Article
Biodiversity Conservation
David G. Chapple, Uri Roll, Monika Boehm, Rocio Aguilar, Andrew P. Amey, Chris C. Austin, Marleen Baling, Anthony J. Barley, Michael F. Bates, Aaron M. Bauer, Daniel G. Blackburn, Phil Bowles, Rafe M. Brown, S. R. Chandramouli, Laurent Chirio, Hal Cogger, Guarino R. Colli, Werner Conradie, Patrick J. Couper, Mark A. Cowan, Michael D. Craig, Indraneil Das, Aniruddha Datta-Roy, Chris R. Dickman, Ryan J. Ellis, Aaron L. Fenner, Stewart Ford, S. R. Ganesh, Michael G. Gardner, Peter Geissler, Graeme R. Gillespie, Frank Glaw, Matthew J. Greenlees, Oliver W. Griffith, L. Lee Grismer, Margaret L. Haines, D. James Harris, S. Blair Hedges, Rod A. Hitchmough, Conrad J. Hoskin, Mark N. Hutchinson, Ivan Ineich, Jordi Janssen, Gregory R. Johnston, Benjamin R. Karin, J. Scott Keogh, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Petros Lymberakis, Rafaqat Masroor, Peter J. McDonald, Sven Mecke, Jane Melville, Sabine Melzer, Damian R. Michael, Aurelien Miralles, Nicola J. Mitchell, Nicola J. Nelson, Truong Q. Nguyen, Cristiano de Campos Nogueira, Hidetoshi Ota, Panayiotis Pafilis, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Ana Perera, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Robert N. Reed, Marco A. Ribeiro-Junior, Julia L. Riley, Sara Rocha, Pamela L. Rutherford, Ross A. Sadlier, Boaz Shacham, Glenn M. Shea, Richard Shine, Alex Slavenko, Adam Stow, Joanna Sumner, Oliver J. S. Tallowin, Roy Teale, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-Francois Trape, Peter Uetz, Kanishka D. B. Ukuwela, Leonie Valentine, James U. Van Dyke, Dylan van Winkel, Raquel Vasconcelos, Miguel Vences, Philipp Wagner, Erik Wapstra, Geoffrey M. While, Martin J. Whiting, Camilla M. Whittington, Steve Wilson, Thomas Ziegler, Reid Tingley, Shai Meiri
Summary: Despite improved knowledge of the conservation status of the world's skinks, around 20% of species are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss, invasive species, and resource use, with most listed as endangered primarily due to their small geographic ranges. While 42% of species have stable population trends, 14% are experiencing declining populations.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Marianna Strzelecka, Marcin Rechcinski, Joanna Tusznio, Arash Akhshik, Malgorzata Grodzinska-Jurczak
Summary: Literature on Natura 2000 shows that conflicts arise when local communities perceive policy implementation as unfair. This paper argues that a framework of environmental justice, which includes empowering residents and communities, is crucial for understanding the contested nature of Natura 2000 conflicts. Drawing on Nancy Fraser's critical approach, justice issues within distribution, recognition, and representation domains are considered simultaneously to analyze conservation conflicts in the context of Natura 2000. By applying a pluralistic environmental justice perspective, this study reexamines how feelings of (in)justice surrounding Natura 2000 policy fueled conservation conflicts in Poland.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Konstantina Spiliopoulou, Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos, Thomas M. Brooks, Gabriela Kelaidi, Kaloust Paragamian, Vassiliki Kati, Anthi Oikonomou, Dimitris Vavylis, Panayiotis Trigas, Petros Lymberakis, William Darwall, Maria Th Stoumboudi, Kostas A. Triantis
Summary: The study found that the Natura 2000 network in Greece overlaps on average 47.6% of the ranges of threatened species, exceeding the expected value. Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation have overlapping rates of 33.4% and 38.1% respectively. Crete and Peloponnese have the highest percentages of threatened species, with Natura 2000 sites overlapping on average 62.3% and 30.6% of their ranges respectively.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Aaron C. Greenville, Thomas M. Newsome, Glenda M. Wardle, Chris R. Dickman, William J. Ripple, Brad R. Murray
Summary: The research found that species facing more threats do not necessarily have a higher risk of extinction, and different combinations of threats do not predict extinction risk in the same way across different spatial scales. The only exception is cartilaginous fishes, which face higher extinction risk with increasing numbers of threats.
