News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sara Phillips
Summary: By assessing the unique traits of traded animals and their role in ecosystems, researchers can evaluate the potential impact of losses.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anna Bazzicalupo, Susana C. Goncalves, Remi Hebert, Sigrid Jakob, Alfredo Justo, Gavin Kernaghan, Renee Lebeuf, Bruce Malloch, R. Greg Thorn, Allison K. Walker
Summary: Despite the ecological importance of fungi, there is a lack of knowledge about their diversity in Canada. This study addresses the need for fungal distribution data and highlights the importance of building a network of professional and amateur mycologists to advance conservation efforts. The research provides insight on the conservation status of Canadian macrofungi and identifies priority species for formal conservation assessment.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Shawn Dove, Monika Bohm, Robin Freeman, Louise McRae, David J. Murrell
Summary: Global biodiversity crisis necessitates effective policies and conservation efforts. Reliable indicators are crucial for guiding research and decision making, but incomplete and biased data pose challenges. Using a modeling approach, we found that many trends in the Living Planet Index require more data to be considered reliable.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Falko T. Buschke, James G. Hagan, Luca Santini, Bernard W. T. Coetzee
Summary: A combination of simulations and empirical data shows that random fluctuations in species population time-series data affect calculations of the Living Planet Index, in some cases exaggerating population declines.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jorge Garcia-Giron, Luis Mauricio Bini, Jani Heino
Summary: Freshwater ecosystems have a high biodiversity and are under significant threat worldwide. However, our ability to design evidence-based conservation plans for this realm is limited due to biodiversity shortfalls, such as the lack of comparable field data and information on traits and phylogenies of freshwater organisms. To address this, efforts should be made to harmonize data from different sources, gather natural history observations, and establish fully resolved phylogenies. By overcoming these hurdles, we can map important ecosystems and valuable areas for the conservation of freshwater organisms and their habitats.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Katherine Hebert, Dominique Gravel
Summary: The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a crucial tool for tracking global biodiversity change. However, it sacrifices information to summarize population trends into a single index. Evaluating the impact of this information loss is important to ensure the index reflects the truth. The study analyzed uncertainty propagation in the LPI and found that measurement and process uncertainty consistently biased the index below the true trend, particularly when populations are small. These findings highlight the importance of considering variability and covarying populations in assessing population change trends for a more accurate LPI.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lisbeth A. Hordley, Gary D. Powney, Tom Brereton, Simon Gillings, Owen L. Petchey, David B. Roy, Joseph A. Tobias, James Williams, Tom H. Oliver
Summary: Habitat loss leads to biodiversity loss and reduces the connectivity of landscapes for species movement. Quantifying functional connectivity is important for conservation management, and a technique based on population synchrony has been suggested. This study uses species survey data to investigate population synchrony for British birds and butterflies over time. Results show that butterfly synchrony has declined but recently increased, while bird synchrony has shown some decline followed by recovery. Developing indicators of functional connectivity using abundance data is crucial for effective land management strategies.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
L. C. Flensborg, A. A. Maureaud, D. N. Bravo, M. Lindegren
Summary: Marine ecosystems are at risk due to climate change, overexploitation, and habitat destruction, causing loss of species and biodiversity. Maximizing resilience has become crucial in conservation and management. This study quantifies the potential resilience of marine ecosystems using the North Sea as a case study, highlighting a trade-off between different components of resilience.
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Frank Juma Ongondo, Frank A. Fogarty III, Peter Njoroge, Matthew D. Johnson
Summary: This study investigates the bird communities in natural forests and shade coffee farms in Central Kenya. It finds that shade coffee farms have higher bird abundance and species richness compared to natural forests, especially for carnivores, granivores, omnivores, and insectivores. However, forest specialists and forest visitors are more abundant and species rich in natural forests, while forest generalists and birds with no forest association status are more abundant and species rich in shade coffee farms.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Akib Hasan, Miguel Montoro Girona, Louis Imbeau, Jennifer Lento, Anouschka R. Hof, Guillaume Grosbois
Summary: Eskers are complex geological formations that provide crucial resources and their ecological knowledge is essential for their sustainable management and conservation. This study used a food web approach to identify the environmental variables, biological diversity, and indicator species associated with esker lakes. The results showed that esker lakes differ from clay lakes in terms of physicochemical properties and biotic communities, and they provide preferential habitats for certain species.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Francis O. Arimoro, Unique N. Keke
Summary: Indicator species have been used in modern aquatic research to monitor environmental changes and assess the effectiveness of management procedures. This study evaluated the development of surrogate indicator groups for the conservation and management of biodiversity in Northern Nigeria streams by surveying 15 streams in Niger state. The study found distinct indicator species for reference and impacted sites, with reference sites indicating good water quality and impacted sites showing signs of anthropogenic pollution.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ciaran S. M. Campbell, Ludovic Dutoit, Tania M. King, Dave Craw, Christopher P. Burridge, Graham P. Wallis, Jonathan M. Waters
Summary: This study uses genome-wide data to investigate the phylogeny of the Galaxias vulgaris complex in New Zealand and reveals the potential of mitochondrial capture to obscure species diversity. It also highlights the impact of geological and anthropogenic drainage modifications on freshwater biodiversity.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Wataru Higashikawa, Masanao Sueyoshi, Terutaka Mori, Ryuji Yonekura, Keigo Nakamura
