Article
Environmental Sciences
Guido Leurs, Karin J. van der Reijden, Sidi Yahya Cheikhna Lemrabott, Ica Barry, Diosnes Manuel Nonque, Han Olff, Samuel Ledo Pontes, Aissa Regalla, Laura L. Govers
Summary: The study reveals that industrial fishing activities are mainly concentrated in the buffer zones near MPAs, which can have impacts on elasmobranch species, especially predatory species. The bycatch of elasmobranchs varies in different seasons in the waters of Mauritania and Guinea Bissau.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Sarah Elizabeth Birchenough, Patrick Arthur Cooper, Antony Charles Jensen
Summary: This study tested the effectiveness of VMS technology in quantifying fishing activity in a near inshore fishery, comprised solely of <12 m vessels. Results showed a decline in overall fishing effort in 2014 and mixed seasonal usage of four defined areas of the Harbour. The study concluded that VMS data can be successfully used on the <12 m inshore sector to quantify patterns of activity and detect overlap with MPA features, aiding evidence-based management.
Article
Environmental Studies
Laura L. Griffiths, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Gabby N. Ahmadia, Purwanto, Awaludinnoer, Dale Bryan-Brown, Christopher J. Brown
Summary: Researchers developed a modeling approach to evaluate the performance of two MPAs in Raja Ampat, Indonesia by predicting the impact of fishing pressure and biophysical conditions on fish biomass recovery. They found that historical fishing pressure, wave exposure, and proximity to coastal habitats were important factors determining pre-MPA fish biomass. Their study suggests that evaluating MPA performance requires considering the link to historical fishing pressure and biophysical conditions.
Article
Ecology
Kangshun Zhao, Steven D. Gaines, Jorge Garcia Molinos, Min Zhang, Jun Xu
Summary: The functional diversity of commercial marine fish communities significantly responds to climate change and fishing pressure. Climate warming has a positive effect on functional evenness but a negative effect on functional divergence. In contrast, increasing fishing pressure has the opposite effects. These findings are driven by the varying relative contributions of fish species or species groups to the functional space.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Nils C. Krueck
Summary: A study warns that concentrated fishing near marine protected areas can hinder population recovery both within and beyond the protected areas.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Heitor Schulz Macedo, Rodrigo Pereira Medeiros
Summary: This paper analyses the governance of the Environmental Protected Area of Anhatomirim in southern Brazil, finding that the 2013 management plan brought significant improvements and better incentives for stakeholders. However, the lack of inter-institutional and cross-scale connections remains a major weakness in achieving conservation objectives.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Shelby L. Ziegler, Rachel O. Brooks, Scott L. Hamilton, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg, Jennifer A. Chiu, Ryan T. Fields, Grant T. Waltz, Chenchen Shen, Dean E. Wendt, Richard M. Starr
Summary: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are established worldwide to mitigate the effects of various stressors on marine communities. This study found that the impacts of MPAs on fish communities are influenced by fishing pressure and environmental factors. Specifically, MPAs have the strongest positive effects on heavily exploited fish communities. Therefore, it is important for managers to consider both human-induced stressors and environmental conditions when establishing MPAs, as well as implement long-term monitoring programs to assess their functionality.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Maria Jose Gonzalez-Bernat, Julian Clifton
Summary: This paper examines the governance effectiveness of the Wildlife Refuge of Punta de Manabique (RVSPM) in Guatemala, finding that strategic alliances between local communities and NGOs have provided economic and participatory incentives, but efforts to establish an integrated or collaborative management system have failed, leading to alarming environmental degradation. Future governance prospects should focus on adjusting participatory incentives, strengthening legal incentives, and promoting regional collaborations for improved management.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Laura Veverka, Nicole L. Amkieltiela, Nicole E. Crane, David Estradivari, Helen Fox, David Gill, Jordan C. Goetze, Charlotte E. Gough, Nils L. Krueck, Sarah Lester, Shauna Mahajan, John N. Rulmal Jr, Marianne Teoh, Gabby Ahmadia
Summary: Globally, marine protected areas (MPAs) have shifted their focus from solely maintaining ecosystems to addressing the needs of people and nature. This has resulted in diverse MPAs with different fisheries restrictions, sparking a debate on the types of restrictions that contribute to biodiversity goals.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Allison L. Perry, Jorge Blanco, Silvia Garcia, Nicolas Fournier
Summary: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are important for halting marine biodiversity loss, but the effective protection of designated sites is often overlooked. This study focused on MPAs in Europe and found that high-risk fishing activities were common within these areas, especially in larger offshore sites. Intense high-risk fishing inside reef and sandbank MPAs was associated with poorer conservation status of these habitats.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Fabio Favoretto, Catalina Lopez-Sagastegui, Enric Sala, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza
Summary: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that ban fishing can restore marine life and replenish nearby fisheries. The implementation of the largest fully protected MPA in North America did not lead to a decrease in catches or a displacement of fishing effort to unprotected areas. Our findings support the idea that well-designed MPAs can benefit marine ecosystems and the fisheries they support.
