| Summary: | Conflicts between people over protecting biodiversity are ubiquitous, damaging and among the most challenging problems facing wildlife conservation worldwide. Such conflicts typically emerge from ‘biodiversity impacts’ when there are disagreements about the management and allocation of natural resources. They are characterised by their inherent multi-layered complexity and their negative impacts on biodiversity, livelihoods and human wellbeing. A shift towards a greater understanding of the human causal drivers of complex conservation issues as well as their ecological impacts is urgently needed to prevent and de-escalate conflicts and halt potentially catastrophic biodiversity loss. I explore the ecological and socio-psychological contexts of two complex conservation issues – the illegal killing of Bewick’s swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii in the Russian Arctic (regarded as a biodiversity impact at risk of emerging as a conflict) and the poisoning of waterbirds from lead ammunition in the UK (currently in a ‘destructive’ phase of conflict) – using approaches and methodologies from the natural and social sciences and psychology. I also provide novel insights into their management and wildlife management more broadly. I first examine the lesser known impacts of blood lead levels on the physiology of wild birds. I determine that sub-lethal impacts of lead on the body condition of Icelandic-breeding whooper swans Cygnus cygnus occur at the lower end of previously established clinical thresholds. Despite partial restrictions on the use of lead ammunition in the UK, I found a high prevalence of lead poisoning within this swan population. I recommend that previously suggested thresholds for adverse clinical effects should be revised downwards for free-living wildfowl. These findings reaffirm the importance of reducing contamination of the environment with lead shot and thus the availability and exposure of lead to waterbirds. Next, using Q-methodology, I examined the perspectives of ammunition users around the use of ...
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