Conservation Biology最新文献

Conducting conservation research and establishing protected areas (PAs) based on research results are critical to biodiversity conservation. However, the effect of research and PAs on conservation of threatened species has rarely been evaluated simultaneously. We collected data on PAs from 2000 for 2021 and determined the number of publications on global primates (published from 1950 to 2021) to assess the effect of PAs, research, and biological and socioeconomic factors on the current International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered status and change in status. We used the MCMCglmm package to conduct a phylogenetic comparative analysis to control the phylogenetic relationship of primate species. The status of 24.6% (82 of 333) of species assessed at least twice declined. Only the black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) had an improved status. Species with status declines mostly occurred on the south coast of West Africa and in Madagascar. PAs covered 22.1% of each species' range. Forest loss in PAs (5.5%) was significantly lower than forest loss within 5 km outside PAs (13.8%), suggesting PAs effectively mitigated forest loss. Both the median number of total publications and conservation publications on critically endangered species were higher than those of other categories. Models showed that PA coverage and number of publications or conservation-focused publications were not related to current status or change in status over time. A decline in status was not related to creation of PAs or increase of research since the last assessment. Our results suggest that current PAs and research are not reversing the extinction crisis of global primates. Doing more conservation-oriented research, strengthening management of current PAs, and expanding PAs will be needed to protect primates globally.

Religious environmentalism relies upon religious texts and leadership to promote effective and long-lasting change for environmental problems, such as responsible use and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. World religions note the importance of biodiversity and humanity's responsibility in stewarding biodiversity as a member of ecological communities. We reviewed Quranic verses that relate to biodiversity and align with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Holy Quran was reviewed in electronic and hard copy formats, and verses related to biodiversity were translated to English and tabulated by Qur'anic chapter, verse, and narrative citation. Twenty-one Qur'anic verses were identified that addressed biodiversity. Scriptures were divided into 5 groups that addressed provision of resources, governance or stewardship of resources, nature as a teacher, and human life in nature's communities or described creation of biodiversity. Qur'anic verses were aligned with 4 SDGs (goals 12-15), which address sustainable consumption of natural resources, global climate change, life in marine environments, and life in terrestrial environments, including freshwater ecosystems. This alignment demonstrates the interconnectedness of life, that conservation of biodiversity is referenced in the Quran, and how positive management of natural recourses can be beneficial to Muslim communities on local, national, and global scales. Positive movement toward ecofriendly practices, sound environmental resource use and management, biodiversity conservation, and governmental policies on conservation can be promoted through scriptures from the Holy Qur'an.

Climate change may diminish biodiversity; thus, it is urgent to predict how species' ranges may shift in the future by integrating multiple factors involving more taxa. Bats are particularly sensitive to climate change due to their high surface-to-volume ratio. However, few studies have considered geographic variables associated with roost availability and even fewer have linked the distributions of bats to their thermoregulation and energy regulation traits. We used species distribution models to predict the potential distributions of 12 bat species in China under current and future greenhouse gas emission scenarios (SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5) and examined factors that could affect species' range shifts, including climatic, geographic, habitat, and human activity variables and wing surface-to-mass ratio (S-MR). The results suggest that Ia io, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, and Rhinolophus rex should be given the highest priority for conservation in future climate conservation strategies. Most species were predicted to move northward, except for I. io and R. rex, which moved southward. Temperature seasonality, distance to forest, and distance to karst or cave were the main environmental factors affecting the potential distributions of bats. We found significant relationships between S-MR and geographic distribution, current potential distribution, and future potential distribution in the 2050s. Our work highlights the importance of analyzing range shifts of species with multifactorial approaches, especially for species traits related to thermoregulation and energy regulation, to provide targeted conservation strategies.

The editors of Conservation Biology are immensely proud to have the opportunity to help our authors revise and publish their outstanding research. Among the many excellent papers we have the privilege to publish, a few stand out for their quality and impact. To recognize authors who made particularly noteworthy contributions to the journal and conservation science, each year the editors highlight the best student-led papers published with the Rising Star Award (as judged by Conservation Biology’s editors); the most cited papers; and the papers with the highest Altmetric scores, reflecting to some extent the broader impact of their work. Here are the awardees for 2023.

Rising Stars

First place

Ian J. Ausprey

Sensitivity of tropical montane birds to anthropogenic disturbance and management strategies for their conservation in agricultural landscapes

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.14136.

Second place

Kristen Fernandes

Use of carrion fly iDNA metabarcoding to monitor invasive and native mammals

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.14098.