Article
Oceanography
Jose Belquior Gonsalves Neto, Felipe Augusto de Alencar Goyanna, Caroline Vieira Feitosa, Marcelo Oliveira Soares
Summary: This paper highlights the historical discrepancies in fisheries management in the extensive Brazilian waters and illustrates the institutional neglect of this important blue-economy sector. It proposes a pivotal management model based on three main pillars for sustainable fisheries development.
OCEAN & COASTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Chris Brown, Gabby N. Ahmadia, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Nur Arafeh-Dalmau, Christina A. Buelow, Max D. Campbell, Graham J. Edgar, Jonas Geldmann, David Gill, Rick D. Stuart-Smith
Summary: Well-resourced marine protected areas (MPA) are better managed and achieve improved ecological outcomes. This study investigates whether fees charged for entry into MPAs are associated with enhanced fish biomass and the effectiveness of MPA management. The findings suggest that entry fees are linked to greater fish biomass, particularly in MPAs with lower scores for management effectiveness. Additionally, the study indicates that entry fees contribute to budget security and staff capacity for critical management activities in MPAs.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rafael Almeida Magris
Summary: This study evaluates the effectiveness of large-scale MPAs in the offshore areas of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, with contrasting results for multiple-use MPAs in SPSP and TMV regions. While SPSP experienced a reduction in fishing intensity and area, TMV saw an increase in both measures. On the other hand, inverted patterns were observed for the no-take MPAs, with SPSP showing an increase in fishing density post-implementation and TMV displaying a decrease. These findings contribute to understanding the implications and challenges of adopting large-scale MPAs for ocean conservation.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Oceanography
Riad Sultan
Summary: The study assesses the conservation and fisheries benefits of the Blue Bay Marine Park in Mauritius, finding that reduced fishing effort near the Park, rather than spillover, is the driving factor behind increased catch rates. Site-specific characteristics such as travel distance and water depth are crucial in shaping fisher behavior in marine reserve design.
OCEAN & COASTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Riva J. Riley, Elizabeth R. Gillie, James L. Savage, Andrea Manica, Neeltje J. Boogert
Summary: Social interactions and familiarity between group members can affect group coordination and leadership. Higher average boldness in familiar groups leads to less cohesion, while familiarity affects shy and bold individuals' foraging performance and leadership tendencies differently. Both boldness and familiarity are important for establishing group behavior and coordination.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Review
Ecology
James A. Kennerley, Marius Somveille, Mark E. Hauber, Nicole M. Richardson, Andrea Manica, William E. Feeney
Summary: This study compiles data on brood parasite-host relationships and reveals that complex systems with multiple species of brood parasites and hosts are common globally. It highlights the mismatch between past research efforts and network complexity patterns, and emphasizes the potential benefits of considering brood parasite-host interactions as ecological networks.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias, Lane M. Atmore, Jesus Olivero, Karen Lupo, Andrea Manica, Epifania Arango Isaza, Lucio Vinicius, Andrea Bamberg Migliano
Summary: The evolutionary history of African hunter-gatherers provides important insights into modern human diversity. This study shows that the distribution and density of Central African hunter-gatherers are influenced by ecology rather than recent farming expansions. By combining paleoclimatic reconstructions and archaeological data, the study estimates the presence of hunter-gatherers in Central Africa over the past 120,000 years. Genetic estimates of divergence times between different groups of hunter-gatherers align with ecological estimates, indicating the importance of connectivity and subsequent gene flow.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
C. Horswill, M. J. Wood, A. Manica
Summary: This study investigates the immigration dynamics of a long-lived colonial seabird and finds that the contribution of immigration to a declining population can have dramatic consequences, emphasizing the importance of temporal analyses of dispersal to protect population viability.
Article
Ecology
July A. Pilowsky, Andrea Manica, Stuart Brown, Carsten Rahbek, Damien A. Fordham
Summary: This study investigated the factors influencing the simulations of early human migration into North America. The results show that demographic parameters have a larger impact on migration outcomes than the choice of climate model. The findings suggest that further research on ancient human population dynamics and consideration of parameter uncertainties are important for improving the accuracy of migration models and understanding their implications for biodiversity.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2022)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Dagomar Degroot, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Jessica E. Tierney, Felix Riede, Andrea Manica, Emma Moesswilde, Nicolas Gauthier
Summary: In recent decades, there has been a rapid expansion of research on societal responses to past climate fluctuations. This interdisciplinary field, known as the History of Climate and Society (HCS), is primarily conducted by archaeologists, economists, geneticists, geographers, and paleoclimatologists. This review provides an overview of the approaches and findings of scholars in each of these disciplines, discussing how climatic changes are reconstructed and the environmental consequences they have had. It also explores the potential for transdisciplinary approaches in the field and concludes by examining how HCS studies can inform policy and activism addressing anthropogenic global warming.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Lily K. Bentley, Andrea Manica, Ben J. Dilley, Peter G. Ryan, Richard A. Phillips
Summary: This study compared the habitat preferences of Grey Petrels and White-chinned Petrels during their incubation periods and found that they showed marked differences in foraging locations, selecting different areas of the ocean.
