Conservation Letters最新文献

Understanding stakeholder perception is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies. Nevertheless, it is usually unclear which aspects are favored by different actors involved in environmental management. Here, we surveyed 354 stakeholders from 22 countries across the Mediterranean Basin to identify areas of agreement in their preferences. Despite broad variation in individual choices, we found a general consensus emerging across stakeholder groups (scientists, nongovernmental, and governmental organizations) on preferred ecosystem services, biodiversity facets, protected areas characteristics, and their relative importance. Specifically, our model identifies regulating ecosystem services, taxonomic diversity, and intrinsic value of nature as priorities for stakeholders. Conversely, the preferred characteristics of protected areas (e.g., size and accessibility) vary mostly based on individual preferences. We suggest that considering areas of stakeholder agreement when discussing management actions in the Mediterranean Basin will facilitate the adoption of area-based conservation actions expected by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In the Mediterranean Basin, therefore, policymakers should strive to protect areas with high regulating ecosystem services, use taxonomic diversity to engage stakeholders, prioritize ecological targets to different characteristics of protected areas, and maintain the focus of area-based conservation on nature itself. Implementing these action points should enhance support for conservation action in the region.

Recent global policy developments have highlighted the need for straightforward, robust, and meaningful biodiversity metrics. However, much of conservation science is dominated by the use of a single metric, species richness, despite several known limitations. Here, we review and synthesize why species richness (i.e., the number of species in a local area) is a poor metric for a variety of topical- and policy-relevant conservation problems. We identify the following three key issues: (1) increasing evidence emphasizes that species richness is often not a robust metric for identifying biodiversity change, (2) species richness ignores species identity and so may often not reflect impacts on species of concern, and (3) species richness does not provide information needed on the persistence of biodiversity or the provision of ecosystem services. We highlight the unappreciated practical outcomes of these limitations with examples from three ongoing conservation debates: whether local biodiversity is declining, how habitat fragmentation affects biodiversity, and the extent to which land sharing or sparing is more beneficial for biodiversity conservation. To address these limitations, we offer a set of guidelines for the use of biodiversity metrics in conservation policy and practice.

The European Union (EU) established the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) to achieve good environmental status (GES) in European seas through an ecosystem-based approach to management. EU Member States implementing the MSFD must assess the environmental status of their marine waters, as well as the human pressures and impacts affecting them. The MSFD follows a 6-year cycle, with assessments made based on 11 descriptors linked to specific pressure, state and impact-related criteria. Member States assessments should determine the extent to which GES is achieved. However, for coherent management of EU seas, comparable assessments across Member States and EU-wide overview of the status and MSFD progress are essential. This study developed pressure, state, and impact indices, by integrating available MSFD data reported by EU Member States. For the first time, MSFD data across all descriptors have been integrated to produce a European regional assessment. Findings indicate that most European regions are far from demonstrating GES, suffering from intense pressures and impacts. Significant knowledge gaps were identified, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean. The findings highlight the urgent need for enhanced ecological monitoring and setting environmental targets to improve the dire state of European seas, advocating for stronger regional cooperation and standardized methodologies.

DNA barcoding has revolutionized the identification of illegally traded material of endangered species as it overcomes the lack of resolution encountered with morphological identification. Nonetheless, in recently evolved and highly diverse clades, such as the relatives of Aloe vera, the lack of interspecific sequence variation in standardized markers compromises the barcoding efficacy. We present a new DNA barcoding tool using 189 nuclear markers, optimized for aloes (Asphodelaceae, Alooideae). We built a comprehensive sequence reference dataset from taxonomically verified sources for >300 species and validated its reliability for identification using phylogenomic inference. Seven anonymized samples from verified botanical collections and ten plants seized at London Heathrow Airport were correctly identified to species level, including a critically endangered species from Madagascar. Commercially purchased samples were confirmed to be the species as advertised. An accurate, reliable DNA barcoding method for aloe identification introduces new assurance to regulatory processes for endangered plants in trade.

Seed dispersal is threatened in fragmented landscapes by the loss of frugivores, significantly undermining the persistence of large-fruited plant species that rely on large-bodied animals. However, we lack a quantitative understanding of the roles of small-bodied frugivores in seed dispersal through fruit transportation. In an insular fragmented landscape formed by dam construction in 1959, we employed camera traps to document frugivory of a large-fruited plant species (Diospyros kaki) by camera trapping at both ground and arboreal levels. Our results reveal that reduced habitat size led to mutualism breakdown of seed dispersal of D. kaki mediated by large-bodied mammalian frugivores compared to the nearby mainland sites. However, underrated links involving fruit transportation by small-bodied frugivores, often present yet overlooked dispersal processes, may help mitigate these interaction losses. These findings highlight the importance of preserving large, continuous habitats and underrated mutualistic links in sustaining seed dispersal of large-fruited plants in fragmented landscapes.

