasonal predation patterns. In Chapter 3, I delve into the human dimensions of conflict mitigation using data from in-depth interviews with ranchers and wildlife managers, relationships developed during the course of the ecological research. I investigated the socioeconomic challenges of mitigating conflict by identifying factors that influence the adoption of conflict reduction practices and examining the roots of social conflict and intolerance towards wolves. Highlighting social constraints to conflict mitigation offers valuable lessons for communities facing similar challenges with recovering wolf populations. These findings can guide wildlife managers, wolf conservationists, and researchers in developing effective conflict mitigation strategies that balance the needs of both wolves and people, as wolves, already the most widespread large carnivore in the Northern Hemisphere, continue to expand their range.

    Cover page: Ecological and social dimensions of wolf-livestock conflict in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2020)
    Carnivore predation on livestock is a complex management and policy challenge, yet it is also intrinsically an ecological interaction between predators and prey. Human-wildlife interactions occur in socioecological systems in which human and environmental processes are closely linked. However, underlying human-wildlife conflict and key to unpacking its complexity are concrete and identifiable ecological mechanisms that lead to predation events. To better understand how ecological theory accords with interactions between wild predators and domestic prey, we developed a framework to describe ecological drivers of predation on livestock. We based this framework on foundational ecological theory and current research on interactions between predators and domestic prey. We used this framework to examine ecological mechanisms (e.g., density-mediated effects, behaviorally mediated effects, and optimal foraging theory) through which specific management interventions operate, and we analyzed the ecological determinants of failure and success of management interventions in 3 case studies: snow leopards (Panthera uncia), wolves (Canis lupus), and cougars (Puma concolor). The varied, context-dependent successes and failures of the management interventions in these case studies demonstrated the utility of using an ecological framework to ground research and management of carnivore-livestock conflict. Mitigation of human-wildlife conflict appears to require an understanding of how fundamental ecological theories work within domestic predator-prey systems.
      Cover page: An ecological framework for contextualizing carnivore-livestock conflict.
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2023)
      Wildlife translocations are increasingly used to combat declining biodiversity worldwide. Successful translocation often hinges on coexistence between humans and wildlife, yet not all translocation efforts explicitly include human dimensions (e.g., economic incentives, education programs, and conflict reduction assistance). To evaluate the prevalence and associated outcomes of including human dimensions as objectives when planning translocations, we analyze 305 case studies from the IUCN's Global Re-Introduction Perspectives Series. We find that fewer than half of all projects included human dimension objectives (42%), but that projects including human dimension objectives were associated with improved wildlife population outcomes (i.e., higher probability of survival, reproduction, or population growth). Translocation efforts were more likely to include human dimension objectives if they involved mammals, species with a history of local human conflict, and local stakeholders. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating objectives related to human dimensions in translocation planning efforts to improve conservation success.
        Cover page: Incorporating human dimensions is associated with better wildlife translocation outcomes.
        Top