Article
Ecology
Yucheng Wang, Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen, Luke E. Holman, Andrea Manica, Mikkel Winther Pedersen
Summary: ngsLCA is a command-line toolkit for obtaining taxonomic profiles from metagenomic data generated from environmental samples. It has flexible parameter settings, processes large datasets quickly, and provides methods for filtering, contamination removal, taxonomic clustering, and visualizing the generated taxonomic profiles.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biology
Michela Leonardi, Francesco Boschin, Paolo Boscato, Andrea Manica
Summary: Studying the large climatic fluctuations of the last 50,000 years can help understand the effects of climate change on species and their niche dynamics. Paleontological modeling over an archaeological database shows that horse, aurochs, red deer, and wild boar all changed their niche between 47,000 and 7500 years ago, with species-specific responses to climate fluctuations. These species survived the climatic turnovers by being flexible and expanding their niche in response to the extinction of competitors and predators.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Michela Leonardi, Emily Y. Y. Hallett, Robert Beyer, Mario Krapp, Andrea Manica
Summary: The recent development of continuous paleoclimatic reconstructions has opened up opportunities for interdisciplinary studies in various fields. However, accessing and analyzing (paleo)climatic data can be difficult for scholars unfamiliar with specific file formats. In this study, we introduce pastclim, an R package that facilitates the access and use of paleoclimatic reconstructions. The package includes datasets covering different time periods and provides instructions on how to include additional datasets, offering a convenient platform for incorporating past climate data into analyses and pipelines.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Danielle L. Buss, Ella Hearne, Rebecca H. Y. Loy, Andrea Manica, Tamsin C. O'Connell, Jennifer A. Jackson
Summary: Investigating resource partitioning between fin and sei whales during the commercial whaling period. By measuring stable isotope ratios and analyzing historic catch data, it was found that despite using a common prey resource, there was limited overlap in isotopic niches between the two species.
Article
Biology
Julia L. Y. Spaet, Paul A. Butcher, Andrea Manica, Chi Hin Lam
Summary: Understanding the movement and behavior of large marine predators, such as sharks, is crucial for their conservation. By tagging immature white sharks in Australian and New Zealand waters, researchers found that these sharks frequently dive up and down the water column and exhibit different diving behaviors during the day and night.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jacopo Niccolo Cerasoni, Emily Yuko Hallett, Emuobosa Akpo Orijemie, Kseniia Ashastina, Mary Lucas, Lucy Farr, Alexa Hoehn, Christopher A. Kiahtipes, James Blinkhorn, Patrick Roberts, Andrea Manica, Eleanor M. L. Scerri
Summary: The Iho Eleeru rock shelter in Southwest Nigeria is the only site in western Africa where Pleistocene-era hominin fossils have been found. Excavations revealed continuous human occupation from the Later Stone Age to the present day. The study provides evidence that the local landscape was forested throughout the human occupation period, but a shift from forest to savanna environment occurred on a regional scale 6,000 years ago.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bethany L. Clark, Ana P. B. Carneiro, Elizabeth J. Pearmain, Marie-Morgane Rouyer, Thomas A. Clay, Win Cowger, Richard A. Phillips, Andrea Manica, Carolina Hazin, Marcus Eriksen, Jacob Gonzalez-Solis, Josh Adams, Yuri V. Albores-Barajas, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, Maria Saldanha Alho, Deusa Teixeira Araujo, Jose Manuel Arcos, John P. Y. Arnould, Nadito J. P. Barbosa, Christophe Barbraud, Annalea M. Beard, Jessie Beck, Elizabeth A. Bell, Della G. Bennet, Maud Berlincourt, Manuel Biscoito, Oskar K. Bjornstad, Mark Bolton, Katherine A. Booth Jones, John J. Borg, Karen Bourgeois, Vincent Bretagnolle, Joel