An understanding of how hunting affects migratory birds is essential for reaching sustainable management of hunted populations. The purpose of our paper was to synthesise current knowledge of autumn and winter hunting disturbance on migratory birds and to describe a case study in Hellas (Greece). Hunting may influence migratory bird behaviour and movements, but studies have not found a corresponding increase in non-hunting mortality factors or any reduction in feeding, body condition, breeding success and any long-term population decrease. We developed a diagnostic procedure which provides a tool for assessing the potential susceptibility of a species or group of species to hunting disturbance. The application of this procedure showed that the influence of hunting disturbance on quarry species is inverse to hunting harvest. This new insight should be considered in a holistic hunting management approach.

Monitoring the abundances of prey is important for informing the management of threatened and endangered predators. We evaluated the usefulness of faecal counts and distance sampling for monitoring the abundances of rusa deer Rusa timorensis, feral pig Sus scrofa and water buffalo Bubalus bubalis, the three key prey of the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis, at 11 sites on five islands in and around Komodo National Park, eastern Indonesia. We used species-specific global detection functions and cluster sizes (i.e. multiple covariates distance sampling) to estimate densities of rusa deer and feral pig, but there were too few observations to estimate densities of water buffalo. Rusa deer densities varied from from 2.5 to 165.5 deer/km² with coefficients of variation (CVs) of 15-105%. Feral pig densities varied from 0.0 to 25.2 pigs/km² with CVs of 25-106%. There was a positive relationship between estimated faecal densities and estimated population densities for both rusa deer and feral pig: the form of the relationship was non-linear for rusa deer, but there was similar support for linear and non-linear relationships for feral pig. We found that faecal counts were more useful when ungulate densities were too low to estimate densities with distance sampling. Faecal count methods were also easier for field staff to conduct than distance sampling. Because spatial and temporal variation in ungulate density is likely to influence the population dynamics of the Komodo dragon, we recommend that annual monitoring of ungulates in and around Komodo National Park be undertaken using distance sampling and faecal counts. The relationships reported here will also be useful for managers establishing monitoring programmes for feral pig, rusa deer and water buffalo elsewhere in their native and exotic ranges.

Nest survival is a critical factor affecting avian demographics, and can be influenced by nesting chronology, fine scale nest-site selection and broad-scale landscape characteristics. We modeled the relative influences of nest age, temporal variation in nest success and habitat-related covariates at two spatial scales (nest-site and patch scale) on daily nest survival during incubation for eastern wild turkeys Meleagris gallopavo silvestris in a mixed-use landscape. Daily survival rate of turkey nests during incubation increased as percent understory cover (vegetation < 1 m tall) increased and decreased with increasing density of woody shrubs and saplings and herbaceous stems < 1 m tall (understory vegetation density) around the nest. We suggest that nest survival may be dependent on a balance of sufficient understory cover around nests to provide concealment for hens and nests, but with understory vegetation density below levels that reduce the hen's ability to detect a predator or to escape after detecting a potential threat. The balance between sufficient understory cover and limited density of understory vegetation occurred where understory (< 1 m tall) cover exceeded 50% and understory vegetation density was < 25 stems/m². Models that included variables related to the patch scale (e.g. fragmentation, edge and dominant land-cover class in a patch) did not receive strong support, demonstrating the relative importance of finer scale nest-site variables over patch-scale variables in determining survival of wild turkey nests in our highly variable mixed-use landscape.

Although statistical population reconstruction (SPR) provides a flexible framework for estimating demographics of harvested populations using age-at-harvest data, that information alone is insufficient. Auxiliary data are needed to ensure all model parameters are estimable and to improve the precision and accuracy of the estimates. We examined the influence of two types of auxiliary information, independent estimates of annual abundance and annual harvest mortality from radio-telemetry studies, on the stability and precision of abundance estimates from SPR. Further, we evaluated whether the timing of auxiliary studies in the reconstruction affected the precision of abundance estimates. Monte Carlo studies simulated auxiliary data with precision levels defined by the coefficients of variation (CV) of 0.05, 0.125, 0.25 and 0.50 corresponding to the three levels of precision suggested by Robson & Regier (1964) for accurate research, accurate management and rough management and a minimal information scenario. For comparable levels of precision, radio-telemetry studies used to estimate harvest mortality stabilized the reconstructed population trends better than independent abundance surveys. However, independent abundance surveys were superior at improving the precision of reconstructed abundance estimates. We found that the timing of auxiliary studies did not influence the stability of SPR estimates, which has important implications for managers designing studies to collect auxiliary data. Our research highlights that different types and quality of auxiliary studies affects the precision and stability of SPR models differently.

