Species recovery as a half empty process: the case against ignoring social ecology for gray wolf recovery.

The article focuses on the limitations of the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) in effectively recovering social, group-living species, using gray wolves (Canis lupus) as a case study. It argues that current ESA recovery criteria, which emphasize population abundance and geographic distribution, fail to account for the critical role of social structures, reproductive skew, and group dynamics that influence demographic viability and genetic health in social species. The authors highlight how human-caused mortality and political boundary management disrupt wolf pack cohesion, leading to negative ecological and genetic consequences often masked by population-level metrics. They advocate for conservation policies and recovery plans that explicitly incorporate social group units, cultural transmission, and interjurisdictional cooperation to ensure long-term species viability and ecosystem health.