Rachael A. Carlberg

Modern threats to conservation are often global; however, relevant conservation decisions and actions typically occur within local jurisdictions. The socio‐ecological complexity of these problems requires collaboration across large landscapes, diverse community interests, and geopolitical boundaries, yet a lack of interoperability of planning products among decision makers, jurisdictions, and objectives impedes collaboration. Here, we provide a working model for the collaborative, iterative development of a landscape conservation design (LCD) in the Midwest region of the United States, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint, and demonstrate its applicability to the coordination of voluntary conservation actions and investments across jurisdictional boundaries. We used spatial prioritization software to synthesize over 20 datasets to develop a basemap of priority lands and waters for conservation across a diverse set of societal and ecological values (e.g., water quality, biodiversity, recreation). The Midwest Conservation Blueprint is a living plan, updated annually based on improvements in underlying data, understanding of local conditions, and public input. Landscape‐scale planning is not designed to replace local knowledge or supersede decision‐making authorities. However, by synthesizing existing data that represent diverse socio‐ecological values and planning at a broader scale, the Midwest Conservation Blueprint documents where there are shared priorities and opportunities for collaborative landscape conservation.

The islands of the Aegean Sea are areas of high biodiversity and endemism and harbor globally important seabird communities. Resident seabirds breed on offshore islands, where they often form strong nesting colonies. Breeding seabirds are important determinants of an island’s ecosystem function while also being exposed to a plethora of human activities. Understanding how anthropogenic activities impact such populations is not just essential for seabird conservation but is also critically important for the management of small insular ecosystems and the native species communities they support. We quantify the effect of human activities on the size and locations of Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) colonies from the Cyclades and Sporades archipelagos. We gathered data on variables suspected to influence seabird colonies, including physical islet characteristics, resource availability, and type and extent of human disturbance. Analyses were conducted on the local (islet) and on the regional (island cluster) levels to identify proximate and ultimate factors shaping the breeding population sizes of resident colonies. On the local level, we identify a clear negative effect of the presence of invasive rats on gull nesting density. Similarly, the presence of feral grazing mammals such as goats and rabbits has negative impacts on gull populations, an effect that appears to be primarily mediated through nest disturbance. Access to landfills and fishing vessels both had positive impacts on gull nesting density. Our results suggest approaches to managing Yellow-legged Gull populations in the Mediterranean Basin by taking into consideration the roles of introduced mammals, fishing activities, and open-air landfills on seabirds in the region.