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Victor Rincon, Javier Velazquez, Javier Gutierrez, Ana Hernando, Alexander Khoroshev, Inmaculada Gomez, Fernando Herraez, Beatriz Sanchez, Juan Pablo Luque, Antonio Garcia-abril, Tomas Santamaria, Daniel Sanchez-Mata
Summary: The Natura 2000 Network aims to protect habitats and species in their natural areas of distribution, with connectivity being a crucial part of conservation efforts. By generating a value map for biodiversity, proposing 4 protection levels, and calculating connectivity indices in different scenarios, new boundaries can cover more areas of interest for biodiversity and connectivity importance. The proposed method can be applied to any European territory.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Ioannis P. Kokkoris, Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis, Ioannis Charalampopoulos, Ektor Apostolidis, Ilias Apostolidis, Arne Strid, Panayotis Dimopoulos
Summary: Juniperus drupacea is a highly differentiated species with discontinuous distribution in the eastern Mediterranean. It is a priority habitat for conservation, but faces high extinction risk in Greece due to habitat changes. Therefore, research is needed to understand its survival status under climate and land-use changes and to develop effective conservation management plans.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fabrizio Gianni, Elisabetta Manea, Bruno Cataletto, Alessandra Pugnetti, Caterina Bergami, Lucia Bongiorni, Grgur Pleslic, Ivica Vilibic, Vinko Bandelj
Summary: Marine Natura 2000 (N2K) sites in the European Mediterranean Sea have established a large network of protected areas, but their management and monitoring effectiveness are generally weak. The Interreg Italy-Croatia ECOSS project aims to establish an ecological observing system (ECOAdS) in the Adriatic Sea, integrating research and monitoring activities to enhance conservation efforts. Currently, most sites lack management plans, monitoring activities are infrequent, and information on protected species is lacking. Proper management and monitoring are the key challenges for N2K sites.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Federico Morelli, Yanina Benedetti, Kristina Floigl, Juan Diego Ibanez-Alamo
Summary: This study investigated the spatial matching between the distribution of avian diversity components and the Natura 2000 protected areas in Spain. It found differences in diversity metrics across different environments, with higher richness in forests and functional dispersion in arable lands. Protected areas showed overall higher avian diversity metrics, with areas under the Birds Directive showing higher functional dispersion and evolutionary uniqueness. The presence of spatial mismatch among avian diversity components underscores the importance of considering multiple metrics for better conservation planning.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marianna Strzelecka, Joanna Tusznio, Arash Akhshik, Marcin Rechcinski, Malgorzata Grodzinska-Jurczak
Summary: This study examined the impact of human connection to nature on residents' concerns about justice in conservation policies of Natura 2000. The findings suggest that residents' bonds with nature play a significant role in the perceived justice of Natura 2000.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Ioannis P. Kokkoris, Dimitrios Skuras, Yannis Maniatis, Panayotis Dimopoulos
Summary: The Natura 2000 network is a system designed to protect Europe's valuable species and habitats, covering a significant percentage of land and marine areas. However, European citizens are largely unaware of this network, which poses a challenge for participatory planning. This study examines the knowledge and characteristics of aware and non-aware citizens, revealing the privileged nature of those with higher awareness levels, as well as gender, rural-urban, and generational disparities.
Article
Computer Science, Hardware & Architecture
Fuzhen Sun, Haiyan Zhuang, Shangshang Xu, Zhen Wang, Kai Zheng
Summary: This paper investigates the issue of improving the quality of online recommendation services and proposes an item popularity model based on user interest features, as well as a time-sensitive and stable interest similarity model. By combining these two models, a new algorithm is introduced that can effectively reduce the values of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE).