Bried, James V. Briskie, M. de L. Brooke, Katherine C. Brownlie, Leandro Bugoni, Licia Calabrese, Letizia Campioni, Mark J. Carey, Ryan D. Carle, Nicholas Carlile, Ana R. Carreiro, Paulo Catry, Teresa Catry, Jacopo G. Cecere, Filipe R. Ceia, Yves Cherel, Chang-Yong Choi, Marco Cianchetti-Benedetti, Rohan H. Clarke, Jaimie B. Cleeland, Valentina Colodro, Bradley C. Congdon, Johannis Danielsen, Federico De Pascalis, Zoe Deakin, Nina Dehnhard, Giacomo Dell'Omo, Karine Delord, Sebastien Descamps, Ben J. Dilley, Herculano A. Dinis, Jerome Dubos, Brendon J. Dunphy, Louise M. Emmerson, Ana Isabel Fagundes, Annette L. Fayet, Jonathan J. Felis, Johannes H. Fischer, Amanda N. D. Freeman, Aymeric Fromant, Giorgia Gaibani, David Garcia, Carina Gjerdrum, Ivandra Soeli Goncalves Correia Gomes, Manuela G. Forero, Jose P. Granadeiro, W. James Grecian, David Gremillet, Tim Guilford, Gunnar Thor Hallgrimsson, Luke R. Halpin, Erpur Snaer Hansen, April Hedd, Morten Helberg, Halfdan H. Helgason, Leeann M. Henry, Hannah F. R. Hereward, Marcos Hernandez-Montero, Mark A. Hindell, Peter J. Hodum, Simona Imperio, Audrey Jaeger, Mark Jessopp, Patrick G. R. Jodice, Carl G. Jones, Christopher W. Jones, Jon Einar Jonsson, Adam Kane, Sven Kapelj, Yuna Kim, Holly Kirk, Yann Kolbeinsson, Philipp L. Kraemer, Lucas Krueger, Paulo Lago, Todd J. Landers, Jennifer L. Lavers, Matthieu Le Corre, Andreia Leal, Maite Louzao, Jeremy Madeiros, Maria Magalhaes, Mark L. Mallory, Juan F. Masello, Bruno Massa, Sakiko Matsumoto, Fiona McDuie, Laura McFarlane Tranquilla, Fernando Medrano, Benjamin J. Metzger, Teresa Militao, William A. Montevecchi, Rosalinda C. Montone, Leia Navarro-Herrero, Veronica C. Neves, David G. Nicholls, Malcolm A. C. Nicoll, Ken Norris, Steffen Oppel, Daniel Oro, Ellie Owen, Oliver Padget, Vitor H. Paiva, David Pala, Jorge M. Pereira, Clara Peron, Maria V. Petry, Admilton de Pina, Ariete T. Moreira Pina, Patrick Pinet, Pierre A. Pistorius, Ingrid L. Pollet, Benjamin J. Porter, Timothee A. Poupart, Christopher D. L. Powell, Carolina B. Proano, Julia Pujol-Casado, Petra Quillfeldt, John L. Quinn, Andre F. Raine, Helen Raine, Ivan Ramirez, Jaime A. Ramos, Rauel Ramos, Andreas Ravache, Matt J. Rayner, Timothy A. Reid, Gregory J. Robertson, Gerard J. Rocamora, Dominic P. Rollinson, Robert A. Ronconi, Andreu Rotger, Diego Rubolini, Kevin Ruhomaun, Asuncion Ruiz, James C. Russell, Peter G. Ryan, Sarah Saldanha, Ana Sanz-Aguilar, Mariona Sarda-Serra, Yvan G. Satge, Katsufumi Sato, Wiebke C. Schaefer, Stefan Schoombie, Scott A. Shaffer, Nirmal Shah, Akiko Shoji, Dave Shutler, Ingvar A. Sigurosson, Monica C. Silva, Alison E. Small, Cecilia Soldatini, Hallvard Strom, Christopher A. Surman, Akinori Takahashi, Vikash R. V. Tatayah, Graeme A. Taylor, Robert J. Thomas, David R. Thompson, Paul M. Thompson, Thorkell L. Thorarinsson, Diego Vicente-Sastre, Eric Vidal, Ewan D. Wakefield, Susan M. Waugh, Henri Weimerskirch, Heiko U. Wittmer, Takashi Yamamoto, Ken Yoda, Carlos B. Zavalaga, Francis J. Zino, Maria P. Dias
Summary: Plastic pollution and vulnerable marine organisms have uneven distributions. This study combines plastic density estimates and bird movement data to estimate exposure risk. The Mediterranean, Black seas, northeast Pacific, northwest Pacific, South Atlantic, and southwest Indian oceans are high-risk areas. Threatened species have disproportionately high exposure risk. Outside the Mediterranean and Black seas, the high seas and Exclusive Economic Zones of the USA, Japan, and the UK have the highest exposure risk. International collaboration is crucial for addressing marine plastic impacts.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Robert M. Beyer, Fangyuan Hua, Philip A. Martin, Andrea Manica, Tim Rademacher
Summary: Optimizing the spatial distribution of global croplands can reduce environmental impacts and maintain current crop production levels. This adjustment can significantly reduce carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, and water consumption, and can achieve similar results even under future climate change conditions.
COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
