Determinants of native avian richness in suburban remnant vegetation: Implications for conservation planning

While urban areas are increasingly recognized as having potential value for biodiversity conservation, the relationship between biodiversity and the structure and configuration of the urban landscape is poorly understood. In this study we surveyed birds in 39 remnant patches of native vegetation of various sizes (range 1-107 ha) embedded in the suburban matrix in Melbourne, Australia. The total richness of species within remnants was strongly associated with the size of remnants. Remnant-reliant species displayed a much stronger response to remnant area than matrix-tolerant species indicating the importance of large remnants in maintaining representative bird assemblages. Large remnants are important for other ecological groups of species including migratory species, ground foraging birds and canopy foraging birds. Other landscape (e.g. amount of riparian vegetation) and structural components (e.g. shrub cover) of remnants have a lesser role in determining the richness of individual remnants. This research provides conservation managers and planners with a hierarchical process to reserve design and management in order to conserve the highest richness of native species within urban areas. First of all, conservation efforts should preferentially focus on the retention of larger remnants of native vegetation. Second, where possible, riparian vegetation should be included within reserves or, where it is already present, should be carefully managed to ensure its integrity. Third, efforts should be focused at maintaining appropriate habitat and vegetation structure and complexity.     

The potential importance of migratory stopover sites as flight feather molt staging areas: a review for neotropical migrants

The decline of many species of Neotropical migrants has prompted increased research on their ecology on their breeding and wintering grounds. However, studies of their ecology during migration are relatively few. Despite documentation of molt-migration in at least six Neotropical passerine species, this phenomenon has been ignored in current conservation strategies for Neotropical migrants. In this review paper, we suggest that molt studies need to be done as a way to refine and improve conservation plans for Neotropical migrants. We identify three important questions that merit further study: (1) which Neotropical migrant species undergo flight feather molt at migratory-stopover sites; (2) where are molt-migration stopover sites geographically located; and (3) why are these sites preferred as stopover sites during molt? Finding answers to these questions will allow us to protect molt staging areas occupied by Neotropical migrants during migration as many wetland and nearshore oceanic habitats have been protected for molting waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds.     

Management costs for small protected areas and economies of scale in habitat conservation

Protected area management must be resourced adequately to achieve its conservation objectives. The variability in management costs across candidate sites for protection therefore should inform conservation planning. For example, when considering whether to accept a donation of a property, a conservation organisation must determine whether an adequate endowment is available to fund future management activities. We examine variation in management costs across 78 small protected areas in the UK that are managed by a conservation NGO, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Management costs exceed acquisition costs when funded on an endowment basis and are not correlated with acquisition costs or with proxy measures for conservation costs commonly relied upon in conservation planning studies. A combination of geographic, ecological and socioeconomic characteristics of sites explains 50% of the variation in management costs. Site area is the most important determinant of management costs, which demonstrate economies of scale; implementing conservation management on an additional hectare adjacent to a larger protected area would incur a lower cost than doing the same adjacent to a smaller site. In evidencing this effect of site area, we avoid problems of spurious correlation that confound previous studies. Protected areas that encompass a greater richness of priority habitats for conservation also require more expensive management. Conservation organisations may have little option but to create small protected areas to conserve biodiversity in highly fragmented landscapes, but the decision to do so should take account of the greater cost burden that small protected areas incur.     

The buffer effect and the selection of protected areas for waterbirds in Britain

The buffer effect predicts that where the reproductive success and survivorship of a species vary between potential habitats, sites will be sequentially filled according to a preference hierarchy. Once favoured sites reach saturation, numbers on the less-suitable/poorer quality sites will show a greater rate of increase compared with those on favoured sites. Supporting evidence for a buffer effect is readily available in the literature for many species, although this is generally restricted to small-scale analyses. In this paper we test for a buffer effect on a national scale for 19 species of waterbirds regularly wintering in the UK for which populations have increased nationally. The results provide little support for the effect, with only four species showing significant negative correlations. Nonetheless, a number of factors are likely to confound the occurrence/identification of a buffer effect for these species, including site area and data limitations. By contrast, for the majority of these 19 species, those sites where initial population totals are largest are also those with the fastest rates of population increase. Encouragingly, these sites are, therefore, more likely to be classified and managed as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) or Ramsar sites using the current numerical criteria for identifying such conservation areas.     

