Conservation Science and Practice最新文献

Coniferous forests across the southwestern United States are under threat from extreme wildfire, climate change, and other stressors. Addressing these interacting threats to forest resilience through intentional management is critical to prevent further forest loss. We employed the climate change refugia conservation cycle to co-produce a decision framework for climate-informed management of southern California's montane forests through strategic identification of treatments. The framework integrates climate-adapted refugia, areas buffered from the impacts of multiple stressors due to their inherent landscape characteristics, with vulnerabilities that can be reduced and priority assets to protect. The resulting map identified that 45% of the study area had low refugial capacity and low vulnerability, with monitoring identified as the most prudent strategy. An almost equal portion (44%) of the landscape had high refugial capacity, indicating that the strategies of resisting change by maintaining low vulnerability and accommodating change by reducing vulnerabilities where they are high could support forest persistence. The remaining 12% of the landscape had low refugial capacity and high vulnerability, suggesting a transform strategy where managers may opt to facilitate a state shift to maintain ecosystem function. Here we describe how this framework is being applied to inform planning and management with integration of climate-adapted approaches.

Research on climate change refugia in aquatic systems frequently emphasizes cold-water habitats and resistance to increasing temperature. Higher-elevation locations are often identified as important for preserving conditions suitable for cold-water organisms or communities. However, this concept remains understudied in lentic compared to lotic systems, even as lakes variably experience pronounced climate-related impacts including ice loss and higher temperatures. Lake responses to climate depend on characteristics such as landscape position, but the role of elevation is not well-documented and associated biological responses are unclear. Here, we describe spring ice and thermal dynamics in small remote lakes in Maine, USA, ranging from 76 to 955 m above sea level, and how temperature influences zooplankton phenology and community composition. Ice persisted on average 8 days longer in high-elevation (>500 m) lakes and, after ice breakup, high-elevation lakes warmed faster (0.3°C/day) than low-elevation lakes (0.2°C/day), and reached maximum temperatures 45 days earlier on average. Zooplankton phenology was driven by water temperature, but zooplankton taxa varied in response to lake conditions, shaping different zooplankton assemblages in high- and low-elevation sites. This suggests that refugial high-elevation lakes with prolonged ice and cold spring conditions could present an important regional conservation priority.

Natural resource managers and policymakers need actionable climate data to guide conservation decisions. Conserving climate change refugia, areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change, is increasingly considered an effective strategy for adaptation. Despite tropical species facing heightened vulnerability to climate change, the tropics remain underserved in climate adaptation research. We coproduced with Tanzanian partners the first comprehensive assessment of climate change refugia across Tanzania through extensive consultation, in-person conversations, and field visits to priority ecosystems, ensuring our analysis addressed local conservation needs and decision-making contexts. We developed species distribution models for 33 terrestrial animal species using maximum entropy and boosted regression tree algorithms. We projected future suitable habitats for SSP126 and SSP585, for 2011–2040 and 2071–2100, using GFDL Earth System and the UK Earth System models. More than half under SSP126 and 79% of focal species under SSP585 lost their suitable habitat by 2100. Serengeti National Park, Northern Highlands Forest Reserve, and the Eastern Arc Mountains emerged as key climate change refugia, while other protected areas, including Kigosi and Ugalla River National Parks, had no climate change refugia. This assessment provides actionable insights for Tanzania's conservation prioritization while identifying critical research gaps in western and montane ecosystems.

Concepts and models of fire refugia are increasingly important components of forest management and adaptation discussions in the context of wildland fire, forest and habitat conservation, and global change. Recent stand-replacing fires in mature and old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the western United States have increased land manager and scientific interest in fire refugia that can provide important ecosystem services. Here we provide an overview of fire refugia concepts and products being actively developed and applied in forests of the PNW (Washington, Oregon, California), characterize key distinctions among fire refugia in different biophysical settings, present three case studies to illustrate applications, and briefly describe future directions for these concepts in scientist-practitioner partnerships. By increasing awareness of fire refugia concepts, datasets, and decision support tools, we aim to bolster the adaptive capacity of practitioners, managers, and partners invested in ecosystem management, while strengthening the long-horizon collaborations necessary for applied science and conservation.

Central European peatlands are important biodiversity hotspots and potential climate-change refugia, preserving post-glacial relict species and offering insights into long-term ecological functioning. Despite pressures from climate change and land-use disturbances, some relict populations persist even in degraded sites, with genetic studies revealing both their diversity and growing vulnerability to isolation. This paper highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms underpinning the climate-change refugia potential of a peatland, particularly the role of microclimatic conditions. Integrating paleoecological, ecological, and biogeographical perspectives is key to safeguarding peatlands' role in biodiversity conservation and climate regulation.

