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Effective biodiversity protection is generally associated with a strict rule of law and democratic participation in environmental decision making. Norway's exceptional ranking in terms of governance, however, has failed to be a predictor of effective biodiversity protection. Through a systematic review of the main regulatory frameworks relevant to protecting biodiversity in Norway, this article analyses the misconceptions, perverse incentives and institutional bottlenecks that lie at the centre of the problem. The analysis finds three overarching barriers that regulatory frameworks have created to the effective protection and promotion of biodiversity in Norway, namely, a governance system based on diffuse legal obligations and responsibilities, excessive trust in private operators and considerable discretion to local entities. Accordingly, this article proposes three enabling factors, and related reform suggestions, for mitigating such barriers and domesticating earth system governance in biodiversity matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a gap analysis approach to evaluate whether the genetic resources conserved in situ in protected areas are adequate for conifers in western Oregon and Washington (U.S.A.). We developed geographic information system layers that detail the location of protected areas and the distribution and abundance of each tree species (noble fir [Abies procera Rehd.] and Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menzeisii Mirb.]). Distribution and abundance were inferred from available spatial data showing modeled potential and actual vegetation. We stratified the distribution of each species into units for genetic analysis using seed and breeding zones and ecoregions. Most strata contained at least 5000 reproductive-age individuals in protected areas, indicating that genetic resources were well protected in situ throughout most of the study region. Strict in situ protection was limited, however, for noble fir in the Willapa Hills of southwestern Washington. An in situ genetic resource gap arguably occurred for Douglas-fir in the southern Puget lowlands, but this gap was filled by extensive ex situ genetic resources from the same region. The gap analysis method was an effective tool for evaluating the genetic resources of forest trees across a large region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using radiotelemetry, we discovered that the Three-wattled Bellbird (Procnias tricarunculata ), one of Central America's largest frugivorous birds, has the most complex migratory pattern yet recorded for a tropical species. The annual migration cycle included 2- to 5-month stopovers in four distinct life zones: two middle-elevation and two lowland sites separated by as much as 200 km. We captured and radio-tagged bellbirds during 4 years between July and September in middle-elevation forest fragments of the Pacific slope, 6 km from Monteverde in the Tilaran mountain range of north-central Costa Rica. These habitats, which exist almost exclusively as small, isolated fragments on private farms, are poorly represented (<2%) in Costa Rica's system of protected areas. During September and October, the bellbirds migrated from this site to the northeast into the lowland Atlantic forest of southeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Costa Rica. In Costa Rica these habitats have been heavily fragmented. In Nicaragua they remain intact but are highly threatened. In November and December, the bellbirds migrated from these Atlantic forests to heavily modified, little-protected forests along the Pacific coast of southwestern Costa Rica, where they remained until March. Here, most individuals utilized forest remnants and second growth on private property. In March the Bellbirds moved from the coastal areas to middle-elevation (1000–1800 m) moist forest on the Atlantic slope of the Tilaran mountains sites, where they bred. In June and July, they left the breeding area and moved back across the continental divide of the Tilaran Mountains to return to the middle-elevation Pacific slopes where they had been captured. Our findings demonstrate the complicated ecological integration of geographically dispersed tropical ecosystems and the need for comprehensive conservation strategies that include representation of the full array of regional habitats and a greater emphasis on maintaining connectivity. The bellbird's migratory pattern reveals serious inadequacies in protected-area networks of Costa Rica, a country that is considered to have one of the best systems of national parks and reserves in the Neotropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history, humans have maintained an intricate connection with nature, often finding fascination with, and deriving numerous benefits from, the natural world. This positive emotional bond with nature, which is considered to have a genetic basis, is known as "biophilia".However, biophilia represents just one facet of our relationship with nature. People can also harbour strong negative emotions and attitudes towards nature, increasingly referred to as "biophobia". Current evidence suggests that the prevalence of biophobia is high and increasing, especially in more developed and urbanised societies. Despite this, the importance of biophobia has largely been overlooked in discussions about human‐nature interactions.This special feature: 'Biophobia: a hidden dimension of human‐nature relationships' includes seven papers from different disciplinary perspectives, including biodiversity conservation, psychology, and behavioral science. These studies explore diverse aspects of biophobia, with a particular emphasis on its drivers and consequences. They also provide key insights into how to mitigate excessive phobic responses towards nature.In this introductory paper, we will briefly explore what biophobia entails, how it operates, and why it is important in the context of the human‐nature relationship. We outline that biophobia can manifest in response to a wide range of organisms and natural environments, and it can have significant adverse impacts on both human health and well‐being and efforts to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis.We hope that this special feature will serve as a catalyst for more biophobia research, encouraging collaboration among researchers from diverse backgrounds. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of nonlinear, sudden responses of ecosystems or species to environmental change has engendered significant interest in the past two decades. Many reviews and theoretical papers have addressed alternative states or stable states, regime shifts, tipping points and phase shifts, but the empirical evidence for these phenomena, which we refer to as stark changes, has not been evaluated in estuaries and nearshore marine ecosystems. We developed standard definitions for these phenomena and examined the functional forms of ecological responses to environmental pressures (i.e. proximate influences on ecosystem state). We searched for publications related to estuaries and nearshore marine ecosystems that included common descriptors of stark change in their keywords. Our search yielded 376 papers, of which we retained 98 that met four criteria: (1) claimed a stepped biological change; (2) inferred change from empirical data; (3) addressed changes that occurred in one or more semi-enclosed, tidally influenced ecosystems; and (4) described a connection to long-term patterns of ecological change. Although there were many instances of changes in ecological states, most were not stark changes. Evidence generally was not derived from time-series data, and many studies inferred temporal change from spatial differences. We describe the eight studies that provided some evidence of stark changes in ecosystem state. We suggest that compelling evidence of stark changes that can be related to pressures requires concurrent time-series data on the ecological response and pressures that were claimed to induce the stark changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing ongoing biodiversity loss requires collaboration between conservation scientists and practitioners. However, such collaboration has proved challenging. Despite the potential importance of tracking animal movements for conservation, reviews of the tracking literature have identified a gap between the academic discipline of movement ecology and its application to biodiversity conservation. Through structured conversations with movement ecologists and conservation practitioners, we aimed to understand whether the identified gap is also perceived in practice, and if so, what factors hamper collaboration and how these factors can be remediated. We found that both groups are motivated and willing to collaborate. However, because their motivations differ, there is potential for misunderstandings and miscommunications. In addition, external factors such as funder requirements, academic metrics, and journal scopes may limit the applicability of scientific results in a conservation setting. Potential solutions we identified included improved communication and better presentation of results, acknowledging each other's motivations and desired outputs, and adjustment of funder priorities. Addressing gaps between science and implementation can