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Studies on small and declining populations dominate research in conservation biology. This emphasis reflects two overarching frameworks: the small population paradigm focuses on correlates of increased extinction probability; the declining-population paradigm directs attention to the causes and consequences of depletion. Neither, however, particularly informs research on the determinants, rate or uncertainty of population increase. By contrast, Allee effects (positive associations between population size and realized per capita population growth rate, rrealized, a metric of average individual fitness) offer a theoretical and empirical basis for identifying numerical and temporal thresholds at which recovery is unlikely or uncertain. Following a critique of studies on Allee effects, I quantify population-size minima and subsequent trajectories of marine fishes that have and have not recovered following threat mitigation. The data suggest that threat amelioration, albeit necessary, can be insufficient to effect recovery for populations depleted to less than 10%of maximum abundance (Nmax), especially when they remain depleted for lengthy periods of time. Comparing terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates, life-history analyses suggest that population-size thresholds for impaired recovery are likely to be comparatively lowformarine fishes but high formarinemammals.Articulation of a ‘recovering population paradigm’ would seem warranted. It might stimulate concerted efforts to identify generic impaired recovery thresholds across species. It might also serve to reduce the confusion of terminology, and the conflation of causes and consequences with patterns currently evident in
the literature on Allee effects, thus strengthening communication among researchers and enhancing the practical utility of recovery-oriented research to conservation practitioners and resource managers.

This Section 7.0 Wolf of the 2018 Wildlife Effects Monitoring Program for the Ekati Diamond Mine.

Following the growth and geographic expansion of wolf (Canis lupus) populations reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995–1996, Rocky Mountain wolves were removed from the endangered species list in May 2009. Idaho and Montana immediately established hunting seasons with quotas equaling 20% of the regional wolf population. Combining hunting with predator control, 37.1% of Montana and Idaho wolves were killed in the year of delisting. Hunting and predator control are well-established methods to broaden societal acceptance of large carnivores, but it is unprecedented for a species to move so rapidly from protection under the Endangered Species Act to heavy direct harvest, and it is important to use all available data to assess the likely consequences of these changes in policy. For wolves, it is
widely argued that human offtake has little effect on total mortality rates, so that a harvest of 28–50% per year can be sustained. Using previously published data from 21 North American wolf populations, we related total annual mortality and population growth to annual human offtake. Contrary to current conventional wisdom, there was a strong association between human offtake and total mortality rates across North American wolf populations. Human offtake was associated with a strongly additive or super-additive increase in total mortality. Population growth declined as human offtake increased, even at low rates of offtake. Finally, wolf populations declined with harvests substantially lower than the thresholds identified in current state and federal policies. These results should help to inform management of Rocky Mountain wolves.

Stopping declines in biodiversity is critically important, but it is only a first step toward achieving more ambitious conservation goals. The absence of an objective and practical definition of species recovery that is applicable across taxonomic groups leads to inconsistent targets in recovery plans and frustrates reporting and maximization of conservation impact. We devised a framework for comprehensively assessing  species recovery and conservation success. We propose a definition of a fully recovered species that emphasizes viability, ecological functionality, and representation; and use counterfactual approaches to quantify degree of recovery. This allowed us to calculate a set of 4 conservation metrics that demonstrate impacts of conservation efforts to date (conservation legacy); identify dependence of a species on conservation actions (conservation dependence); quantify expected gains resulting from conservation action in the medium term (conservation gain); and specify requirements to achieve maximum plausible recovery over the long term (recovery potential). These metrics can incentivize the establishment and achievement of ambitious conservation targets. We illustrate their use by applying the framework to a vertebrate, an invertebrate, and a woody and an herbaceous plant. Our approach is a preliminary framework for an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Species, which was mandated by a resolution of IUCN members in 2012. Although there are several challenges in applying our proposed framework to a wide range of species, we believe its further development, implementation, and integration with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species will help catalyze a positive and ambitious vision for conservation that will drive sustained conservation action.

