Environmental Evidence最新文献

Background: Favourable Conservation status (FCS) is the overarching goal of the Habitats and Birds Directives, in which it is described as the situation in which a habitat or species is thriving throughout its natural range and is expected to continue to thrive. However, despite being introduced over thirty years ago, FCS has not been widely adopted as a conservation assessment framework. This systematic map aims to collate and characterise evidence to understand 1) how the term FCS is used in the literature, and 2) the context of its applications in policy and practice. Specifically, we ask the question: how is FCS defined and how has it been applied in policy and practice? This review will contribute to the field by providing the first systematic evidence synthesis on FCS, both as a concept and as a practical application, and will review the broader applicability of FCS beyond Member State reporting obligations.

Methods: A systematic search of the literature will be conducted to collate and categorise evidence on the definitions and applications of FCS and barriers to its implementation. The literature will be screened in two stages to assess relevance, firstly by titles and abstracts and secondly by the full-texts. Studies will be assessed against eligibility criteria pertaining to the components of the question. Coded data will be extracted from the relevant studies and used in a narrative synthesis to summarise the evidence in a discussion, complemented by descriptive statistics and visual aids.

Background: Riparian zones are vital transitional habitats that bridge the gap between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They support elevated levels of biodiversity and provide an array of important regulatory and provisioning ecosystem services, of which, many are fundamentally important to human well-being, such as the maintenance of water quality and the mitigation of flood risk along waterways. Increasing anthropogenic pressures resulting from agricultural intensification, industry development and the expansion of infrastructure in tropical regions have led to the widespread degradation of riparian habitats resulting in biodiversity loss and decreased resilience to flooding and erosion. Considering climate change and its associated effects on freshwater systems, the need to build resilience and adaptive capacities is pertinent. This has prompted the need to protect existing riparian habitats and the implementation of solutions to restore these degraded habitats to recover their functional capacity. This systematic map will aim to identify and collate existing literature on approaches for riparian restoration implemented in tropical regions and identify what indicators have been used to measure outcomes for biodiversity and human well-being. The resulting collation of evidence will help to identify current knowledge gaps and inform the direction of future research.

Methods: To address the aims of this systematic map, a search of pre-identified bibliographic databases will be undertaken using a set string of search terms. In addition to this, a grey literature search will be conducted using Google Scholar and by searching for references using specialist websites. All literature that is gathered will be screened by title, abstract and full text using a two-phase screening process which adheres to a pre-determined eligibility criteria. Data will then be coded from the collated group of articles using a pre-designed data coding sheet. Heterogeneity will likely be present in the data; therefore, studies will be grouped appropriately based on the restoration strategy implemented and, on the type of outcome measured. These will be presented as sub-groups. A narrative synthesis of map findings will be produced, this will outline the distribution and frequency of restoration interventions, and outcomes measured, and will highlight evidence gaps to direct future research.

Background: The extinction of species is a multifaceted phenomenon shaped by the complex interplay between biological and socio-cultural factors. Public and academic preferences for different species often play a direct or indirect role in influencing the conservation outlook of these species. The "charisma" of species and other components of biodiversity is often mentioned as an important factor in shaping human preferences, determining both the scope of scientific studies and justifications for such scope. Here, we present a protocol for systematically mapping the use of the concept of "charisma" in relation to biodiversity peer-reviewed academic literature focused on biodiversity conservation.

Methods: The search targeting academic peer-reviewed research articles and reviews will be conducted in three publication databases, The Lens, Scopus and Web of Science (Core Collection and SciELO), and will be supplemented by search engine results from Google Scholar. Broad-scope searches will be performed in 3 different languages (English, Portuguese, and Spanish) and article screening will be performed at two stages to ensure the relevance of each entry and consistency amongst reviewers in their use of the defined inclusion criteria. The resulting systematic map of the literature will be summarised by employing a narrative synthesis approach, and through descriptive statistics and analysis of temporal trends.

Background: The Pacific Ocean supports two leatherback sea turtle populations, each of which is Critically Endangered primarily as a result of ongoing incidental bycatch within small-scale and industrial fisheries. Conservation planning has included population viability analysis (PVA), which depends on accurate data on mortality and morbidity (sublethal effects) rates to yield realistic results that can inform management decision-making. Existing leatherback PVAs are based on best available data, however, estimates of mortality and morbidity rates are heavily influenced by estimates of bycatch. These, in turn, are based on unknown levels of observer coverage in many fisheries, estimated to be less than 1% coverage in some artisanal and industrial fleets. Leatherback population recovery depends on bycatch reduction. It is vital to understand the source, scope, and scale of leatherback bycatch wherever and whenever leatherbacks occur. Here, we outline a protocol for a systematic review to aggregate existing estimates of leatherback bycatch within the Pacific Ocean, on a population- and basin-level. These results will generate the first comprehensive estimate of leatherback turtle bycatch for any ocean basin and will be incorporated into future conservation planning for Pacific Ocean populations.

Methods: A Boolean search string will be input into several bibliographic databases to yield articles and grey literature (governmental, business, and industry information not controlled by commercial publishing) related to the research question. Additional grey literature searches, snowball sampling and expert elicitation will be used to create as robust and comprehensive a pool of literature and/or databases as possible. Retrieved articles will be reviewed for eligibility using the SPIDER search strategy tool (Sample- Phenomenon of Interest-Design-Evaluation -Research type; 7). Articles which meet the criteria will be included in the systematic review, and their data will be collated into comprehensive estimates of leatherback sea turtle bycatch within the Pacific Ocean, one for each population. These data will be further teased apart by fishery size, fishing gear type, fishing nation, fishery region, and fishery target species, to target management more directly. This information will be published and provided directly to stakeholders for use in conservation management.

Background: Marine sediments represent one of the planet's largest carbon stores. Bottom trawl fisheries constitute the most widespread physical disturbance to seabed habitats, which exert a large influence over the oceanic carbon dioxide (CO₂) sink. Recent research has sparked concern that seabed disturbance from trawling can therefore turn marine sediments into a large source of CO₂, but the calculations involved carry a high degree of uncertainty. This is primarily due to a lack of quantitative understanding of how trawling mixes and resuspends sediments, how it alters bioturbation, bioirrigation, and oxygenation rates, and how these processes translate into carbon fluxes into or out of sediments.

Methods: The primary question addressed by this review protocol is: how does mobile bottom fishing affect benthic carbon processing and storage? This question will be split into the following secondary questions: what is the effect of mobile bottom fishing on: (i) the amount and type of carbon found in benthic sediments; (ii) the magnitude and direction of benthic-pelagic carbon fluxes; (iii) the biogeochemical, biological, and physical parameters that control the fate of benthic carbon; and (iv) the biogeochemical, biological, and physical parameters that control the fate of resuspended carbon. Literature searches will be conducted in Web of Science, SCOPUS, PROQUEST, and a range of grey and specialist sources. An initial scoping search in Web of Science informed the final search string, which has been formulated according to Population Intervention Comparator Outcome (PICO) principles. Eligible studies must contain data concerning a change in a population of interest caused by mobile bottom fishing. Eligible study designs are Before and After, Control and Impact, and Gradient studies. Studies included at full-text screening will be critically appraised, and study findings will be extracted.Extracted data will be stored in an Excel spreadsheet. Results will be reported in narrative and quantitative syntheses using a variety of visual tools including forest plots. Meta-analysis will be conducted where sufficient data exists.