Summary: Although biodiversity indicators based on landscape heterogeneity have been developed for terrestrial ecosystems, they are not well suited for freshwater ecosystems worldwide due to the difficulty in discriminating freshwater environments using remote sensing. However, in Japan, detailed classification of freshwater land cover using Geographic Information System (GIS) data has allowed the development of an index for freshwater landscape heterogeneity called the 'Satogawa' Index (SGI). The SGI, calculated at a central region in Japan, showed significant relationships with Odonata species richness and freshwater fish. The SGI can be adapted to other regions as a surrogate of aquatic species richness, providing valuable insights into the impacts of land use changes on freshwater biodiversity.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Laura H. Antao, Anne E. Magurran, Maria Dornelas
Summary: This study compared the fit of different models to species abundance distributions at different scales and found a higher prevalence of multimodality for larger spatial extents, with the logseries model exclusively selected for smaller areas. Species richness affected SAD shape, and major macroecological theories of biodiversity were unable to accommodate the variability encountered in SAD shape. Both inter- and intraspecific spatial aggregation patterns were found to be important determinants of biodiversity patterns.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Robyn James, Kristen Lyons, Philippa Mckay, Ruth Konia, Hilda Lionata, Nathalie Butt
Summary: Global warming and biodiversity loss are tied to gender inequality, especially in market-based responses like carbon-offsetting and biodiversity conservation where men benefit more and women's rights and interests are overlooked. To achieve fairness, gender should be at the core of climate and biodiversity solutions, requiring reform and radical change.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biodiversity Conservation
B. Collen
ANIMAL CONSERVATION
(2015)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
David Keith, H. Resit Akcakaya, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Ben Collen, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Elizabeth E. Holmes, Jeffrey A. Hutchings, Doug Keinath, Michael K. Schwartz, Andrew O. Shelton, Robin S. Waples
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2015)
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Biodiversity Conservation
Brendan Costelloe, Ben Collen, E. J. Milner-Gulland, Ian D. Craigie, Louise McRae, Carlo Rondinini, Emily Nicholson
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2016)
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Biology
Ben Collen, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Kevin J. Gaston, Ulf Gardenfors, David A. Keith, Andre E. Punt, Helen M. Regan, Monika Bohm, Simon Hedges, Mary Seddon, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Michael Hoffmann, Steven P. Bachman, H. Resit Akcakaya
Correction
Ecology
Uri Roll, Anat Feldman, Maria Novosolov, Allen Allison, Aaron M. Bauer, Rodolphe Bernard, Monika Bohm, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Ben Collen, Guarino R. Colli, Lital Dabool, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Yuval Itescu, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Amir Lewin, Marcio Martins, Erez Maza, Danny Meirte, Zoltan T. Nagy, Cristiano de C. Nogueira, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Gary D. Powney, Roberto Sindaco, Oliver J. S. Tallowin, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-Francois Trape, Enav Vidan, Peter Uetz, Philipp Wagner, Yuezhao Wang, C. David L. Orme, Richard Grenyer, Shai Meiri
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2017)
Correction
Ecology
Uri Roll, Anat Feldman, Maria Novosolov, Allen Allison, Aaron M. Bauer, Rodolphe Bernard, Monika Bohm, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Ben Collen, Guarino R. Colli, Lital Dabool, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Yuval Itescu, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Amir Lewin, Marcio Martins, Erez Maza, Danny Meirte, Zoltan T. Nagy, Cristiano de C. Nogueira, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Gary D. Powney, Roberto Sindaco, Oliver Tallowin, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-Francois Trape, Enav Vidan, Peter Uetz, Philipp Wagner, Yuezhao Wang, C. David L. Orme, Richard Grenyer, Shai Meiri
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2018)
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Ecology
Uri Roll, Anat Feldman, Maria Novosolov, Allen Allison, Aaron M. Bauer, Rodolphe Bernard, Monika Bohm, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Ben Collen, Guarino R. Colli, Lital Dabool, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Yuval Itescu, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Amir Lewin, Marcio Martins, Erez Maza, Danny Meirte, Zoltan T. Nagy, Cristiano de C. Nogueira, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Gary D. Powney, Roberto Sindaco, Oliver J. S. Tallowin, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-Francois Trape, Enav Vidan, Peter Uetz, Philipp Wagner, Yuezhao Wang, C. David L. Orme, Richard Grenyer, Shai Meiri
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2017)
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Biodiversity Conservation
Helen M. R. Meredith, Freya A. V. St John, Ben Collen, Simon A. Black, Richard A. Griffiths
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2018)
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Biodiversity Conservation
Elham Nourani, Mohammad Kaboli, Ben Collen
BIRD CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
(2015)
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Biodiversity Conservation
Lucie M. Bland, Ben Collen, C. David L. Orme, Jon Bielby
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2015)
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Multidisciplinary Sciences
Caitlin Black, Ben Collen, Daniel Johnston, Tom Hart
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Biology
Jennifer J. Crees, Ben Collen, Samuel T. Turvey
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Ellie E. Dyer, David W. Redding, Phillip Cassey, Ben Collen, Tim M. Blackburn
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2020)
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Biodiversity Conservation
Sergio Henriques, Monika Bohm, Ben Collen, Jennifer Luedtke, Michael Hoffmann, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Pedro Cardoso, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Robin Freeman
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2020)
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Ecology
Charlotte L. Outhwaite, Richard D. Gregory, Richard E. Chandler, Ben Collen, Nick J. B. Isaac
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2020)