Guilherme Sementili Cardoso, Reginaldo José Donatelli
Cleaning symbiosis is an ecological phenomenon characterized by a mutually beneficial relationship between two species, where one individual (known as the cleaner) removes external parasites, debris, or other unwanted material from the body of the host (referred to as the client). One remarkable example of cleaning symbiosis involves the interaction between birds and capybaras, as shown by the photograph. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are large rodents that inhabit wetlands, such as the Brazilian Pantanal, where they are exposed to numerous ectoparasites, including ticks and lice. In these settings, certain bird species, such as the cattle tyrant (Machetornis rixosa), take on the role of cleaners by landing on the capybara's body, picking the parasites, and consuming them. Interestingly, this cleaning symbiosis is not merely a one-way interaction. Capybaras also play an active role by lying on the ground and exposing their heads, backs, and bellies, thereby allowing the birds easy access to body parts that would not be reached otherwise (Biota Neotrop 2010; https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032010000100028).
{"title":"Clean thy neighbor: the mutualistic interaction between the cattle tyrant and the capybara","authors":"Guilherme Sementili Cardoso, Reginaldo José Donatelli","doi":"10.1002/fee.2805","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2805","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cleaning symbiosis is an ecological phenomenon characterized by a mutually beneficial relationship between two species, where one individual (known as the cleaner) removes external parasites, debris, or other unwanted material from the body of the host (referred to as the client). One remarkable example of cleaning symbiosis involves the interaction between birds and capybaras, as shown by the photograph. Capybaras (<i>Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris</i>) are large rodents that inhabit wetlands, such as the Brazilian Pantanal, where they are exposed to numerous ectoparasites, including ticks and lice. In these settings, certain bird species, such as the cattle tyrant (<i>Machetornis rixosa</i>), take on the role of cleaners by landing on the capybara's body, picking the parasites, and consuming them. Interestingly, this cleaning symbiosis is not merely a one-way interaction. Capybaras also play an active role by lying on the ground and exposing their heads, backs, and bellies, thereby allowing the birds easy access to body parts that would not be reached otherwise (<i>Biota Neotrop</i> 2010; https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032010000100028).</p><p></p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2805","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142429147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roxanne S Beltran, Nikolas J Kaplanis, Lina M Arcila-Hernández, Erika S Zavaleta, Robin C Dunkin, Abraham L Borker
<p>The stakes are high in nature's classrooms. When field-based teaching is successfully implemented, students benefit from knowledge gains and hands-on experiences while deepening a sense of connection to the outdoors. Our education research has shown that field-based undergraduate courses are also a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining diverse students in science. But not all field courses are equally effective. Barriers to participation and a lack of perceived value can discourage students from engaging in field courses. Poor course design or implementation can also cause detrimental student experiences and outcomes in the field. Although education research provides loose guidelines for how to best design field courses to attain desired enrollment and outcomes, formal training on how to teach field-based ecology courses remains rare. It is time to close the gap between what we know about effective field teaching and how it is practiced.</p><p>The burden on field course instructors in attaining desired outcomes and navigating teaching challenges is enormous. Field course instructors must go above and beyond typical class content curation to develop inclusive outreach materials and safety plans, drive large vans (often for extensive periods and over long distances in remote locations), build community and cultural norms, administer first aid, attend to mental health, supervise overnight camps and shared meals, navigate drug and alcohol policies, teach students with vastly different levels of preparation, and make impromptu adjustments in response to unexpected events. Instead of being formally trained in how to address these challenges, field course instructors often learn about logistical preparation and implementation through trial-by-fire, repeating mistakes made by previous instructors because of limited knowledge transfer. Likewise, graduate students who are awarded teaching assistantships often glean how to field-teach informally by mirroring instructors, similar to an apprenticeship. A lack of training in field teaching can limit student learning outcomes and experiences, even from the most well-intentioned instructors.</p><p>The proliferation of teaching and learning centers at universities has led to transformative training programs for faculty, lecturers, graduate students, and postdocs in traditional classroom settings. These centers have partnered with faculty to develop teaching resources, facilitate departmental pedagogy workshops, fund course redesign efforts, and connect with institutional partners such as safety and accessibility offices. Applying such initiatives specifically to field-based courses is critical. We need field teaching training that attends to community standards, physical and psychosocial safety, equity, and stewardship of nature. This training should be offered to entire field teaching teams, including instructors, teaching assistants, peer mentors, and other staff. A toolkit of resources including field
