Conservation Biology最新文献

Area of habitat (AOH) maps provide a high-resolution representation of the habitat available in a species’ range and can support conservation policy and planning processes. However, until recently, there was insufficient knowledge on the distribution of inland wetlands and freshwater biodiversity to develop AOH mapping methods specifically tailored to inland wetlands. We used a combined empirical and thematic approach to translate inland wetland habitat classes in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Habitats Classification Scheme into spatially explicit wetland-cover types derived from the Global Lakes and Wetlands Database 2 and the World Karst Aquifer Map. The AOH was subsequently estimated as the area in the mapped range that corresponded to each species’ habitat and elevation associations. We developed and tested the method with IUCN Red List assessment data, range maps, and point locality data for fishes, odonates, decapod crustaceans, and mollusks (22,876 species). The method performed well in comparison with similar methods already developed for terrestrial mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The mean map prevalence (proportion of area in a species’ range that was AOH) was 18–32% for each taxonomic group. Based on data on known localities of occurrence, 78–100% of species per taxonomic group had a higher classification accuracy than expected if AOH were distributed in the range at random. This represents an increased accuracy in the distribution of wetland species. Our study represents the first attempt to distinguish between inland wetland habitat subclasses and to include subterranean habitats in an AOH mapping method. Our method will facilitate the inclusion of previously underrepresented taxa in key conservation tools and analyses and is expected to increase the accuracy of AOH mapping for any species associated with inland wetlands.

Public acceptance of nature conservation instruments is critical for their effective and fair implementation. Understanding conservation governance as a rational activity aligns with the view that citizens base their judgments of conservation instruments on a critical evaluation of the anticipated ecological, economic, and social impacts. However, although citizens generally consider various conservation instruments acceptable, their awareness and knowledge about the instruments are often limited, suggesting that the judgments may also be influenced by factors other than knowledge. We explored acceptability of voluntary biodiversity offsetting in Finland that was written into law in 2023. We hypothesized that public acceptability of the instrument hinges partially on the level of concern for biodiversity loss and of hopefulness that biodiversity loss can be halted and that level of acceptability is justified through rational arguments regarding the instrument's impacts. We tested our hypotheses empirically with an online survey of a representative sample of Finnish citizens (n = 1993). Biodiversity offsetting was largely unknown to the public; yet, it was generally judged to be highly acceptable. The supportive argument was that biodiversity offsetting promotes resolution of conservation conflicts, and the opposing arguments were that it restricts land use and leads to degradation of nature values. Hopefulness amplified the positive effect of concern for biodiversity on acceptability of offsetting (β = 0.072). Acceptability was positively related to the argument that biodiversity offsetting results in resolution of conservation conflicts (β = 0.424) and negatively related to the claims that it results in restriction of land use (β = -0.213) and destruction of nature values (β = -0.195). Our results broaden theoretical understanding of the public acceptance of conservation policies.

The Brazilian Amazon contains the world's most diverse fish assemblages. These assemblages can be affected by freshwater fisheries, which provide food and income for riverine people, and by accelerating environmental change. We collaborated with local fishers to provide a comprehensive assessment of the spatial patterns of fish use in 3 clear-water rivers in the Brazilian Amazon: the Tapajos, Trombetas, and Tocantins. We interviewed 638 fishers in 39 communities about fish use for domestic consumption or sale, daily catches per fisher, and catch per unit effort (CPUE). We then assessed the influence of river identity, protected areas (PAs), forest cover, and landscape complexity (independent variables) on catches and CPUE estimated from interviews (response variables) through linear models. We also analyzed data from participatory catch monitoring in 21 communities along the Tapajos River (5668 fish landings). Twenty-one fish species were the most harvested and cited by interview respondents, 16 of which were migratory fishes, accounting for 82% of catches in the Tapajos River. According to fishers, daily fish catches per fisher were higher outside PAs (effect size 0.33) than inside, whereas CPUE was higher inside PAs than outside (−0.27). Catches were negatively associated with forest cover (−0.20), whereas river landscape complexity was positively associated with fish catch (0.96) and CPUE (0.66). These results can support management strategies, from regional to large scales, by reinforcing the relevance of PAs in clear-water rivers and showing the influence of landscape on fish catches. Our collaboration with fishers provided robust baseline data that can be used to inform inclusive, precautionary, and adaptive policies for conservation of threatened rivers.

In wildlife–livestock–human interfaces, pathogens capable of spreading between wild and domestic animals and humans have important implications for conservation outcomes, economics, and public health. Robust wildlife health surveillance can help address these risks. However, capacity and resource constraints hinder effective wildlife health surveillance at regional and national scales, particularly in lower- and middle-income countries. We examined how collaboration between Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) and wildlife health professionals may support the identification and mitigation of animal and zoonotic disease risks in remote and rural areas where wildlife surveillance remains underresourced. In the pastoral rangelands of Laikipia, Kenya, we completed interviews, focus group discussions, and elicitation methods from April 2023 to May 2024 to determine how Maasai pastoralists (n = 57) and trained animal health professionals (n = 10) understood wildlife health. Pastoralists held extensive place-based knowledge of wildlife health and disease, including knowledge of clinical symptoms, species affected, transmission routes, and trends that complemented, deepened, and extended the same knowledge held by trained animal health professionals. Our results suggest that combining IPLCs’ and animal health professionals’ knowledge can benefit wildlife health surveillance by enhancing surveillance efforts, furthering mutual learning about emerging or reemerging disease, providing new understanding of disease dynamics, and, more broadly, decolonizing conservation knowledge. Two practical ways IPLCs’ knowledge could be included and availed to strengthen wildlife health surveillance and research include use of community-led wildlife health surveillance and research and incorporation of ethnoveterinary training in formal wildlife veterinary curricula. However, precautions must be taken to ensure equitable distribution of benefits arising from knowledge sharing and to safeguard against the appropriation of knowledge associated with animal health and disease.