enhance collaboration and support conservation action to address the global biodiversity crisis more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many nature‐based solutions (NBS), including urban greenspaces, urban agriculture and agroforestry, depend upon animal‐pollinated plants to sequester carbon or to provide other ecosystem services. Thus, long‐term success of these solutions also depends upon resilient pollinator communities.Despite their importance to functioning communities, a literature search revealed that 0%–3% of papers on NBS and related topics considered pollinators or pollination. Pollinators were more likely to be considered in the subgroup of papers on NBS related to agricultural production, where 12.5% considered pollination.Conservation of species interactions is essential to conservation of biodiversity and the sustained benefits of NBS. By applying our understanding of the ecology of plant‐pollinator mutualisms to the implementation of NBS, we can promote their functioning under future climatic conditions. In particular, we point to the need to identify keystone plants and pollinators, those species that contribute most to biodiversity maintenance, community stability and ecosystem function, and to leverage these species and their interactions in NBS and conservation efforts. We further advocate for the use of phylogenetic trait‐based analyses to understand the characteristics associated with keystoneness.Synthesis: Resilience of pollination services rests upon the responses of keystone species and their partners, and the likelihood that they continue to express traits that confer mutual benefit under future climates. By understanding the traits of species of outsized importance to their communities, we gain insight into the mechanisms underlying the resilience of pollination services and the NBS that rely on those services in a changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global urbanisation reduces greenery and species richness (biodiversity) and limits opportunities for most children to gain experiences of nature. Disconnecting children from nature has implications for their play, health, well‐being, and comprehension of ecological systems, as well as their engagement with the environment as adults.In the competition for land for built infrastructure, the preservation of remaining greenery is essential to fulfill multiple functions. One way forward is to look for synergies between conservation of biodiversity and children's need for outdoor environments of high quality.In this paper, we synthesize the existing literature on how to understand the many interfaces between children and nature, suggesting perspectives and tools for the management and design of nature‐based play settings. We frame this transdisciplinary perspective using 'play biotopes', as a conceptual framework in which both children's play and species are taken into account.We exemplify how the play biotope framework can be put into practice as part of (1) an overall approach to landscapes made more useful to both children and other species, (2) affordances for play in nature such as branches from dead wood, and (3) a design process of a playground by giving input to nature‐based solutions.A conclusion is that play biotopes as a conceptual framework within nature‐based solutions can help increase play and biodiversity by promoting structures for climbing, making huts and biotopes otherwise overlooked in urban planning. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion is a major threat to diversity, especially in rapidly developing tropical countries where urban areas are growing at great pace and protection is limited.We conducted a systematic review of published research on the ecology of lentic habitats in tropical urban areas. The review focused on understanding: (1) how much is currently known about the biodiversity of these habitats; (2) whether this knowledge is biased towards certain taxonomic groups and/or geographic areas; (3) what is known about the factors influencing their diversity; and (4) which ecosystem services urban lentic habitats provide. The review aimed to establish whether existing knowledge is sufficient to help guide conservation and provide evidence to policy makers of the importance of conserving tropical urban wetlands.We found 64 papers that addressed questions about the diversity and/or distribution of lentic ecosystems within tropical urban areas. Papers came from 15 countries, although almost half (45%) were from India; relatively few countries from Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, or South America were represented in the literature.Publication patterns revealed a growing interest in urban wetlands, but several biases and gaps were evident from the review. Firstly, papers generally focused on larger natural or semi‐natural wetlands, with other types and sizes of lentic habitat under‐represented in published work. Secondly, most papers focused on a single site, with a limited number of multi‐site, city‐wide, or landscape‐scale diversity assessments. Thirdly, studies tended to focus on understanding the influence of water quality on diversity, with work assessing the influence of physical habitat or factors related to dispersal and connectivity very limited. Finally, work assessing the ecosystem services provided by wetlands in tropical urban areas remains narrow in focus, with few quantitative assessments of the relationship between ecological characteristics and ecosystem functions and services.We suggest a number of research focal points and approaches to help address these biases. Research is needed to improve understanding of the distribution patterns tropical freshwater species in urban areas and of the relationships between species diversity and a wider set of environmental and spatial conditions. Overall, there is a need for diversity assessments of tropical urban wetlands of all types and sizes, especially new and novel habitats, and scope for much greater adoption of ecosystem service concepts and evaluation tools to help emphasise the importance of these habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic habitat loss is widely recognized as a primary environmental concern. By contrast, debates on the effects of habitat fragmentation persist. To facilitate overcoming these debates, here we: (i) review the state of the literature on habitat fragmentation, finding widespread confusion and stigma; (ii) identify consequences of this for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management; and (iii) suggest ways in which research can move forward to resolve these problems. Confusion is evident from the 25 most‐cited fragmentation articles published between 2017 and 2021. These articles use five distinct concepts of habitat fragmentation, only one of which clearly distinguishes habitat fragmentation from habitat area and other factors ('fragmentation per se'). Stigmatization is evident from our new findings that fragmentation papers are more charged with negative sentiments when compared to papers from other subfields in the environmental sciences, and that fragmentation papers with more negative sentiments are cited more. While most empirical studies of habitat fragmentation per se find neutral or positive effects on species and biodiversity outcomes, which implies that small habitat patches have a high cumulative value, confusion and stigma in reporting and discussing such results have led to suboptimal habitat protection policy. For example, government agencies, conservation organizations, and land trusts impose minimum habitat patch sizes on habitat protection. Given the high cumulative value of small patches, such policies mean that many opportunities for conservation are being missed. Our review highlights the importance of reducing confusion and stigma in habitat fragmentation research. To this end, we propose implementing study designs in which multiple sample landscapes are selected across independent gradients of habitat amount and fragmentation, measured as patch density. We show that such designs are possible for forest habitat across Earth's biomes. As such study designs are adopted, and as language becomes more precise, we expect that confusion and stigma in habitat fragmentation research will dissipate. We also expect important breakthroughs in understanding the situations where effects of habitat fragmentation per se are neutral, positive, or negative, and the reasons for these differences. Ultimately this will improve efficacy of area‐based conservation policies, to the benefit of biodiversity and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Growing understanding of decision‐making and environmental science is essential to carry out a successful wetland renewal. To foster this understanding and integrate knowledge on wetland renewal, we convened a diverse group of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at an online symposium held on 23 November 2021. Following the symposium, we curated 22 papers from a global community of wetland experts for the special feature on "Wetland Renewal" in Restoration Ecology. This special feature encompasses findings from 15 field‐based experiments and 7 data‐based papers (P). The research spans various scientific fields such as: Biodiversity Conservation (P15), Coastal Engineering (P4, P8, and P9), Plant Ecology (P1, P2, P10, P12, and P13), Invasion Ecology (P7), Social Science (P3), Peat Soil Science (P6), Wildlife Ecology (P5, P11, and P22), Ecological Modeling (P16, P17, P18, P19, and P20), Microbiology (P22), and Policy and Law (P21). