Large mammalian carnivores are threatened by anthropogenic environmental impacts, particularly through habitat loss which often cause population declines. Understanding the extent of suitable habitat is therefore of great importance for carnivore conservation. The leopard (Panthera pardus) is a widespread and relatively common large carnivore, but the species is declining in large parts of its range. Using maximum entropy-based habitat models, we estimated the extent of suitable leopard habitat in South Africa, what variables that are associated with suitable leopard habitats, the extent of habitat that has been negatively impacted by human activity and the effectiveness of protected areas to capture suitable habitat. Suitable leopard habitat was highly fragmented. Although vegetation and physical variables were the most influential variables for habitat suitability, livestock farming primarily seem to underlie fragmentation. We suggest that the sustainability of the South African leopard population depends on maintaining dispersal routes between areas with suitable habitat. This will require mitigation of human-carnivore conflict in habitat corridors, particularly mitigation strategies targeting conflict between carnivores and livestock farmers. Because most suitable habitat occurred outside of protected areas, we also recommend that leopard conservation efforts should focus on areas that are not legally protected.

Satellite telemetry is an increasingly utilized technology in wildlife research, and current devices can track individual animal movements at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. However, as we enter the golden age of satellite telemetry, we need an in-depth understanding of the main technological, species-specific and environmental factors that determine the success and failure of satellite tracking devices across species and habitats. Here, we assess the relative influence of such factors on the ability of satellite telemetry units to provide the expected amount and quality of data by analyzing data from over 3,000 devices deployed on 62 terrestrial species in 167 projects worldwide. We evaluate the success rate in obtaining GPS fixes as well as in transferring these fixes to the user and we evaluate failure rates. Average fix success and data transfer rates were high and were generally better predicted by species and unit characteristics, while environmental characteristics influenced the variability of performance. However, 48% of the unit deployments ended prematurely, half of them due to technical failure. Nonetheless, this study shows that the performance of satellite telemetry applications has shown improvements over time, and based on our findings, we provide further recommendations for both users and manufacturers.

Estimation of survival rates is important for developing and evaluating conservation options for large carnivores. However, telemetry studies for large carnivores are often characterized by small sample sizes that limit meaningful conclusions. We used data from 10 published and 8 unpublished studies of leopards Panthera pardus in southern Africa to estimate survival rates and investigate causes of leopard mortality. Mean survival rates were significantly lower in non-protected (0.55 ± SE 0.08) compared to protected areas (0.88 ± 0.03). Inside protected areas juveniles had significantly lower survival (0.39 ± 0.10) compared to subadults (0.86 ± 0.07) and adults (0.88 ± 0.04).There was a greater difference in cause of death between protected and non-protected areas for females compared to males, with people being the dominant cause of mortality outside protected areas for both females and males. We suggest there is cause for concern regarding the sustainability of leopard populations in South Africa, as high female mortality may have severe demographic effects and a large proportion of suitable leopard habitat lies in non-protected areas. However, because a large proportion of deaths outside protected areas were attributed to deliberate killing by people, we suggest that management interventions may have the potential to increase leopard survival dramatically. We therefore stress the urgency to initiate actions, such as conflict mitigation programmes, to increase leopard survival in non-protected areas.

Worldwide rodent pests are of significant economic and health importance.Controlling rodent pests will, therefore, not only benefit food security, but also human and animal health. While rodent pests are most often chemically controlled, there is increased interest in biological control through avian predation. A rich body of research has addressed the impact of avian predators on wild rodent populations, but little is known about the effectiveness of avian predators as biological control agents of rodent pests in agricultural systems. In this study we systematically reviewed research that investigated different aspects of avian predation on rodent pest populations in order to increase our understanding of the impact and effectiveness of avian predation on rodent pests. Several avian predators (Tyto alba, Elanus axillaris Falco tinnunculus, F. cenchroides, Bubo bengalensis, Buteo rufinus) were commonly cited in the biological control of rodents; however, barn owls (T. alba) are the most cited species (86% of studies). We found some support that the use of avian predators produced positive, measurable effects where increased presence of avian predators tended to lower rodent pest numbers, resulting in lower crop damage. However, our review highlighted several shortcomings related to research on avian predation of rodent pests. First, research concerning rodent pest control through avian predation was limited (1.86 articles per year). Secondly we found that studies lack statistical rigor to detect and measure change in rodent pest species abundance. Finally, the majority of studies were short term and therefore not able to evaluate long term sustainable rodent pest population suppression. We suggest that current shortcomings could be adequately addressed with control-treatment studies that quantitatively investigate the effects of avian predation on rodent pest populations and agricultural impact.Such research could help develop recommendations regarding the use of avian predators in rodent pest management.

Science and conservation are often driven by different agendas, partly because many researchers are reluctant to tackle applied topics perceived to be less competitive for publishing or too impractical to study. Consequently, research often fails to contribute meaningfully to conservation outcomes. We use leopards Panthera pardus in South Africa to illustrate this mismatch between research and conservation priorities. A review of the scientific literature showed that leopard studies in South Africa focused disproportionately on basic research, particularly on leopard feeding ecology inside protected areas. Academics were responsible for most articles but avoided applied studies, even though they were published in higher impact journals and took less time to undertake. An assessment of active leopard projects further demonstrated that studies were clumped in areas of low conservation concern and most failed to publish their findings. Many projects were also funded by commercial volunteer programs with financial incentives for conducting research. We recommend that leopard researchers in South Africa and carnivore researchers more widely engage with practitioners to ensure the most pressing issues are addressed. Scientists must also situate their research in a broader conservation context and evaluate the outcomes of management decisions. Finally, continued funding and permissions for research should at a minimum be contingent on research outputs being published in the peer-reviewed literature.