Zhirong Zhang, Yun Su, Wenbin Yan, Zongzhi Li, Tianhua Hu, Jiwu Zhang, Liwei Teng, Zhensheng Liu
The genus Moschus, or musk deer, is endemic to Asia and comprises seven species that live from alpine meadows to dense forests. Musk deer are renowned for producing musk, a substance highly prized in traditional medicine and perfumery, which has led to severe poaching and dramatic population declines. With global climate change, the expansion of human activities such as agriculture, road construction and illegal logging has significantly increased the destruction of musk deer habitat, further threatening the survival of these species. Legal protections, including national level I status in China and CITES Appendix I listing, have been implemented to combat poaching and support conservation, but the population status of musk deer remains precarious. For a long time, the classification of musk deer has been confusing and not clearly recognized, which is not conducive to the conservation of musk deer and the development and implementation of policy, resulting in a lack of attention to the species. This study provides a comprehensive review of the historical taxonomic and evolutionary background of musk deer and presents their current global distribution and conservation status. This work aims to enhance public understanding of these threatened species and inform ongoing conservation efforts.
{"title":"Evolutionary taxonomy and conservation status of environmentally sensitive and endangered musk deer (Moschus spp.): An updated review","authors":"Zhirong Zhang, Yun Su, Wenbin Yan, Zongzhi Li, Tianhua Hu, Jiwu Zhang, Liwei Teng, Zhensheng Liu","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70222","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The genus <i>Moschus</i>, or musk deer, is endemic to Asia and comprises seven species that live from alpine meadows to dense forests. Musk deer are renowned for producing musk, a substance highly prized in traditional medicine and perfumery, which has led to severe poaching and dramatic population declines. With global climate change, the expansion of human activities such as agriculture, road construction and illegal logging has significantly increased the destruction of musk deer habitat, further threatening the survival of these species. Legal protections, including national level I status in China and CITES Appendix I listing, have been implemented to combat poaching and support conservation, but the population status of musk deer remains precarious. For a long time, the classification of musk deer has been confusing and not clearly recognized, which is not conducive to the conservation of musk deer and the development and implementation of policy, resulting in a lack of attention to the species. This study provides a comprehensive review of the historical taxonomic and evolutionary background of musk deer and presents their current global distribution and conservation status. This work aims to enhance public understanding of these threatened species and inform ongoing conservation efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70222","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146162297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Michael Klaver, Bianca Currie, James G. Sekonya, Kaera Coetzer
Increasingly, effective conservation requires multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships extending beyond formal protected area boundaries to achieve institutional fit at the appropriate scale. In this paper, we present a case study from a South African biodiversity hotspot that explores the motivation and processes driving a collaborative conservation initiative across a multifunctional landscape. The case study presents the ‘how’ and ‘why’ the conservation initiative exists and persists, with leopard conservation being the catalyst for the partnership, but with positive knock-on effects for biodiversity conservation more broadly. Data were collected from interviews, surveys, and documents. Participants highlight the role of strong leadership, prior collaborative networks, a shared willingness for landscape-level collaboration, and the benefits of partnerships for biodiversity conservation, bridging the gap between public and private institutions. Scientific research was leveraged to support adaptive management, public education, and capacity building, and played a critical role in providing accurate data that can inform conservation management. Emphasized in this case are shared learning, knowledge sharing, and capacity building, ensuring the sustainability of conservation activities and supporting adaptive conservation actions that influence broader conservation efforts at larger scales.
