Conservation of vulnerable and endangered species requires a comprehensive understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements to implement effective management strategies. Visual scat surveys are a common method for monitoring populations. We developed a simple and reliable DNA-based method to identify morphologically similar macropod scats from eight sympatric species in north-eastern Australia. The method allows for rapid and non-invasive assessment of macropod species and is particularly useful for surveying populations across multiple sites. Photograph from http://pixabay.com/en/kangaroo-australia-61196/.

Predation and land use changes have been identified as important factors in woodland caribou declines in North America. Wolves contribute to low survival of adult females, whereas wolves and alternative predators like coyotes contribute to low calf survival through complex indirect interactions that result in limited secondary predation on caribou. Increasing modification of the boreal forest by industry is likely to further alter predator-prey relationships and escalate caribou declines. Photograph by Dave Latham.

Animals should respond to food shortages by spending more effort seeking what remains. Findings showed that locally threatened antelope moved further between one day and the next during periods when food was most deficient. Hence, movement responses can serve as early warnings of stressful conditions, enabling managers to respond before the population suffers. Photograph by Norman Owen-Smith.

Many biodiversity objectives have been proposed for the Noah’s Ark problem – the problem of allocating limited funds to conservation projects – yet little consensus has emerged. The economic objective of biodiversity value, which attempts to gather all aspects of biodiversity into a single measure, is incomplete due to the uncertainty inherent in complex ecological systems. Instead, applying a version of the precautionary principle and minimising the regret of conservation decisions requires a conservation objective of ecosystem resilience. Photograph by Steven Smith.

The dingo is currently at risk of extinction, with hybridisation with domestic dogs seen as a key threat. Here, we determine if human-provided resources facilitate hybridisation in the Tanami Desert of central Australia. Our results demonstrate that dingo sociality and pack structures can be altered where human-provided food and water are constantly available and suggest that this could accelerate rates of hybridisation. The development of appropriate domestic-waste management strategies to reduce opportunities for genetic mixing should therefore be a high priority in remote Australian communities. Photograph by Newmont.

Knowledge of the habitat selection of reintroduced species is crucial to successful re-establishment of viable populations and effective conservation decision-making. We monitored reintroduced Eld’s deer in a human-dominated landscape and found that human disturbance had a strong influence on their habitat selection, but they showed certain adaptive ability and tolerance to the disturbed environment. The regions at a relatively high elevation with low human disturbance and essential food resources can be considered as potential sites of Eld’s deer reintroduction. Photograph by Zhi-Gao Zeng.

The release of cane toads to Australia has resulted in a massive increase in mortality of northern quolls. However, few populations still persist in toad-infested areas of Queensland. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Queensland quolls have evolved resistance to toad toxins. Our results show that Queensland quolls are not resistant and their persistence in Queensland is most likely due to optimal habitat quality as well as an innate and/or learned aversion to feeding on toads. Photograph by Jonathan Webb.

A reliable measure of population size is fundamental to ecology and conservation but is often difficult to obtain. A revision of population estimates for the woylie or brush-tailed bettong, a small macropod, using a more objective and rigorous approach, reveals that the species recently declined by around 90% and 180 000 individuals in 7 years, making it eligible for Critically Endangered. The application of a decline diagnosis framework to identify the causes is relevant to the woylie and other declining species and emphasises the importance of adequate long-term monitoring, even of abundant and seemingly secure species. Photograph by Sabrina Trocini.

Conserving large carnivores can be challenging because of conflicts with human land use, particularly livestock production. Canids use scent marking (i.e. faeces and urine) to establish territories and avoid intraspecific conflict and we suspect that human-deployed scent marks (i.e. biofence) could be used to manipulate the movements of grey wolves. We effectively manipulated the movements of wolves in the first year of our study, but not the second, and suggest that biofencing may be limited by the apparent necessity to maintain a continuous presence once established. Photograph by David Ausband.

Fox control in Australia is heavily reliant on ground baiting, yet it is unclear where baits should be placed to maximise bait uptake. We show that bait removal by foxes is influenced by bait placement in relation to landscape position and ground cover characteristics. Our results demonstrate the importance of bait-site selection during fox-baiting programs and will help land managers refine bait placement to improve uptake by foxes. Photograph by Andrew Carter.

Environmental managers face difficult decisions regarding the design and prioritisation of potential projects. Based on practical experience and sound theory, a tool has been developed to assist managers in this task: the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER). Key lessons include that managers need a tool that is relatively simple and well supported, and that use of a theoretically sound metric to rank projects can dramatically improve the environmental values achieved. The tool is being widely applied. Photograph by Geoff Park.

Prior to undertaking a wildlife conservation project, wildlife managers and policy makers must accurately determine the project’s economic impact to ensure public funds are used efficiently. However, it can be difficult to provide a comprehensive estimate of the benefits and costs associated with conservation. We identify the types of benefits and costs that arise from conservation projects and examine a number of well-developed techniques that economists use to convert benefits and costs into monetary values, also allowing projects to be compared. Photograph by USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services.

Evaluation of biodiversity conservation programs is critical to ensure that conservation spending is efficient. Success of species conservation plans in the UK is affected by biological factors such as how widespread a species is, but also by operational factors such as the complexity of conservation plans. Effective conservation planning requires the clear definition of roles and responsibilities at the outset, as well as the collection of high-quality data on both outcomes and costs. Photograph by GWCT/Peter Thompson.

Biodiversity offsetting concerns the allocation of compensation measures for unavoidable environmental damage caused by economic activity; in many countries, offsetting has been taken as a component of environmental legislation. Here, I describe how offsetting can be designed using publicly available software for spatial conservation planning. This work develops our understanding about how biodiversity conservation can be allocated in a well informed manner. Photograph by Evgeniy Meyke, Atte Moilanen and the Zonation team.

Invasive mammals are increasingly being eradicated from islands because of their role in numerous extinctions of native species. In New Zealand, 181 populations of 15 species of mammalian pests have been removed from over 100 offshore islands (>45 000 ha total area), with benefits for numerous species of native plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. These successes have been derived from a supportive legislative environment, careful attention to technological development, partnerships with Māori, and innovative projects with community groups. Photograph by David Towns.

Few countries have sufficient resources to manage all threats to species and habitats, hence there is a need to prioritise where and how to manage biodiversity. Approaches and software to tackle the prioritisation imperative have evolved from a focus on reserves to, increasingly, the expected costs and benefits from biodiversity protection actions. Modern prioritisation approaches can identify the most cost-effective biodiversity protection actions, and if implemented by managers, offer the best chance to stem the threats to biodiversity. Photograph by Ross Cullen.