Bycatch in global tropical tuna purse seine fisheries represents a significant source of mortality for manta and devil rays (mobulids), which are globally threatened. Use of best handling and rapid release practices on purse seine vessels can substantially reduce mortality and improve vulnerability status for mobulids. However, interventions must be effective, operationally feasible, and safe for human operators if they are to be successfully implemented at a large scale. We assessed the feasibility and efficacy of an innovative mobulid bycatch release device (sorting grid) in collaboration with captains and crew of vessels in the tropical tuna purse seine fleet. We evaluated the size of individuals and duration of release when the sorting grid was used and compared these metrics with other release methods. Forty-one mobulid capture events occurred on 12 vessels. Mobulids released using the sorting grid were significantly larger than those released by other methods; yet, mean handling time remained short (∼3 min), suggesting that the device enables the rapid release of even the largest individuals. Widespread implementation and use of the mobulid sorting grid could help achieve conservation goals for threatened mobulid rays and may have broader bycatch reduction benefits. Adoption of sorting grid requirements by regional fisheries management organizations could standardize best practices and markedly improve the survival of released mobulid rays globally.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green Status of Species (GSS), introduced in 2021, is a global standard of measurement used to assess the level to which a species has recovered (i.e., is viable and providing its ecological function across its entire range). It is also used to evaluate how a species has responded to past conservation actions and the expected conservation gains and recovery potential it would receive in the short- and long-term future. Preliminary application of the GSS method has relied on expert knowledge from individuals or small groups of specialists. However, more accurate and reliable results are likely to be produced by formally eliciting individual judgments from a diverse range of experts, followed by discussion, reevaluation, and synthesis of these judgments. We developed a method in which 2 structured expert elicitation workshops are used to conduct GSS assessments and applied this method to 8 Australian freshwater fish species from the Murray–Darling Basin. We integrated the investigate, discuss, evaluate, aggregate protocol into the GSS methods; experts assessed the species’ IUCN Green Score (percent recovery) in the current state and for 5 other scenarios in the past and future with and without conservation. Four GSS conservation impact metrics were calculated based on the averages of expert judgments. Experts forecasted that impact in the short-term would be minimal (i.e., conservation gain metric = zero or low) for 5 of the 8 species because targeted and maintained conservation actions are often lacking. In contrast, experts indicated long-term recovery potential would be considerably higher if implementation of appropriate recovery activities could be sustained (all 8 species had medium or high recovery potential). We concluded that the GSS is well suited to a modified workshop approach because it aims to reduce biases associated with expert judgments and encourages valuable knowledge sharing among experts.

A poorly understood and systemic challenge to global conservation agreements is shifting baseline syndrome (SBS), wherein people misperceive the extent to which nature has changed. This can diminish societal expectations for nature recovery. We broadened the conceptual framing of SBS beyond the more common elements of nature loss to include nature recovery and the cognitive mechanisms underlying emisperceptions. To demonstrate the utility of the framework, we surveyed people living in Qunli New Town, Harbin, China. We first conducted in-depth interviews with a semirandomized sample of 42 people to qualitatively explore the diverse manifestations of environmental misperceptions and the cognitive processes that drive misperceptions in the study area. We then administered an online survey of 1018 people to quantitatively estimate the scale of SBS and identify factors affecting individual misperceptions. The accuracy of these perceptions was determined by comparing participants' reported environmental conditions with actual measurements. Inaccurate perceptions were linked to media-based (e.g., television) environmental information sources; direct interaction with nature did not foster ecological understanding in most cases; depth of personal engagement (e.g., interest in local nature and time spent per visit) was associated with such understanding; and cognitive errors underlying environmental misperceptions, including errors of omission and commission, were related to cognitive processes, such as sensation, attention, learning, thinking, and memory. More nuanced, place-based strategies are needed that explicitly address the structural and cognitive dimensions of environmental misperceptions. Minimizing such misperceptions is important so that people affected by environmental change can better respond to it. This is essential for pursuing resilient, sustainable, and inclusive societies under the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Biodiversity Framework.

The Natura 2000 (N2K) network of protected areas is one of the main tools for area-based conservation in the European Union (EU), yet its role in preserving plant biodiversity requires better understanding. We examined data kept in the European Vegetation Archive from over 1.2 million vegetation plots and obtained over 14.2 million plant species occurrences. To test the N2K network's representativeness of plant species gamma diversity, we compared the number and percentage of native and conservation priority species in- and outside the N2K network throughout the EU and for individual countries, biogeographical regions, and combinations thereof. We then determined whether N2K sites hosted more species than sites outside the network with the species-area relationship. Overall, almost 90% of the native vascular plant species occurred at least once in the N2K network. Yet, significant variation exists across countries and biogeographical regions-from 0% of species in the Boreal region of Lithuania, to 98% in the Alpine region of Croatia-indicating that local N2K sites are not equally representative of the regional gamma diversity. Nonetheless, the N2K network contains more species than land outside the network when area is taken into account. The planned expansion of the N2K network, as mandated by the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, should prioritize areas with currently underrepresented elements of the EU vascular flora.