Frontiers in Conservation Science | New and Recent Articles

China is effectively achieving the rapid recovery of the wild Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population and has a strong chance of reestablishing a sustainable population of over 300 individuals. However, to achieve more ambitious conservation goals, China needs to focus on enhancing the resilience of the population as it attempts to further increase its size, because only isolated, high-de…

IntroductionIdentifying geographic areas with suitable environmental conditions for endangered and endemic species is crucial to enhancing conservation efforts. Oncidium incurvum is a rare epiphytic orchid endemic to Mexico. Like its relatives, it faces human-related pressures that threaten its survival. This study aimed to identify geographic areas that are environmentally suitable for this spec…

Traditional water knowledge (TWK) compounds indigenous people’s profound and inherent understanding, comprehension, and interpretation of natural processes with their ecological dependence on hydrological cycles and spiritual and religious cultural connections. TWK simultaneously coexists and conflicts with Western methods of water management in African landscapes. The objectives of this systemat…

The sand cat (Felis margarita) is one of the least studied desert-adapted small felids. The current extent of the species in its historic range is poorly understood, and the species’ presence has been particularly uncertain in the State of Qatar. In the present study, we deployed a total of 85 motion-triggered cameras across four study sites in Qatar from February 2022 to January 2025 (active per…

A challenge for conservation breeding and reintroduction programs is low post-release survival due to deficits in critical behavioral competencies in captive-bred animals, such as predator recognition and avoidance. Although antipredator training, in which predator cues are paired with aversive stimuli, can improve behavioral responses, it is often labor-intensive and difficult to scale across ca…

Specialized recreators, such as rock climbers, contribute citizen science observations of rare wildlife species from largely inaccessible landscapes. Still, motivations to contribute opportunistic records to citizen science for species conservation remain underexplored. Utilizing a mixed-methods design, we employed semi-structured interviews (n = 28), member-checking workshops (n = 11), and Q-met…

The Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus) is a globally critically endangered shark that is one of the most popular sharks to display in aquariums. The Northwest Atlantic population is considered one of the least threatened populations of Sand Tiger Sharks, largely due to effective fisheries management in the U.S. However, there has never been a formal stock assessment for this population, nor has…

The emotions people experience in response to biodiversity loss can adversely impact human health and well-being. Ecological grief has been described as “grief felt in relation to experienced or anticipated ecological losses, including the loss of species, ecosystems and meaningful landscapes due to acute or chronic environmental change.” Ecological grief is a topic of increasing interest by rese…

Amphibolis antarctica (Labill.) Asch. produces large, well-developed viviparous seedlings, raising a fundamental question: Are these seedlings the result of sexual or asexual reproduction? This distinction carries significant implications for understanding dispersal, genetic diversity, and ecosystem resilience. Here, we present our observations on population structure, the development of embryos,…

The African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) is a seasonally migratory species whose distribution in the Ouémé Valley of southern Benin is strongly influenced by fluctuations in river depth. This study aims to map critical habitats for the species’ survival and to analyze its migration strategies within the Ouémé River Valley. Data were collected between April and May 2022 through structured int…

Seagrass ecosystems worldwide are undergoing rapid decline due to intensifying anthropogenic pressures and climate change, leading to severe habitat degradation and species loss. Among these, Halophila beccarii Ashcers., a small intertidal seagrass species endemic to the Indo-Pacific, is particularly vulnerable. Despite its ecological importance in supporting biodiversity, sediment stabilization …

The Cerrado ecodomain has experienced significant fragmentation and habitat loss, primarily due to agricultural expansion and, more recently, the rapid increase in sugarcane cultivation. This study examines how landscape composition and configuration affect the richness and community composition of medium- and large-sized mammals in southwestern Goiás, Brazil, a region extensively modified by sug…

Human–Elephant Conflict (HEC) has escalated into one of India's most serious conservation and socio-economic challenges, with high costs for both people and elephants. We examined national-level trends in HEC from 2009 to 2024 and evaluated the effectiveness of current policies in mitigating it. Over the past 16 years, a total of 7,868 human fatalities were recorded from elephant encounters, aver…

A goal of applied ecology is to evaluate how demographic rates contribute to population growth and how demography might be manipulated to achieve management objectives. In western North America, many feral horse (Equus caballus) populations occupying public lands are protected by federal law and managed for site-specific numerical targets. However, feral horses can exhibit population growth rates…

IntroductionIdentifying individual white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) for treatment with porcine zona pellucida (PZP) immunocontraceptive vaccines is critical to the success of fertility management programs, but adult female deer are very difficult to distinguish in the field. Past research has relied on chemical immobilization and ear-tagging to assure individual identification, but this…

Conservation translocations can promote species recovery but are prone to failure due to low post-release survival. Mounting evidence suggests that intrinsic attributes like personality and stress physiology can impact how individuals cope with translocation and acclimatize to the release site. Here, we investigated relationships among personality, biomarkers of stress, post-release movement, and…

IntroductionGlobal landscape transformations and increased resource use are leading to an overall decline in ecosystem health and natural habitat quality. Due to their low trophic position, small body size, and close association with environmental conditions, rodents can serve as effective biological indicators of ecosystem health and anthropogenic disturbance by monitoring their behavior and phy…

IntroductionGiraffe populations across Africa face increasing pressures from habitat loss, poaching, and climate-driven resource scarcity, often intensifying interactions with nearby communities. In eastern Kenya, these pressures have contributed to emerging human–giraffe conflict (HGC), including crop losses, competition for water, and occasional livestock injuries. Although this reticulated gir…

Morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases are an important health consideration for free ranging great apes, and respiratory illness (RI) is of particular concern in mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), accounting for 25% all of mortalities. In addition to ongoing efforts to determine the etiology of RI in mountain gorillas, an improved understanding of environmental and demograp…

Understanding how ecological and social constraints interacted to shape bison hunting systems during the late Holocene reveals the dynamic ways bison hunting strategies adapted to changing conditions. At the Bergstrom site in central Montana, bison were hunted intermittently for roughly seven centuries before archaeologically visible use ceased near 1100 cal yr BP. To explain why hunting stopped …