{"title":"Exploring collaborative conservation across a multifunctional landscape in the Boland Mountain Complex, South Africa","authors":"Michael Klaver, Bianca Currie, James G. Sekonya, Kaera Coetzer","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70213","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Increasingly, effective conservation requires multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships extending beyond formal protected area boundaries to achieve institutional fit at the appropriate scale. In this paper, we present a case study from a South African biodiversity hotspot that explores the motivation and processes driving a collaborative conservation initiative across a multifunctional landscape. The case study presents the ‘how’ and ‘why’ the conservation initiative exists and persists, with leopard conservation being the catalyst for the partnership, but with positive knock-on effects for biodiversity conservation more broadly. Data were collected from interviews, surveys, and documents. Participants highlight the role of strong leadership, prior collaborative networks, a shared willingness for landscape-level collaboration, and the benefits of partnerships for biodiversity conservation, bridging the gap between public and private institutions. Scientific research was leveraged to support adaptive management, public education, and capacity building, and played a critical role in providing accurate data that can inform conservation management. Emphasized in this case are shared learning, knowledge sharing, and capacity building, ensuring the sustainability of conservation activities and supporting adaptive conservation actions that influence broader conservation efforts at larger scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70213","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146155207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
At the forefront of invasive alien species (IAS) control, information gaps about the latest IAS distribution can hinder the required actions of local governments. In Japan, many prefectural governments still lack a list of invasive species despite the request stipulated in the Action Plan for Prevention of Damage from Alien Species enacted in 2015. Here, we examined to what extent open research-based data deposited by museums and herbaria (ORD) and community science data by volunteers (CSD) can fill the gaps. We focused on 145 plant and 38 insect species and updated their distribution maps using ORD and CSD. We identified new distributions of 106 plant invasive species among 145, and 16 insect invasive species among 38, by combining data from ORD and CSD. We also found both complementarity and shared limitations between ORD and CSD. While taxonomic biases were less pronounced in ORD, CSD provided broader prefectural coverage. However, some important taxa—particularly small insect pests—were rarely captured by either ORD or CSD, indicating a common gap. Based on these findings, we recommend mobilizing diverse data sources, promoting community science, conducting taxon-specific expert surveillance, and building local capacity to better utilize ORD and CSD in local governments.
{"title":"Harnessing community science and open research-based data to track distributions of invasive species in Japan","authors":"Shoko Sakai, Keisuke Atsumi, Takanori Genroku, Koichi Goka, Shogoro Fujiki","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70204","url":null,"abstract":"<p>At the forefront of invasive alien species (IAS) control, information gaps about the latest IAS distribution can hinder the required actions of local governments. In Japan, many prefectural governments still lack a list of invasive species despite the request stipulated in the Action Plan for Prevention of Damage from Alien Species enacted in 2015. Here, we examined to what extent open research-based data deposited by museums and herbaria (ORD) and community science data by volunteers (CSD) can fill the gaps. We focused on 145 plant and 38 insect species and updated their distribution maps using ORD and CSD. We identified new distributions of 106 plant invasive species among 145, and 16 insect invasive species among 38, by combining data from ORD and CSD. We also found both complementarity and shared limitations between ORD and CSD. While taxonomic biases were less pronounced in ORD, CSD provided broader prefectural coverage. However, some important taxa—particularly small insect pests—were rarely captured by either ORD or CSD, indicating a common gap. Based on these findings, we recommend mobilizing diverse data sources, promoting community science, conducting taxon-specific expert surveillance, and building local capacity to better utilize ORD and CSD in local governments.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70204","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146155112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
In an era of environmental instability, climate-informed land-use planning allows preparation for a more resilient future. By identifying places with high climate-change refugia potential and climate connectivity, management and stewardship plans can be adapted over time to achieve biodiversity goals. The objective of the Climate-informed Conservation Planning project is to provide an efficient pathway for collaborative planning between Indigenous and provincial governments to develop a long-term management approach to maintain environmental and cultural values while reducing the risks from climate change. Working directly with the shíshálh-BC Modernized Land Use Planning table on the South Coast of British Columbia to support climate-resilient planning, this process identified areas projected to have refugia potential, to maximize habitat connectivity, to monitor ecosystem resilience variables, and to realize planning objectives within dynamic adaptive planning cycles. Key activities include: (a) introducing the climate-change refugia concept and other knowledge translation activities, (b) identifying and evaluating spatial priorities for conservation management with higher potential for climate-change refugia and connectivity, (c) customizing priority scenarios with additional data and local knowledge to highlight where the best conservation investments might contribute to local and provincial biodiversity goals, and (d) suggestions for implementing the plan dynamically and proactively to mitigate current and emerging environmental risks with monitoring, reporting, and proactive adaptation planning cycles.
