Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment最新文献

Combating climate change and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are two important challenges facing humanity. Natural climate solutions (NCSs) can contribute to the achievement of these two commitments but can also generate conflicting trade-offs. Here, we reviewed the literature and drew on expert knowledge to assess the co-benefits of and trade-offs between 150 SDG targets and NCSs within 12 selected ecosystems. We demonstrate that terrestrial, coastal, and marine NCSs enable the attainment of different sets of SDG targets, with low redundancy. Implementing NCSs in various ecosystems would therefore maximize achievement of SDG targets but would also induce trade-offs, particularly if best practices are not followed. Reliance on NCSs at large scales will require that these trade-offs be taken into consideration to ensure the simultaneous realization of positive climate outcomes and multiple SDG targets for diverse stakeholders.

Conservation conflicts are arguably one of the most complex challenges facing global biodiversity conservation. Social–ecological systems (SES) science is uniquely positioned to address this challenge. However, there is scarce scientific evidence to demonstrate that global empirical research on conservation conflicts has been conducted through an SES lens. We systematically mapped the scientific literature on a global scale to understand the landscape of conservation conflict research addressed from an SES perspective. Our mapping and subsequent analysis of 865 studies over the past three decades revealed that most research has been conducted in the US and Mexico, with conflicts arising from decisions over land use and ocean management as the most frequently studied. Of the analyzed studies, the most influential SES frameworks used were ascribed to three key publications. Our findings highlight the relative scarcity of research on conflicts in biodiversity hotspots of the Middle East, the Caribbean, and North and Central Africa.

Drones are increasingly being used to monitor, film, and survey birds. Many studies also report that, as compared to traditional methods such as ground counts or helicopter surveys, drones can reduce bird disturbance. Yet, best practices on how drones should be flown to reduce adverse behavior are usually species-specific and context-dependent, and are therefore often difficult to apply to new management scenarios. Here, we reviewed 149 avian studies, all of which involved drone use and were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and conducted a phylogenetically informed meta-analysis to better understand which factors can help to reduce flushing response in birds. The distance between the drone and the bird, drone speed, bird breeding status, and species size all strongly influenced the chances of a flushing response. Finally, we provide drone operational guidelines that are specific to and applicable across both drone type and taxa of interest.

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).

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.

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.

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.