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Other effective area‐based conservation measures (OECMs) create opportunities for a wide range of area‐based conservation strategies. As countries seek to integrate OECMs into conservation planning, it is useful to consider the types of areas that might meet the formal criteria. To support this goal, I analyzed the different types of measures discussed as possible OECMs in the literature, identifying a wide range of measures, far more diverse than those currently recognized as OECMs. There was a strong emphasis on measures with conservation as a secondary management objective, with most studies being supportive of the potential to balance biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource use. However, many studies have highlighted the need to ensure biodiversity outcomes are achieved and sustained, and that appropriate governance and management structures are in place. Concerns were raised about measures associated with resource extraction, such as fisheries and forestry, which were often considered incompatible with conservation. Very few studies offered a nuanced discussion of specific measures or evaluated whether sites offer conservation outcomes, leaving clear knowledge gaps in translating speculation into evidence. Nevertheless, the current literature offers a strong starting point from which to target potential case studies to build the evidence base necessary to advance OECMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greenspace plays an important role in buffering the threat of urbanization to biodiversity. Biodiversity research in urban greenspace is essential for understanding the impacts of human activities on biodiversity and the associated ecosystem functioning and services in urban ecosystems. However, we lack large‐scale biodiversity datasets in urban greenspace for macroecological studies. In this paper, we provided a comprehensive biodiversity dataset of vascular plant and bird species in 286 university campuses and 118 urban parks in 143 cities in China, covering a wide range with different levels of urbanization (20–50°N in latitude and 81–130°E in longitude). Plant species were classified into different growth forms, and bird species were identified as resident or migrant. In total, the dataset contains 46,558 occurrence records for 5,915 plant species (about 18% of all Chinese vascular plant species) and 6,423 records for 546 bird species (around 40% of all recorded bird species in China). This dataset provides an important data source for evaluating the anthropogenic effects of biodiversity changes and advancing urban ecology. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2021-02.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stopping invasive species early, before they are introduced or before they have a chance to spread, is essential for effective invasive species management. With new plants introduced constantly through global trade and shifting their ranges due to climate change, proactive action to prevent invasions is more important than ever. But, before we can prevent invasions through policy, monitoring, and management, we need to know the identity of which species are invasive. Existing lists of invasive plants vary across political and jurisdictional boundaries, often rely on inconsistent knowledge of local experts, and may conflate nonnative with invasive. Here, we reviewed papers published from 1959 to 2020 to create a single consistently derived list of known invasive plants. We searched the Web of Science core collection for "articles" containing the keywords "invasi*" and "plant" within the categories "Ecology," "Environmental Sciences," "Biodiversity Conservation," and "Plant Sciences." We also reviewed papers cited in reviews of invasive plants (see Metadata S1, Class II, Section B). We read titles and abstracts to identify papers that focused on nonnative and invasive vascular plants and included in the database any nonnative plant taxon either explicitly termed invasive in the paper or implicitly defined as invasive through a description of abundance, spread and/or impact. For 2017–2020, we included only papers that described multiple invasive plants, which are much more likely to uncover novel taxa. For each paper, we retained the reported invasive taxon name, text defining invasiveness, bibliographic information, and the country or countries in the invaded range where the study took place. We used Catalogue of Life and the Plant Taxonomic Name Resolution Source to resolve the taxonomy of the invasive taxa and compiled a list of unique invasive plants described in one or more scientific papers. We extracted data from 5,893 papers and identified 3,008 unique taxa, including 2,842 species, 96 subspecies, 29 varieties, and 41 hybrids. Of these, 2,981 taxa were resolved, while 27 were unresolved. 42% of the total unique taxa were studied once in the database. This database provides a consistent, global assessment of nonnative, invasive plant taxa. We release these data into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero license waiver (https://creativecommons.org/share‐your‐work/public‐domain/cc0/). Individuals who use these data for publication may cite this data paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic reviews and maps are considered a reliable form of research evidence, but often neglect non-English-language literature, which can be a source of important evidence. To understand the barriers that might limit authors' ability or intent to find and include non-English-language literature, we assessed factors that may predict the inclusion of non-English-language literature in ecological systematic reviews and maps, as well as the review authors' perspectives. We assessed systematic reviews and maps published in Environmental Evidence (n = 72). We also surveyed authors from each paper (n = 32 responses), gathering information on the barriers to the inclusion of non-English language literature. 44% of the reviewed papers (32/72) excluded non-English literature from their searches and inclusions. Commonly cited reasons included constraints related to resources and time. Regression analysis revealed that reviews with larger author teams, authors from diverse countries, especially those with non-English primary languages, and teams with multilingual capabilities searched in a significantly greater number of non-English languages. Our survey exposed limited language diversity within the review teams and inadequate funding as the principal barriers to incorporating non-English language literature. To improve language inclusion and reduce bias in systematic reviews and maps, our study suggests increasing language diversity within review teams. Combining machine translation with language skills can alleviate the financial and resource burdens of translation. Funding applications could also include translation costs. Additionally, establishing language exchange systems would enable access to information in more languages. Further studies investigating language inclusion in other journals would strengthen these conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is competition for land between Maasai pastoralists and the park agency in the Serengeti ecosystem. The park agency wants to use the land for wildlife conservation while the pastoralist community wants to use it for livestock grazing. Predatory wildlife kills livestock while herbivorous wildlife competes with livestock for water and grazing. In retaliation, the Maasai hunt predators and grazers to protect their livestock and also to supply the black market for wildlife products. With both the Maasai and animal populations growing, increased conflicts are inevitable. This paper develops a bioeconomic model with three animal species to analyse the optimal combination of pastoral activities and wildlife conservation in the Serengeti ecosystem. Using Pontryagin's maximum principle, the market problem for each agent is optimized and compared to the social planner's outcome. Results show that the market solutions are suboptimal because of negative externalities affecting both agents and inadequate regard to biodiversity conservation values. Mathematical simulations of the bioeconomic model are used to generate a solution in which the Maasai pastoralists and park agency can optimally share the land for their mutual benefit. The policy implication is that the government should establish an independent regulatory institution with a primary mandate of balancing the contested socioeconomic and ecological needs of stakeholders in prime ecosystems such as the Serengeti. Recommendations for Resource Managers: Both pastoralists and park agencies must limit the amount of effort engaged in extensive livestock production and wildlife conservation, as this translates into increased demand for land by either party.In terms of welfare, a combination of antipoaching effort by the parks agency and poaching effort by the pastoralists that exceed optimum levels results in a decrease in social welfare.Increasing extensive livestock production entails greater demand for grazing space, which