{"title":"Stability and connection: Climate-informed Modernized Land Use Planning on the south coast of British Columbia","authors":"Gregory Kehm, Isabelle Houde, Jessica Stolar","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70125","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In an era of environmental instability, climate-informed land-use planning allows preparation for a more resilient future. By identifying places with high climate-change refugia potential and climate connectivity, management and stewardship plans can be adapted over time to achieve biodiversity goals. The objective of the Climate-informed Conservation Planning project is to provide an efficient pathway for collaborative planning between Indigenous and provincial governments to develop a long-term management approach to maintain environmental and cultural values while reducing the risks from climate change. Working directly with the shíshálh-BC Modernized Land Use Planning table on the South Coast of British Columbia to support climate-resilient planning, this process identified areas projected to have refugia potential, to maximize habitat connectivity, to monitor ecosystem resilience variables, and to realize planning objectives within dynamic adaptive planning cycles. Key activities include: (a) introducing the climate-change refugia concept and other knowledge translation activities, (b) identifying and evaluating spatial priorities for conservation management with higher potential for climate-change refugia and connectivity, (c) customizing priority scenarios with additional data and local knowledge to highlight where the best conservation investments might contribute to local and provincial biodiversity goals, and (d) suggestions for implementing the plan dynamically and proactively to mitigate current and emerging environmental risks with monitoring, reporting, and proactive adaptation planning cycles.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70125","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145983825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
With the majority of terrestrial land privately owned and the Earth in a biodiversity extinction crisis, it is vital to improve our understanding of biodiversity on private lands. However, documenting biodiversity on private lands is challenging due to the time and financial constraints in gaining access, hindering our understanding of the value of private lands for conservation. In recent decades, citizen science has offered a unique opportunity to obtain biodiversity data on private lands through engaging landholders and encouraging participation in biodiversity documentation. To determine the value of citizen science for biodiversity sampling on private lands and enhance our understanding of the importance of private lands, we leveraged nearly 500,000 frog occurrence records from across New South Wales, Australia, from the Australian citizen science project, FrogID. Pairing this data with land tenure data, we found that private land was relatively better sampled than public land by citizen science data, with 86% of records from private lands. Private and public lands supported moderately different biodiversity, and frog species richness was predicted to likely be higher on private land once aridity and sampling density were accounted for. Citizen science offers a novel technique to supplement biodiversity data collection by rapidly amassing occurrence data on broad scales. Private lands are essential for global biodiversity conservation, encompassing the majority of land and providing vital habitat for both threatened and non-threatened taxa.
{"title":"The importance of private land for biodiversity conservation is highlighted by rapid, broad-scale sampling using citizen science","authors":"Grace L. Gillard, Jodi J. L. Rowley","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70215","url":null,"abstract":"<p>With the majority of terrestrial land privately owned and the Earth in a biodiversity extinction crisis, it is vital to improve our understanding of biodiversity on private lands. However, documenting biodiversity on private lands is challenging due to the time and financial constraints in gaining access, hindering our understanding of the value of private lands for conservation. In recent decades, citizen science has offered a unique opportunity to obtain biodiversity data on private lands through engaging landholders and encouraging participation in biodiversity documentation. To determine the value of citizen science for biodiversity sampling on private lands and enhance our understanding of the importance of private lands, we leveraged nearly 500,000 frog occurrence records from across New South Wales, Australia, from the Australian citizen science project, FrogID. Pairing this data with land tenure data, we found that private land was relatively better sampled than public land by citizen science data, with 86% of records from private lands. Private and public lands supported moderately different biodiversity, and frog species richness was predicted to likely be higher on private land once aridity and sampling density were accounted for. Citizen science offers a novel technique to supplement biodiversity data collection by rapidly amassing occurrence data on broad scales. Private lands are essential for global biodiversity conservation, encompassing the majority of land and providing vital habitat for both threatened and non-threatened taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70215","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146162702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Toni Lyn Morelli, Tina G. Mozelewski, Diana Stralberg
