Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Maria Lumbierres, Prabhat Raj Dahal, Moreno Di Marco, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Paul F. Donald, Carlo Rondinini
Summary: A data-driven method was developed to translate IUCN habitat classes to land cover for a wide range of terrestrial mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The model showed comparable performance with an expert knowledge-based translation table, but provided greater standardization, objectivity, and repeatability. The study quantified the associations between different habitats and land-cover classes and allowed users to choose a threshold for mapping Area of Habitat (AOH) based on the balance between omission and commission errors.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ester Polaina, Alaaeldin Soultan, Tomas Part, Mariano R. Recio
Summary: Predictions of suitable locations for invasive alien terrestrial vertebrates (IATV) in Europe under future climate and land-use changes show that while overall IATV richness in most areas will remain stable or decline, specific regions will become more suitable, potentially leading to increased risk of invasion by additional alien species.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Maya J. Munstermann, Noel A. Heim, Douglas J. McCauley, Jonathan L. Payne, Nathan S. Upham, Steve C. Wang, Matthew L. Knope
Summary: This study analyzed ecological traits of 18,016 species of terrestrial vertebrates to determine extinction threats and drivers. It found that species such as cave-dwelling amphibians, arboreal quadrupedal mammals, aerial and scavenging birds, and walking squamates are disproportionately threatened with extinction. Common risk factors included agriculture, logging, invasive species, and disease, with higher risk species facing multiple threats simultaneously.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Ashique Vadakkuveettil, Aakriti Grover
Summary: The unbalanced shift in land use and cover patterns due to urban growth increases land surface temperature and leads to the emergence of surface urban heat islands. This study examines the impact of evolving land use and cover patterns on land surface temperature and their correlation with vegetation index and building index. The results show a significant decrease in vegetated areas and an increase in built-up areas, with a corresponding rise in land surface temperature. It is crucial for urban planners and policymakers to address these imbalances and implement sustainable development measures, such as urban greening, to control the rising land surface temperature.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guangdong Li, Chuanglin Fang, Yingjie Li, Zhenbo Wang, Siao Sun, Sanwei He, Wei Qi, Chao Bao, Haitao Ma, Yupeng Fan, Yuxue Feng, Xiaoping Liu
Summary: Urban expansion has significant negative impacts on global biodiversity, leading to habitat loss and fragmentation. The expansion of cities is projected to be higher in the current important biodiversity priority areas. This study highlights the urgent need for sustainable urban development to balance urban expansion and biodiversity conservation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Thais Andrade Ferreira Doria, Ricardo Dobrovolski
Summary: Biodiversity is essential for ecosystem services, and halting biodiversity loss requires efficient conservation actions, with the establishment of protected areas being a crucial strategy. Using global range maps of tetrapods and local environmental information, the study mapped species' Area of Habitat (AOH) in Caatinga to support conservation assessment and spatial prioritization. This prioritization solution effectively represents over 91% of tetrapods at higher risk, with an optimized use of available data helping to support efficient conservation planning.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Qingfeng Hu, Enjun Gong, Zhihui Wang, Jing Zhang, Wenkai Liu, Feng Feng
Summary: This study elucidates the spatio-temporal change characteristics of leaf area index (LAI), gross primary productivity (GPP), total leaf area, and total carbon sequestration of terrestrial vegetation in different regions, provinces, and land cover change types in China from 2000 to 2018. It is found that northern provinces contribute more to enhanced carbon sequestration capacity, while southern provinces have a higher increase in leaf area. The highest contributions come from cropland conversion to forest-grassland and artificial restoration of forest-grassland. Urbanized areas show an upward trend in leaf area and carbon sequestration, while slight increases or even negative trends are observed in southwestern, southern, and eastern China. LAI is the dominant factor influencing GPP increases in China, with a weakening coupling relationship observed from north to south.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yadu Pokhrel, Farshid Felfelani, Yusuke Satoh, Julien Boulange, Peter Burek, Anne Gaedeke, Dieter Gerten, Simon N. Gosling, Manolis Grillakis, Lukas Gudmundsson, Naota Hanasaki, Hyungjun Kim, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Junguo Liu, Lamprini Papadimitriou, Jacob Schewe, Hannes Mueller Schmied, Tobias Stacke, Camelia-Eliza Telteu, Wim Thiery, Ted Veldkamp, Fang Zhao, Yoshihide Wada
