title: Recovery of large carnivores in Europe's modern human-dominated landscapes.
abstract: The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records. The reasons for this overall conservation success include protective legislation, supportive public opinion, and a variety of practices making coexistence between large carnivores and people possible. The European situation reveals that large carnivores and people can share the same landscape.
authors.affiliation: Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 73091 Riddarhyttan, Sweden. gchapron@carnivoreconservation.org guillaume.chapron@slu.se.
authors.forename: Guillaume
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authors.lastname: Chapron
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria.
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authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Post Office Box 5685 Sluppen, 7485 Trondheim, Norway.
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authors.affiliation: Biology Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Djuro
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authors.affiliation: Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 73091 Riddarhyttan, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
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mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D046008:Lynx; D045969:Mustelidae; D001503:Ursidae; D019596:Wolves