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The successful resolution of human-wildlife conflicts requires the participation of local communities and other stakeholder groups in formulating management decisions. In the uplands of the United Kingdom, a controversial conservation issue concerns the relationship between the conservation of a legally protected raptor, the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and the management of a gamebird, the Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus). We used multicriteria analysis to evaluate the perspectives of two groups of stakeholders, grouse managers and raptor conservationists, and the acceptability to them of different management solutions to this conflict. Both groups quantified the relative importance of evaluation criteria and used these as a basis for comparing different upland and Hen Harrier management options. In relation to upland management, grouse managers placed more importance on economic criteria than did raptor conservationists, who valued natural-environment criteria more highly. Intensively managed grouse moors, involving the control of harrier numbers, were ranked most highly by grouse managers and managed nature reserves by raptor conservationists, but both groups also ranked legally managed grouse moors highly. When evaluating Hen Harrier management options, grouse managers considered time scale and cost the most important criteria, whereas raptor conservationists considered the effects on harrier populations to be most important. Harrier quota schemes were the management solution most favored by grouse managers, whereas raptor conservationists preferred allowing harriers to attain natural densities. Notably, however, one technique that has already been partly tested in the field-the use of diversionary feeding was scored highly by both groups and thus holds promise for some form of compromise. This exercise highlighted the value of these objective techniques for developing dialog and trust between stakeholder groups, and it highlighted the need to conduct further research to test the effectiveness of different management options. There was broad agreement that the workshop moved the prior positions of individual stakeholders and was a valuable tool in helping to resolve human-wildlife conflicts.Utilización de Modelos de Decisión con Grupos de Interés para Reducir Conflictos Humanos-Vida Silvestre: un Estudio de Caso Rapaz-Codorniz Resumen: La solución exitosa de conflictos humanos-vida silvestre exige la participación de comunidades locales y otros grupos de interés para la formulación de decisiones de manejo. Un tema controvertido de conservación en las tierras altas del Reino Unido se refiere a la relación entre la conservación de una rapaz legalmente protegida (Circus cyaneus) y el manejo de una ave de presa cinegética ( Lagopus lagopus scoticus). Utilizamos análisis de criterios múltiples para evaluar las perspectivas de dos grupos de interés (manejadores de Lagopus lagopus scoticus y conservacionistas de rapaces) y su aceptabilidad de diferentes soluciones de manejo de este conflicto. Ambos grupos cuant...

Question: When multiple observers record the same spatial units of alpine vegetation, how much variation is there in the records and what are the consequences of this variation for monitoring schemes to detect changes? Location: One test summit in Switzerland (Alps) and one test summit in Scotland (Cairngorm Mountains). Method: Eight observers used the GLORIA protocols for species composition and visual cover estimates in percentages on large summit sections (4100 m 2 ) and species composition and frequency in nested quadrats (1 m 2 ). Results: The multiple records from the same spatial unit for species composition and species cover showed considerable variation in the two countries. Estimates of pseudo-turnover of composition and coefficients of variation of cover estimates for vascular plant species in 1 mÂ1-m quadrats showed less variation than in previously published reports, whereas our results in larger sections were broadly in line with previous reports. In Scotland, estimates for bryophytes and lichens were more variable than for vascular plants.Conclusions: Statistical power calculations indicated that unless large numbers of plots were used, changes in cover or frequency were only likely to be detected for abundant species (exceeding 10% cover) or if relative changes were large (50% or more). Lower variation could be reached with the point method and with larger numbers of small plots. However, as summits often strongly differ from each other, supplementary summits cannot be considered as a way of increasing statistical power without introducing a supplementary component of variance into the analysis and hence into the power calculations.

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