Conservation Biology最新文献

Normally diffuse animals may group together in patches to facilitate reproduction and enhance survival in the ocean. However, consideration of spatial patchiness is not common in management frameworks, which often use mean abundances instead. Animals, such as queen conch (Aliger gigas), that congregate in patches at high density are often heavily harvested, resulting in overexploitation. To better understand the drivers of spatial heterogeneity in conch distributions, we used biologgers to quantify movement behavior, including activity rates, environmental effects, and short-term dispersal. We used the resulting values to model conch dispersal in breeding areas. Distance to next encounter analyses described how much space separated patches of conch, where a patch is any area containing conch. Results of field surveys were combined with conch dispersal estimates to compute the frequency of occurrence of patches, patch length, and population density of conch in patches across hundreds of kilometers. Most conch occurred in aggregations, defined as patches with multiple conch. Most surveys in areas with fishing pressure were devoid of conch and conch aggregations, reinforcing that mean population density can be a misleading management indicator. However, behavior provides an alternative context to inform conch management because patch sizes and conch density in aggregations where reproductive activity was observed were consistent in our study area. Breeding aggregations rarely occurred in patches longer than 330 m and thus often occupied areas small enough to be managed by local governance, suggesting small-scale spatial interventions offer a pathway to conservation for patchily distributed species. Our species-specific results suggest the minimum space needed to protect an aggregation and underscore the versatility of using movement ecology to inform conservation.

Recognition and engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP&LCs) and other traditional knowledge (TK) holders in formal biodiversity governance remain limited, despite their significant contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity through their knowledge, innovations, practices, and land stewardship. We conducted the first global assessment of how the 195 countries that ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity self-report on this contribution based on a full content analysis of all of the 2 most recent national reports (NR5 and NR6). The number of countries self-reporting IP&LC and TK roles in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity increased between the 2 reporting periods and exceeded 55% for NR6. The mention of IP&LC and TK contribution to cultivation and domestication was slightly higher; 59% of countries provided evidence of recognition of this contribution in their NR6. Reference to the holders themselves was much lower, even in the case of cultivation and domestication, and explicit evidence of IP&LC involvement in reporting was minimal, particularly in developed countries. Several reports, particularly European submissions, mentioned traditional land use or community-based practices but considered addressing IP&LCs and TK irrelevant due to terminology confusion. Ahead of the next reporting (NR7), due in 2026, and in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which recognizes IP&LCs and TK as integral to its goals, we urge governments to strengthen engagement with IP&LCs and other TK holders, develop and respect partnerships that incorporate their knowledge, practices, and rights, support IP&LC-led conservation, and build on these partnerships in monitoring and reporting on national progress. We aimed to support this process with short-term practical recommendations for upcoming reporting and longer-term strategic guidance and a dataset of illustrative quotes from the analyzed national reports as examples of good practice.

Wildlife reintroductions are socioecological processes entailing the intentional movement of organisms by people. In animal reintroductions, there is growing recognition of the importance of human dimensions and efforts to integrate these into reintroduction projects. To conceptually reframe reintroductions as processes of renewed coexistence (a coadaptive process through which sustainable human-wildlife interactions [HWIs] are fostered), we build upon existing understanding of HWIs and coexistence. Our conceptual framing acknowledges historical HWIs and recognizes that the reintroduced species may be new for people to coexist with today. This provides a long-term, futures-oriented perspective on reintroductions that goes beyond the return of an animal to fostering long-term coexistence between humans and the reintroduced animal. This requires integration of social understandings and meaningful involvement of people from the outset and throughout feasibility, planning, and implementation. Further, we provide fresh insight on the subsequent transition phase by recognizing there to be a period where humans and reintroduced animals continue to coadapt as the situation transitions from a reintroduction project into a long-term coexistence between humans and wild animals.

Many central concepts of conservation biology-such as nativeness-are structured by ecological and social factors. However, the social consequences of using these concepts to make conservation decisions remain inadequately understood. Some researchers argue that nativeness, rather than acting as an objective proxy for important ecological relationships, may instead mask social and cultural values about which species belong in a given ecosystem. Yet, even as many non-native species decline, experts often prioritize the conservation of native species. We assessed the perceptions of people (n = 600) in Metro Vancouver, Canada, regarding local declines of native and non-native birds. We measured ecological grief (feelings of loss associated with ecological changes) and loss of cultural ecosystem service (nonmaterial benefits people derive from relationships with nature) associated with documented declines in 2 native and 2 non-native birds. We measured variations in perceptions across differences in nature experiences and sociodemographics. We used a 2-treatment experimental design in which we informed only half the participants about species' nativeness. Perceptions of loss differed among respondents based on their familiarity with birds, experiences with birds, and the native status of the bird. However, the effect of nativeness on feelings of loss was not moderated by ecological knowledge, whether a respondent was an urbanite, or experiences with birds. Instead, race was the strongest moderator of the effect of nativeness on feelings of loss. Only White people reported greater grief for declines in native species than non-native species, even when accounting for education, income, and other variables. Although native status may often be a useful heuristic for inference, relying on it for conservation decision-making may have unintended sociodemographic and equity consequences. Our results also demonstrate how pairing ecological grief and cultural ecosystem service questions with documented ecological declines can elucidate human-nature relationships, such as those between people and non-native birds.