<p>The past decade has seen major advances in the study of climate-change refugia (Morelli et al., <span>2026</span>), defined as areas on the landscape relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time that enable the persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources (Morelli et al., <span>2016</span>). From its inception in paleoecology to its application in modern climate adaptation (Keppel et al., <span>2015</span>), the refugia concept has grown enormously and expanded its focus beyond mapping to conservation implementation, with several recent syntheses providing comprehensive overviews (e.g., Keppel et al., <span>2024</span>; Morelli et al., <span>2020</span>).</p><p>Today, as climate adaptation increasingly emphasizes on-the-ground action, so too is refugia science evolving from conceptual exploration to practical application. In this special issue, we highlight recent advances in climate-change refugia conservation and management across a diverse set of ecosystems while conveying the current state of refugia science. This collection of papers showcases the latest contributions of work along the climate-change refugia science to implementation spectrum from a diversity of perspectives, methods, and geographies. We show that refugia science is being applied to guide on-the-ground management decisions and the investment of resources, even as it continues to evolve and expand to incorporate new methodologies and perspectives. The individual studies seek to address questions about where, how, and for how long refugia may support conservation of biodiversity in the face of climate change, and they provide examples of how early adopters are incorporating refugia into climate adaptation, conservation, and landscape planning in a changing world. They illustrate how practitioners are increasingly integrating refugia science into their work to guide on-the-ground management decisions and the investment of resources worldwide.</p><p>As refugia science and conservation have matured, the nuance and complexity of the methods have increased. Advances in spatiotemporal data availability have led to the development of high-resolution, large-extent products based on a variety of remotely sensed inputs and predictive models (Krawchuk et al., <span>2026</span>; Stralberg et al., <span>2026</span>). These advances have been leveraged to record abiotic factors as well as to estimate species occurrence and abundance (Cavalieri et al., <span>2026</span>; Dykema et al., <span>2026</span>). Nevertheless, an often overlooked key step to refugia conservation is validating refugia hypotheses (Barrows et al. <span>2020</span>). Such validation may require fine-scale, in-depth study to understand the mechanism by which coarse-scale relationships are built (Bentze et al., <span>2026</span>). Nadeau et al. (<span>2026</span>) present a case study for this process, illustrating how independent field data collection and experiments can v
在过去的十年中,气候变化避难所的研究取得了重大进展(Morelli et al., 2026),它被定义为随着时间的推移,景观上相对缓冲当代气候变化的区域,能够持续保存有价值的物理、生态和社会文化资源(Morelli et al., 2016)。从其在古生态学中的起源到其在现代气候适应中的应用(Keppel等人,2015年),避难所的概念得到了极大的发展,并将其重点从制图扩展到保护实施,最近的几项综合研究提供了全面的概述(例如,Keppel等人,2024年;Morelli等人,2020年)。今天,随着气候适应越来越强调实地行动,难民科学也从概念探索发展到实际应用。在本期特刊中,我们重点介绍了气候变化避难所保护和管理的最新进展,同时传达了避难所科学的现状。这一系列论文展示了气候变化难民科学的最新贡献,从不同的角度、方法和地理位置来实施。我们表明,难民科学正在被应用于指导实地管理决策和资源投资,即使它继续发展和扩展,以纳入新的方法和观点。这些单独的研究试图解决在面对气候变化的情况下,避难所在哪里、如何以及在多长时间内可以支持生物多样性保护的问题,并提供了早期采用者如何在不断变化的世界中将避难所纳入气候适应、保护和景观规划的例子。它们说明了从业人员如何越来越多地将难民科学纳入他们的工作,以指导实地管理决策和全球资源投资。随着难民科学和保护的成熟,这些方法的细微差别和复杂性也在增加。时空数据可用性的进步导致基于各种遥感输入和预测模型的高分辨率、大范围产品的发展(Krawchuk等,2026;Stralberg等,2026)。这些进步已被用于记录非生物因素以及估计物种的发生和丰度(Cavalieri等人,2026;Dykema等人,2026)。然而,避难所保护的一个经常被忽视的关键步骤是验证避难所假设(Barrows et al. 2020)。这种验证可能需要精细的、深入的研究,以了解建立粗尺度关系的机制(Bentze et al., 2026)。Nadeau等人(2026)为这一过程提供了一个案例研究,说明了独立的实地数据收集和实验如何验证避难所假设。难民特征也被确定为各种生态系统和景观特征,其气候缓冲特征更微妙,通常是水文介导的(Phillips等人,2026;Słowińska等人,2026;Zuckerberg等人,2026)。识别野火和其他干扰事件中的避难所已成为土地管理和保护活动的重要组成部分,从而产生了更细致的工具、框架和保护目标(Hohwieler等人,2026;Krawchuk等人,2026)。随着难民科学的发展,人们认识到有必要将这些进步与现有的保护和规划举措联系起来,并促进合作伙伴之间的相互尊重关系(Kehm等人,2026)。在气候变化的情况下,需要明确的框架来平衡相互竞争的保护和土地利用目标。这也涉及到在这些缓冲区域内外采取的管理行动的列举(Jennings等人,2026;Stralberg等人,2026)。越来越多的人呼吁在高度适宜的地区进行集约化管理,甚至建立避难所(Zuckerberg et al., 2026)。