must be offset by a reduction in protected acreage; this, too, poses a risk of species extinction.Given that the current size of the Serengeti's wildlife stock may be near optimal, the goal of wildlife policy should be to simultaneously reduce the incentives for resource managers to exert excessive antipoaching effort to maintain a healthy wildlife population while also reducing incentives for the pastoralist community to overstock livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the goals and targets specified by the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Target 3, often referred to as "30 × 30," has garnered widespread attention globally. In this paper, we critique India's potential to meet this target. We find that with its vast network of ecosystems that are under some form of protection and through the recognition of other effective area‐based conservation measures sites, India has the potential to meet the quantitative target of conserving and managing at least 30% of its area by 2030. However, the qualitative attributes of the target might be more difficult to realize owing to several challenges, such as inadequate landscape connectivity, insufficient representation of habitats in the current protected area model, and the exacerbation of socioeconomic vulnerabilities of resource‐dependent communities. To achieve strategic, inclusive, and equitable conservation, we suggest a four‐pronged approach involving landscape‐level biodiversity conservation, socially just and collaborative safeguarding of biodiversity, and relevant policy (re)formulation, informed and underlain by long‐term research and impact monitoring. Although we focus on India, the issues we discuss are of broader relevance, especially for countries across the Global South that are also likely to be significantly impacted by the implementation of the target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finance is a precondition for many of the activities that harm ecosystems, but how to address this underlying driver of biodiversity loss remains a topic of debate. This paper reviews the Task Force on Nature‐Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), a corporate‐led effort that aims to identify how changes to biodiversity may create financial risks for companies and investors. This approach is also promoted as a strategy for managing the impact of business on biodiversity, with the assumption that risk disclosure will more effectively price biodiversity‐harming activities. We assess the potential of the TNFD toward this end, and invite conservation scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to engage critically with its theory of change. We find that the relationship between disclosing biodiversity risk and redirecting finance away from environmental degradation is tenuous and unproven, making this mechanism insufficient for addressing the impact of the financial sector on nature. We question the embrace of another industry‐led mechanism that implies that a lack of information is the greatest barrier to stopping biodiversity loss. Further, there are risks that this financial sector approach to biodiversity will reinforce the highly unequal concentration of power and wealth, which is itself inimical to transformative change, as called for by the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation decisions are challenging, not only because they often involve difficult conflicts among outcomes that people value, but because our understanding of the natural world and our effects on it is fraught with uncertainty. Value of Information (VoI) methods provide an approach for understanding and managing uncertainty from the standpoint of the decision maker. These methods are commonly used in other fields (e.g. economics, public health) and are increasingly used in biodiversity conservation. This decision‐analytical approach can identify the best management alternative to select where the effectiveness of interventions is uncertain, and can help to decide when to act and when to delay action until after further research. We review the use of VoI in the environmental domain, reflect on the need for greater uptake of VoI, particularly for strategic conservation planning, and suggest promising areas for new research. We also suggest common reporting standards as a means of increasing the leverage of this powerful tool. The environmental science, ecology and biodiversity categories of the Web of Knowledge were searched using the terms 'Value of Information,' 'Expected Value of Perfect Information,' and the abbreviation 'EVPI.' Google Scholar was searched with the same terms, and additionally the terms decision and biology, biodiversity conservation, fish, or ecology. We identified 1225 papers from these searches. Included studies were limited to those that showed an application of VoI in biodiversity conservation rather than simply describing the method. All examples of use of VOI were summarised regarding the application of VoI, the management objectives, the uncertainties, the models used, how the objectives were measured, and the type of VoI. While the use of VoI appears to be on the increase in biodiversity conservation, the reporting of results is highly variable, which can make it difficult to understand the decision context and which uncertainties were considered. Moreover, it was unclear if, and how, the papers informed management and policy interventions, which is why we suggest a range of reporting standards that would aid the use of VoI. The use of VoI in conservation settings is at an early stage. There are opportunities for broader applications, not only for species‐focussed management problems, but also for setting local or global research priorities for biodiversity conservation, making funding decisions, or designing or improving protected area networks and management. The long‐term benefits of applying VoI methods to biodiversity conservation include a more structured and decision‐focused allocation of resources to research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern species distribution modelling (SDM) began in 1984 with the launch of the BIOCLIM program in Australia. With more than 900 papers mentioning 'species distribution model' published around the world to date, SDM is one of the most active areas of global ecology. Three books published in 2009, 2011 and 2017 have reviewed SDM, and the closely related areas of ecological niche modelling and habitat suitability modelling. All three books provide excellent introductions to these topics, but give very little information on the role that BIOCLIM played in laying the foundation for these research areas. Understanding the history of BIOCLIM is vital because it was the first package to implement the basic SDM process in an easy‐to‐use integrated system. It provided what are still the most commonly used set of 19 bioclimatic variables and contributed to the development of the interpolation routines used to prepare the most commonly used source of bioclimatic data (WorldClim). Early BIOCLIM studies investigated important issues such as ecological niche, invasion risk, conservation planning and impacts of climate change. Although all three books acknowledge that the BIOCLIM package was important in early SDM research, they all deal with the pioneering work very briefly and omit important details which are described here. Virtually all current SDM studies owe something to the pioneering BIOCLIM work, but this is rarely acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses topics like restoring plant ecology, nature conservation and restoration of plant communities inorder to help protect the environment.

Ecological connectivity, as a research method related to spatial ecology and conservation biology, has attracted increasing attention from researchers at home and abroad in recent years. Habitat connectivity, as a key link in ecological connectivity, is of great significance to promote coastal ecological restoration and protection. However, there has been less systematic research about habitat connectivity due to lack of corresponding theories and practices. Therefore, this paper discusses habitat connectivity from three aspects: (1) the concept of habitat connectivity is introduced and clarified; (2) the application of connectivity in artificial habitat and adjacent waters and its relationship with biodiversity conservation are reviewed and illustrated with examples; and (3) the future development trends of this research direction are summarized and prospected in order to provide a scientific basis and useful reference for the related work of coastal restoration projects in China. Generally, this paper argues that an increase in human behaviour irreversibly destroys the connectivity between marine habitats and threatens the spatial and temporal scales of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, the theoretical research results and practical experience of ecological connectivity should be fully applied to marine ecosystems, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems should be encouraged and supported in ways that promote natural recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land‐use changes and the expansion of protected areas (PAs) have amplified the interaction between protected and unprotected areas worldwide. In this context, 'interface