The performance of procedures for selecting conservation areas: waterbirds in the UK

In recent years, much attention has been directed to the ways in which the most important areas for inclusion in reserve networks can be identified, and the most effective ways in which existing networks can be expanded. In contrast, rather little attention has been paid to the present and likely future performance of the approaches that have actually been employed. Using Wetland Bird Survey data, the effectiveness of the current Special Protection Area (SPA) network in the UK was assessed by comparing annual counts for 17 species of migratory waterbird on SPAs with the numbers supported by hypothetical site networks selected by five alternative site-selection methods. These analyses suggest that focusing on complementarity between component sites rather than applying criteria to each site individually improved the level of representation for each species, conserved a greater percentage of the national total across the 17 species and was robust over time.     

Evaluation of the extinction risk and of conservation alternatives for a very small insular population: the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus in Corsica

The bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus is a large, long-lived osteophagus vulture whose abundance and breeding range have drastically declined during the last century, making it one of the most endangered European bird species. We evaluated the extinction risk of the bearded vulture population in Corsica (a small, isolated breeding population of 8-10 pairs), one of the last extant populations in Western Europe, and estimated its probability of extinction to be 0.165 over the next 50 years. A sensitivity analysis to assess the influence of uncertain demographic rates showed that it is critical to estimate precisely the values of pre-adult survival. Neither the type nor the parameters of density dependence acting on fecundity and survival rates influenced much the extinction risk of the Corsican population. We evaluated the effect of four realistic conservation actions that could be implemented on the Corsican bearded vulture population and rank them in terms of their respective decrease of the current extinction risk faced by this population. We found that the release of two juveniles every other year for 12 years and the increase of fecundity due to selective food provisioning would reduce by more than one-half the current extinction risk of Corsican bearded vulture population. In contrast, even substantial increases in the carrying capacity through large supplemental feeding produced very modest decreases in the extinction risk, thus calling into question the efficacy of one of the main pan-European conservation strategies for this species. Re-establishing a population network within the Mediterranean could be a potentially better strategy, though its efficacy depends on natal dispersal among populations that is currently unknown.     

A river runs through it: Land-use and the composition of vegetation along a riparian corridor in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

Riparian zones are important for the many ecosystem services they supply. In settled areas, the vegetation of such zones is shaped by human land-use; this often creates conditions under which alien plant species thrive. Alien plants have been shown to induce large-scale changes in riparian habitats, and they pose a major threat to the continued provision of key ecosystem services. We used direct gradient analysis to assess correlations between land-use and the composition of vegetation along a riparian river corridor in the highly transformed landscape surrounding Stellenbosch in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. Vegetation plots were sampled along the entire length of the river from headwaters to estuary (ca. 40 km). Plant community composition was analyzed in relation to land-use data collected in the field, and additional land-use variables computed from digital land-cover data. Patterns of plant community structure were found to be directly related to land-use, with measures of cover, richness, and diversity differing significantly among land-use types. Portions of the riparian zone adjacent to agricultural land had the greatest level of alien plant cover, while areas bordered by urban land maintained the highest alien species richness. Areas adjacent to grazing and natural lands showed intermediate and low levels of invasion, respectively. Several native species were found to persist in areas with high abundance and diversity of invasive alien plants, suggesting that they will be valuable focal species for future restoration attempts. Due to the level of human-mediated change in many areas of the riparian zone, restoration to historic conditions over most of the river is not considered feasible. These areas should be recognized as examples of novel ecosystems, and management efforts should focus on restoring or creating desirable ecosystem functions, rather than on achieving assemblages comprising only native species.     

Prioritizing areas for conservation and vegetation restoration in post-agricultural landscapes: A Biosphere Reserve plan for Bioko, Equatorial Guinea

Although the conversion of natural vegetation to agriculture threatens biodiversity, post-agricultural lands may provide an opportunity to preserve biodiversity if they are allowed to regenerate. We develop a framework for incorporating abandoned agricultural fields into the design of a Biosphere Reserve using former cocoa plantations on Bioko, Equatorial Guinea, as a case study. First, we used BIOCLIM to model the potential distribution of 62 ferns, 327 monocotyledons, 749 dicotyledons, seven primates, and 104 birds on Bioko. Next, we quantitatively assessed the representation of these distributions in conservation areas proposed by the Equatoguinean administration (hereafter “EPAs”). In addition, we used an area prioritization algorithm implemented in the ResNet software package to select an initial set of sites to serve as the Biosphere Reserve’s core areas, that is, intact forest in Bioko’s montane regions. Then, to augment the beta-diversity of the Reserve, we used the area prioritization algorithm to prioritize buffer zones in lowland sites including rainforest remnants and abandoned plantations that have partially regenerated to forest. We also compared the representation of biodiversity in the EPAs to its representation in Biosphere Reserves designed with ResNet. The representation of vegetation types and species in Reserves selected by ResNet that occupy 25% of the land on Bioko is equivalent to the representation achieved by the EPAs, which would cover 42% of Bioko. To conclude, we propose a conservation plan for Bioko.     