{"title":"Time to close the knowledge–practice gap in field teaching","authors":"Roxanne S Beltran, Nikolas J Kaplanis, Lina M Arcila-Hernández, Erika S Zavaleta, Robin C Dunkin, Abraham L Borker","doi":"10.1002/fee.2804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2804","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The stakes are high in nature's classrooms. When field-based teaching is successfully implemented, students benefit from knowledge gains and hands-on experiences while deepening a sense of connection to the outdoors. Our education research has shown that field-based undergraduate courses are also a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining diverse students in science. But not all field courses are equally effective. Barriers to participation and a lack of perceived value can discourage students from engaging in field courses. Poor course design or implementation can also cause detrimental student experiences and outcomes in the field. Although education research provides loose guidelines for how to best design field courses to attain desired enrollment and outcomes, formal training on how to teach field-based ecology courses remains rare. It is time to close the gap between what we know about effective field teaching and how it is practiced.</p><p>The burden on field course instructors in attaining desired outcomes and navigating teaching challenges is enormous. Field course instructors must go above and beyond typical class content curation to develop inclusive outreach materials and safety plans, drive large vans (often for extensive periods and over long distances in remote locations), build community and cultural norms, administer first aid, attend to mental health, supervise overnight camps and shared meals, navigate drug and alcohol policies, teach students with vastly different levels of preparation, and make impromptu adjustments in response to unexpected events. Instead of being formally trained in how to address these challenges, field course instructors often learn about logistical preparation and implementation through trial-by-fire, repeating mistakes made by previous instructors because of limited knowledge transfer. Likewise, graduate students who are awarded teaching assistantships often glean how to field-teach informally by mirroring instructors, similar to an apprenticeship. A lack of training in field teaching can limit student learning outcomes and experiences, even from the most well-intentioned instructors.</p><p>The proliferation of teaching and learning centers at universities has led to transformative training programs for faculty, lecturers, graduate students, and postdocs in traditional classroom settings. These centers have partnered with faculty to develop teaching resources, facilitate departmental pedagogy workshops, fund course redesign efforts, and connect with institutional partners such as safety and accessibility offices. Applying such initiatives specifically to field-based courses is critical. We need field teaching training that attends to community standards, physical and psychosocial safety, equity, and stewardship of nature. This training should be offered to entire field teaching teams, including instructors, teaching assistants, peer mentors, and other staff. A toolkit of resources including field ","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2804","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142429146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew D Hurteau, Marissa J Goodwin, Christopher Marsh, Harold SJ Zald, Brandon Collins, Marc Meyer, Malcolm P North
Changing climatic conditions are increasing overstory tree mortality in forests globally. This restructuring of the distribution of biomass is making already flammable forests more combustible, posing a major challenge for managing the transition to a lower biomass state. In western US dry conifer forests, tree density resulting from over a century of fire‐exclusion practices has increased the risk of high‐severity wildfire and susceptibility to climate‐driven mortality. Reducing dead fuel loads will require new approaches to mitigate risk to the remaining live trees by preparing forests to withstand future wildfire. Here, we used data from the Teakettle Experimental Forest in California to evaluate different prescribed fire burn frequencies and their impact on accumulated dead fuels after a 4‐year drought. Increasing burn frequency could reduce surface fuel build‐up but comes with additional challenges that will require creativity and experimentation to overcome.