As the frequency and severity of wildfires continue to rise, fire refugia could play a critical role in reducing impacts on affected wildlife species. Fire refugia are areas which are naturally less likely to burn, for example, due to local climatic conditions. Yet, they may also exist outside of areas traditionally considered as refugia, such as areas close to human infrastructure, where active fire management strategies prioritize the safety of humans and their assets. We hypothesized that wildlife habitat within or in proximity to human infrastructure could function as fire refugia, and tested this for Endangered koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). We used fire extent and severity mapping of New South Wales, Australia, to investigate the relationship between land use and the likelihood of severe to extreme fire at locations where koalas had been recorded in the preceding 15 years. Our findings show that the likelihood of severe to extreme fire occurrence was lower in areas with intensive human use (residential, utilities and services, transport, industry and manufacturing, intensive farming, and infrastructure), and increased outwards from these areas. Our results support the notion that remaining koala habitat in urban and peri-urban landscapes could play a vital role as fire refugia in the face of climate change. We argue that populations of at-risk species inhabiting these areas should be targeted for increased protection and management, while emphasizing the continued importance of protecting remaining natural habitats.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding bees, the public's current knowledge is sourced from the non-native honey bee whose life history differs from many endemic North American species. Ascertaining the public's understandings and perceptions of bees is essential to implementing publicly supported conservation initiatives that may benefit bee conservation as well as social and ecological aspects of communities, especially in large cities which are epicenters of increasing urbanization. The knowledge and perception of bees as well as current actions and barriers to their conservation among Torontonians was assessed using an online survey. Participants held correct assumptions about basic bee biology pertaining to environmental importance and decline in cities but lacked awareness regarding species richness. Nonetheless, public support for bees was universally high. Individuals were mostly involved with low-effort actions such as avoiding pesticide use and intense management but also reported planting wildflowers as well. Most participants indicated at least one barrier to action, with lack of knowledge, time, and money being most frequently reported. These barriers, including knowledge score and demographic characteristics such as lower age and lack of degree, influenced how many actions participants engaged in. Researchers should continue to create inclusive opportunities for public engagement while incorporating inter-disciplinary approaches to mitigate current barriers.

Managing climate-change refugia is a commonly recommended strategy for conserving biodiversity. However, few efforts have moved beyond the modeling phase of refugia science to management. Here, we present two case studies that move beyond modeling to testing models and management. In the first case study, we model refugia for two plant species (three-toothed cinquefoil [Sibbaldia tridentata] and black crowberry [Empetrum nigrum]) in Acadia National Park, Maine, United States, and use greenhouse experiments, common-garden experiments, and participatory science to evaluate the output of those models. Our results suggest that three-toothed cinquefoil growth and survival are reduced under increased temperatures as models predict. However, other variables (e.g., soil moisture and salinity) might also be important to modeling and managing refugia for both species. National Park Service staff and partners have been directing restoration for both species to refugia, but are also exploring other adaptation strategies. In the second case study, we demonstrate that existing prioritization processes for habitat restoration in national parks of the northeastern United States rarely incorporate refugia for two indicator species: Jefferson salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) and grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum). Our work demonstrates that moving beyond modeling can improve models and lead to new management insights.

In tropical forests today, hunting for food and income remains largely unsustainable, with adverse implications for biodiversity, ecological services, and human wellbeing. Even though our scientific knowledge of the issue has improved greatly in recent years, the situation on the ground has not. This Perspective presents our opinions and ideas to scientists and practitioners on the necessary next steps to promote sustainability. Our collective experience running and fund raising for conservation projects suggests that efforts to reduce or halt unsustainable hunting of wildlife for food have invested resources primarily in protected area management and law enforcement. While necessary, in our opinion these have been insufficient, and a more integrated, theory-driven approach is needed across the whole wild meat commodity chain. We propose that behavioral science theory and tested levers of change when applied to all actors along the chain will better inform conservation tactics. If implemented at a sufficient scale, this will nudge human behavior toward policies and practices that will prevent our appetite for wild meat from driving additional wildlife species to extinction and further threaten local livelihoods.

Mitigating conservation conflict is challenging for wildlife managers, particularly with a growing human population. Past work investigating coexistence with wildlife has prioritized megafauna, overlooking many smaller species that cause substantial damage, yet also play important ecological roles. Our study addresses this gap by examining conflict between three native bee-eater bird species and beekeepers in Iran through a web-based survey distributed across beekeeper social media networks. Using the theory of planned behavior to conceptually guide our study, we sought to understand beekeepers' use of lethal control methods to address conflict with bee-eater species. Our binomial generalized linear model revealed that years of beekeeping experience (odds ratio [OR] = 1.48), subjective norms (OR = 0.58), behavioral intention (OR = 0.75), and taking beekeeping courses (OR = 0.52) were significant predictors of beekeepers' use of lethal control methods. We also found that compared to those with no economic dependence on beekeeping, individuals with very low (OR = 0.28) and low (OR = 0.34) dependence on beekeeping were less likely to report using lethal control methods. Our findings indicated more experienced beekeepers were more likely to kill bee-eaters. Beekeepers who reported stronger subjective norms around not killing bee-eaters were significantly less likely to implement lethal control and those who expressed an intention to shoot bee-eaters if they approached beehives were more likely to have previously used lethal control methods. Our findings suggest a need for better training of less experienced beekeepers to promote non-lethal control methods effective at preventing bee depredation and support in provisioning bee-eater-resistant supplies for them. Parallel community engagement initiatives aimed at shifting subjective norms toward coexistence with wildlife would also lessen bee-eater mortality. Our findings illustrate that conflict with smaller species can be polarizing as megafauna, especially when livelihoods are perceived or actually threatened by such species.