Animals moving across snow surfaces sink to varying depths, increasing the energetic cost of travel. For ease of movement, animals may follow compacted trails created by sports such as snowmobiling and snowshoeing. We tested the assumption that animals less-adapted to snow travel (i.e. animals with a high footload (body mass/foot surface area)) are more likely to use compacted trails and follow them for greater distances than animals well-adapted to moving on snow.

We sampled animal movements on compacted and non-compacted transects in northwestern Wyoming and southeastern Idaho, USA, during two winters. Consistent with our prediction, footload positively influenced the probability of animals following compacted transects, and positively influenced their following distance, although the latter relationship was weaker. Additionally, we found that different snow sports cause similar increases in snow density. We suggest that future researchers experimentally test whether the use of compacted trails by animals with high footloads alters their habitat selection and dispersal, and whether it affects their competitive and predatory success.

Several North American studies have reported significant predation rates on moose Alces alces by brown bears Ursus arctos. We documented predation on moose by brown bears in south-central Sweden, where brown bears and moose occurred at estimated densities of 10-30 and 400-1,340/1,000 km², respectively. Bears killed 0.8% of radio-collared adult female moose (i.e. ≥ 1 year old) annually and no male moose (≥ 1 year old). Bear predation was the least important mortality factor we documented. Based on tracking brown bears on snow during spring we recorded one successful hunt for every 372 km of tracks and documented attacks only by adult bears and successful attacks only by adult males. Autopsy of moose older than calves that were killed by brown bears revealed that yearlings were more prone to predation than older moose, and that older (i.e. ≥ 2 years) cows were more vulnerable to predation than older bulls. Our study suggests a lower tendency for Scandinavian brown bears to prey on moose compared to most of the North American studies.

Top predators such as leopard Panthera spp. are often associated with high biodiversity, so the protection of their habitats is one of the most effective ways to conserve biodiversity globally. In this paper, we use ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA), a presence-only environmental habitat-envelope based method to create habitat suitability maps for Persian leopard in Golestan National Park (GNP), Iran. The Persian leopard Panthera pardus saxicolor is an endangered subspecies on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. During a one-year field study in 2009, we recorded 120 leopard locations and related these to 14 environmental variables. Our analysis shows that the Persian leopard in this area lives within a very narrow range of conditions and therefore may require rather specific habitat protection and management in this area.

We analyse the diet and prey selection of puma Puma concolor and describe opportunistically the diet of jaguar Panthera onca in montane forest in the Sierra Nanchititla Natural Park, central Mexico. We analysed prey selection in relation to energy content and population abundance, inferred through camera trapping. Analysis of 209 puma scats showed that their main prey was nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus followed by white-nosed coati Nasua narica and white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus. Pumas did not take prey in proportion to their relative abundance, but selected energetically profitable prey such as nine-banded armadillo, which formed the bulk of their diet. In 13 scats of jaguar, nine-banded armadillo was also the most important prey followed by domestic goat Capra hircus. We discuss the implications for management of predators and prey.