MOBILE NETWORKS & APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elena D. Concepcion
Summary: Urban growth poses a major threat to global biodiversity conservation, particularly when it encroaches into high conservation value areas. While urban cover inside Natura 2000 is lower than outside, the growth rates are slightly higher, indicating early signs of urban sprawl within the network. Sites most affected by urbanization are those surrounded by densely populated areas with fewer conservation concern species or habitats.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Thomas E. Lacher, David Mallon, Rosalind J. Kennerley, Claire Relton, Richard P. Young
Summary: Given the scale of the current biodiversity loss, setting conservation priorities is essential. Many prioritization schemes have been developed, but there is no single process applicable to all situations. Recent studies have used biological, socio-political, and feasibility criteria to prioritize species, both on a global and regional scale.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jason T. Bried, Maya Rocha-Ortega
Summary: Extinction risk assessments are often hindered by limited population data, which is particularly true for insects and large-scale assessments. However, by utilizing geographic range size as a proxy for population data, it is possible to estimate regional extinction risk and identify priority species for conservation efforts. In this study, a range-based index was used to assess the status of North American dragonflies and damselflies, revealing high-concern and low-concern species across jurisdictions. By using this approach, 38 priority candidates were identified in the Midwest United States and 15 candidates in central Canada, where regional assessments were lacking. This range index covered a significant proportion of described Odonata species and could be applied to other regions and insect groups with community science support.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lucile Leveque, Jessie C. Buettel, Scott Carver, Barry W. Brook
Summary: With thousands of vertebrate species now threatened with extinction, urgent measures are needed to understand and mitigate the causes of wildlife collapse. Rails are the most extinction-prone bird family globally, with one-third of extant rail species now threatened or near threatened. The threat pattern for rails involves island endemic and flightless rails mainly threatened by invasive predators, and continental rails mainly threatened by agriculture and human development activities. Priority countries for conservation efforts include Indonesia, the USA, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Cuba. Future efforts should focus on ecosystem protection, climate change impact prediction, and ongoing research and monitoring to protect rails.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ronaldo Sousa, Tadeusz Zajac, Dariusz Halabowski, Olga Aksenova, Yulia Bespalaya, Francisco Carvalho, Paulo Castro, Karel Douda, Janine P. da Silva, Noe Ferreira-Rodriguez, Juergen Geist, Clemens Gumpinger, Anna M. Labecka, Jasna Lajtner, Iga Lewin, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Alexandra Meira, Keiko Nakamura, Joana Garrido Nogueira, Paz Ondina, Malgorzata Ozgo, Joaquim Reis, Nicoletta Riccardi, Spase Shumka, Mikhail O. Son, Amilcar Teixeira, Frankie Thielen, Maria Urbanska, Simone Varandas, Niklas Wengstrom, Katarzyna Zajac, Alexandra Zieritz, David C. Aldridge
Summary: Europe's freshwater ecosystems have been under human pressure for a long time. With increasing pressure and emerging threats, there is an urgent need to conserve freshwater biodiversity and its ecosystem services. However, while some taxonomic groups, mainly vertebrates, have received disproportionate attention and funding, other groups, like freshwater mussels, remain largely overlooked. This article points out six conceptual areas that require immediate and long-term attention to address this conservation bias, including knowledge, threats, socioeconomics, conservation, governance, and education. The proposed roadmap aims to prioritize research, policy, and education for the conservation of freshwater mussels in Europe.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Giuseppe Nicolosi, Stefano Mammola, Laura Verbrugge, Marco Isaia
Summary: Alien species pose a significant threat to both natural ecosystems and human economies, and their numbers are rapidly increasing worldwide. However, the impact of these species varies across different habitats.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Letter
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stefano Mammola, Caroline S. Fukushima, Girolama Biondo, Lucia Bongiorni, Fabio Cianferoni, Paolo Domenici, Carmelo Fruciano, Angelina Lo Giudice, Nuria Macias-Hernandez, Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte, Marija Milicic, Michelangelo Morganti, Emiliano Mori, Ana Munevar, Paola Pollegioni, Ilaria Rosati, Simone Tenan, Fernando Urbano-Tenorio, Diego Fontaneto, Pedro Cardoso
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Keiko Nakamura, Ronaldo Sousa, Francesc Mesquita-Joanes
Summary: Freshwater biodiversity is at risk, and the decline of invertebrate species is not well-documented. This long-term study in Spain examined four native freshwater mussel species and found significant declines in mussel densities, with three species locally extinct. The critically endangered species, Pseudunio auricularius, showed a decline in survival probability, highlighting the urgent need for conservation measures.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Editorial Material
Ecology
David C. Aldridge, Joshua I. Brian, Adam Cmiel, Anna Lipinska, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Ronaldo Sousa, Amilcar Teixeira, Katarzyna Zajac, Tadeusz Zajac
Article
Zoology
Stefano Mammola, Nathan Viel, Dylan Amiar, Atishya Mani, Christophe Herve, Stephen B. Heard, Diego Fontaneto, Julien Petillon
Summary: Based on a study of 48,464 spider etymologies, it was found that taxonomists' naming of species is deeply influenced by their cultural background, and naming practices have changed over time and space. The use of etymologies referring to morphology was most common in absolute terms, but their use declined over time while etymologies dedicated to people and geography increased. There was also a significant increase in etymologies referring to pop culture and other cultural aspects in the 2000-2020 period, particularly in Europe and the Americas.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2023)
Review
Zoology
Milan Rezac, Pedro Cardoso, Veronika Rezacova
Summary: This study revises the Portuguese spiders of the genus Harpactea and describes seven new species. The Portuguese Harpactea spiders belong to two species groups, the hombergi group and the corticalis group, with the majority of the corticalis group likely forming a monophyletic group endemic to the Iberian peninsula.