Deforestation remains a prominent contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet while 76 million hectares of primary tropical forest have been lost since 2000, two thirds of tropical forests remain. What factors have been most important for protecting these forests? Unlike policies, which often have clearly defined spatial and temporal boundaries, the roles played by dynamic underlying political and economic structures, and their interactions with policies and emergent factors, can be challenging to identify. Expert knowledge can bridge this gap by revealing the full range of factors needed to achieve forest protection. Here, we conducted a Delphi study with 36 experts, focusing on the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia. Our results highlight the importance of political will, civil society advocacy, and intergovernmental diplomacy, and shifts in the importance of different factors over time. These findings illuminate the interactions between international and national structures and policies in generating the conditions for forest protection.

In recent years, debates around downgrading the protection of large carnivores, such as wolves (Canis lupus) or bears (Ursus arctos), have become deeply political, especially in areas where these species are recovering in mainland Europe and North America (Ausband and Mech 2023; Di Bernardi et al. 2025). Various viewpoints on lethal control, either by target or non-target removals or through culling by authorities or public hunting schemes, have particularly exacerbated the polarization around large carnivore conservation and are often riddled with biased arguments (e.g., Chapron and López-Bao 2014; Kutal and Dula 2020; Vucetich and Nelson 2014). Livestock depredation is one of the main opposing factors against sharing the landscape with large carnivores. Despite inconclusive results of the effectiveness of current practices of lethal control to prevent livestock depredations (e.g., Eeden et al. 2018; Grente et al. 2024; Kutal et al. 2024), killing large carnivores is still often perceived as an effective strategy to reduce the impact of these species on livestock (Linnell et al. 2017). Lethal control is increasingly proposed as a solution by populist, center-right politicians, as seen recently across Europe (Carter and Guillot 2024).

The last decision by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention (European Commission 2024) to downlist wolves from a “strictly protected” (Appendix II of the Bern Convention) to a “protected” (Appendix III of the Bern Convention) species, proposed by the European Commission, was entirely political and not based on scientific evidence. Even the Large Carnivore Initiative of Europe, a specialist group of IUCN's Species Survival Commission, considered the decision as “pre-mature and faulty” (LCIE 2024). However, the European Commission argued in its press release that the proposal is based on “in-depth analysis on the status of the wolf in the EU” (European Commission 2024) and stressed that “the concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans.” The Commission urged local and national authorities to “take action where necessary” (European Commission 2023), quoting the President of the European Commission from the center-right European Peoples Party.

The reasoning used by the European Commission is misleading. First, the “in-depth analysis” (Blanco and Sundseth 2023) did not actually recommend downgrading the protection status of wolves. Second, the previous study commissioned by the European Parliament on the impact of large carnivores on farmers and their livelihood (Linnell and Cretois 2018) did not provide the support for this outcome either. The current decision goes against their own recommendations from

Understanding habitat fragmentation effects on wildlife is critical to promoting effective conservation practices. There are many metrics of habitat fragmentation, from simple (number of habitat patches) to complex metrics designed to summarize many aspects of landscape patterns. To make meaningful inferences, we must understand how complex metrics are related to landscape patterns, especially to habitat amount. Here, we examine the behavior of the Edge Influence index, a metric that has been used in several influential recent studies and is designed to assess fragmentation and edge effects. Contrary to expectation, this index does not primarily quantify fragmentation or edge but rather habitat amount. Therefore, researchers should take this into consideration when interpreting the results of studies based on the Edge Influence index. To guide meaningful conservation action in fragmented landscapes, we recommend using simple, direct measures of fragmentation and separating the effects of habitat configuration from the effects of habitat amount.

Invasive species disrupt biological communities, but lethal control of invaders often meets staunch resistance, posing a conundrum for policymakers. For instance, the human-mediated spread of barred owls from eastern to western North America threatens numerous native species—including the iconic and listed spotted owl—spurring intense debate about whether to lethally control this charismatic but invasive species. A recent US Fish and Wildlife Service strategy, in particular, has drawn strong criticism based on untested claims that barred owl control is unscalable and doomed to failure. Contrary to such claims, we conducted successful lethal controls across >50,000 km² in California, removing 3373 barred owls—around one third of the state's current population. Critically, monitoring revealed that removals stabilized spotted owl populations and halted the establishment of barred owls. Our work provides direct support for the federal strategy to address this pressing issue and highlights general strategies to maximize conservation while minimizing invader killing.

Eroding perceptions of biodiversity present a significant challenge for conservation. If younger generations see current degraded states as “natural,” goals for conservation actions may not be ambitious enough, and public support may be compromised. Historical data can provide context for fully appreciating the extent of biodiversity loss. We utilize the most species-rich day of each year in North America's longest running butterfly monitoring program's most diverse site to examine how perceptions of peak butterfly richness could shift over time. In early monitoring years, days with over 50 observed species were standard, but now peak richness days have shifted over time, such that these days now see ten fewer species. High-diversity days shape perceptions of biodiversity, and we provide an example of how long-term monitoring data can be utilized to study shifting baselines in observer perceptions of biodiversity and to contextualize current observations.