最近的难民研究纳入了广泛的合作努力和决策科学(Mozelewski等人,2026),以便在资源有限的情况下进行有效的保护和恢复投资。已经开发出决策支持工具来帮助土地管理者评估不同景观和地区的难民潜力(Dreiss & Rice, 2026; John et al., 2026)。将难民概念纳入规划工作还涉及增加对当地和土著知识和价值的认识。与土著社区的合作使当地价值观成为决策过程的核心,这可以导致更可信和持久的计划(Kehm et al., 2026)。对气候变化难民识别的关注正明显转向对其保护和管理(Caven & Pearse 2025; Mozelewski et al., 2026);随着对难民的测绘和验证变得更加复杂和广泛,执行已成为下一个挑战。 然而,实施需要众多领域的专业知识和关注,并受到许多因素的挑战,包括数据限制和跨尺度实施难民保护的复杂性(Morelli et al., 2026)。随着难民科学的成熟,更多细致入微的方法允许将难民纳入保护规划和优先排序。虽然它不是应对生态和文化资源正在经历的全球冲击的灵丹妙药,但难民管理正在适应和保护行动的工具包中找到自己的位置。此外,如果将难民科学嵌入到现有的范式中,如“抵抗-接受-直接”(RAD; Lynch等人,2021),并与其他优先事项(如连通性)一起考虑,那么难民科学将最有影响力。本期特刊强调的研究展示了难民科学的实际应用,展示了其利用合作生产的潜力,可以在不断变化的气候中大大提高保护行动的效率和效力。为了成功地推进气候适应,合作和创新的原则(Enquist et al., 2017),以及严格和验证,将需要成为保护难民的基础。在未来几年,利用物理、生态和统计科学知识的广泛基础,可以在本期特刊和其他地方最近制定的框架的帮助下,为地方和区域行动提供信息。这篇论文没有相关数据。
{"title":"Implementing climate-change refugia conservation","authors":"Toni Lyn Morelli, Tina G. Mozelewski, Diana Stralberg","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70223","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The past decade has seen major advances in the study of climate-change refugia (Morelli et al., <span>2026</span>), defined as areas on the landscape relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time that enable the persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources (Morelli et al., <span>2016</span>). From its inception in paleoecology to its application in modern climate adaptation (Keppel et al., <span>2015</span>), the refugia concept has grown enormously and expanded its focus beyond mapping to conservation implementation, with several recent syntheses providing comprehensive overviews (e.g., Keppel et al., <span>2024</span>; Morelli et al., <span>2020</span>).</p><p>Today, as climate adaptation increasingly emphasizes on-the-ground action, so too is refugia science evolving from conceptual exploration to practical application. In this special issue, we highlight recent advances in climate-change refugia conservation and management across a diverse set of ecosystems while conveying the current state of refugia science. This collection of papers showcases the latest contributions of work along the climate-change refugia science to implementation spectrum from a diversity of perspectives, methods, and geographies. We show that refugia science is being applied to guide on-the-ground management decisions and the investment of resources, even as it continues to evolve and expand to incorporate new methodologies and perspectives. The individual studies seek to address questions about where, how, and for how long refugia may support conservation of biodiversity in the face of climate change, and they provide examples of how early adopters are incorporating refugia into climate adaptation, conservation, and landscape planning in a changing world. They illustrate how practitioners are increasingly integrating refugia science into their work to guide on-the-ground management decisions and the investment of resources worldwide.</p><p>As refugia science and conservation have matured, the nuance and complexity of the methods have increased. Advances in spatiotemporal data availability have led to the development of high-resolution, large-extent products based on a variety of remotely sensed inputs and predictive models (Krawchuk et al., <span>2026</span>; Stralberg et al., <span>2026</span>). These advances have been leveraged to record abiotic factors as well as to estimate species occurrence and abundance (Cavalieri et al., <span>2026</span>; Dykema et al., <span>2026</span>). Nevertheless, an often overlooked key step to refugia conservation is validating refugia hypotheses (Barrows et al. <span>2020</span>). Such validation may require fine-scale, in-depth study to understand the mechanism by which coarse-scale relationships are built (Bentze et al., <span>2026</span>). Nadeau et al. (<span>2026</span>) present a case study for this process, illustrating how independent field data collection and experiments can v","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70223","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145983745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Emily Gross, Katie Abrams, Shawn Davis, Robert Schorr, Jennifer Solomon
