Conservation Biology最新文献

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.

New Guinea, the most botanically diverse island on the planet, is the location for one of the boldest conservation initiatives. The Manokwari Declaration aims to achieve 70% conservation designation for the Bird's Head Peninsula. This is 40% higher than the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework target. However, there is a lack of species occurrence data to support evidence of where biodiversity can be best protected. To address this, we integrated plant trait data from taxonomic descriptions in species occurrence models that can inform conservation planning. Inclusion of traits improved the performance of co-occurrence models of ∼800 plant species across the 100,000-km² landscape. Traits generally improved model performance, but not all traits contributed equally (e.g., leaf size and red flower color most improved accuracy of occurrence prediction). Likewise, trait-parameterized models tended to be most useful with rare species occurrence prediction, but this was inconsistent among traits. Under 70% protection, three-quarters of the areas selected conserved trait diversity. Critically, trait diversity also increased the chances that areas at high risk of deforestation were selected as conservation priorities. Overall, we found that plant species' traits, often key parameters of ecosystem function and resilience, improved spatial conservation planning.

Forest managers recognize that proactive management strategies, such as forest assisted migration (FAM) of tree species, intended to accelerate the pace of forest adaptation, may be necessary to maintain resilient forests and combat the stressors of climate change. However, the impact of interactions between climate change and ungulate browsers of trees, both of which have profound effects on the landscape, on the success of FAM efforts is unknown. We used a forest landscape model (LANDIS-II) to simulate assisted migration and browsing by ungulate (white-tailed deer [Odocoileus virginianus]) populations on a northern Wisconsin (USA) landscape under alternate climate futures. After accounting for effects of FAM strategy and climate change scenario, simulated ungulate browsing reduced species richness and the proportion of the landscape with tree species preferred by browsers and resulted in more of the landscape developing into novel forest communities that supported fewer ecosystem goods and services. Our results suggest that managers may need to select FAM species less preferred by ungulates or use seedling protection measures to mitigate the negative effects of chronically high ungulate populations in efforts to transition future forests to sustain ecosystem goods and services.

Understanding how illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has changed over time is fundamental for biodiversity conservation; however, knowledge of the network remains limited. We used TRAFFIC's IWT dataset, legal trade data from the CITES legal wildlife trade database as a benchmark, and network analysis to identify changes in IWT from 2000 to 2022. The center of IWT shifted from Europe to Asia around the 2010s, especially through the direct flow of some species, such as rhinoceroses and pangolins, from Africa to Asia and within Asia. Despite the prominence of Africa and Asia, the network remained global and involved players on all continents, as demonstrated by a low tendency of high-degree nodes to connect to each other and a large core of about 50% of the nodes. The IWT network expanded significantly from 49 countries in 2000 to 110 countries in 2018. There was a similarly dramatic increase in the number of trade connections, from 52 edges in 2000 to 266 in 2018, highlighting the growing complexity of the trade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the IWT network exhibited resiliency; there was only a gradual decline in participating countries from 90 in 2020 to 72 in 2021. Also, during the pandemic, network clustering and geodesic distance were maintained, underscoring IWT's adaptability despite global disruptions. These network properties explain the persistent nature of IWT and suggest constant monitoring is necessary to keep up with changes in the network.

Human activities have extensive influences on wildlife communities through lethal and sublethal effects. Protected areas (PAs) can reduce lethal impacts of humans on wildlife by reducing direct killing of animals, but whether PAs can help mitigate sublethal impacts on animal behaviors, such as the human-induced shifts toward nocturnal activity (hereafter nocturnal shifts), remains unclear. Using extensive camera-trap data from 21 study sites encompassing 1897 camera locations inside and outside PAs across a global biodiversity hotspot, the Mountains of Southwest China, we examined the differences in nocturnal activities of 29 mammal species under varying values of the human modification index (HMI) inside and outside PAs at community and guild levels. At the community level, the shift to nocturnal activities as HMI increased was more pronounced inside than outside PAs (p > 0.95). Except for the diurnal and carnivore guilds, most guilds delayed significantly their activity time as HMI increased outside PAs (86-100% probability density [PD] > 0). Delays in different guilds ranged from 1.23 to 2.89 h as HMI increased from 0 to 0.35. Inside PAs, only omnivores showed a significant delay (84% PD > 0). These findings provide behavioral evidence that PAs provide temporal refuge for mammals by reducing human impacts on their diel rhythms, revealing an important mechanism by which PAs contribute to wildlife conservation through their mitigation of sublethal human impacts.

Community-based monitoring (CBM) programs are increasingly recognized as essential for adaptive environmental stewardship. Yet, the CBM literature often highlights successful cases and privileges evaluations by external experts over those of community members themselves. To address this gap, we drew on insights from 23 semistructured interviews with Cree fishers, community members, and program administrators of the James Bay Cree Nation of Wemindji (Eeyou Istchee, northern Québec). The respondents participated in a 22-year subsistence fishing monitoring program. Interviews explored participants' experiences with the program and their interpretations of interannual variations in fishing activity based on the monitoring data. Although a general decline in annual fish catches was observed, data accuracy and utility were constrained by inconsistencies in monitoring protocols. Respondents identified several opportunities for improvement, including expanding fishers' roles beyond data collection; incorporating Cree knowledge, particularly women's knowledge, in program design; and ensuring the timely and accessible communication of results. Our findings showed that CBM initiatives grounded in full Indigenous participation at all stages-from design to data interpretation and use-can enhance both program outcomes and self-determined environmental stewardship. To support similar efforts elsewhere, we codeveloped an evaluation rubric outlining key criteria for assessing and strengthening current and future Indigenous CBM programs.

Community engagement is fundamental to the success of ecosystem restoration; yet, local communities' willingness to participate depends heavily on their perceptions of the severity of degradation and urgency of restoration. Using a photo-based survey, we investigated how pastoralists on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau perceive grassland degradation and restoration across ecological systems with differing intrinsic characteristics. Based on an in-person questionnaire survey of 465 respondents, we found that local perceptions of the baseline condition of grasslands, severity of grassland degradation, and urgency of restoration were shaped significantly by intrinsic characteristics of the ecological system. In landscapes with greater topographical heterogeneity, where varied levels of grassland degradation coexist, pastoralists exhibited heightened concern and greater perceived urgency for restoration. In contrast, where ecosystems were characterized by high instability in productivity, respondents had greater tolerance for degradation and unrealistically optimistic expectations for restoration outcomes. Furthermore, our observations confirmed a generational difference consistent with shifting baseline syndrome: young individuals had less direct experience with the grasslands and showed a higher tolerance for degradation than older individuals. However, spatial variation in perceptions driven by the intrinsic characteristics of the local ecological systems was the more dominant influence. Therefore, to enhance community participation and restoration success, we recommend fostering direct engagement with the landscape to cultivate more informed perceptions of ecological degradation. Policy makers and practitioners must recognize perceptual dynamics, promote social learning, and implement adaptive management approaches tailored to local ecological conditions.