How to make sense of wildlife research: linking science and management

Wildlife management is the art of influencing wildlife to achieve effects valued by people. Unfortunately, people rarely agree about wildlife management goals. Therefore, grasping the diverging values, attitudes and interests in wildlife is just as important for effective wildlife management as understanding the ecological drivers of wildlife populations and communities. Both, the human dimensions of wildlife management and the ecology of wildlife are complicated and complex. The case studies in this issue illustrate this complexity. We need good science, both social and ecological, as a basis for wildlife management. Good research can make wildlife management easier. Wildlife science will be most useful when done with the managers' needs in mind. The authors of this issue all adopted such a translational approach in their research: by explicitely linking science and management, we could make much more sense of wildlife research. - Enjoy!
 

Collaborative management in wolf licensed hunting: the dilemmas of public managers in moving collaboration forward 
Serena Cinque

Individual and collective responses to large carnivore management: the roles of trust, representation, knowledge spheres, communication and leadership

Annelie Sjölander-Lindqvist, Maria Johansson and Camilla Sandström

Turning the game around for conservation: using traditional hunting knowledge to improve the capture efficiency of Amazon lowland pacas

Hani Rocha El Bizri, Luiz Washington da Silva Araújo, Wigson da Silva Araújo, Louise Maranhão and João Valsecchi

Later is Better: Optimal Timing for Walked Activity Surveys for a European Bat Guild 
Anne E. Goodenough, Liam Deans, Laura Whiteley and Simon Pickering

Linking conservation actions to demography: grass height explains variation in greater sage-grouse nest survival

Kevin E. Doherty, David E. Naugle, Jason D. Tack, Brett L. Walker, Jon M. Graham and Jeffrey L. Beck

I just want to count them! Considerations when choosing a deer population monitoring method
Matt Amos, Greg Baxter, Neal Finch, Allan Lisle and Peter Murray