The leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea, the only extant species in its family, is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The protection of nesting beaches and the associated conservation efforts along the Western Atlantic coast of Central America have improved the population trends of some of the most important rookeries. Here we report the life history, ecology and population trends of leatherback turtles over 18 years (1994–2012, excluding 1998) of effective protection in the Pacuare Nature Reserve, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. A mean density of 142 nests per km, probably the highest in Central America, indicates the importance of this rookery within the Caribbean region. Long-term conservation efforts at the Reserve have significantly reduced poaching and contributed to maintaining a high level of hatchling production. Long-term monitoring has also facilitated estimation of relevant demographic parameters of the population, such as nesting success (mean 69.8 ± SD 7.3%), clutch size (which is positively correlated with female size), hatching success (mean 55.2 ± SD 6.0%), remigration interval (2.5 years), and growth rate of remigrant females (mean 0.3 ± SD 1.0 cm per year), which is slightly faster than growth rates reported for Pacific leatherback turtles. Overall, efforts at Pacuare have been successful in protecting leatherback turtles and understanding their life history, highlighting the importance of long-term conservation projects for maintaining threatened leatherback populations.

We used satellite telemetry to identify in-water habitat used by individuals in the smallest North-west Atlantic subpopulation of adult nesting loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta during the breeding season. During 2010, 2011 and 2012 breeding periods, a total of 20 adult females used habitats proximal to nesting beaches with various levels of protection within Dry Tortugas National Park. We then used a rapid, high-resolution, digital imaging system to map habitat adjacent to nesting beaches, revealing the diversity and distribution of available benthic cover. Turtle behaviour showing measurable site-fidelity to these diverse habitats has implications for managing protected areas and human activities within them. Protecting diverse benthic areas adjacent to loggerhead turtle nesting beaches here and elsewhere could provide benefits for overall biodiversity conservation.

Nest predation can threaten marine turtle nesting success, and having to address dissimilar predator species complicates nest protection efforts. On Florida's Keewaydin Island predation by raccoons Procyon lotor and invasive feral swine Sus scrofa are disparate, significant threats to marine turtle nests. Using 6 years of nesting data (mostly for loggerhead marine turtles Caretta caretta) we examined the impacts of swine predation on nests and the benefits of swine eradication, caging nests to protect them from raccoon predation, and the effects of nest caging on swine predation. Nest predation by swine began in mid nesting season 2007, after which swine quickly annihilated all remaining marine turtle nests. During 2005–2010 raccoon predation rates for caged nests (0.7–20.4%) were significantly lower than for uncaged nests (5.6–68.8%) in every year except 2009, when little raccoon predation occurred. The proportions of eggs lost from raccoon-predated nests did not differ between caged and uncaged nests. Caging did not prevent destruction by swine but median survival time for caged nests was 11.5 days longer than for uncaged nests, indicating that caged eggs in nests have a greater chance of hatching before being predated by swine. The financial cost of the eradication of swine greatly outweighed the value of hatchlings lost to swine predation in 2007.

Social taboos have been increasingly recognized for their role in determining human behaviour. Such informal institutions may also, in some instances, guide practices that serve as effective conservation measures. Here we present a case in Banten, Indonesia, where a local taboo has discouraged the collection of two herpetofaunal species, the water monitor lizard Varanus salvator and the reticulated python Python reticulatus, on Tinjil Island, an undeveloped island off the coast of Java. The taboo is not observed in the nearby mainland villages of Muara Dua and Cisiih, where the two species may be harvested for skin or meat, and where the water monitor may also be killed as a pest. Water monitors and reticulated pythons figure prominently in the international reptile leather trade, with skins produced from Indonesia's wild populations representing the highest percentage of total global exports of both lizard and snake skins. The site-specific taboo documented here provides a strong deterrent to collection of these species in a location where they could be subject to illicit harvest as populations in nearby mainland areas decrease. Preliminary evidence also suggests that belief in forest guardian spirits may extend protection to other wildlife species on Tinjil Island.

Dramatic increases in human populations and per capita consumption, climate change, overexploitation of marine and freshwater resources, and deforestation have caused a litany of negative consequences for biodiversity. Such doom-and-gloom scenarios are widely known, frequently cited and frankly depressing. Although accurate assessments of threats have clear value for intervention planning, we believe there is also a need to reflect on successes. Such reflection provides balance to negative scenarios and may shift attention towards constructive, positive action. Here we use a systematic evaluation of 90 success stories provided by conservation scientists and practitioners to explore the characteristics of the projects perceived as being associated with success. Success was deemed to have occurred for 19.4% of the projects simply because an event had occurred (e.g. a law was passed) and for 36.1% of projects quantitative data indicated success (e.g. censuses demonstrated population increase). However, for most projects (63.9%) there was no evaluation and success was defined by the subjective opinion of the respondent. Conservation community members viewed successful projects most often as those being long-term (88%), small in spatial scale (52%), with a relatively low budget (68%), and involving a protectionist approach alone or in combination with another approach. These results highlight the subjectivity of definitions of success in conservation but also the characteristics of conservation efforts that the conservation community perceives as indicative of success.