Third place

Martin Philippe-Lesaffre

Recovery of insular seabird populations years after rodent eradication

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.14042.

Most Cited Articles

Articles published in 2021 with the highest number of citations in 2022 and 2023.

Tina L. Cheng et al., first

The scope and severity of white-nose syndrome on hibernating bats in North America

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13739.

Enrico Di Minin et al., second

How to address data privacy concerns when using social media data in conservation science

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13708.

Steve Carver et al., third

Guiding principles for rewilding

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13730.

Highest Altmetric Scores

Articles published online in 2022 with the highest Altmetric score from publication date to 6 January 2024.

Oliver Manlik et al., first

A stochastic model for estimating sustainable limits to wildlife mortality in a changing world

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13897.

Alejandro Guizar-Coutiño et al., second

A global evaluation of the effectiveness of voluntary REDD+ projects at reducing deforestation and degradation in the moist tropics

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13970.

Freyja Watters et al., third

The U.S. market for imported wildlife not listed in the CITES multilateral treaty

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13978.

Anthropogenic stressors threaten large whales globally. Effective management requires an understanding of where, when, and why threats are occurring. Strandings data provide key information on geographic hotspots of risk and the relative importance of various threats. There is currently considerable public interest in the increased frequency of large whale strandings occurring along the US East Coast of the United States since 2016. Interest is accentuated due to a purported link with offshore wind energy development. We reviewed spatiotemporal patterns of strandings, mortalities, and serious injuries of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), the species most frequently involved, for which the US government has declared an "unusual mortality event" (UME). Our analysis highlights the role of vessel strikes, exacerbated by recent changes in humpback whale distribution and vessel traffic.  Humpback whales have expanded into new foraging grounds in recent years. Mortalities due to vessel strikes have increased significantly in these newly occupied regions, which show high vessel traffic that also increased markedly during the UME. Surface feeding and feeding in shallow waters may have been contributing factors. We found no evidence that offshore wind development contributed to strandings or mortalities. This work highlights the need to consider behavioral, ecological, and anthropogenic factors to determine the drivers of mortality and serious injury in large whales and to provide informed guidance to decision-makers.

Botanical revelation. European encounters with Australian plants before Darwin. Mabberley, D. J. 2020. The Peter Crossing Collection. NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, Australia. xi+372 pp. AUS$89.99 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-742-23647-6.

For decades Mabberley's The Plant-Book has been the most important reference on my shelf in my botanical garden office, so I was delighted to pick up this new book, which takes the reader on a unique journey into a golden age of geographical exploration. It begins with the first botanical record made in Australia, when a chronicler of de Torres’ Spanish expedition, on 6 September 1606, mentioned “many Nicaraguan plums.” Explorers initially named the new plants after ones already known in Europe. This is how the pantropical Ximenia americana (Oleaceae) family became the yellow plum, and why there are many mentions of oak, beech, and ash in English colonial records. That on his first voyage (1868–1871) Captain James Cook was accompanied by 2 eminent botanists, the English J. Banks and the Swedish D. C. Solander, was of great scientific benefit. During the journey along the east coast, 1400 new species were described, 30,000 herbarium specimens of 3000 species and some seeds were collected, and nearly a thousand botanical drawings were made. This book follows the botanical exploration of Australia with exciting twists and turns, all the way to Charles Darwin, who arrived in 1836 aboard HMS Beagle. Mabberley's meticulous work is enhanced by copious annotations and an extensive bibliography. The book will be a delight not only for those interested in the history of science and cultural history, but also for those with an interest in art. Its splendid design, size, layout, and beautiful plant illustrations will satisfy the most discerning readers.

The East Atlantic flyway of coastal birds. 50 years of exciting moments in nature conservation and research. Prokosch, P., Editor. 2024. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. 232 pp. €29.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-84-16728-69-5.

The cover of this book is an honest hint about the book itself: colorfully chaotic with bits of interesting science. It is about the natural history of wading birds that migrate along the East Atlantic flyway, and it contains chapters on breeding, migratory stopovers, and wintering grounds. There is an emphasis on the research history of the mud-loving ornithologists who contributed to this volume. It seems they wanted to tell their stories (with the inevitable detours of personal details) as much as they wanted to describe what they managed to find out and protect. Their achievements are remarkable, and all the authors deserve to be warmly congratulated for their work in studying and protecting waders. The book certainly presents a lot of interesting facts but not always in an easy-to-grasp manner. Excellent ornithologists are not necessarily excellent writers, typographers, or editors. The outcome is occasionally