The role of ants in conservation monitoring: If, when, and how

Ants are increasingly being recognized as useful tools for land managers to monitor ecosystem conditions. However, despite an abundance of studies on ant responses to both environmental disturbance and land management techniques, an analysis of the practice and value of including ants in monitoring is lacking. Consequently, conservation managers are left with little guidance as to if, when, and how ants can be used to assess conservation activities. Based on our review of approximately 60 published studies, we outline five areas where ants provide valuable information for management-based monitoring: (1) to detect the presence of invasive species, (2) to detect trends among threatened or endangered species, (3) to detect trends among keystone species, (4) to evaluate land management actions, and (5) to assess long-term ecosystem changes. We also discuss practical considerations when designing a monitoring framework for ants, including appropriate methods, taxonomic resolution for sampling, and spatial and temporal scale. We find that when integrated with management goals, monitoring ants can provide information over the short-term on topics such as the status of invasive or keystone species, as well as over longer time frames, for instance the impact of climate change. Overall, we conclude that ants merit monitoring based on their inherent ecological qualities, independent of any “indicator” attributes they might have.     

The conservation of Chinese rice biodiversity: genetic erosion, ethnobotany and prospects

As one of important original centers of Asian cultivated rice Oryza sativa L., China is abundant in genetic resources of rice and its wild relatives. They are not only useful for mountainous farmers to cope with heterogeneous microclimates, but also of extremely significance for rice genetic improvement programs in the future. Unfortunately, the combination of new conditions, including rapid population growth, new agricultural technology and swift economic & cultural changes produces a new environment. As a result, most of wild populations have disappeared, and others are at the edge of the extinction. Moreover, widespread adoption of high-yielding rice varieties (HYVs) have led to biological impoverty of rice germplasms, as local rice varieties are abandoned for modern varieties. These processes, known as genetic erosion, are generally summarized as two types in Chinese rice genetic resources. Based on our recent studies on the conservation of Chinese rice biodiversity, this paper reviews the biodiversity, ethnobotany and genetic erosion of rice and its wild relatives in China. Finally, some suggestions for the ways to enhance efforts to conserve rice genetic resources, including investigation of genetic erosion, studies on population genetics and conservation genetics using molecular approaches, settings of in situ & ex situ conservation priorities, significance of ethnobotanical knowledge for taking in situ conservation, and necessities of extensive participation in the conservation activities, are given.     

Long term tillage,cover crop,and fertilization effects on microbial community structure,activity: Implications for soil quality

Conservation agriculture practices, such as reduced tillage, cover crops and fertilization, are often associated with greater microbial biomass and activity that are linked to improvements in soil quality. This study characterized the impact of long term (31 years) tillage (till and no-till), cover crops (Hairy vetch- Vicia villosa and winter wheat- Triticum aestivum, and a no cover control), and N-rates (0, 34, 67 and 101 kg N ha⁻¹) on soil microbial community structure, activity and resultant soil quality calculated using the soil management assessment framework (SMAF) scoring index under continuous cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) production on a Lexington silt loam in West Tennessee.No-till treatments were characterized by a significantly greater (P < 0.05) abundance of Gram positive bacteria, actinomycetes and mycorrhizae fungi fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) biomarkers compared to till. Saprophytic fungal FAME biomarkers were significantly less abundant (P < 0.05) under no-till treatments resulting in a lower fungi to bacteria (F:B) ratio. Key enzymes associated with C, N & P cycling (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, and phosphodiesterase) had significantly higher rates under no-till relative to till, corresponding to significantly greater (P < 0.05) soil C and N, extractable nutrients (P, K and Ca) and yields. Mycorrhizae fungi biomarkers significantly decreased (P < 0.05) with increasing N-rate and was significantly less (P < 0.05) under the vetch cover crop compared to wheat and no cover. Treatments under vetch also had significantly higher β-glucosaminidase and basal microbial respiration rates compared to wheat and no cover.Consequently, the total organic carbon (TOC) and β-glucosidase SMAF quality scores were significantly greater under no-till compared to till and under the vetch compared to wheat and no cover treatments, resulting in a significantly greater overall soil quality index (SQI).Our results demonstrate that long-term no-till and use of cover crops under a low biomass monoculture crop production system like cotton results in significant shifts in the microbial community structure, activity, and conditions that favor C, N and P cycling compared to those under conventional tillage practices. These practices also led to increased yields and improved soil quality with no-till having 13% greater yields than till and treatments under vetch having 5% increase in soil quality compared to no cover and wheat.     