Citizen science is a valuable tool for expanding the scope and impact of conservation research, particularly by engaging highly specialized recreators in data collection. This study focuses on rock climbers and their engagement with the citizen science organization Climbers for Bat Conservation (CBC). In this study, we investigate the perceived barriers and benefits that influence bat reporting behavior among rock climbers in Red River Gorge, Kentucky, USA. To accomplish this, we utilized a structured survey administered online and at a local climbing festival and segmented our sample into reporters, non-reporters, and potential reporters. Our research investigates how these perceived barriers and benefits relate to: (1) environmental attitudes as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, (2) demographic characteristics, and (3) climbing experience between audience segments. We found that environmental attitudes did not vary between climbers, and that participation largely hinged upon situational and information barriers, such as not having cellular service, forgetting to report, and not understanding the online user interface. Climbers were motivated by the intrinsic value of bats, protecting climbing access, and the ecosystem roles that bats serve, particularly insect population control. These findings offer insights for targeted interventions that leverage the untapped potential of citizen science to advance wildlife conservation in traditionally inaccessible environments.
{"title":"Barriers and benefits of rock climber participation in citizen science for bat conservation","authors":"Emily Gross, Katie Abrams, Shawn Davis, Robert Schorr, Jennifer Solomon","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70217","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70217","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Citizen science is a valuable tool for expanding the scope and impact of conservation research, particularly by engaging highly specialized recreators in data collection. This study focuses on rock climbers and their engagement with the citizen science organization Climbers for Bat Conservation (CBC). In this study, we investigate the perceived barriers and benefits that influence bat reporting behavior among rock climbers in Red River Gorge, Kentucky, USA. To accomplish this, we utilized a structured survey administered online and at a local climbing festival and segmented our sample into reporters, non-reporters, and potential reporters. Our research investigates how these perceived barriers and benefits relate to: (1) environmental attitudes as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, (2) demographic characteristics, and (3) climbing experience between audience segments. We found that environmental attitudes did not vary between climbers, and that participation largely hinged upon situational and information barriers, such as not having cellular service, forgetting to report, and not understanding the online user interface. Climbers were motivated by the intrinsic value of bats, protecting climbing access, and the ecosystem roles that bats serve, particularly insect population control. These findings offer insights for targeted interventions that leverage the untapped potential of citizen science to advance wildlife conservation in traditionally inaccessible environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70217","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146154862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Aji John, Julia L. Michalak, Leona K. Svancara, C. Randels, Joshua J. Lawler
The impacts of climate change are already affecting many species and habitats, presenting challenges for species management and conservation. Protecting climate refugia—areas buffered from climate shifts where species can persist despite broader changes—has been proposed as a tool for managing species under climate change. Although many studies have mapped climate refugia, few have identified them for specific species at scales relevant to local management. To address this gap, we identified potential climate refugia for seven species of concern in the Pacific Northwestern United States: Cascade torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton cascadae), Rocky Mountain tailed frog (Ascaphus montanus), coastal tailed frog (Ascaphus truei), Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), fisher (Pekania pennanti), and White-headed Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus albolarvatus). Collaborating with managers and species experts, we identified key factors influencing refugia locations and integrated multiple spatial data layers to map potential refugia for each species. For the three aquatic species, potential refugia included streams with cooler current and projected future temperatures, sustained future streamflow, and watersheds with greater canopy cover and cool valley bottoms. For the terrestrial species, refugia were linked to fire risk, ecological transformations, range shifts, soil moisture, and topographic complexity. Identifying potential refugia can guide conservation by prioritizing areas for protection and management. Sites with high-quality habitat but limited refugia potential could become conservation priorities if habitat quality declines, whereas lower-quality sites with greater refugia potential may warrant further protection. Areas with poor refugia potential may benefit from management actions to enhance resilience. Although expanding this approach to all species of concern would be valuable, it remains resource intensive. We conclude with recommendations for improving the efficiency of refugia identification in future studies.