{"title":"Managing fire‐prone forests in a time of decreasing carbon carrying capacity","authors":"Matthew D Hurteau, Marissa J Goodwin, Christopher Marsh, Harold SJ Zald, Brandon Collins, Marc Meyer, Malcolm P North","doi":"10.1002/fee.2801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2801","url":null,"abstract":"Changing climatic conditions are increasing overstory tree mortality in forests globally. This restructuring of the distribution of biomass is making already flammable forests more combustible, posing a major challenge for managing the transition to a lower biomass state. In western US dry conifer forests, tree density resulting from over a century of fire‐exclusion practices has increased the risk of high‐severity wildfire and susceptibility to climate‐driven mortality. Reducing dead fuel loads will require new approaches to mitigate risk to the remaining live trees by preparing forests to withstand future wildfire. Here, we used data from the Teakettle Experimental Forest in California to evaluate different prescribed fire burn frequencies and their impact on accumulated dead fuels after a 4‐year drought. Increasing burn frequency could reduce surface fuel build‐up but comes with additional challenges that will require creativity and experimentation to overcome.","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jessica Díaz Vázquez, Ian M McCullough, Maggie Haite, Patricia A Soranno, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil
Local‐scale environmental justice studies of freshwaters have found that marginalized populations are more likely than others to be burdened with poor‐quality waters. However, studies have yet to examine whether monitoring data are sufficient to determine the generality of such results at the national scale. We analyzed racial and ethnic community composition surrounding lakes and the presence of one‐time and long‐term (≥15 years) water‐quality data across the conterminous US. Relative to lakes in White and non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities were three times less likely to be monitored at least once. Moreover, as compared to lakes in White communities, lakes in communities of color were seven times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data; similarly, as compared to lakes in non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in Hispanic communities were nineteen times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data. Given this evidence, assessing the current water quality of and temporal changes in lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities is extremely difficult. To achieve equitable management outcomes for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, freshwater monitoring programs must expand their sampling and revise their designs.
{"title":"US lakes are monitored disproportionately less in communities of color","authors":"Jessica Díaz Vázquez, Ian M McCullough, Maggie Haite, Patricia A Soranno, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil","doi":"10.1002/fee.2803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2803","url":null,"abstract":"Local‐scale environmental justice studies of freshwaters have found that marginalized populations are more likely than others to be burdened with poor‐quality waters. However, studies have yet to examine whether monitoring data are sufficient to determine the generality of such results at the national scale. We analyzed racial and ethnic community composition surrounding lakes and the presence of one‐time and long‐term (≥15 years) water‐quality data across the conterminous US. Relative to lakes in White and non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities were three times less likely to be monitored at least once. Moreover, as compared to lakes in White communities, lakes in communities of color were seven times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data; similarly, as compared to lakes in non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in Hispanic communities were nineteen times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data. Given this evidence, assessing the current water quality of and temporal changes in lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities is extremely difficult. To achieve equitable management outcomes for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, freshwater monitoring programs must expand their sampling and revise their designs.","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142224440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Transformative change is needed to align common small‐scale ecological restoration approaches with expectations to restore millions of hectares of degraded lands globally. Currently, most restoration projects target small areas using costly manual methods that cannot be scaled up to meet global commitments. We propose that a judicious integration of agricultural practices into ecological restoration offers an opportunity to address this issue. This transformative process relies on three sequential and interconnected steps: (1) ensure that sufficient land is truly available for restoration; (2) compensate for the loss of agricultural production, income, or land value to encourage landholders to opt for restoration; and (3) develop scalable, affordable, and effective methods for restoring native ecosystems across the pledged hundreds of millions of hectares to deliver benefits to both nature and people. Large‐scale terrestrial restoration will require incorporating agronomic practices into the restoration toolbox to go beyond vague, ambitious promises and wishful thinking.