Although Chile has been establishing marine protected areas since the 1960s, studies to identify representative areas for marine biodiversity conservation at the ecoregional scale are lacking. Using the Marxan decision support tool we conducted a systematic planning process to identify High Conservation Value Areas in the channels and fjords of the southern Chile ecoregion. We involved 74 experts and other stakeholders in identifying conservation features, setting targets and compiling distribution data. Current distributions of 39 features were used in Marxan analyses. In one scenario we locked planning units that contained the Francisco Coloane Marine Protected Area. In a second scenario we also excluded planning units that overlapped with Appropriate Areas for Aquaculture, defined by the Chilean government's coastal zoning process. One-hundred percent of the proposed conservation targets were met in both scenarios. Although the distribution of 12 conservation features overlapped to a certain extent (>10%) with Appropriate Areas for Aquaculture, Marxan identified conservation solutions avoiding these areas. Our suggested portfolio of High Conservation Value Areas comprises a network of 33 sites, covering 99,432 km2 (12% of the ecoregion). These results provide the first science-based roadmap for decision makers and conservationists, and were used by the Chilean government in its coastal zoning process to define priority areas for conservation. Consequently, salmon farming has been excluded from Tierra del Fuego island.

Protected areas are intended to conserve biodiversity by restricting human activities within their boundaries. However, such restrictions are difficult to enforce fully in many tropical parks. Improving regulatory enforcement requires an understanding of prevailing challenges to detection and sanctioning activities. Drawing from empirical field research in 15 Colombian parks, I show that current enforcement efforts may be insufficient to deter most priority threats. For long-term infractions, such as agriculture, livestock grazing, and construction, sanctioning violators is challenging, whereas for furtive infractions, such as logging and hunting, it may be difficult to detect violators. Investment in staff, equipment and infrastructure may fail to increase enforcement capacity and yield positive conservation outcomes unless accompanied by resolution of land tenure, clarification of use rights, improved patrolling strategies and protection of park guards.

Nuristan province, in north-east Afghanistan, holds a significant portion of the country's remaining forests, but because of the inaccessible terrain and the recent history of poor security little is known about the wildlife inhabiting these forests. We conducted transect surveys in central Nuristan and confirmed the presence of musk deer Moschus cupreus > 60 years after the last documented observation of the species in Afghanistan. We found that, in summer, musk deer inhabit remote alpine scrub on scattered rock outcrops and in upper fringes of closed coniferous forests at c. 3,000–3,500 m. They invariably use steep slopes (≥ 20°), which makes them difficult to approach. We built a data-driven geographical model, which predicted that suitable habitat for musk deer in Afghanistan extends over c. 1,300 km2 in the contiguous provinces of Nuristan (75.5%), Kunar (14.4%) and Laghman (10.1%). Although relatively vast, the area of habitat potentially available to musk deer in Afghanistan appears to be highly fragmented. Despite indications of unsustainable hunting, this Endangered species persists in Afghanistan and targeted conservation programmes are required to protect it and its forest habitat.

We attempted to deter crop-raiding elephants Elephas maximus by using playbacks of threatening vocalizations such as felid growls and human shouts. For this purpose, we tested two sound-playback systems in southern India: a wireless, active infrared beam-triggered system to explore the effects of night-time uncertainty in elephants' assessment of predatory threats, and a passive infrared motion detector-triggered system for closer-range playbacks. Using the first system, we deterred 90% of crop-raiding attempts using tiger Panthera tigris growls, 72.7% using leopard Panthera pardus growls, and 57.1% using human shouts, with no statistically significant difference among the three sounds. Using the second system, playbacks of tiger and lion Panthera leo growls deterred 100 and 83.3% of crop-raiding attempts, respectively, with no statistically reliable difference between the two, although video evidence indicated that elephants were more fearful of tiger growls. Our results indicate that playbacks of threatening sounds can be effective in mitigating human–elephant conflict, particularly in bolstering existing deterrent methods.