{"title":"Identifying climate-change refugia for species management and conservation in the Pacific Northwest","authors":"Aji John, Julia L. Michalak, Leona K. Svancara, C. Randels, Joshua J. Lawler","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70174","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The impacts of climate change are already affecting many species and habitats, presenting challenges for species management and conservation. Protecting climate refugia—areas buffered from climate shifts where species can persist despite broader changes—has been proposed as a tool for managing species under climate change. Although many studies have mapped climate refugia, few have identified them for specific species at scales relevant to local management. To address this gap, we identified potential climate refugia for seven species of concern in the Pacific Northwestern United States: Cascade torrent salamander (<i>Rhyacotriton cascadae</i>), Rocky Mountain tailed frog (<i>Ascaphus montanus</i>), coastal tailed frog (<i>Ascaphus truei</i>), Greater Sage-grouse (<i>Centrocercus urophasianus</i>), pygmy rabbit (<i>Brachylagus idahoensis</i>), fisher (<i>Pekania pennanti</i>), and White-headed Woodpecker (<i>Leuconotopicus albolarvatus</i>). Collaborating with managers and species experts, we identified key factors influencing refugia locations and integrated multiple spatial data layers to map potential refugia for each species. For the three aquatic species, potential refugia included streams with cooler current and projected future temperatures, sustained future streamflow, and watersheds with greater canopy cover and cool valley bottoms. For the terrestrial species, refugia were linked to fire risk, ecological transformations, range shifts, soil moisture, and topographic complexity. Identifying potential refugia can guide conservation by prioritizing areas for protection and management. Sites with high-quality habitat but limited refugia potential could become conservation priorities if habitat quality declines, whereas lower-quality sites with greater refugia potential may warrant further protection. Areas with poor refugia potential may benefit from management actions to enhance resilience. Although expanding this approach to all species of concern would be valuable, it remains resource intensive. We conclude with recommendations for improving the efficiency of refugia identification in future studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70174","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Diana Stralberg, Douglas W. Lewis, Jessica Stolar, Gregory J. Kehm, Cameron F. Cosgrove, Donald G. Morgan, Elizabeth A. Nelson, Christine E. Kuntzemann, Angeles Raymundo, Zihaohan Sang, Leonardo Viliani, Zaid Jumean, Michelle Meier, Chelsea Enslow, César A. Estevo, Erin C. Fraser-Reid, Elizabeth M. Campbell, Jennifer A. Grant, Sara Howard, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, Scott E. Nielsen, Carlos Carroll
Climate change is reshaping landscapes in ways that challenge conventional approaches to conservation and resource planning. The concept of climate-change refugia—areas with the potential to buffer species and ecosystems from the effects of climate change—offers a valuable lens for identifying strategic opportunities for long-term stewardship. Building on this foundation, we present a flexible, climate-informed approach to landscape planning that integrates climate-change exposure and refugia information into a five-step process: (1) define core ecological, cultural, and land resource values and identify those most at risk; (2) assess landscape capacity as a function of climate-change exposure and conservation capacity (i.e., landscape condition); (3) develop place-based strategies and identify relevant spatial data products; (4) incorporate macrorefugia, microrefugia, and corridors to align land-use designations with strategies; and (5) implement, monitor, and adaptively refine refugia-based planning over time. Recognizing variation in planning needs and contexts, our guidance supports the practical use of spatial refugia metrics to inform land-use, conservation, and resource management decisions.