Summary: Using ensemble hydrological simulations, it is found that climate change could reduce TWS in many regions, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. The decline in TWS translates to an increase in future droughts, highlighting the need for climate change mitigation and improved water resource management and adaptation. By the late twenty-first century, the global land area and population in extreme-to-exceptional TWS drought could more than double.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adam T. Downie, Nicholas C. Wu, Rebecca L. Cramp, Craig E. Franklin
Summary: Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from the sun affects the physiology of vertebrates, with fish and amphibians being the most susceptible taxa. Adult and larvae life stages are also more vulnerable to UVR stress. Animals inhabiting temperate and tropical latitudes are the most susceptible to UVR stress. Understanding the effects of UVR on vertebrates is important for conservation and mitigation strategies.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ellen P. Robertson, Evan P. Tanner, R. Dwayne Elmore, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Jonathan D. Mays, Jennifer Knutson, John R. Weir, Scott R. Loss
Summary: As the effects of climate change intensify, there is a growing need to understand the thermal properties of landscapes and their influence on wildlife. Vegetation structure and composition are key thermal properties of landscapes, which can be altered by management approaches, potentially affecting wildlife thermoregulation. Consideration of spatial scale is important in understanding how management practices impact the thermal properties of landscapes relevant to wildlife.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Marcel Cardillo, Alexander Skeels, Russell Dinnage
Summary: Three major global changes, namely climate change, human population growth, and land-use change, pose risks to the world's mammal biodiversity. Conservation efforts have mainly focused on species currently threatened with extinction, but there is a need to be more proactive in protecting species that may become threatened in the future. By considering the severity of threats faced by each species and their biological characteristics, we have identified species with over-the-horizon extinction risk. Our models predict that by 2100, up to 20% of nonmarine mammal species may have combinations of multiple future risk factors, with hotspots concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and southern/eastern Australia. Targeting these species with proactive conservation efforts can help prevent a new wave of mammal species from becoming threatened with extinction by the end of this century.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Shane D. Morris, Barry W. Brook, Katherine E. Moseby, Christopher N. Johnson
Summary: Translocation, the movement of individuals for release in different locations, is an important conservation intervention to increase or re-establish populations of threatened species. However, the success of translocations varies, with factors such as the total number of individuals released, region, and context playing key roles. Further investment in individual projects, indicated by the total number of animals released, could potentially increase the success of conservation translocations.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Fernando Mayani-Paras, Francisco Botello, Saul Castaneda, Mariana Munguia-Carrara, Victor Sanchez-Cordero
Summary: Habitat loss is a major threat to biodiversity conservation globally, and cumulative habitat loss can impact species distribution. This study in Mexico found that habitat loss in species extant distributions is related to geographic locations rather than distribution area per se. Assessing extinction risks at a local level is critical for future biodiversity conservation efforts.