The role of private conservation areas in biodiversity representation and target achievement within the Little Karoo region, South Africa

It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage and expand statutory conservation areas (i.e., parks and formally protected areas). Therefore, alternative opportunities for land conservation merit closer attention. This paper examines the extent to which privately owned conservation areas contribute to biodiversity representation. Gap analyses were performed for a large semi-arid region in South Africa with a comprehensive database of private conservation areas. The distribution of private conservation areas was compared to statutory conservation areas using several landscape characteristics: biome and vegetation variant, elevation class, ecological process area, total area, and threat status (endangerment). Conservation target achievement for the vegetation variants was also assessed, as was the degree to which private conservation areas complemented statutory conservation areas by representing different landscape characteristics. The number of targets achieved nearly tripled if private conservation areas were considered in addition to statutory conservation areas. Further, private conservation areas significantly complemented statutory conservation areas in the types of biomes, elevation classes, and threat status classes conserved. Private conservation areas were especially important in conserving lower elevation habitat, and by association, endangered vegetation. This particular relationship is expected to be common worldwide. Our results indicate that private lands conservation deserves an increased allocation of resources for both research and implementation.     

A conservation framework for the golden eagle in Scotland: Refining condition targets and assessment of constraint influences

Conservation strategies have three elements: species protection, site protection and, the most challenging component, conservation in the wider environment. Watson and Whitfield [Watson, J., Whitfield, P., 2002. A conservation framework for the golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos in Scotland. Journal of Raptor Research 36(1 Suppl.), 41-49.] proposed a conservation framework for the golden eagle in Scotland whose main innovation, taking a lead from EU conservation Directives, was to incorporate the concept of favourable condition and its maintenance by implementing conservation policies that are regionally targeted at known constraints in the wider environment. Three criteria were suggested to judge favourable condition: a national abundance target of breeding pairs, national and regional targets for breeding productivity, and regional targets for the extent of suitable habitat which is occupied by breeding pairs. Here we refine these criteria, first to take the national abundance target and use it to set regional targets. Distribution targets were implicitly incorporated by this process because abundance targets were set regionally, with regard to the proportion of known territories which should be occupied. This allowed us to dispense with the distribution criterion as originally proposed. Our next refinement was to base regional demographic targets not only on breeding productivity, but also on indirect measures of survival (which are likely to have more influence on population dynamics). Despite apparent overall population stability over the last 20 years, the national golden eagle population failed to meet the abundance target and only 3 of 16 regions where eagles have occupied territories since 1982 were considered to be in favourable condition. The key constraint preventing favourable condition being met was persecution, predominantly in some areas managed for grouse shooting. The advantages of a conservation framework over similar approaches, such as species action plans, are highlighted.     

The distribution of disturbance-dependent rare plants in a coastal Massachusetts sandplain: Implications for conservation and management

Rare plants in coastal New England sandplains are often restricted to anthropogenically disturbed sites including plowed and mowed firelanes at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard. Little is known about pre-colonial rare plant habitat or how modern management impacts these species. To understand the factors influencing rare plant distribution, we examined the influence of vegetation structure, species composition, environmental characteristics and disturbance history on rare plant populations and potential natural habitat in the 2100-ha Forest. We sampled >100, 100 m² plots - in firelanes and forested/shrubland areas - and conducted extensive searches for rare plants.Linum intercursum and Scleria pauciflora var. caroliniana were frequent in firelanes including in recently plowed areas, whereas Nabalus serpentarius, Sisyrinchium fuscatum, and Aristida purpurascens generally occurred in isolated, locally-abundant patches in firelanes not plowed for many decades. The former group may be characterized by an ability to rapidly establish following disturbances while the latter may take longer to establish and develop large populations. In some respects, rare plants were associated with environmental conditions reflecting the disturbance histories of sites they occupied (e.g., L. intercursum with lower duff depth and N. serpentarius with greater litter cover/depth).In forests and shrublands undisturbed for decades, rare plants only occurred on well-worn paths. Although scrub oak stands supported conditions more similar to those found in firelanes than other native vegetation types, disturbances - far more severe than those in forests/shrublands of the past century - are probably required to create suitable rare plant habitat in sandplain forests and shrublands.     