processes' (human–nature and cross‐boundary interactions inside and around PAs) have become central to issues around the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This scientific literature review aimed to explore current knowledge and research gaps on interface processes regarding terrestrial PAs. At first, 3,515 references related to the topic were extracted through a standardized search on the Web of Science and analyzed with scientometric techniques. Next, a full‐text analysis was conducted on a sample of 240 research papers. A keyword analysis revealed a wide diversity of research topics, from 'pure' ecology to sociopolitical research. We found a bias in the geographical distribution of research, with half the papers focusing on eight countries. Additionally, we found that the spatial extent of cross‐boundary interactions was rarely assessed, preventing any clear delimitation of PA interactive zones. In the 240 research papers we scanned, we identified 403 processes that were studied. The ecological effects of PAs were well documented and appeared to be positive overall. In contrast, the effects of PAs on local communities were understudied and, according to the literature focusing on these, were very variable according to local contexts. Our findings highlight key research advances on interface processes, especially regarding the ecological outcomes of PAs, the influence of human activities on biodiversity, and PA governance issues. In contrast, main knowledge gaps concern the spatial extent of interactive zones, as well as the interactions between local people and conservation actions and how to promote synergies between them. While the review was limited to terrestrial PAs, its findings allow us to propose research priorities for tackling environmental and socioeconomic challenges in the face of a rapidly changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We synthesise the findings from 10 years of ecological restoration in the Midlands of Tasmania, Australia, captured in the series of 14 papers in this special issue of Ecological Management and Restoration. The papers illustrate how expertise from disciplines as diverse as law, economics, social sciences, the arts, education, zoology, botany, genetics, climate modelling, agriculture, spatial sciences and fire ecology are necessary to address the complex social, ecological and financial questions that underpin restoration ecology. We highlight the complexity of the task, the multi‐disciplinary and collaborative approach needed, the importance of science to inform restoration practice and the problem of achieving functional connectivity. We also outline steps that need to be taken in the next 10 years. Together, the outcomes and recommendations from these studies provide a template for restoration in similar highly cleared and degraded agricultural landscapes affected by climate change in Australia and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conservation Biology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nature‐based tourism provides an outlet for people to experience non‐material nature's contributions to people (NCP) and can even promote care for nature. Yet, the literature on NCP is still dominated by studies on regulating and material NCP, with limited research on non‐material contributions.Semi‐structured interviews and photo‐elicitation methods were conducted online with 38 former tourists who have hiked Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, to investigate NCP experiences during their hiking journey. Drawing on the guiding principles of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an interwoven approach was used to link context‐specific NCP expressed by tourists to the generalizing perspective.Ten context‐specific non‐material NCP emerged including Aesthetic experiences; Learning and life‐changing perspectives; New and unique experiences; and Social cohesion and bonding. All context‐specific NCP were linked back to the generalizing perspective, with most NCP falling under the generalizing category of Physical and psychological experiences.This paper reveals the unique and diverse ways that nature contributes to people's lives, promoting the visibility of multiple perspectives and their incorporation into biodiversity conservation and sustainable management strategies. Through an interwoven approach, NCP can be compared on a universal scale while respecting the context‐specificity of human–nature interactions across different social‐ecological contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guinea‐Bissau, an important regional biodiversity hotspot in West Africa, faces the challenge of raising awareness among the general public about the significance of natural resources for rural communities' survival and the need for biodiversity conservation. This knowledge gap hinders conservation efforts as initiatives are deemed irrelevant or unnecessary. A climate of political vulnerability, financial uncertainty and threats to media freedom are further obstacles to conservation biology. Researchers lack established communication platforms for academic dissemination. In this paper, we introduce the initiative News for Nature/PRIMACTION (2020–2022), which aimed to establish a communication channel between researchers and media agents. The project had two primary objectives: firstly, to raise awareness among the Guinea‐Bissau society about the importance of national biodiversity and conservation challenges; and secondly, to enhance the capacity of specific communicators and opinion makers. The project had several important outputs, including: i) a bi‐monthly newspaper section focused on "biodiversity conservation in Guinea‐Bissau", ii) three radio‐theatre episodes performed by a well‐known group and broadcasted nationally, iii) one song composed and sung by famous musicians, with an introduction by Jane Goodall, and iv) a website providing technical resources for journalists covering biodiversity and conservation news. Collaborators mentioned the lack of logistical conditions for traveling in the country as a major impediment in reporting conservation‐related news. We emphasize the significance of establishing direct contact and articulation between researchers and local media to promote conservation research in West African countries. In countries where science communication and environmental education outreach are not well‐established, it is crucial to bridge the challenges faced by the communities in different regions of the same country. This is especially urgent in cases where such challenges are significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated farming system (IFS) is a holistic farming approach specially designed for small/marginal farmers to enhance the system productivity, profitability, and employment generation of their farm, ultimately ensuring their food and nutrition security for their livelihood. The mechanism of IFS offers various ecosystem services making farms environment‐friendly, sustainable, and climate‐resilient. IFS is characterized by the allocation of different agricultural components systematically in a single farm performing synergistically among themselves making the farm more productive, healthy, biodiversity enriched, and eco‐friendly than simplified farms. Therefore, this review paper represents an extensive analysis of existing literature on IFS exploring its concept, components, and need, and emphasizing its potential for higher system productivity, profitability, and employment generation in a sustainable manner. Moreover, it develops a conceptualization of the relationship among different agricultural components in a single farm exploring its role in ecosystem services (reducing greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration, nutrient recycling, improving soil health, and biodiversity conservation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi‐rotor drones equipped with acoustic sensors have great potential for bioacoustically monitoring vocal species in the environment for biodiversity conservation. The bottleneck of this emerging technology is the ego‐noise from the rotating motors and propellers, which can completely mask the target sound and make sound recordings unusable for further analysis. The ego‐noise not only degrades the performance of bioacoustic monitoring but also impacts the behaviour of target species if the drone is too close to the target area. In this paper, we address this challenging problem by combining hardware and software solutions that minimize the impact of drone ego‐noise on bioacoustic monitoring.To collect the target sound from the ground, we used a shotgun microphone recording system suspended underneath the drone body with a wire rope (steel fishing line) of length 2 m. The suspended rope puts a large distance between the drone and the recorder, reducing the propeller sound perceived by the microphone. The shotgun microphone enables the sound to be picked up from the ground effectively while rejecting the drone sound from above. We further developed a software solution that aims to automatically recognize the bird species from the bird call recording and we proposed a noise‐augmented training scheme to improve the robustness of bird recognition in the presence of strong drone noise.We evaluated the performance of the system in a test problem of recognizing 