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Managing invasive species is crucial to mitigate their negative impacts on ecosystems, yet conflicts may arise when their social benefits are disregarded. Human pressure on the endemic-rich forests of São Tomé has been high since the island was discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and numerous species have been introduced. These include the invasive West African giant land snail (Archachatina marginata), which was introduced in the mid-20th century, is now widespread on the island, and is a potential threat to native flora and fauna. We assessed the frequency of consumption of this species and its socioeconomic importance to people across the island with household questionnaires, focus group discussions, and semistructured interviews. We explored the prevalence and potential drivers of use (e.g., wealth, household composition, and diversity of occupations) and characterized the commodity chain to identify demographic groups linked to the snail trade. We interviewed 672 people (1 person per household), conducted 6 focus groups, and interviewed 80 key actors belonging to 5 subcategories. The snail was the most widely consumed bushmeat and an important source of income, particularly for women and unemployed youth. Insecure and scarce livelihood alternatives, mostly in rural areas, were reported as drivers for trade involvement. Snail harvesting was more frequent in poorer households with low occupational diversity. Selling tended to occur in households that were well-established in the community and had a higher proportion of children. Both were stimulated by the proximity of communities to the native forest. Buying snails was common in all demographic groups, but it was linked to wealth and occupational diversity. Interventions to manage the impact of this introduced species on the valuable ecosystems of the island should involve multiple sectors of society to ensure societal support. This requires robust consideration of the welfare of vulnerable demographic groups that benefit from the species., (© 2024 The Author(s). Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

West Nile (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus with an expanding geographical range and epidemic activity in Europe. Not having yet experienced a human-associated epidemic, Portugal remains an outlier in the Mediterranean basin. In this study, we apply ecological niche modelling informed by WNV historical evidence and a multitude of environmental variables from across Portugal. We identify that ecological backgrounds compatible with WNV historical circulation are mostly restricted to the south, characterized by a warmer and drier climate, high avian diversity, specific avian species and land types. We estimate WNV ecological suitability across the country, identifying overlaps with the distributions of the three relevant hosts (humans, birds, equines) for public and animal health. From this, we propose a category-based spatial framework providing first of a kind valuable insights for WNV surveillance in Portugal under the One Health nexus. We forecast that near future climate trends alone will contribute to pushing adequate WNV ecological suitability northwards, towards regions with higher human density. This unique perspective on the past, present and future ecology of WNV addresses existing national knowledge gaps, enhances our understanding of the evolving emergence of WNV, and offers opportunities to prepare and respond to the first human-associated epidemic in Portugal., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Afrotropics are experiencing some of the fastest urbanisation rates on the planet but the impact of city growth on their rich and unique biodiversity remains understudied, especially compared to natural baselines. Little is also known about how introduced species influence β-diversity in these contexts, and how patterns coincide with native ranges of species. Here we investigated how tree assemblages of the endemic-rich Afrotropical island of São Tomé differed between urban, rural and natural zones. These were primarily characterised by urban greenspaces, shade plantations, and old-growth forests, respectively. Based on 81 transects, we assessed biodiversity metrics of endemic, native and introduced species. Tree abundance and species richness were highest in the natural zone, where the composition was most different from the urban zone. The tree community of the rural zone was the most uneven and had the least variation among transects, representing the lowest β-diversity. The urban zone was dominated by introduced species (57.7%), while the natural zone hosted almost exclusively native species (93.3%), including many endemics (26.1%). The biogeographic realms that species originated from were particularly diverse in the urban zone, with few species from the Afrotropics. In contrast to native and endemic trees, introduced trees were clearly associated with urban and rural expansion, as they were much more abundant and species-rich in these zones than in the natural zone, facilitating biotic homogenisation. These findings highlight how urban and rural environments are affecting the native tree flora of São Tomé, and the need for conservation measures geared towards globally threatened and endemic tree species. Importantly, these require the protection of natural forests, despite the rising land demands for settlements and agriculture. Ultimately, such action to conserve endemic trees will contribute to global efforts to prevent further biodiversity declines., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A new species of scops-owl (Aves, Strigiformes, Strigidae, Otus ) is described from Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea, Africa). This species was discovered for science in 2016, although suspicions of its occurrence gained traction from 1998, and testimonies from local people suggesting its existence could be traced back to 1928. Morphometrics, plumage colour and pattern, vocalisations, and molecular evidence all support the species status of the scops-owl from Príncipe, which is described here as Otusbikegila sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that this species descended from the first colonisation of the Gulf of Guinea islands, being sister to the clade including the mainland African Scops-Owl O.senegalensis , and the island endemics Sao Tome Scops-Owl O.hartlaubi and Pemba Scops-Owl O.pembaensis . The most diagnostic trait in the field is its unique call which, curiously, is most similar to a distantly related Otus species, the Sokoke Scops-Owl O.ireneae . The new species occurs at low elevations of the old-growth native forest of Príncipe, currently restricted to the south of the island but fully included within Príncipe Obô Natural Park. Otusbikegila sp. nov. takes the number of single-island endemic bird species of Príncipe to eight, further highlighting the unusually high level of bird endemism for an island of only 139 km 2 ., (Martim Melo, Bárbara Freitas, Philippe Verbelen, Sátiro R. da Costa, Hugo Pereira, Jérôme Fuchs, George Sangster, Marco N. Correia, Ricardo F. de Lima, Angelica Crottini.)

The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.