Large mammal recovery in the wake of human population decline

Abstract Human population growth has long driven biodiversity loss. Yet, some places are now experiencing depopulation, which can facilitate the recovery of large mammals. These species—both herbivores and carnivores—not only play important ecological roles but can also come into conflict with humans. Here, we draw a clear link between rural depopulation and large mammal recovery in Europe and Japan. We discuss the social and ecological consequences of recovery, including how recovery has led to conflict, like crop damage, attacks on livestock, attacks on people, vehicle collisions and disease spread. We then discuss how to minimize these conflicts in the context of rural depopulation through non‐lethal approaches, managed hunting and understanding the human dimensions. Large mammal recovery presents new hunting and ecotourism opportunities, which could economically benefit rural communities. There are also ecosystem services stemming from recovery (e.g. trophic regulation via predation and herbivory), although there is more to learn about community‐level effects and how to best track recovery. Other factors can influence large mammal recovery, including climate change, human immigration and the agricultural economy, complicating our ability to predict where recovery might occur in the future. Synthesis and applications . Depopulation and large mammal recovery will likely occur in more regions in the coming years. Countries and institutions can maximize the benefits and reduce potential conflict by (1) tracking recovery; (2) treating recovery as a natural experiment; (3) investing in non‐lethal conflict mitigation; (4) incentivizing hunting; and (5) embracing the benefits of recovery. We should anticipate a need for adaptive management of recovering species: protect them as they recover but be prepared to suppress their populations if they become overabundant. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the journal's blog .