Keywords: conservation impact, conservation optimism, recovered species, red lists, Saiga tatarica, threatened species

Understanding the limiting factors of a prey population is important before and during predator control programs, and optimal intensive management of an increasing prey population requires formal recognition of a sustainable population size. The migratory Fortymile caribou (Rangifer tarandus) herd in Alaska reached a low of approximately 6,000 caribou during 1973–1975. To regain peak numbers of approximately 50,000 caribou estimated in the 1960s, stakeholder groups gained approval for conservative harvest rates (1973–2013) and periods of restricted nonlethal (1998–2004) and lethal wolf (Canis lupus) control (2005–2013). We studied demography of the herd using radio-telemetry during 1990–2014, when herd size increased from about 22,000 to 52,000 caribou. Parturition rates in the early 1990s were among the
highest reported, but parturition rates of primiparous females subsequently declined to a level indicating resource-limitation as caribou numbers approached and then exceeded 50,000. This and companion studies documented several other cautionary signals to an eventual decline, including declining October calf weights, early summer movement off the alpine and subalpine tundra to lower elevation spruce–moss taiga, relatively high caribou densities, a nearly 40-year history of increasing caribou numbers, and a return to previous peak numbers. We studied mortality of calves and older females during the 4 years before wolf control and the first 5 years of nonlethal wolf control. During those 9 years, annual mortality rates averaged 54% for calves and 9% for adult females. We detected no convincing support for decreased wolf predation during nonlethal control. We also detected no support for increased caribou survival during nonlethal or lethal wolf control. Based on counts of caribou during summer aggregations using a total search photocensus technique, rate of herd increase (λ_r) was negligible (λ_r=1.00) during 1990–1995, highest during the 3 years immediately before nonlethal wolf control (λ_r=1.11, 1995–1998), moderate during nonlethal wolf control (λ_r=1.07, 1998–2003), and low during the period that included the first 5 years of lethal wolf control (λ_r=1.02, 2003–2010). We combined observed cause of death with the 9 annual modeled starting populations (all newborn calves and adults) and estimated that wolves killed 10–15% of the populations annually, grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) killed 4–7%, other predators killed 2–4%, nonpredation factors killed 1–2%, and hunters killed < 2%. Wolves killed 5–9% of the annual populations as calves and 5–6% as adults. In retrospect, nonlethal wolf control efforts were too localized to decrease wolf numbers (e.g., adjacent untreated wolf packs reached max. mean numbers). Lethal wolf control efforts had only seasonal and localized effects on wolf numbers. It is important that stakeholders focus on describing a preferred, sustainable herd size, or nutritional status and proceed toward managing this increasing herd in a sustainable manner because, when ungulates overshoot carrying capacity, the effects of high density, adverse weather, and increased predation can have synergistic negative effects on prey numbers and long-lasting negative effects on sustainable yields, contrary to the intended purpose of the wolf control programs. 

KEY WORDS Alaska, caribou, demography, density dependent, mortality, parturition, predation, wolf control.

This is a response by Anderson to Engeman's (2003) thoughts with respect to the value of indices.

This is the North Slave Metis Alliance's response to question #5 of the Round No. 2 of information requests.

This is a written summary of the WRRB's Traditional Knowledge Technical Session held on October 13, 2020 via Zoom.

This is a letter of repsonse from the WRRB to the Deline Renewable Resources Board regarding their letter of concern, submitted on October 16, 2020.

This is correspondence from the Deline Renewable Resources Council to the WRRB providing comment on the 2020 Wolf Management Proceeding.

This notice advises that the WRRB has determined that no significant public concern has been identified and, as such, will not hold a public hearing for the 2020 Wolf Management Proceeding. 

This is Round No. 2 of Information Requests to TG, ENR, North Slave Metis Alliance, and Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation with a response deadline of October 22, 2020 for the 2020 Dìga (Wolf) Management Proceeding.

This is correspondence from G. Wallbridge to the WRRB providing comment on the 2020 Wolf Management Proceeding.

This is a GNWT commitment made during the WRRB's Science Technical Session on October 5, 2020 to share a summary of the Kelsall wolf poisoning book. 

This is a GNWT commitment made during the WRRB's Science Technical Session on October 5, 2020 to share the adult caribou survival estimates up to June 2020.