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Maarten J. E. Broekman, Jelle P. Hilbers, Mark A. J. Huijbregts, Thomas Mueller, Abdullahi H. Ali, Henrik Andren, Jeanne Altmann, Malin Aronsson, Nina Attias, Hattie L. A. Bartlam-Brooks, Floris M. van Beest, Jerrold L. Belant, Dean E. Beyer, Laura Bidner, Niels Blaum, Randall B. Boone, Mark S. Boyce, Michael B. Brown, Francesca Cagnacci, Rok Cerne, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Nandintsetseg Dejid, Jasja Dekker, Arnaud L. J. Desbiez, Samuel L. Diaz-Munoz, Julian Fennessy, Claudia Fichtel, Christina Fischer, Jason T. Fisher, Ilya Fischhoff, Adam T. Ford, John M. Fryxell, Benedikt Gehr, Jacob R. Goheen, Morgan Hauptfleisch, A. J. Mark Hewison, Robert Hering, Marco Heurich, Lynne A. Isbell, Rene Janssen, Florian Jeltsch, Petra Kaczensky, Peter M. Kappeler, Miha Krofel, Scott LaPoint, A. David M. Latham, John D. C. Linnell, A. Catherine Markham, Jenny Mattisson, Emilia Patricia Medici, Guilherme de Miranda Mourao, Bram Van Moorter, Ronaldo G. Morato, Nicolas Morellet, Atle Mysterud, Stephen Mwiu, John Odden, Kirk A. Olson, Aivars Ornicans, Nives Pagon, Manuela Panzacchi, Jens Persson, Tyler Petroelje, Christer Moe Rolandsen, David Roshier, Daniel Rubenstein, Sonia Said, Albert R. Salemgareyev, Hall Sawyer, Niels Martin Schmidt, Nuria Selva, Agnieszka Sergiel, Jared Stabach, Jenna Stacy-Dawes, Frances E. C. Stewart, Jonas Stiegler, Olav Strand, Siva Sundaresan, Nathan J. Svoboda, Wiebke Ullmann, Ulrich Voigt, Jake Wall, Martin Wikelski, Christopher C. Wilmers, Filip Zieba, Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica, Aafke M. Schipper, Marlee A. Tucker
Summary: This study evaluated habitat suitability data from the IUCN with GPS tracking data for 49 mammal species, showing that the two sources were largely consistent and can be used in macroecological studies. GPS tracking data can also help identify species and habitats for re-evaluation of IUCN habitat suitability.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Zheng Jin, Qinglong You, Nick Pepin, Deliang Chen, Laurent Li, Guodong Sun, Zhiyan Zuo, Mingcai Li, Panmao Zhai
Summary: The greening and browning of global vegetation are influenced by multiple processes, including climate change, CO2 fertilization, and land management. Based on the vegetation-water-heat relationship, these processes can be categorized into two types of eco-hydrological processes: dryness change and usage change. By analyzing remote-sensing data and climate data, it has been found that dryness change has become the dominant factor in climate change impacts on vegetated lands globally, leading to a fundamental weakening of global greening.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Ainara Cortes-Avizanda, Henrique M. Pereira, Ellen McKee, Olga Ceballos, Berta Martin-Lopez
Summary: This study found that hunters and animal husbandry workers had more knowledge of species compared to other social actors, and perception of functional groups varied between different social actor groups mainly due to the characteristics of the respondents. Interestingly, despite being globally considered endangered, steppe species were the least known and rarely perceived as emblematic by all social actor groups.
Article
Biology
Lenore Fahrig, James Watling, Carlos Alberto Arnillas, Victor Arroyo-Rodriguez, Theresa Joerger-Hickfang, Joerg Mueller, Henrique M. Pereira, Federico Riva, Verena Roesch, Sebastian Seibold, Teja Tscharntke, Felix May
Summary: The legacy of the 'SL > SS principle' suggests that larger patches conserve more species than smaller patches, but empirical support is lacking with most studies showing the opposite. A research agenda is proposed to investigate conditions leading to SL > SS by combining theoretical predictions and empirical evidence. This includes considering between-patch movement, spreading-of-risk in landscape-scale population persistence, and across-habitat heterogeneity as key variables predicting the SLOSS outcome. Testing these predictions across various landscapes will be crucial in determining the validity of the SL > SS principle.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Josiane Segar, Henrique M. Pereira, Raquel Filgueiras, Alexandros A. Karamanlidis, Deli Saavedra, Nestor Fernandez
Summary: Rewilding, reintroducing wild animals and plants, is gaining importance in Europe, but its effective implementation is currently limited. A first assessment of seven European sites found that the most common intervention for rewilding is the reintroduction of keystone species, while interventions targeting stochastic disturbances are less common. Despite improvements in rewilding scores at five sites, scores declined at two, partly due to competing socio-economic trends.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Maria Voigt, Hjalmar S. Kuehl, Marc Ancrenaz, David Gaveau, Erik Meijaard, Truly Santika, Julie Sherman, Serge A. Wich, Florian Wolf, Matthew J. Struebig, Henrique M. Pereira, Isabel M. D. Rosa
Summary: Assessing the risk of future habitat loss for wildlife populations is crucial for land use planning and biodiversity conservation. By combining projections of future deforestation with species density information, this study provides insight into the potential decline of critically endangered Bornean orangutans. The findings highlight the importance of protecting forests and preventing their conversion for sustainable conservation efforts.
PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Joana Viana Canelas, Henrique Miguel Pereira
Summary: Land-use intensity has negative impacts on ecological stability and ecosystem productivity. More biodiverse agricultural systems and homogeneous harvest distributions can reduce the impacts of land-use intensity, increase total yields, and reduce yield uncertainty.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Josiane Segar, Henrique M. Pereira, Lander Baeten, Markus Bernhardt-Roemermann, Pieter De Frenne, Nestor Fernandez, Frank S. Gilliam, Jonathan Lenoir, Adrienne Ortmann-Ajkai, Kris Verheyen, Donald Waller, Balazs Teleki, Jorg Brunet, Marketa Chudomelova, Guillaume Decocq, Thomas Dirnbock, Radim Hedl, Thilo Heinken, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Martin Kopecky, Martin Macek, Frantisek Malis, Tobias Naaf, Anna Orczewska, Kamila Reczynska, Wolfgang Schmidt, Jan Sebesta, Alina Stachurska-Swakon, Tibor Standovar, Krzysztof Swierkosz, Ondrej Vild, Monika Wulf, Ingmar R. Staude
Summary: Ungulate populations are increasing in Europe, while atmospheric nitrogen deposition is eutrophying forests. The increase in herbivory is associated with elevated species turnover over time, but this turnover depends on nitrogen levels. Under low nitrogen deposition, herbivory benefits threatened and small-ranged species, but this trend is reversed under high nitrogen deposition. Herbivores also reduce shrub cover, increasing light levels and exacerbating nitrogen effects.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jose W. W. Valdez, Corey T. T. Callaghan, Jessica Junker, Andy Purvis, Samantha L. L. Hill, Henrique M. M. Pereira
Summary: Although previous research has provided conflicting results, this study assessed the ability to detect global biodiversity trends using local species richness. The analysis considered factors such as the number of monitoring sites, sampling interval, measurement error, spatial grain of monitoring, and spatial sampling biases. The study found that while a monitoring network with hundreds of sites could detect global change in species richness within a 30-year period, detecting yearly trends and trends within shorter timeframes was challenging. Measurement errors and spatial sampling biases also had significant impacts on the ability to detect trends. The findings suggest that monitoring a representative network of sites at the national level, combined with models accounting for errors and biases, can improve our understanding of global biodiversity change.
Review
Biology
Maria Dornelas, Jonathan M. Chase, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Anne E. Magurran, Brian J. McGill, Laura H. Antao, Shane A. Blowes, Gergana N. Daskalova, Brian Leung, Ines S. Martins, Faye Moyes, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Chris D. Thomas, Mark Vellend
Summary: Estimating biodiversity change is a critical challenge in the context of human modification. This review examines how biodiversity has changed across scales and taxonomic groups, focusing on species richness, temporal turnover, spatial beta-diversity, and abundance. The findings show mixed patterns of both increases and declines in local scales, with higher prevalence of declining trends in beta-diversity and abundance. At the global scale, extinction rates are likely surpassing speciation rates, although both are elevated. Reducing blind spots in understanding biodiversity change is essential for effective management.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Rowan Dunn-Capper, Martin Quaas, Christopher J. J. Sandom, Jens-Christian Svenning, Henrique M. M. Pereira
Summary: As we enter the United Nations' Decade of Restoration, we are faced with two challenges: the need for scaling up restoration efforts due to past global failures, and the changing focus on functional and dynamic restoration goals. Rewilding, an emerging ecological restoration strategy, provides a promising avenue for restoration funding in Europe by restoring self-sustaining complex ecosystems with minimal human interference. However, the unique characteristics of rewilding may pose challenges when accessing existing funding streams, necessitating modifications to better suit rewilding's special needs.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Rowan Dunn-Capper, Laura C. Quintero-Uribe, Henrique M. Pereira, Christopher J. Sandom
Summary: This study assesses nature recovery scenarios in an urban boundary landscape using a multicriteria mapping study and the Nature Futures Framework. The results show that the Nature Futures Framework is a reliable framework for evaluating diverse stakeholder values for land use change.
SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wu-Bing Xu, Shane A. A. Blowes, Viviana Brambilla, Cher F. Y. Chow, Ada Fontrodona-Eslava, Ines S. Martins, Daniel McGlinn, Faye Moyes, Alban Sagouis, Hideyasu Shimadzu, Roel van Klink, Anne E. E. Magurran, Nicholas J. J. Gotelli, Brian J. J. McGill, Maria Dornelas, Jonathan M. M. Chase
Summary: Using global metacommunity data, this study found that large-ranged species tend to increase in site occupancy over time, while small-ranged species tend to decrease. This pattern is more pronounced in marine habitats, but in terrestrial regions, protected areas show less extreme changes in occupancy. These findings highlight the importance of range size in determining species declines and the potential of habitat protection in mitigating these losses under environmental change.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Annika M. Zuleger, Andrea Perino, Florian Wolf, Helen C. Wheeler, Henrique M. Pereira
Summary: In the past decades, agricultural land abandonment and declining land-use intensity in Mediterranean countries have created opportunities for rewilding and population expansion of large mammals. However, conflicts between wild and domestic mammal species may arise. Therefore, it is crucial to study ecological interactions between these species to understand the impact of land abandonment and rewilding on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Camera traps have been employed for long-term monitoring with minimal interference, providing an effective tool for studying species interactions and occupancy dynamics.
BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
HyeJin Kim, Garry D. Peterson, William W. L. Cheung, Simon Ferrier, Rob Alkemade, Almut Arneth, Jan J. Kuiper, Sana Okayasu, Laura Pereira, Lilibeth A. Acosta, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Eefje den Belder, Tyler D. Eddy, Justin A. Johnson, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Marcel T. J. Kok, Paul Leadley, David Leclere, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Carlo Rondinini, Robert J. Scholes, Machteld A. Schoolenberg, Yunne-Jai Shin, Elke Stehfest, Fabrice Stephenson, Piero Visconti, Detlef van Vuuren, Colette C. C. Wabnitz, Juan Jose Alava, Ivon Cuadros-Casanova, Kathryn K. Davies, Maria A. Gasalla, Ghassen Halouani, Mike Harfoot, Shizuka Hashimoto, Thomas Hickler, Tim Hirsch, Grigory Kolomytsev, Brian W. Miller, Haruka Ohashi, Maria Gabriela Palomo, Alexander Popp, Roy Paco Remme, Osamu Saito, U. Rashid Sumalia, Simon Willcock, Henrique M. Pereira
Summary: The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) is a tool for creating positive futures for nature and people. It explores different perspectives on nature and describes how it can be applied in modeling to support decision-making. The paper presents key considerations for developing qualitative and quantitative scenarios, as well as three approaches to modeling Nature Futures scenarios in policy processes.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE-HUMAN AND POLICY DIMENSIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ines S. Martins, Franziska Schrodt, Shane A. Blowes, Amanda E. Bates, Anne D. Bjorkman, Viviana Brambilla, Juan Carvajal-Quintero, Cher F. Y. Chow, Gergana N. Daskalova, Kyle Edwards, Nico Eisenhauer, Richard Field, Ada Fontrodona-Eslava, Jonathan J. Henn, Roel van Klink, Joshua S. Madin, Anne E. Magurran, Michael McWilliam, Faye Moyes, Brittany Pugh, Alban Sagouis, Isaac Trindade-Santos, Brian J. McGill, Jonathan M. Chase, Maria Dornelas
Summary: Biotic responses to global change, especially in the Anthropocene, have led to a decrease in body size, primarily driven by fish. Both within-species trends and compositional changes contribute to body size changes, with significant variation in magnitude and direction.
Article
Ecology
Corey T. Callaghan, Luis Borda-de-Agua, Roel van Klink, Roberto Rozzi, Henrique M. Pereira
Summary: This study examines global species abundance distributions (gSADs) of 39 taxonomic classes using data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. The results demonstrate that the shape of the gSAD changes as sampling effort increases, indicating a universal pattern across taxonomic classes. The Poisson log-normal distribution was found to be the best statistical fit for most classes, suggesting the presence of general ecological or evolutionary mechanisms governing species commonness and rarity on Earth.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