{"title":"Upscaling ecological restoration by integrating with agriculture","authors":"Pedro HS Brancalion, Karen D Holl","doi":"10.1002/fee.2802","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2802","url":null,"abstract":"Transformative change is needed to align common small‐scale ecological restoration approaches with expectations to restore millions of hectares of degraded lands globally. Currently, most restoration projects target small areas using costly manual methods that cannot be scaled up to meet global commitments. We propose that a judicious integration of agricultural practices into ecological restoration offers an opportunity to address this issue. This transformative process relies on three sequential and interconnected steps: (1) ensure that sufficient land is truly available for restoration; (2) compensate for the loss of agricultural production, income, or land value to encourage landholders to opt for restoration; and (3) develop scalable, affordable, and effective methods for restoring native ecosystems across the pledged hundreds of millions of hectares to deliver benefits to both nature and people. Large‐scale terrestrial restoration will require incorporating agronomic practices into the restoration toolbox to go beyond vague, ambitious promises and wishful thinking.","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toco toucan documented as prey for the black-and-chestnut eagle in Argentina","authors":"Alejandro A Schaaf, Juan I Reppucci","doi":"10.1002/fee.2798","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2798","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142130340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Celso AG Santos, Carlos AC dos Santos, Helenilza FA Cunha, Alan C da Cunha, Skye Hellenkamp, Richarde M da Silva
<p>Within Indigenous territories in the Amazon—particularly in a >5 million square kilometer area collectively known as the Legal Amazon or Amazônia Legal, where more than half of the Brazilian Indigenous population resides—deforestation and wildfires pose major threats to biodiversity and the cultural survival of native peoples (Vieira and da Silva <span>2024</span>). Illegal activities such as logging and mineral extraction, which are often driven by economic interests that disregard the legally guaranteed territorial rights of Indigenous communities, exacerbate these threats and thereby further adversely impact biodiversity and the cultural integrity of native peoples in the region. Environmental degradation not only impairs the traditional lifestyles of these communities but also intensifies global, regional, and local drivers contributing to climate change (Soares-Filho <i>et al</i>. <span>2010</span>; Estrada <i>et al</i>. <span>2022</span>).</p><p>Climate extremes in the Amazon have amplified in frequency and intensity, and the risks to Indigenous populations and environments have concurrently expanded. Given this complex picture of dynamic physical changes interacting with diverse social dimensions over time, forecasting the potentially exacerbated risk of climate-related disasters becomes an important scientific challenge (Antunes <i>et al</i>. <span>2016</span>; de Souza <i>et al</i>. <span>2024</span>). The region's vulnerability to extreme climatic conditions and human disturbances, such as deforestation and wildfires, remains poorly understood despite increased research efforts. This knowledge gap presents substantial risks, compounded by hydrological stress that disrupts plant physiological processes and regional climate dynamics. Of the wildfires that impacted Indigenous communities in Brazil from 2001 to 2023, 75% occurred within the states of Amazonas, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, and Pará, with corresponding increases in burned areas and deforestation rates of 75% and 45%, respectively, primarily between 2010 and 2020 (da Silva <i>et al</i>. <span>2023</span>). In addition, a decline in rainfall during this 22-year period further impacted the Amazon's hydrological cycle, critical to maintaining continental climate stability (Nobre <i>et al</i>. <span>2016</span>; Santos <i>et al</i>. <span>2024</span>). Recent droughts have highlighted the system's fragility, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive assessments of its resilience to anthropogenic climate change to prevent or mitigate catastrophic losses of ecosystem services such as the provision of food and fresh water (Ottoni <i>et al</i>. <span>2023</span>).</p><p>Addressing these challenges requires sophisticated and localized strategies that account for the Amazon's ecological heterogeneity. Immediate and coordinated governmental actions are crucial, particularly in collaboration with Indigenous territories. Establishing effective monitoring systems in partnership with I