Threats, conservation strategies, and prognosis for suckers (Catostomidae) in North America: insights from regional case studies of a diverse family of non-game fishes

Catostomid fishes are a diverse family of 76+ freshwater species that are distributed across North America in many different habitats. This group of fish is facing a variety of impacts and conservation issues that are somewhat unique relative to more economically valuable and heavily managed fish species. Here, we present a brief series of case studies to highlight the threats such as migration barriers, flow regulation, environmental contamination, habitat degradation, exploitation and impacts from introduced (non-native) species that are facing catostomids in different regions. Collectively, the case studies reveal that individual species usually are not threatened by a single, isolated factor. Instead, species in general face numerous stressors that threaten multiple stages of their life history. Several factors have retarded sucker conservation including widespread inabilities of field workers to distinguish some species, lack of basic natural history and ecological knowledge of life history, and the misconception that suckers are tolerant of degraded conditions and are of little social or ecological value. Without a specific constituent group lobbying for conservation of non-game fishes, all such species, including members of the catostomid family, will continue to face serious risks because of neglect, ignorance, and misunderstanding. We suggest that conservation strategies should incorporate research and education/outreach components. Other conservation strategies that would be effective for protecting suckers include freshwater protected areas for critical habitat, restoration of degraded habitat, and design of catostomid-friendly fish bypass facilities. We believe that the plight of the catostomids is representative of the threats facing many other non-game freshwater fishes with diverse life-history strategies globally.     

The importance of spatial scale for the conservation of tidal flat macrobenthos: An example from New South Wales, Australia

Planners of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) commonly use maps of habitat types when choosing areas to conserve. This assumes that habitats are homogeneous, and therefore, that any area of habitat will represent the full spectrum of ecological diversity within that habitat. Here, we report that macrobenthic assemblages in tidal flat habitats were spatially heterogeneous in terms of beta diversity (taxonomic turnover), abundance, taxonomic richness and Shannon-Wiener H′ Diversity. Importantly, the patterns of heterogeneity were scale dependent for the three spatial scales we examined; plots (20 m), sites (100s of m) and estuaries (<30 km). The three estuaries in the study were compositionally similar as they shared the same dominant taxa, although one estuary had significantly more taxa and a higher abundance of macrobenthos. Assemblages within tidal flats differed at scales of 100s of m for all ecological measures. Most notably, beta diversity was highest at this scale. Assemblages were relatively more homogeneous at the 20-m scale. These findings highlight the value of examining more than one ecological measure and estimating magnitude of effects across a variety of scales. This work presents two important considerations for MPAs. First, although tidal flats in different estuaries are compositionally similar for dominant taxa, rarer taxa and high heterogeneity in abundance should influence the choice and number of tidal flats in MPAs. Second, strong compositional heterogeneity within individual tidal flats implies that conservation of whole habitat, rather than sections of a tidal flat, is essential if this habitat type is to be used to represent taxonomic diversity.     

Land abandonment,landscape evolution,and soil erosion in a Spanish Mediterranean mountain region: The case of Camero Viejo

The Spanish Mediterranean mountains have played an important social and economic role for many centuries. However, since the 1950s these regions have been considered of little economic interest, and this has led to the abandonment of villages, reduced productive activity, and significant changes in the landscape. In the last 50 years the Camero Viejo region (Iberian System, northeast Spain) has been subject to these changes, and was selected as our study area. Landscape evolution and soil erosion, as a result of agricultural abandonment, were studied using different analysis techniques: photointerpretation, geographic information systems and rainfall simulation. The results showed that a large proportion of previously cultivated land has been subject to plant recolonization processes. From 1956 to 2001, woodlands area increased from 10·1 per cent to 37 per cent, and scrubland increased from 42 per cent to 60 per cent. Changes in landscape structure in the same period suggest that the Camero Viejo is in a transitional stage from a highly humanized landscape to a more natural landscape. Although plant cover expansion is evident on most Camero Viejo hillslopes, in some terraced areas erosion processes are active. The generalized abandonment of agricultural terraces has favored the collapse of the stone walls of the terraces, with sliding of the soil. Surface runoff on abandoned terraces is also important. These erosion processes are related to the hydrological functioning of slopes following abandonment, neglect, and in some areas the intensification of grazing. Terrace destruction has a negative impact on the landscape and represents the loss of fertile soils. Landscape diversity should be preserved as an essential element of the economic potential of the Camero Viejo. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Priority areas for conservation of Western Australian coastal fishes: A comparison of hotspot, biogeographical and complementarity approaches