20 bird species with in‐flight recordings, where a loudspeaker on the ground simulates bird calls. The recordings were obtained using a drone hovering at various altitudes ranging from 5 to 30 m. By combining the hardware and software solutions, the system recognizes birds robustly at an altitude of 30 m and signal‐to‐noise ratio −25 dB.This demonstrates the feasibility of our drone audition system for bioacoustic monitoring. The proposed method overcomes a long‐standing bottleneck problem in drone audition and promises new applications of bioacoustic monitoring in research and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conservation Biology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The accurate evaluation of the relationship between nature reserves and poverty is highly significant for the harmonious coexistence between human and nature. It is widely recognized that the establishment of nature reserves is of great importance to the income poverty of farmers, but less attention has been paid to the impact of different reserves on the multidimensional relative poverty of farmers. Based on the survey data of Panda Nature Reserves in China, we analyze the influence of reserve regulation (or not) and regulation intensity on the multidimensional relative poverty of farmers and its mechanism. Results show that farmers in reserves are more likely to fall into multidimensional relative poverty than those outside the reserves, and there is a U‐shaped relationship between regulation intensity and multidimensional relative poverty. Further, the mechanism analysis show that, on average, the establishment of reserves has no significant impact on farmers' resource utilization capability, but too high or too low regulation intensity will affect farmers' resource utilization capacity, and aggravate their multidimensional relative poverty. The conclusions of this paper are not only conducive to the expansion of theoretical research on regulation and poverty, but also provide policy implications for realizing the coordinated development between biodiversity conservation of nature reserves and rural livelihood. Recommendations for Resource Managers: The effects of the regulation of nature reserves on the relative poverty of farmers is analyzed in this paper. We find that there is a "quantity" problem of the impact of reserve regulation on the farmers' relative poverty. The following implications could be realized based on the observations: •When identifying the relative poverty of farmers, it is necessary to make an in‐depth analysis from the perspectives of economic poverty and multidimensional poverty, and provide targeted and accurate assistance policies for different types of farmers.•The formulation and implementation of the reserve regulations should consider the difficulty of farmers' livelihood transformation to balance the relationship between the community development and ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variation among populations is reflected in biogeographic patterns for many species, but general rules of spatial genetic variation have not been established. In this paper, we establish a theoretical framework based on projecting environmental Grinellian niches back through time to relate the present geographic distribution of population genetic structure to a given species' historical evolutionary context. Thanks to advances in next‐generation sequencing technologies, as well as more accurate climate models and the amassing of information stored in biological collections, it is possible to implement this theoretical framework directly. We develop a case study of the tassel‐eared squirrel Sciurus aberti to jointly analyze spatial, environmental, and genetic data to predict the historical endemic area of this species. Our results reveal that in cases of genetic isolation by geographic distance, the prevalence of environmental suitability over time corresponds to the genetic fixation index (Fst) of populations with respect to a source population. Populations closer to the historical endemic area show higher genetic diversity and a lower Fst value. This empirical example relates back to the theoretical framework, allowing two further advances: 1) a layer of biogeographic explanation for the results obtained from population genomic methods; and 2) predictive maps of this genetic structure to support biodiversity conservation efforts. Overall, this work advances a perspective that integrates population genetics with historical patterns of species distribution. The limitations posed in the theoretical framework should be considered before implementing the suitability prevalence area (SPA) in a general way over different taxa. Otherwise, the predictability of the genetic diversity of populations as a product of environmental stability over time may not be adequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors have recommended that the incorporation of different stakeholders and the implementation of a holistic approach including social, economic, and ecological components be considered critical factors for the long‐term success of restoration programs. These recommendations are especially important for identifying priority areas to restore. We conducted a review of scientific studies on the identification of priority areas for restoration in terrestrial biomes with the objective of determining whether these considerations have been taken into account over time. Our main questions were: (1) What is the context, publication year, journals, author and co‐author affiliation of these published studies? (2) Have stakeholders been involved in the identification of priority areas for restoration? (3) What have been the main goals for the identification of priority areas for restoration? (4) What are the main criteria used to prioritize areas? Has the inclusion of social and economic criteria increased over time? We analyzed all the scientific studies about this topic published between 2008 and 2018. We found 64 studies, of which 70.3% did not incorporate stakeholders whatsoever in the identification of priority areas for restoration and 18.8% of them considered only experts as stakeholders. Approximately 87.5% of the studies had biodiversity conservation as their main goal; 10.9% also included social goals and 9.4% socioeconomic goals. All the studies considered ecological criteria, and the main criterion was to increase landscape connectivity. We conclude that there is still a need for greater inclusion of other approaches besides ecology in the identification of priority areas for restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conservation Biology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Temporary streams are affected by increasing human alterations, and this situation is expected to worsen under global change. Understanding biodiversity trends and the contribution of sites and species to β‐diversity is of high importance in establishing conservation priorities at a regional scale.This paper focuses on aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity in temporary streams on the island of Mallorca, using a space–time framework. Differences in α‐diversity, spatial–temporal fluctuations of β‐diversity, local contribution to β‐diversity (LCBD) and species contribution to β‐diversity (SCBD) were examined.Data analysis shows that only the space–time approach to β‐diversity can capture the full variation of macroinvertebrate composition in temporary streams. This confirmed our hypothesis that β‐diversity patterns are better explained by incorporating the temporal dimension to the space–time approach.Regarding β‐diversity components, species replacement components always dominate over richness difference. These results imply that β‐diversity variability is mainly caused by differences in species composition, while the relative difference in richness among sites has a minor role. Consequently, the optimal conservation strategy requires the protection of several undisturbed sites.Although the LCBD analysis did not detect any keystone sites, it helped to identify those sites that should be prioritized for restoration efforts (sites with high LCBD values and low α‐diversity). We also concluded that SCBD analysis should be interpreted carefully, as rare endemic species had low SCBD values.This study demonstrated the need for incorporating temporal variability in the analysis of biodiversity patterns in highly dynamic ecosystems, such as temporary streams. It also revealed the urgency of preserving a spatial network of temporary streams under non‐impaired conditions that can act as dispersal point sources to other streams for biodiversity conservation. These insights are relevant for Mallorca and other Mediterranean islands, and for the protection of temporary rivers elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How best to incentivize land managers to achieve conservation goals in an economically and ecologically effective manner is a key policy question that has gained increased relevance from the setting of ambitious new global targets for biodiversity conservation. Conservation (reverse) auctions are a policy tool for improving the environmental performance of agriculture, which has become well‐established in the academic literature and in policy making in the US and Australia. However, little is known about the likely response