People often modify the shoreline to mitigate erosion and protect property from storm impacts. The 2 main approaches to modification are gray infrastructure (e.g., bulkheads and seawalls) and natural or green infrastructure (NI) (e.g., living shorelines). Gray infrastructure is still more often used for coastal protection than NI, despite having more detrimental effects on ecosystem parameters, such as biodiversity. We assessed the impact of gray infrastructure on biodiversity and whether the adoption of NI can mitigate its loss. We examined the literature to quantify the relationship of gray infrastructure and NI to biodiversity and developed a model with temporal geospatial data on ecosystem distribution and shoreline modification to project future shoreline modification for our study location, coastal Georgia (United States). We applied the literature-derived empirical relationships of infrastructure effects on biodiversity to the shoreline modification projections to predict change in biodiversity under different NI versus gray infrastructure scenarios. For our study area, which is dominated by marshes and use of gray infrastructure, when just under half of all new coastal infrastructure was to be NI, previous losses of biodiversity from gray infrastructure could be mitigated by 2100 (net change of biodiversity of +0.14%, 95% confidence interval -0.10% to +0.39%). As biodiversity continues to decline from human impacts, it is increasingly imperative to minimize negative impacts when possible. We therefore suggest policy and the permitting process be changed to promote the adoption of NI.

Novel multihost pathogens can threaten endangered wildlife species, as well as humans and domestic animals. The zoonotic protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted by members of Felidae and can infect a large number of animal species, including humans. This parasite can have significant health consequences for infected intermediate hosts and could further endanger wild carnivore populations of Madagascar. Building on an empirical characterization of the prevalence of the pathogen in local mammals, we used mathematical models of pathogen transmission in a multihost community to compare preventative measures that aim to limit the spread of this parasite in wild carnivores. Specifically, we examined the effect of hypothetical cat vaccination and population control campaigns on reducing the risk of infection by T. gondii in wild Eupleridae. Our model predicted that the prevalence of exposure to T. gondii in cats would be around 72% and that seroprevalence would reach 2% and 43% in rodents and wild carnivores, respectively. Reducing the rodent population in the landscape by half may only decrease the prevalence of T. gondii in carnivores by 10%. Similarly, cat vaccination and reducing the population of definitive hosts had limited impact on the prevalence of T. gondii in wild carnivorans of Madagascar. A significant reduction in prevalence would require extremely high vaccination, low turnover, or both in the cat population. Other potential control methods of T. gondii in endangered Eupleridae include targeted vaccination of wild animals but would require further investigation. Eliminating the threat entirely will be difficult because of the ubiquity of cats and the persistence of the parasite in the environment.

Contemporary wildlife disease management is complex because managers need to respond to a wide range of stakeholders, multiple uncertainties, and difficult trade-offs that characterize the interconnected challenges of today. Despite general acknowledgment of these complexities, managing wildlife disease tends to be framed as a scientific problem, in which the major challenge is lack of knowledge. The complex and multifactorial process of decision-making is collapsed into a scientific endeavor to reduce uncertainty. As a result, contemporary decision-making may be oversimplified, rely on simple heuristics, and fail to account for the broader legal, social, and economic context in which the decisions are made. Concurrently, scientific research on wildlife disease may be distant from this decision context, resulting in information that may not be directly relevant to the pertinent management questions. We propose reframing wildlife disease management challenges as decision problems and addressing them with decision analytical tools to divide the complex problems into more cognitively manageable elements. In particular, structured decision-making has the potential to improve the quality, rigor, and transparency of decisions about wildlife disease in a variety of systems. Examples of management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, white-nose syndrome, avian influenza, and chytridiomycosis illustrate the most common impediments to decision-making, including competing objectives, risks, prediction uncertainty, and limited resources.

The use of celebrity endorsement in environmental conservation interventions aiming to influence human behavior has increased in recent decades. Although good practice in designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioral interventions is outlined in recent publications, guidance on developing conservation interventions with celebrity endorsement remains limited. To fill this gap, we devised a guide for decision-making relating to celebrity-endorsed behavioral interventions based on the behavioral, project design, and celebrity endorsement literatures. The guide advises conducting research to understand the behavior system in question; defining endorser selection models and celebrities based on the research; developing an endorsement strategy with the appropriate communication channels; testing the celebrity, channels, and strategy with the target audience and making adjustments as needed; and, finally, evaluating the intervention after implementation. We applied this strategy to a case study, the aim of which was to design a celebrity-endorsed intervention to reduce consumption of wild meat in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Following our guide, we found that employing evidence-based decision-making substantially enhanced our ability to understand the complexity and potential cost associated with using celebrity endorsements in behavioral interventions.