Western Australia has an extensive coastline ranging from the tropical north to the temperate south, with a high diversity of neritic marine fishes. Distribution data of 1855 neritic fish species were used to compare a range of methods for identifying priority areas for their conservation. Species richness and endemism richness hotspots, biogeographic zoning and complementarity analysis were tested for their efficiency at representing the total suite of species. The hotspot approaches demonstrated low efficiency, as the sections of coastline selected were grouped together in isolated geographic locations and relatively few of the total suite of neritic fish species were represented. Biogeographic zoning divided the coast of Western Australia into six regions, and as such, priority areas were selected around the entire coastline, which resulted in fairly high levels of efficiency. However, the complementarity analysis proved to be the most efficient method, as >95% of all neritic fish species could be represented in six, appropriately located, 100 km long sections of coastline. Complementarity analysis indicated a total of 26 priority areas for neritic fish conservation, which were spread around the entire coast of Western Australia. However, as current marine conservation measures in Western Australia are focused on the west and northwest coasts, this study highlighted the need for marine conservation efforts to be extended to cover the north and south coasts.     

Population sizes, site fidelity and residence patterns of Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins: Implications for conservation

Very little is known about the ecology of snubfin Orcaella heinsohni and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis in Australian waters. We used photo-identification data collected between 1999 and 2002 in Cleveland Bay, northeast Queensland, to estimate abundance, site fidelity and residence patterns of these species in order to make recommendations for their effective conservation and management. Our abundance estimates indicate that less than a hundred individuals of each species inhabit this coastal area. Even with relatively unbiased and precise abundance estimates population trends will be extremely difficult to detect in less than three years unless changes in population size are very high (>20% p.a.). Though both species are not permanent residents in Cleveland Bay, they both used the area regularly from year to year following a model of emigration and reimmigration. Individuals of both species spend periods of days to a month or more in coastal waters of Cleveland Bay before leaving, and periods of over a month outside the study area before entering the bay again. Because of their small population sizes and movement patterns, snubfin and humpback dolphins are particularly vulnerable to local extinction. Our results illustrate that: (1) detection of population trends should not be a necessary criterion for enacting conservation measures of both species in this region, and (2) efforts to maintain viable populations of both species in Cleveland Bay must include management strategies that integrate anthropogenic activities in surrounding areas.     

Behavioural response of a trophic specialist, the Iberian lynx, to supplementary food: Patterns of food use and implications for conservation

Prey scarcity compromises population survival, especially for specialist predators. Supplementary feeding is a management tool that can be applied to reverse the decline of food-limited populations. We analyse how a population of Iberian lynx, a threatened food specialist, initially reacted to, and subsequently used, supplementary food. Twenty-seven feeding stations (FS) with domestic rabbits were placed in the Doñana Biological Reserve, SW Spain, between 2002 and 2005. We recorded lynx tracks inside and around stations to analyse spatio-temporal patterns of use, as well as the performance of several station designs. Iberian lynx used 62% of the FS installed, and consumed most of the supplied food. All station designs were used and food provision apparently covered the energetic needs of the lynx inhabiting the reserve. There was spatial aggregation in the use of the FS. Fourteen weeks were needed on average for lynx to become familiar with feeding stations and making a regular use of the supplementary food. Seasonal variations in consumption frequency appeared to be modulated by fluctuations of wild rabbit numbers throughout its annual cycle as well as by variation in energy demand of breeding females. The Iberian lynx responded positively to our supplementary feeding programme. We show that this technique allows the persistence of lynx populations during long periods in areas where wild rabbits are extremely scarce. Supplementary food may be used to sustain lynx whenever rabbit populations need recovery, as well as in the context of lynx restocking or reintroduction programmes.