Human-Wolf Coexistence in Europe and Beyond: Integrative Science to Support Future Pathways

The natural return of gray wolves across Europe embodies both a remarkable conservation success and the complexities of sharing landscapes with a large carnivore. Few wildlife species evoke such strong emotions or polarize public debate to the same extent. Time and again, wolves have exceeded expectations in their capacity to adapt to human-dominated landscapes, challenging societies to co-adapt in turn by securing livestock and pets, managing human safety, and redefining cultural relationships with nature. “Not in my backyard” has become a lived reality, as rural and, increasingly, urban communities face challenges unfamiliar to a generation. Current management debates reflect a pressing urgency yet remain largely reactive. At the same time, research on wolf ecology and behavior, human dimensions, and wildlife management and governance has largely developed in parallel, with limited integration across disciplines and few tangible pathways to implementation and decision-making support. Which boundaries (disciplinary, legal, political) do scientists work within, and can they be reimagined? Can the science community support a shared vision for the future of human-wolf relations, and provide the tools needed to realize it?

This Special Section provides an interdisciplinary forum to share and synthesize insights on what fosters or hinders human-wolf coexistence in Europe, and what works, for whom, where, and why. We invite empirical, conceptual, and applied contributions from two complementary perspectives:
• How wolves adapt to human-dominated landscapes (e.g., through ecological, behavioral, physiological, and evolutionary responses); and
• How people, communities, and institutions adapt to wolf presence (e.g., through psychological, social, cultural, governance, or policy responses; incl. ethical and philosophical perspectives).

We particularly welcome interdisciplinary, comparative, and practice-oriented studies. Contributions addressing underrepresented themes or geographic regions in the European discourse, as well as those advancing proactive, adaptive, and pioneering approaches to shared landscapes, are especially encouraged. We also welcome studies from beyond Europe, particularly where they offer comparative insights, transferable lessons, or contrasting governance and ecological contexts that can inform coexistence efforts within Europe. Together, these contributions will offer a timely synthesis of current frontiers in human-wolf coexistence in Europe, and a foundation for turning research insight into pathways forward.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Gray wolf, Social-ecological systems, Carnivore recolonization, human-wolf coexistence, conservation conflict, implementation gap

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.