Article
Ecology
Gabor Pozsgai, Pedro Cardoso, Francois Rigal, Mario Boieiro, Rosalina Gabriel, Eduardo Brito de Azevedo, Paulo A. V. Borges
Summary: Island biotas face imminent threats from anthropogenic impacts. The negative effects of exotic species on taxonomic and functional diversity of local fauna are of major concern. Co-occurrence networks of arthropods in native forest fragments from seven Azorean islands were sensitive to environmental and community dissimilarities, showing clear differences between islands and between indigenous and exotic networks. The presence of exotics in the networks decreased connectance and increased modularity, indicating that they have low associations with other species. Our study highlights the usefulness of co-occurrence network analysis in studying island ecosystems for conservation purposes.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Emma-Liina Marjakangas, Andrea Santangeli, Heini Kujala, Stefano Mammola, Aleksi Lehikoinen
Summary: In this study, a new method was proposed to determine species that have a strong impact on the climate response of ecological communities, known as climate keystone species. By quantifying the community's climate response and considering the relative abundances of species, climate keystone species can be identified based on their strong residual effects.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Daniel Szarmach, Kamil Wisniewski, Jaroslaw Kobak, Tomasz Kakareko, Anna Maria Labecka, Ronaldo Sousa, Malgorzata Poznanska-Kakareko
Summary: Clams of the Corbicula species complex from Asia have become invasive worldwide and are now spreading to Central European waters. This study examined the substrate preferences and behavior of three Corbicula morphospecies from Poland to understand their potential impacts and ecological adaptations. The results showed that different Corbicula species have distinct substrate preferences and behaviors, which may affect their invasive potential. Understanding the overlap of preferred habitats between non-native Corbicula clams and native bivalves is crucial for determining their potential competition strength, impact, and displacement.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Vanessa Modesto, Martina Ilarri, Anna M. Labecka, Noe Ferreira-Rodriguez, Neil E. Coughlan, Xiongjun Liu, Ronaldo Sousa
Summary: Corbicula fluminea is a widespread and problematic invasive bivalve species in freshwater ecosystems. Most studies have focused on toxicology and ecology, primarily in North America and Europe. However, there is still a lack of understanding about its basic biological and ecological features and the mechanisms underlying its impacts in invaded areas. Therefore, there is an urgent need for novel methodologies and techniques to improve early detection, spread prediction, and effective management for containment and eradication of this species.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Raquel Colado, Pedro Abellan, Susana Pallares, Stefano Mammola, Roberto Milione, Arnaud Faille, Javier Fresneda, David Sanchez-Fernandez
Summary: Biodiversity conservation is crucial in the 21st century, yet the subterranean biome is often overlooked in global biodiversity targets. Research shows that surface-protected area networks do not effectively protect subterranean biodiversity, highlighting the need for an urgent conservation plan within the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Giovanni Strona, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Pedro L. Cardoso, Nicholas Gotelli, Frederic L. Guillaume, Federica Manca, Ville L. Mustonen, Luis Zaman
Summary: By conducting simulated experiments, we found that the thawing of permafrost and the potential 'lab leak' of ancient microorganisms pose risks of biological invasions for modern ecological communities. In most cases, invading pathogens had negligible effects on the invaded community, but in a few cases, they caused substantial losses or gains in species richness.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ricardo A. Correia, Stefano Mammola
Summary: Human relationships with nature sometimes exhibit fear, disgust, and disease-avoidance mechanisms. Online information-seeking patterns provide insights into the prevalence and increase of biophobias. The study found a steady increase in online searches for biophobias, with differences in individual trends. Arachnophobia, mysophobia, and parasitophobia attracted the most interest. The search patterns were associated with urbanization, venomous species, and anxiety disorders.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Domitilla Raimondo, Bruce E. Young, Thomas M. Brooks, Pedro Cardoso, Dewidine van der Colff, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Ugo Vercillo, Estevao de Souza, Aino Juslen, Esko Hyvarinen, Lize von Staden, Krystal Tolley, Philip J. K. McGowan
Summary: The Red List Index (RLI) is a key indicator for tracking progress toward biodiversity targets. There are two formulations of RLI used for reporting biodiversity trends at national scales. The national RLI measures national extinction risk, while the disaggregated global RLI measures national contributions to global extinction risk. It is important for governments to monitor a standard set of taxonomic groups using both RLI formulations to ensure effective target tracking and accurate feedback on conservation investments in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2023)