Many reef-building tropical corals are becoming rare. We considered the meaning of rarity in corals and highlighted taxa that have reached low abundances in the last few decades. The difficulties of quantifying rarity in the marine environment arise from the sheer scale and 3-dimensional nature of the biome and the inherent challenges therein of ecological surveys with scuba. To meet the demands of coral conservation biology in the 21st century, we suggest that contemporary studies of coral communities will require enhanced capacity to identify species and a species-specific focus on corals occurring at low abundances, which traditional ecological approaches to quantifying populations of benthic marine organisms have a limited capacity to address. Now is the time to revise scientific approaches to respond to the challenges posed by the need to understand and protect rare tropical corals.

Many non-native plant species introduced by humans have become naturalized. At the same time many species are threatened in their native range. However, the number of plant species threatened in their native range that are naturalized elsewhere remains unknown. So too does the set of characteristics that distinguishes such species from other threatened species. For vascular plant species, we combined information from databases on threat status and naturalization success and information on growth forms, economic uses, and native and non-native ranges to identify plants that are threatened in their native range but naturalized in their non-native range. Among the 26,036 species assessed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, only 238 (∼1%) were naturalized elsewhere. Most of the species threatened in their native range that are naturalized elsewhere were trees or shrubs of economic value, for example, for building materials and landscaping. More threatened species than expected were naturalized in Europe, and these include species from nearly all continents. Although Africa was the largest source of species threatened in their native range but naturalized elsewhere in absolute numbers, the numbers were lower than expected due to the continent's overall large number of threatened species. Only a few threatened plant species have become naturalized, and they differed in some of their characteristics, including growth form, native origin, threats, and economic use, from other threatened species.

Mass mortality events (MMEs) are decimating populations and compromising key ecosystem functions around the globe. One taxon particularly vulnerable to MMEs is freshwater bivalve mollusks. This group has important ecosystem engineering capacities and includes highly threatened and highly invasive taxa. Thus, MMEs of freshwater bivalves have important implications for conservation and ecosystems. Despite this, little is known about the magnitude, frequency, duration, distribution, and causes of freshwater bivalve MMEs. Using a questionnaire, we compiled data from 239 reports describing freshwater bivalve MMEs across 22 European countries since 1960. With these data, we analyzed trends in MME timing, location, and magnitude; identified the species affected; and evaluated the suggested causes (including reporter certainty). We found that the frequency of reports of MMEs increased each year, MMEs affected a broad range of species, clear geographical patterns linking certain causes to specific locations were lacking, factors related to drying and habitat destruction predominated suggested causes, and considerable uncertainty surrounded the causes of many MMEs, particularly those associated with potential pollutants and disease agents. Based on our findings, we recommend the standardization of many aspects of MME research (e.g., reporting and recovery assessment protocols), increased surveying for MMEs, further investigation into the causes of MMEs, especially those with significant uncertainty, and immediate actions to improve waterbody management, mitigate the effects of high temperatures, and further protect freshwater bivalves through the development and implementation of appropriate management actions and legislation.

Prioritization in conservation is crucial for the development of efficient and effective decision-making policies. For many decades, the importance of some species and their habitats has been assessed and applied in conservation legislation, but bats and their diurnal roosts have ofbeen overlooked. Several approaches have been used to categorize bat roosts based on their conservation importance. However, such assessments are often limited to expert-level assessments, are developed for specific regions, or do not consider long-term monitoring data from community science. We devised an index, the bat roost priority index (BRP), for prioritization of bat roosts for conservation in which community science and roost seasonality, uniqueness, and vulnerability are integrated. Using community data from 568 bat roosts, we applied the BRP to the 50 most well-sampled  and compared the results with 3 other indices. We then examined the strengths and limitations of the different indices. We also used the BRP to define important bat conservation areas in specific regions in terms of underground and aboveground roosts, an important need and common request from policy makers. The BRP improved on previous prioritizations in that it classifies roosts based on biotic and vulnerability variables, provides a linear classification of all assessed roosts according to conservation action priority, and offers objective quantification of the threats affecting a roost. To illustrate the potential of the BRP, we defined important areas for bat conservation in Catalonia (Spain) based on the index. The BRP is available on the Bat Monitoring Programme online platform, where index values are calculated and shown for every registered bat roost. The BRP can be easily adapted and thus, has strong scalability potential for use with regional to continental datasets.

Consumer demand for ivory perpetuates the unsustainable and illegal killing of African elephants and other wildlife species. Interventions that aim to change consumer behavior are increasingly recognized as a crucial element of demand management. However, poor design and implementation have limited their effectiveness. We evaluated how ivory demand-management interventions in China and neighboring Southeast Asian countries align with best practices from the behavioral field of social marketing. Through a literature review, we identified 55 interventions conducted from 2008 to 2022. We used 2 social marketing frameworks to assess each intervention's capacity to influence behavior. We conducted semistructured interviews with 5 intervention practitioners to provide contextual grounding for our review findings. From 2018 to 2022, social marketing principles were more frequently applied and interventions were of a higher quality (n = 26) than interventions conducted from 2008 to 2017, reflecting a growing adoption of consumer-insight-driven strategies. Since 2018, 7 interventions applied no social marketing principles, and 9 interventions, to varying degrees, included monitoring and evaluation. Although 13 interventions contained some theoretical considerations, these were often vague and superficial. Despite identifying a shift from experiential practices to evidence-based approaches over time, the shift was largely restricted to communications-based social and behavior change approaches. This left the wide range of social marketing approaches underused. Ivory demand management must improve the breadth and depth of social marketing used to contribute to long-term elephant conservation. We suggest all consumer approaches tackling demand for wildlife meaningfully consider integrating behavioral theories in intervention design, undertake primary or secondary research to enable evidence-led decision-making, conduct systematic monitoring for evidence-based learning and adaptation, and use impact and process evaluation methods to understand the mechanisms and magnitude of behavioral change following interventions.