of farmers to incentives within such an auction to (1) increase spatial connectivity and (2) encourage collective participation. This paper presents the first framed field experiment with farmers as participants that examines the effects of two features of conservation policy design: joint (collective) participation by farmers and the incentivization of spatial connectivity. The experiment employs farmers in China, a country making increasing use of payments for ecosystem services to achieve a range of environmental objectives. We investigate whether auction performance—both economic and ecological—can be improved by the introduction of agglomeration bonus and joint bidding bonus mechanisms. Our empirical results suggest that, compared to a baseline spatially coordinated conservation auction, the performance of an auction with an agglomeration bonus, a joint bidding bonus, or both, is inferior on two key metrics—the environmental benefits generated and cost effectiveness realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populations and ecological communities are changing worldwide, and empirical studies exhibit a mixture of either declining or mixed trends. Confusion in global biodiversity trends thus remains, while assessing such changes is of major social, political, and scientific importance. Part of this variability may arise from the difficulty to reliably assess global biodiversity trends. Here, we conducted a literature review of studies documenting the temporal dynamics of global biodiversity. We classified the differences among approaches, data, and methodology used by the reviewed papers to reveal common findings and sources of discrepancies. We show that reviews and meta‐analyses, along with the use of global indicators, are more likely to conclude that trends are declining. On the other hand, the longer the data are available, the more nuanced are the trends they generate. Our results also highlight the lack of studies providing information on the impact of synergistic pressures on a global scale, making it even more difficult to understand the driving factors of the observed changes and how to decide conservation plan accordingly. Finally, we stress the importance of taking into account the sources of confusion identified, as well as the complexity of biodiversity changes, in order to implement effective conservation strategies. In particular, biodiversity dynamics are almost systematically assumed to be linear, while non‐linear trends are largely neglected. Clarifying the sources of confusion in global biodiversity trends should strengthen large‐scale biodiversity monitoring and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many species occurrence records from specimens and publications are based on regions such as administrative units. These region‐based records are accessible and dependable, and sometimes they are the only available data source; however, few species distribution models accept such data as direct input. In this paper, we present a method named Mikrubi for robust prediction of species distributions from region‐based occurrence data and a Julia package implementing the algorithms. The package 'Mikrubi' requires a map describing disjoint regions, climatic raster layers, and a list of occupied regions. Mikrubi then rasterizes the regions, reduces the environmental dimensionality, parameterizes the niche, and finally estimates the parameters by maximizing the likelihood. In a simulation study, we find Mikrubi effective in accurate estimation in most cases; in a case study of Allium wallichii in China, Mikrubi significantly outperforms four modeling strategies that adapt region‐based records to conventional models according to different principles. The package has many prospective applications in addition to modeling distributions on region‐based records: 1) it accepts supplementary coordinates; 2) it is a new solution for distribution modeling using deviated coordinates; and 3) its probabilistic region‐based outputs have special uses in conservation and biodiversity science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity changes, such as decline in species richness and biotic homogenization, can have grave consequences for ecosystem functionality. Careful investigation of biodiversity–ecosystem multifunctionality linkages with due consideration of conceptual and technical challenges is required to make the knowledge practically useful in managing social–ecological systems. In this paper, we introduced different methods to assess perspectives regarding the issue of diversity‐multifunctionality, including a possible multifunctional redundancy/uniqueness, and the influences of the number and identity of functions on multifunctionality. In particular, we aimed to align methods with detecting the mechanisms underpinning diversity‐multifunctional relationships that are free from statistical biases. Based on a set of novel methods that excluded analytical biases resulting from differences in the number and identities of multiple functions considered, we found that a substantial portion of species disproportionately supported ecosystem functions and that the diversity effects on multifunctionality were more markedly observed when more functions were considered. These results jointly emphasize that individual species are, to some extent, both functionally unique as well as redundant, highlighting the complexity and necessity for managed assemblages to retain high levels of diversity. We also observed that the relative magnitude of uniqueness or redundancy can differ between species and functions and therefore should be defined in a multifunctional context. We further found that only a small subset of species was identified as significantly less important, especially at low levels of multifunctionality. Taken together, given the low level of multifunctional redundancy we identified, we stress that unraveling the hierarchical roles of biodiversity at different levels, such as individual species and their assemblages, should be a high research priority, in both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: We have entered a monumental era in terms of realizing the impact of biodiversity loss on our everyday lives. We suffer from the consequences of biodiversity loss due to overexploitation of natural resources as we continue failing to restore biodiversity. One of the major consequences of biodiversity loss is the emergence of global pandemics. We are in urgent need of realizing the full potential of all of the international legal instruments on creating incentives for biodiversity conservation. Access and benefit‐sharing or ABS is an international legal framework implemented with the hopes that it would provide such incentives. Therefore, a legal analysis on whether ABS is designed to achieve biodiversity conservation is of crucial importance in achieving international conservation targets. Summary: The international ABS regime was put in place with the hope that it would aid the international community in conserving biodiversity and thereby attaining its international conservation targets.This paper conducts an empirical analysis of all of the relevant documents generated during the negotiations of the Nagoya Protocol, the major international legal instrument on ABS, to determine whether the design of the regulatory mechanisms do indeed lead to creating such incentives for conservation.Throughout the negotiations for the Nagoya Protocol, many suggestions were made by the Parties and relevant stakeholders regarding how ABS would result in creating incentives for biodiversity conservation. While some presuppose that benefit‐sharing will inherently result in biodiversity conservation, others specify some economic incentives which would then generate such incentive that would result in governments directing the received benefits into conservation activities.The paper then moves on to analysing the adopted text of the Nagoya Protocol with the aim of mapping the obligations of Parties to channel benefits into conservation. It is concluded that the design of the Nagoya Protocol does not intrinsically lead to biodiversity conservation but benefit‐sharing is a tool that can be directed towards biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amazonia, despite being famous as the most prominent tropical forest, is currently suffering high rates of degradation, with recurrent fires and deforestation, which could shortly lead it to be classified as a biodiversity hotspot for conservation. Although the known flora of the domain displays exceptional richness, its diversity is far from being well known, with several new species being described each year and lots of areas still poorly collected. During the preparation of a revision of Hyptidendron (Lamiaceae, subtribe Hyptidinae), a small genus with 21 species, unidentified and unmatched specimens from the Amazonian domain were uncovered. Here we describe and illustrate these specimens as Hyptidendron dorothyanum sp. nov., named in honor of Sister Dorothy Stang, murdered for her support for the biodiversity of the Amazon and her defence of the rights of local people. The new species, currently known from just two gatherings from Amazonas and Pará States is compared with its most closely related species, Hyptidendron canum, H. arboreum, H. asperrimum and H. leucophyllum. We also provide a