{"title":"Integrating climate-change exposure and refugia into landscape planning: A practical guide","authors":"Diana Stralberg, Douglas W. Lewis, Jessica Stolar, Gregory J. Kehm, Cameron F. Cosgrove, Donald G. Morgan, Elizabeth A. Nelson, Christine E. Kuntzemann, Angeles Raymundo, Zihaohan Sang, Leonardo Viliani, Zaid Jumean, Michelle Meier, Chelsea Enslow, César A. Estevo, Erin C. Fraser-Reid, Elizabeth M. Campbell, Jennifer A. Grant, Sara Howard, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, Scott E. Nielsen, Carlos Carroll","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70171","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change is reshaping landscapes in ways that challenge conventional approaches to conservation and resource planning. The concept of climate-change refugia—areas with the potential to buffer species and ecosystems from the effects of climate change—offers a valuable lens for identifying strategic opportunities for long-term stewardship. Building on this foundation, we present a flexible, climate-informed approach to landscape planning that integrates climate-change exposure and refugia information into a five-step process: (1) define core ecological, cultural, and land resource values and identify those most at risk; (2) assess landscape capacity as a function of climate-change exposure and conservation capacity (i.e., landscape condition); (3) develop place-based strategies and identify relevant spatial data products; (4) incorporate macrorefugia, microrefugia, and corridors to align land-use designations with strategies; and (5) implement, monitor, and adaptively refine refugia-based planning over time. Recognizing variation in planning needs and contexts, our guidance supports the practical use of spatial refugia metrics to inform land-use, conservation, and resource management decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70171","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Benjamin Zuckerberg, Jacy S. Bernath-Plaisted, W. Alice Boyle
Grasslands are globally imperiled. Centuries of intensive agriculture, anthropogenic development, woody encroachment, and the disruption of historical disturbance regimes have degraded native grasslands with wide-ranging impacts on grassland species. Exacerbating these threats, modern climate change is rapidly affecting these highly exposed systems. Grasslands are perhaps the most intensively managed ecosystem in North America; private landowners, governmental, and nonprofit agencies expend considerable resources creating and maintaining grasslands using prescribed burning, managed grazing, and mechanical restoration. Climate-change refugia are critical for climate-vulnerable species and can help buffer populations from acute and chronic climate-related stressors. Given the widespread geography of grasslands and the intensive management they require, there is untapped potential to integrate multi-scaled concepts of climate-change refugia with current grassland conservation strategies. Using declining grassland birds as a case study, we explore how the concepts of climate-change refugia, spanning from macro-scale conservation planning to microclimate management, may aid in the conservation and management of climate-vulnerable grassland species.
{"title":"Multi-scale considerations for identifying and managing climate-change refugia in grassland ecosystems","authors":"Benjamin Zuckerberg, Jacy S. Bernath-Plaisted, W. Alice Boyle","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70168","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Grasslands are globally imperiled. Centuries of intensive agriculture, anthropogenic development, woody encroachment, and the disruption of historical disturbance regimes have degraded native grasslands with wide-ranging impacts on grassland species. Exacerbating these threats, modern climate change is rapidly affecting these highly exposed systems. Grasslands are perhaps the most intensively managed ecosystem in North America; private landowners, governmental, and nonprofit agencies expend considerable resources creating and maintaining grasslands using prescribed burning, managed grazing, and mechanical restoration. Climate-change refugia are critical for climate-vulnerable species and can help buffer populations from acute and chronic climate-related stressors. Given the widespread geography of grasslands and the intensive management they require, there is untapped potential to integrate multi-scaled concepts of climate-change refugia with current grassland conservation strategies. Using declining grassland birds as a case study, we explore how the concepts of climate-change refugia, spanning from macro-scale conservation planning to microclimate management, may aid in the conservation and management of climate-vulnerable grassland species.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70168","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145969857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}