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Many companies have made zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs) to reduce carbon emissions and biodiversity losses linked to tropical commodities. However, ZDCs conserve areas primarily based on tree cover and aboveground carbon, potentially leading to the unintended consequence that agricultural expansion could be encouraged in biomes outside tropical rainforest, which also support important biodiversity. We examine locations suitable for zero-deforestation expansion of commercial oil palm, which is increasingly expanding outside the tropical rainforest biome, by generating empirical models of global suitability for rainfed and irrigated oil palm. We find that tropical grassy and dry forest biomes contain >50% of the total area of land climatically suitable for rainfed oil palm expansion in compliance with ZDCs (following the High Carbon Stock Approach; in locations outside urban areas and cropland), and that irrigation could double the area suitable for expansion in these biomes. Within these biomes, ZDCs fail to protect areas of high vertebrate richness from oil palm expansion. To prevent unintended consequences of ZDCs and minimize the environmental impacts of oil palm expansion, policies and governance for sustainable development and conservation must expand focus from rainforests to all tropical biomes.

Aim Climatic changes throughout the Pleistocene have strongly modified species distributions. We examine how these range shifts have affected the genetic diversity of a montane butterfly species and whether the genetic diversity in the extant populations is threatened by future climate change. Location Europe. Taxon Erebia epiphron Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae. Methods We analyzed mtDNA to map current genetic diversity and differentiation of E. epiphron across Europe to identify population refugia and postglacial range shifts. We used species distribution modeling (SDM) to hindcast distributions over the last 21,000 years to identify source locations of extant populations and to project distributions into the future (2070) to predict potential losses in genetic diversity. Results We found substantial genetic diversity unique to specific regions within Europe (total number of haplotypes = 31, number of unique haplotypes = 27, H d = 0.9). Genetic data and SDM hindcasting suggest long‐term separation and survival of discrete populations. Particularly, high rates of unique diversity in postglacially colonized sites in England (H d = 0.64) suggest this population was colonized from a now extinct cryptic refugium. Under future climate change, SDMs predict loss of climate suitability for E. epiphron, particularly at lower elevations (, The genetic diversification of cold‐adapted mountain species, such as E. epiphron, has been shaped by Pleistocene glaciations, resulting in unique genetic diversity in isolated populations. The unique genetic diversity in mountain and cold‐adapted species is at under future climate warming, and we predict E. epiphron will lose 38%–64% of its range in the future, resulting in the loss of genetic diversity, reducing its ability to adapt.

1. Human‐modified tropical landscapes are often invaded by exotic plant species, but relatively few species are able to colonise remnant areas of rainforest embedded within such landscapes. The functional traits of successful invaders of natural versus anthropogenic habitats are poorly known, especially in tropical regions, and identifying such traits provides insight into the mechanisms that drive invasion. Here, we examine the invasion of tropical rainforest remnants along a disturbance gradient, within a human‐modified agricultural landscape, and determine whether exotic species that invade these forests are selected according to particular traits. 2. We surveyed the occurrence of 18 exotic species along 100‐m transects in four habitats—oil palm road, forest‐oil palm edges and disturbed and intact forest within rainforest remnants—at 21 sites across Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We collated data on four functional traits relevant to the barriers plants encounter when colonising new environments (e.g. dispersal and persistence) and tested whether trait filtering occurs during invasion of rainforest remnants. 3. Exotic species richness declined significantly from oil palm (mean 9.2 species per transect) to forest edge (7.8 species) to inside rainforest remnants (3.1 species in disturbed forest), and only one species, Clidemia hirta, invaded intact forest. Exotic communities within rainforest remnants had long‐distance (vertebrate) dispersal, were woodier and had taller maximum heights, compared to those found in oil palm. For each trait, the community‐weighted mean for the forest edge community was intermediate between oil palm and disturbed forest, suggesting trait filtering during the invasion of rainforest remnants. 4. Our study provides strong evidence that trait filtering occurs during invasion from human‐modified agricultural habitats into previously disturbed forests via the forest edge. Successful invasion of rainforest remnants requires relatively long‐distance dispersal, in particular by vertebrates, as well as traits that are more similar to those of native forest species (i.e. tall and woody), making these exotic species more able to compete and persist in that environment. Our results show that disturbed tropical rainforests with open canopies are susceptible to invasion and highlight the traits of exotic species which can invade rainforest habitats, and which may pose a threat to regenerating tropical rainforests.