{"title":"Protecting Amazon's Indigenous lands: a multidisciplinary approach","authors":"Celso AG Santos, Carlos AC dos Santos, Helenilza FA Cunha, Alan C da Cunha, Skye Hellenkamp, Richarde M da Silva","doi":"10.1002/fee.2796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2796","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Within Indigenous territories in the Amazon—particularly in a >5 million square kilometer area collectively known as the Legal Amazon or Amazônia Legal, where more than half of the Brazilian Indigenous population resides—deforestation and wildfires pose major threats to biodiversity and the cultural survival of native peoples (Vieira and da Silva <span>2024</span>). Illegal activities such as logging and mineral extraction, which are often driven by economic interests that disregard the legally guaranteed territorial rights of Indigenous communities, exacerbate these threats and thereby further adversely impact biodiversity and the cultural integrity of native peoples in the region. Environmental degradation not only impairs the traditional lifestyles of these communities but also intensifies global, regional, and local drivers contributing to climate change (Soares-Filho <i>et al</i>. <span>2010</span>; Estrada <i>et al</i>. <span>2022</span>).</p><p>Climate extremes in the Amazon have amplified in frequency and intensity, and the risks to Indigenous populations and environments have concurrently expanded. Given this complex picture of dynamic physical changes interacting with diverse social dimensions over time, forecasting the potentially exacerbated risk of climate-related disasters becomes an important scientific challenge (Antunes <i>et al</i>. <span>2016</span>; de Souza <i>et al</i>. <span>2024</span>). The region's vulnerability to extreme climatic conditions and human disturbances, such as deforestation and wildfires, remains poorly understood despite increased research efforts. This knowledge gap presents substantial risks, compounded by hydrological stress that disrupts plant physiological processes and regional climate dynamics. Of the wildfires that impacted Indigenous communities in Brazil from 2001 to 2023, 75% occurred within the states of Amazonas, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, and Pará, with corresponding increases in burned areas and deforestation rates of 75% and 45%, respectively, primarily between 2010 and 2020 (da Silva <i>et al</i>. <span>2023</span>). In addition, a decline in rainfall during this 22-year period further impacted the Amazon's hydrological cycle, critical to maintaining continental climate stability (Nobre <i>et al</i>. <span>2016</span>; Santos <i>et al</i>. <span>2024</span>). Recent droughts have highlighted the system's fragility, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive assessments of its resilience to anthropogenic climate change to prevent or mitigate catastrophic losses of ecosystem services such as the provision of food and fresh water (Ottoni <i>et al</i>. <span>2023</span>).</p><p>Addressing these challenges requires sophisticated and localized strategies that account for the Amazon's ecological heterogeneity. Immediate and coordinated governmental actions are crucial, particularly in collaboration with Indigenous territories. Establishing effective monitoring systems in partnership with I","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2796","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142137861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
<p>Science aims not only to describe the universe but also to make predictions, allowing us to react accordingly and improve our quality of life. Over recent decades, scientists have meticulously recorded and described climate patterns and processes worldwide. Predictions regarding climate change in response to anthropogenic factors, such as atmospheric greenhouse-gas emissions, were initially made long ago (<i>Q J Roy Meteor Soc</i> 1938; <i>Nature</i> 1972; <i>Science</i> 1975) and have been continually refined through successive studies and reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Presented in a plethora of international conferences, these predictions were reasonably close to current observations. However, humanity has largely disregarded these predictions, and as a result, science has not fully served one of its purposes. Thus, the current widespread occurrence of droughts, heatwaves, and intense wildfires should come as no surprise—in fact, it can be argued that these are outcomes that humanity has collectively chosen. Despite some uncertainties, including local-scale processes and societal reactions, the climate will continue to change in the short term.</p><p>For different parts of the world and for different branches of the tree of life, scientists have also been predicting the ecological consequences of ignoring those climate predictions. Given that humans have changed the climate, the distribution and structure of biota must also change, and given the rate of change, this implies a loss of biodiversity. Aiming to preserve 20th-century ecosystems within a 21st-century climate is naive. Examples of shifts in ecosystem structure, function, and biodiversity caused by droughts, warming temperatures, and changes in fire regimes are accumulating, and many more shifts are yet to come; indeed, studies of such phenomena are likely to overwhelm ecological research in the coming years. Relentless climate change, together with other anthropogenic impacts such as pollution, land-use change, and non-native invasive species, is shifting the biodiversity baseline to a new normal. Ecological restoration no longer requires looking at the past (reference ecosystems) but rather focusing on sustainability under the predicted future (novel ecosystems and no-analog communities).</p><p>Self-interest and social inertia across the entire human population, along with purposeful misinformation by major social actors like fossil-fuel companies (<i>Science</i> 2023), have led to the so-called “tragedy of the commons” prevailing over scientific evidence. Improving our predictive ability (one of the objectives of science) does not seem to be a priority anymore as it is not a limiting factor. Ecologists continue to monitor the changes (for example, scientists as “insectometers”; <i>P Natl Acad Sci USA</i> 2021). In so doing, we certainly learn about how the biosphere and biodiversity are functioning, but we are witnessing a vanishing world that has—up
