Living with wolves: A worldwide systematic review of attitudes.

This systematic review of peer reviewed articles on attitudes towards gray wolves (Canis lupus), shows that attitudes are mainly measured either by mean values of attitudes or by proportional differences in attitudes. This may impact on how attitudes are perceived and interpreted across studies and areas. However, independent of method used, we found that people living in areas where wolves always have existed, are more negative towards wolves compared to people living in areas where there are no wolves, or where wolves have recovered after years of absence. People who express fear, or being directly affected by having wolves, such as farmers and hunters, report more negative attitudes compared to other groups of respondents. For wolf conservation we recommend politicians and management authorities to prepare local societies of the different consequences of living in wolf areas. We recommend using dialogues and conflict management methods to minimize the level of conflicts.

Seabird beachcast events associated with bycatch in the Norwegian purse seine fishery.

Beachcast events, where a large number of seabird carcasses drift ashore, occur with irregular intervals. These events are due to specific situations where mass mortality of seabirds have occurred. Disentangling the cause of these events can provide valuable information on stressors impacting seabird populations. Following several mass mortality events involving gulls in northern Norway, an investigation of the probable cause of death was initiated. In total 75 dead gulls were collected at two occasions and necropsies were carried out. The findings from the necropsy of the gulls were consistent with drowning as the primary cause of death. Bycatch in coastal purse seine fishery was considered a potential cause of the mortality and monitoring of seabird bycatch in this fishery was thus initiated. The monitoring of fishing operations revealed that 10% of 91 fishing events observed led to bycatch, with a total of 32 bycaught seabirds. These bycatch events resulted in a total estimated bycatch rate of 0.356 (95% CI = 0.133-0.949) birds per haul. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the registered mortality events were caused by bycatch in the purse seine fishery. The highly episodic and unpredictable nature of these events makes it demanding to achieve solid estimates of the occurrence and extent of bycatch without a very high monitoring effort. Our study shows that systematic investigation following beachcast events can shed light on the occurrence of such extreme events.

Population consequences of climate change through effects on functional traits of lentic brown trout in the sub-Arctic.

Climate-induced plasticity in functional traits has received recent attention due to the immense importance phenotypic variation plays in population level responses. Here, we explore the effect of different climate-change scenarios on lentic populations of a freshwater ectotherm, the brown trout (Salmo trutta L.), through climate effects on functional traits. We first parameterize models of climate variables on growth, spawning probability and fecundity. The models are utilized to inform a dynamic age-structured projection matrix, enabling long-term population viability projections under climate and population density variation. Ambient temperature and winter conditions had a substantial effect on population growth rate. In general, warmer summer temperatures resulted in faster growth rates for young fish but ended in smaller size at age as fish got older. Increasing summer temperatures also induced maturation at younger age and smaller size. In addition, we found effects of first-year growth on later growth trajectories for a fish, indicating that environmental conditions experienced the first year will also influence size at age later in life. At the population level, increasing temperatures average (up to 4 °C increase in areas with mean summer temperature at approximately 12 °C) resulted in a positive effect on population growth rate (i.e. smaller but more fish) during climate simulations including increasing and more variable temperatures.

Spatial and temporal variations in seabird bycatch: Incidental bycatch in the Norwegian coastal gillnet-fishery.

The general decline of seabird populations worldwide raises large concerns. Although multiple factors are interacting to cause the observed trends, increased mortality from incidental bycatch in fisheries has proven to be important for many species. However, the bulk of published knowledge is derived from longline fisheries, whereas bycatch in gillnet fisheries is less studied and even overlooked in some areas. We present seabird bycatch data from a 10-year time-series of fishery data from the large fleet of small-vessels fishing with gillnets along the Norwegian coast-a large area and fishery with no prior estimates of seabird bycatch. In general, we document high rates of incidental bycatch (averaging 0.0023 seabirds/net, or approximately 0.08 seabirds/fishing trip). This results in an estimated annual bycatch between 1580 and 11500 (95% CI) birds in this fishery. There was a surprisingly high percentage (43%) of surface-feeding seabirds in the bycatch, with northern fulmar being the most common species. Among the diving seabirds caught, common guillemot was most numerous. Our findings suggest that coastal gillnet fisheries represent a more general threat to a wider range of seabird populations, as opposed to longline fisheries where surface-feeding seabird species seem to dominate the bycatch. The bycatch estimates for the Norwegian gillnet-fishery varied in time, between areas, and with fishing depth and distance from the coast, but we found no clear trends in relation to the type of gillnets used. The results enabled us to identify important spatio-temporal trends in the seabird bycatch, which can allow for the development and implementation of more specific mitigation measures. While specific time closures might be an efficient option to reduce bycatch for diving seabirds, measures such as gear modification and reduction in release of wastewater during fishing operation are probably a more effective mitigation approach for reducing bycatch of surface-feeding seabirds.

Effects of Temperature and Precipitation on Breeding Migrations of Amphibian Species in Southeastern Norway.

To reveal the effects of climate, a generalized linear mixed model was used to explore the variation in onset of spawning migration for the two newt species T. cristatus and L. vulgaris in southern Norway. Amphibians are highly influenced by the physical environment, such as temperature and rainfall. The first migrating newts were observed subsequently to the three first consecutive days with mean temperature close to or above 4°C. Further, migration of L. vulgaris was facilitated at lower temperatures compared to T. cristatus, but the migration was dependent on higher precipitation levels. Northern populations of T. cristatus and L. vulgaris may already benefit from a warmer climate due to increased recruitment and juvenile survival. However, an offset in the migration phenology due to climate change might further alter the recruitment and survival rates with either positive or negative outcome. Thus, variations in migration phenology for newts due to climate change may have implications for management and protection status in many systems. In a general context, we should increase emphasis on protecting newts and support increased populations and distribution.

Landscape level variation in tick abundance relative to seasonal migration in red deer.

Partial migration is common among northern ungulates, typically involving an altitudinal movement for seasonally migratory individuals. The main driving force behind migration is the benefit of an extended period of access to newly emerged, high quality forage along the green up gradient with increasing altitude; termed the forage maturation hypothesis. Any other limiting factor spatially correlated with this gradient may provide extra benefits or costs to migration, without necessarily being the cause of it. A common ectoparasite on cervids in Europe is the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus), but it has not been tested whether migration may lead to the spatial separation from these parasites and thus potentially provide an additional benefit to migration. Further, if there is questing of ticks in winter ranges in May before spring migration, deer migration may also play a role for the distribution of ticks. We quantified the abundance of questing sheep tick within winter and summer home ranges of migratory (n=42) and resident red deer (Cervus elaphus) individuals (n=32) in two populations in May and August 2009-2012. Consistent with predictions, there was markedly lower abundance of questing ticks in the summer areas of migrating red deer (0.6/20 m(2)), both when compared to the annual home range of resident deer (4.9/20 m(2)) and the winter home ranges of migrants (5.8/20 m(2)). The reduced abundances within summer home ranges of migrants were explained by lower abundance of ticks with increasing altitude and distance from the coast. The lower abundance of ticks in summer home ranges of migratory deer does not imply that ticks are the main driver of migration (being most likely the benefits expected from forage maturation), but it suggests that ticks may add to the value of migration in some ecosystems and that it may act to spread ticks long distances in the landscape.