Authors: Ghoddousi, Arash; Dutta, Trishna;Dietsch, Alia M.;Kuemmerle, Tobias;

Landscapes around the globe are increasingly transforming due, in part, to increased human population, expansion and intensification of land uses, and infrastructure development. This transformation forces megafauna to share landscapes with people and to venture into human-dominated areas when moving between habitat patches. Sharing landscapes can lead to competition over space and resources, and negative outcomes (e.g., conflict) for both species. Despite landscape-level conservation efforts, including the protection of core habitat and movement corridors, conflict continues to threaten megafauna worldwide. We argue that the growth of conflict despite conservation efforts arises from ignoring the diverse human behaviours that influence wildlife movements and persistence. Thus, we introduce the concept of ‘anthropogenic resistance’ to capture the psychological and socioeconomic factors that shape human behaviours and wildlife outcomes. Several factors such as the risks posed by a species to the high economic-value property could influence the responses of humans to megafauna presence and related conflict. We illustrate the concept of anthropogenic resistance using case studies and propose how to obtain and incorporate data into conservation planning. A more holistic social-ecological perspective in conservation planning can help to ensure the coexistence of people and megafauna.