distribution map, a preliminary conservation assessment, as well as comments on the phenology and ecology of the new species. This paper calls attention to the importance of the conservation of Amazonia and its rich but still not completely known diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Andean montane forests are biodiversity hotspots and large carbon stores and they provide numerous ecosystem services. Following land abandonment after centuries of forest clearing for agriculture in the Andes, there is an opportunity for forest recovery. Field‐based studies show that forests do not always recover. However, large‐scale and long‐term knowledge of recovery dynamics of Andean forests remains scarce. This paper analyses tropical montane forest recovery trajectories over a 15‐year time frame at the landscape and tropical Andean scale to inform restoration planning. Methods: We first detect "potential recovery" as areas that have experienced a forest transition between 2000 and 2005. Then, we use Landsat time series analysis of the normalized difference water index (NDWI) to classify four "realized recovery" trajectories ("ongoing", "arrested", "disrupted" and "no recovery") based on a sequential pattern of 5‐yearly Z‐score anomalies for 2005–2020. We compare these results against an analysis of change in tree cover to validate against other datasets. Results: Across the tropical Andes, we detected a potential recovery area of 274 km2 over the period. Despite increases in tree cover, most areas of the Andes remained in early successional states (10–25% tree cover), and NDWI levelled out after 5–10 years. Of all potential forest recovery areas, 22% showed "ongoing recovery", 61% showed either "disrupted" or "arrested recovery", and 17% showed "no recovery". Our method captured forest recovery dynamics in a Peruvian arrested succession context and in landscape‐scale tree‐planting efforts in Ecuador. Main conclusions: Forest recovery across the Andes is mostly disrupted, arrested or unsuccessful, with consequences for biodiversity recovery and provision of ecosystem services. Low‐recovery areas identified in this study might be good candidates for active restoration interventions in this UN Decade on Restoration. Future studies could determine restoration strategies and priorities and suggest management strategies at a local planning scale across key regions in the biodiversity hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Quillworts (Isoëtes) represent highly specialized flora of softwater lakes, that is, freshwater ecosystems potentially sensitive to acidification. In this paper, we combine a review of previous studies and our new results to address unrecognized reproduction strategies of quillworts to overcome long‐term environmental stresses. These strategies play an important role in the plant's ability to overcome atmospheric acidification of freshwaters, protecting the plants until their environment can recover. Environmental drivers of recovery of Isoëtes echinospora and I. lacustris were studied in two acidified lakes in the Bohemian Forest (Central Europe). Both populations survived more than 50 years of severe acidification, although they failed to recruit new sporelings. Their survival depended entirely on the resistance of long‐living adult plants because the quillworts do not grow clonally. During the past two decades, a renewal of I. echinospora population inhabiting Plešné Lake has been observed, while no such renewal of I. lacustris, dwelling in Černé Lake, was evident, despite similar changes in water composition occurring in both lakes undergoing advanced recovery from acidification. Our in vitro experiments revealed that the threshold acidity and toxic aluminium concentrations for sporeling survival and recruitment success differed between I. echinospora (pH ≤ 4.0 and ≥300 μg L−1 Al at pH 5) and I. lacustris (pH ≤ 5.0 and ≥100 μg L−1Al at pH 5). The higher sensitivity of I. lacustris to both stressors likely stems from its year‐long germination period and underlines the risk of exposure to chronic or episodic acidification in recovering lakes. By contrast, the shorter germination period of I. echinospora (2–3 months) enables its faster and deeper rooting, protecting this quillwort from periodic acidification during the next snowmelt. Our study brings novel insights into widely discussed environmental issues related to the long‐term degradation of softwater lakes, which represent important hotspots of pan‐European biodiversity and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater macro‐organismic environmental DNA (eDNA) is gaining increasing popularity in detecting invasive species, assessing community assemblages, and in mapping the distribution of taxa that are rare or otherwise difficult to monitor. The objectives of this article are to review the targets of published freshwater eDNA research in relation to aquatic conservation with a focus on geographic regions covered, as well as the habitats and species investigated.The analysis of 272 peer‐reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2018 revealed that 57% of the 238 primary research papers have a focus on conservation science, mostly addressing invasive and endangered species, followed by 23% papers investigating methodological developments and 11% biodiversity surveys also using eDNA metabarcoding. A strong geographical pattern emerged, with Africa, South America, and the tropics being under‐represented. Taxonomic coverage was dominated by 123 fish species, followed by 29 amphibian and 28 mollusc species. Freshwater arthropods (27 taxa) were under‐represented in relation to their estimated species richness.Taxonomic bias towards certain species such as fishes observed in freshwater eDNA research is pervasive in biodiversity research and conservation sciences, and thus is not surprising. Geographical representation was biased, with a few industrialized countries from the Northern Hemisphere contributing 72% of the studies. Both findings parallel biases known from other research areas, such as marine eDNA analysis, taxonomy, or invasion biology.The application of eDNA in freshwater conservation will benefit from the development of general standards and guidelines that are necessary to integrate freshwater macrobial eDNA techniques in existing monitoring frameworks. To aid future freshwater conservation, our suggestions are to harmonize eDNA methods for comparable and easier implementation worldwide, and to increase international cooperation and funding for under‐represented geographical regions and neglected taxa. This is especially crucial for the known biodiversity hotspots in developing countries where rapid changes occur to freshwater habitats and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark diversity includes ecologically suitable species currently absent in a site, albeit theoretically able to arrive from the surrounding region. Various methods can estimate the likelihood that an absent species is in the dark diversity of a site. Recent developments in estimation of dark diversity have advanced the field, yet uncertainty on method selection might lead to confusion and misleading results. Here, we provide methodological guidance by reanalyzing a data set used in a recently published dark‐diversity study (Hostens et al. 2023; Journal of Vegetation Science 34: e13212). Using various approaches to estimate dark diversity, we discuss why their estimations differ, and examine which methods are more appropriate than others for the particular data set. In this study, the hypergeometric method based on species co‐occurrences outperformed the other considered methods (species distribution modelling, Beals index). Further, we show how estimations of dark diversity can be combined with a Bayesian framework to examine which characteristics of sites and species are related to their tendency to have higher dark‐diversity size (sites) than expected or to be more frequently in dark diversity (species). This paper hopefully enhances confidence in dark‐diversity methods, allowing progress in both ecological theory and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Natural resource management in Australia is beset with 'wicked' problems: diminishing biodiversity, increasing soil erosion, spreading soil salinity and global climate change all impact private landholders across rural Australia. These problems highlight the complexity of biodiversity conservation, and the need for inclusive, respectful approaches that enable the participation of rural communities, private landholders and government agencies to effectively manage biodiversity on public and private lands. To address these problems, some landholders, rural communities and other stakeholders are seeking evidence‐based solutions through directly applicable research. In this paper, we identify current barriers to such research and highlight principles and processes for co‐designing and managing research based on mutual trust, respect, power sharing and acceptance of various knowledge systems, as embodied in the theory of reconciliation ecology. We suggest that a 'community of practice' approach could assist in establishing effective deliberative relations as a basis for active collaboration in natural resource management research to address these complex problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]