Conservation of large carnivores is challenging as they face various threats, including habitat loss and fragmentation. One of the current challenges to tiger Panthera tigris conservation in India is the conversion of habitat to uses that are incompatible with conservation of the species. Bringing more tiger habitat within a protected area system and in the process creating a network of connected protected areas will deliver dual benefits of wildlife conservation and protection of watersheds. Focusing on the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which holds one of the largest contiguous tiger populations, we attempted to address this challenge using a conservation planning technique that considers ecological, social and political factors. This approach yielded several conservation successes, including an expansion of the protected area network by 2,385 km2, connection of 23 protected areas, and the creation of three complexes of protected areas, increasing the protected area network in Karnataka from 3.8 to 5.2% of the state's land area. This represents the largest expansion of protected areas in India since the 1970s. Such productive partnerships between government officials and conservationists highlight the importance of complementary roles in conservation planning and implementation.

Overexploitation is a significant threat to biodiversity, with live capture of millions of animals annually. An improved understanding of live capture of primates is needed, especially for Madagascar's threatened lemurs. Our objectives were to provide the first quantitative estimates of the prevalence, spatial extent, correlates and timing of lemur ownership, procurement methods, within-country movements, and numbers and duration of ownership. Using semi-structured interviews of 1,093 households and 61 transporters, across 17 study sites, we found that lemur ownership was widespread and affected a variety of taxa. We estimate that 28,253 lemurs have been affected since 2010. Most lemurs were caught by owners and kept for either short (≤ 1 week) or long (≥ 3 years) periods. The live capture of lemurs in Madagascar is not highly organized but may threaten several Endangered and Critically Endangered species.

The Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis formerly ranged across South-east Asia. Hunting and habitat loss have made it one of the rarest large mammals and the species faces extinction despite decades of conservation efforts. The number of individuals remaining is unknown as a consequence of inadequate methods and lack of funds for the intensive field work required to estimate the population size of this rare and solitary species. However, all information indicates that numbers are low and declining. A few individuals persist in Borneo, and three tiny populations remain on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and show evidence of breeding. Rhino Protection Units are deployed at all known breeding sites but poaching and a presumed low breeding rate remain major threats. Protected areas have been created for the rhinoceros and other in situ conservation efforts have increased but the species has continued to go locally extinct across its range. Conventional captive breeding has also proven difficult; from a total of 45 Sumatran rhinoceros taken from the wild since 1984 there were no captive births until 2001. Since then only two pairs have been actively bred in captivity, resulting in four births, three by the same pair at the Cincinnati Zoo and one at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra, with the sex ratio skewed towards males. To avoid extinction it will be necessary to implement intensive management zones, manage the metapopulation as a single unit, and develop advanced reproductive techniques as a matter of urgency. Intensive census efforts are ongoing in Bukit Barisan Selatan but elsewhere similar efforts remain at the planning stage.

The shrew Crocidura thomensis is a little-known species endemic to São Tomé Island. We review its distribution, ecology and conservation status based on nine published and 23 new records. The species has a wide distribution across São Tomé, preferring rugged forested areas with high rainfall. The location of new records coincides with that of historical records but the proportion of records in plantations has declined, possibly as a result of agricultural intensification, increased use of pesticides, and presence of exotic species. The shrew is restricted to a single island, its extent of occurrence is < 1,000 km2 and its habitat is declining in extent and quality, and thus its categorization as Endangered on the IUCN Red List remains appropriate. It is important to gain a better knowledge of population trends, ecological preferences and sensitivity to potential threats, but the effective protection of São Tomé Obô Natural Park and surrounding forests is the most important measure to ensure the long-term survival of this mammal.

In 2011 we carried out the first systematic survey to determine the density and abundance of endemic forest primates in Siberut National Park, in the Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Distance sampling was employed to survey 18 transects located systematically throughout the Park, yielding a total survey effort of 192 km and 285 observations of primates for data analysis. From density estimates for the four resident primate species, the Siberut langur Presbytis siberu, the pig-tailed snub-nosed langur Simias concolor, Kloss's gibbon Hylobates klossii and the Siberut macaque Macaca siberu, we extrapolated a total population of c. 51,000 primates within the Park. We conclude that Siberut National Park is of major significance for the continued survival of Siberut's endemic primates, and provide recommendations to help ensure that it will continue to function as a refuge for primates.

In countries with emerging and developing economies the need to promote development and the lack of information on the status of the Near Threatened Eurasian otter Lutra lutra have given rise for concern about the conservation status of the species. In Albania information about the distribution of this otter dates from 1985. In 2013 we resurveyed 31 sites previously surveyed in 1985, and a further 42 sites throughout the country. At each site nine habitat variables of potential importance to otters were recorded and analysed. Overall the distribution pattern in 2013 did not differ from that recorded in 1985, although a reduction in marking intensity suggested a possible decline in otter numbers. Distribution of the otter has been influenced by land use and human density, suggesting man-induced habitat changes since the fall of communism may have affected the quality and fragmentation of otter habitats.