{"title":"Science in a changing world","authors":"Juli G Pausas","doi":"10.1002/fee.2797","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2797","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Science aims not only to describe the universe but also to make predictions, allowing us to react accordingly and improve our quality of life. Over recent decades, scientists have meticulously recorded and described climate patterns and processes worldwide. Predictions regarding climate change in response to anthropogenic factors, such as atmospheric greenhouse-gas emissions, were initially made long ago (<i>Q J Roy Meteor Soc</i> 1938; <i>Nature</i> 1972; <i>Science</i> 1975) and have been continually refined through successive studies and reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Presented in a plethora of international conferences, these predictions were reasonably close to current observations. However, humanity has largely disregarded these predictions, and as a result, science has not fully served one of its purposes. Thus, the current widespread occurrence of droughts, heatwaves, and intense wildfires should come as no surprise—in fact, it can be argued that these are outcomes that humanity has collectively chosen. Despite some uncertainties, including local-scale processes and societal reactions, the climate will continue to change in the short term.</p><p>For different parts of the world and for different branches of the tree of life, scientists have also been predicting the ecological consequences of ignoring those climate predictions. Given that humans have changed the climate, the distribution and structure of biota must also change, and given the rate of change, this implies a loss of biodiversity. Aiming to preserve 20th-century ecosystems within a 21st-century climate is naive. Examples of shifts in ecosystem structure, function, and biodiversity caused by droughts, warming temperatures, and changes in fire regimes are accumulating, and many more shifts are yet to come; indeed, studies of such phenomena are likely to overwhelm ecological research in the coming years. Relentless climate change, together with other anthropogenic impacts such as pollution, land-use change, and non-native invasive species, is shifting the biodiversity baseline to a new normal. Ecological restoration no longer requires looking at the past (reference ecosystems) but rather focusing on sustainability under the predicted future (novel ecosystems and no-analog communities).</p><p>Self-interest and social inertia across the entire human population, along with purposeful misinformation by major social actors like fossil-fuel companies (<i>Science</i> 2023), have led to the so-called “tragedy of the commons” prevailing over scientific evidence. Improving our predictive ability (one of the objectives of science) does not seem to be a priority anymore as it is not a limiting factor. Ecologists continue to monitor the changes (for example, scientists as “insectometers”; <i>P Natl Acad Sci USA</i> 2021). In so doing, we certainly learn about how the biosphere and biodiversity are functioning, but we are witnessing a vanishing world that has—up","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2797","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142130343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ovidiu Copoț, Asko Lõhmus, Kessy Abarenkov, Leho Tedersoo, Kadri Runnel
In navigating the biodiversity crisis, a major uncertainty is the conservation status of inconspicuous, yet megadiverse and functionally crucial, soil organisms. Massive datasets on soil biota are accumulating through molecular sampling approaches, but to date these datasets have provided only limited input into conservation planning and management. We investigated how environmental DNA (eDNA) data of soil macrofungi contribute to regional Red List assessments, which are currently based on fruiting bodies (hereafter, fruit‐bodies). In our test region of Estonia (northern Europe), which contained ~15,000 fruit‐body records for 1583 assessed species, an average soil sample increased the range estimates of Threatened and Near Threatened fungal species by 0.18%. Five hundred soil samples almost doubled their known localities and added 19% previously unrecorded species. However, even after accumulating >1000 soil samples, about half of the Threatened and Near Threatened species known by fruit‐bodies remained undetected through eDNA techniques. Effective conservation assessment of soil fungi thus requires both fruit‐body and eDNA data; therefore, special efforts are needed to make these data available to conservationists.