The choice of foraging areas by large carnivores can be driven both by prey abundance and landscape attributes and it is likely that the relative importance of these two components changes on different spatial scales. In the Bohemian Forest (southwestern Bohemia, Czech Republic), we focused on the effect of microhabitat. We tested if Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx hunted merely in areas where its main prey, roe deer Capreolus capreolus and red deer Cervus elaphus, occurred (‘prey-occurrence hypothesis’) or if there were fine-scale habitat features that increased prey catchability (‘landscape hypothesis’). Fine-scale habitat features were recorded at sites where an ungulate had been killed and located using telemetry or by chance (in winter: N = 29 roe deer, N = 18 red deer; in summer: N = 33 roe deer, N = 5 red deer). We compared these features with those recorded at locations where live red or roe deer were recorded using telemetry (N = 100 per species per six-month period). In winter, lynx killed both roe and red deer at sites where there was a greater heterogeneity in terms of visibility than at sites where live ungulates were recorded, i.e. at kill sites there were both good stalking cover and good visibility. In addition, the risk of predation for red deer was negatively correlated with tree density. In summer, the risk of predation for roe deer was not associated with any of the habitat variables measured. Thus, the presence of a kill was associated with particular fine-scale habitat features in winter, while in summer it was simply associated with where prey occurred. A deeper understanding of the type of habitat favoured by lynx is fundamental to the management and conservation of this species. Based on our results, forest management should ensure that the level of habitat heterogeneity is favourable for lynx.

During the breeding seasons of 2004-2006, the population of Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae was censused on > 900 islands in the Ionian and the Aegean Seas, Greece. However, only one third of the islands hosted breeding pairs. With our study, we aim at understanding the factors that influence the occurrence of the species' breeding colonies on Greek islands. Thus, we developed generalised linear models for all candidate explanatory variables that according to previous studies are believed to influence the occurrence of the species. We identified the best set of models based on differences in the Akaike Information Criterion, and subsequently, we applied model averaging to estimate model average coefficients for those explanatory variables included in the best set of models. According to our results based on presence-absence data from approximately 370 islands, the presence of breeding colonies is related to the coastline geomorphology, where steep cliffs with ledges are preferred. These geomorphologic characteristics are considered to offer protection from wave action and terrestrial intruders, as well as visual privacy to breeding pairs, and they have previously been associated with nest-site selection. In addition, breeding colonies are more likely to be found on islands close to freshwater bodies and to other neighbouring colonies. Freshwater bodies constitute important foraging areas and provide a means to maintain the falcons' plumage in good condition. The clustered distribution pattern of the breeding colonies is probably due to the process of first-time breeders' settlement and/or colony connectivity. Finally, in view of these preliminary results, we recommend actions to be taken in future studies in order to better understand the role of these factors during the species' breeding period.

We compared injuries resulting from two different capture methods, i.e. trailing hounds and foot snares, for pumas Puma concolor in a mixed landscape with open grasslands and limited ‘retreat’ habitat in southern Chilean Patagonia. Injury scores were not significantly different for the two methods, although the small sample size for captures made with snares likely influenced our findings. Based on a potential range of 0-400, the mean injury score for pumas caught using hounds was 56.3 ± 132.9 (SD). The mean puma injury score for five animals caught in snares was 3.8 ± 1.1. Pumas were injured and/or killed in 86% of captures using trailing hounds. The number of hounds used in a capture attempt did not predict the likelihood of successfully catching a puma (P = 0.35), whereas there was a strong relationship between the number of dogs and the likelihood of a fight with the puma (P < 0.0001). The odds ratio calculation predicted a 14.7% increase in the likelihood of a fight between puma and hounds with the addition of each dog to the chase. Our results highlight the potential risks associated with trailing hounds in open landscapes. We suggest guidelines for the use of hounds in predominantly open landscapes, and that alternative capture methods such as foot snares should be considered as a potentially safer alternative. Lastly, we make recommendations for the development of injury assessment systems more relevant to catch-and-release research.

To improve the effectiveness of research into the Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans, we investigated the optimal placement of nest boxes. Of the 96 boxes which we installed under various conditions at 10 sites, 47 were occupied by Siberian flying squirrels between spring and autumn. Nest-box height was positively correlated with box occupation; 90% of boxes installed at 2-2.8 m height were used. Cavity density was negatively correlated with occupation, with boxes more frequently used in forests with < 2 cavities/ha. Research in Siberian flying squirrels can thus be made more efficient if nest boxes are installed at a height of 2-2.8 m in forests with < 2 cavities/ha, and by doing observations between spring and autumn.