{"title":"Contribution of environmental DNA toward fungal Red Listing","authors":"Ovidiu Copoț, Asko Lõhmus, Kessy Abarenkov, Leho Tedersoo, Kadri Runnel","doi":"10.1002/fee.2791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2791","url":null,"abstract":"In navigating the biodiversity crisis, a major uncertainty is the conservation status of inconspicuous, yet megadiverse and functionally crucial, soil organisms. Massive datasets on soil biota are accumulating through molecular sampling approaches, but to date these datasets have provided only limited input into conservation planning and management. We investigated how environmental DNA (eDNA) data of soil macrofungi contribute to regional Red List assessments, which are currently based on fruiting bodies (hereafter, fruit‐bodies). In our test region of Estonia (northern Europe), which contained ~15,000 fruit‐body records for 1583 assessed species, an average soil sample increased the range estimates of Threatened and Near Threatened fungal species by 0.18%. Five hundred soil samples almost doubled their known localities and added 19% previously unrecorded species. However, even after accumulating >1000 soil samples, about half of the Threatened and Near Threatened species known by fruit‐bodies remained undetected through eDNA techniques. Effective conservation assessment of soil fungi thus requires both fruit‐body and eDNA data; therefore, special efforts are needed to make these data available to conservationists.","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tamika J Lunn, Reilly T Jackson, Paul W Webala, Joseph G Ogola, Kristian M Forbes
Identifying the locations and drivers of high‐risk interfaces between humans and wildlife is crucial for managing zoonotic disease risk. We suggest that continent‐wide improvements to residential housing in Africa are inadvertently creating artificial roosting habitat for synanthropic free‐tailed bats (family Molossidae), and that improved buildings are a rapidly accelerating exposure interface that needs urgent research attention and investment. Along a residential gradient in rural southern Kenya, we mapped building use by free‐tailed bats in 1109 buildings. We show that bats often roost in human‐occupied buildings, with almost one‐in‐ten buildings exhibiting evidence of bat occupation (9.2%) and one‐in‐13 found to contain active bat roosts (7.6%). We identified modern‐build styles and triangular roofing as building‐level predictors of bat occupation, and the proportion of modern buildings as a landscape‐level predictor of bat occupancy. Humane preemptive exclusion of bats (by sealing bat entry points to buildings) and restoration of natural roosting habitats should be prioritized as One Health land‐use planning strategies in rural Africa.
{"title":"Modern building structures are a landscape‐level driver of bat–human exposure risk in Kenya","authors":"Tamika J Lunn, Reilly T Jackson, Paul W Webala, Joseph G Ogola, Kristian M Forbes","doi":"10.1002/fee.2795","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2795","url":null,"abstract":"Identifying the locations and drivers of high‐risk interfaces between humans and wildlife is crucial for managing zoonotic disease risk. We suggest that continent‐wide improvements to residential housing in Africa are inadvertently creating artificial roosting habitat for synanthropic free‐tailed bats (family Molossidae), and that improved buildings are a rapidly accelerating exposure interface that needs urgent research attention and investment. Along a residential gradient in rural southern Kenya, we mapped building use by free‐tailed bats in 1109 buildings. We show that bats often roost in human‐occupied buildings, with almost one‐in‐ten buildings exhibiting evidence of bat occupation (9.2%) and one‐in‐13 found to contain active bat roosts (7.6%). We identified modern‐build styles and triangular roofing as building‐level predictors of bat occupation, and the proportion of modern buildings as a landscape‐level predictor of bat occupancy. Humane preemptive exclusion of bats (by sealing bat entry points to buildings) and restoration of natural roosting habitats should be prioritized as One Health land‐use planning strategies in rural Africa.","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141945176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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