Context Intact tropical rainforests are considered robust to plant invasions. However, land-use change alters the structure and species composition of native forest, opening up tropical landscapes to invasion. Yet, the relative roles of key drivers on tropical forest invasions remain little investigated. Objectives We examine factors affecting plant invasion of rainforest remnants in oil-palm dominated landscapes in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We hypothesized that invasion is greater in highly fragmented landscapes, and in disturbed forests with lower native plant diversity (cf. old-growth rainforests). Methods Native and exotic plants were surveyed in 47 plots at 17 forest sites, spanning gradients in landscape-scale fragmentation and local forest disturbance. Using partial least squares path-modelling, we examined correlations between invasion, fragmentation, forest disturbance, propagule pressure, soil characteristics and native plant community. Results We recorded 6999 individuals from 329 genera in total, including eight exotic species (0–51% of individuals/plot, median = 1.4%) representing shrubs, forbs, graminoids and climbers. The best model (R2 = 0.343) revealed that invasion was correlated with disturbance and propagule pressure (high prevalence of exotic species in plantation matrix), the latter being driven by greater fragmentation of the landscape. Our models revealed a significant negative correlation between invasion and native tree seedlings and sapling community diversity. Conclusions Increasing landscape fragmentation promotes exotic plant invasion in remnant tropical forests, especially if local disturbance is high. The association between exotic species invasion and young native tree community may have impacts for regeneration given that fragmentation is predicted to increase and so plant invasion may become more prevalent.

Ecological restoration is considered to play an important role in mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity and preventing environmental degradation. Yet, there are often multiple perspectives on what outcomes restoration should be aiming to achieve, and how we should get to that point. In this paper we interview a range of policy makers, academics and NGO representatives to explore the range of perspectives on the restoration of Indonesia's tropical peatlands – key global ecosystems that have undergone large‐scale degradation. Thematic analysis suggests that participants agreed about the importance of restoration, but had differing opinions on how effective restoration activities to date have been and what a restored peatland landscape should look like. These results exemplify how ecological restoration can mean different things to different people, but also highlight important areas of consensus for moving forward with peatland restoration strategies.

Tropical peat swamp forests retain large carbon stocks and support unique biodiversity, but clearance and drainage for agriculture have resulted in fires, carbon emissions and biodiversity losses. Initiatives to re-wet cultivated peatlands may benefit biodiversity if this protects remaining forests from fire and agricultural encroachment, but there are concerns that re-wetting could reduce yields and damage livelihoods, as relationships between drainage, on-farm biodiversity, and crop yields have not been studied. We examined oil palm fruit yields and bird diversity on 41 smallholder farms in Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia), which varied in drainage intensity (12-month mean water table per plot from August 2018 to August 2019: −52 to −3 cm below-ground). We also compared farm bird diversity with a neighbouring area of protected peat swamp forest (11,000 ha, 21 plots; mean water table per plot −3 to +15 cm). Bird species richness (3–18 species per plot), species composition and oil palm yields (4.5–19.2 t fresh fruit bunch ha−1 year−1) varied among farms, but were not detectably affected by water table depth, although ground-level vegetation was more complex on wetter farms. Bird richness in oil palm (mean = 10.3 species per plot) was

Range shifting is vital for species persistence, but there is little consensus on why individual species vary so greatly in the rates at which their ranges have shifted in response to recent climate warming. Here, using 40 years of distribution data for 291 species from 13 invertebrate taxa in Britain, we show that interactions between habitat availability and exposure to climate change at the range margins explain up to half of the variation in rates of range shift. Habitat generalists expanded faster than more specialised species, but this intrinsic trait explains less of the variation in range shifts than habitat availability, which additionally depends on extrinsic factors that may be rare or widespread at the range margin. Similarly, while climate change likely underlies polewards expansions, we find that more of the between-species variation is explained by differences in habitat availability than by changes in climatic suitability. A model that includes both habitat and climate, and their statistical interaction, explains the most variation in range shifts. We conclude that climate-change vulnerability assessments should focus as much on future habitat availability as on climate sensitivity and exposure, with the expectation that habitat restoration and protection will substantially improve species’ abilities to respond to uncertain future climates.

1. The redistribution of species in response to climate change is expected to significantly challenge environmental management and conservation efforts around the globe. To date, we have had restricted understanding of the benefits and risks that species redistribution may pose to individual countries, and a limited appreciation of the variability in current opportunities for developing effective monitoring approaches that build on existing national frameworks. 2. To assess the present level of ecological, economic and societal risks and opportunities associated with new arrivals of species driven by changes in climatic conditions, we conducted a review of the available information on changes in animal species (both terrestrial and marine) distribution suspected to be linked to climate change in the United Kingdom over the past ten years (2008-2018). 3. We found evidence that at least 55 species have arrived in new locations in the country due to climate change in past decade, with 22 of them suspected to impact positively or negatively the recipient ecosystems, or nearby human communities. Ten of these 55 species were identified using keywords and hashtags on social media. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our work identifies pressing monitoring gaps relevant to the management of species on the move and discusses the potential for social media to help address current information needs. It also calls for more theoretical work to enable the quick identification of species likely to be problematic (or beneficial) and locations likely to experience significant ecological and societal impacts from biodiversity’s redistribution under a changing climate.

Oligophagous insects can consume a wide range of different host plant species, but how these host plants vary in their metabolite compositions and the extent to which this variation affects the biochemistry of the insect herbivores is largely unknown. An understanding of how defensive metabolites from plants are processed by insects may help us develop more effective pesticides. We studied the interactions between the oligophagous insect herbivore Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) and five species of its larval host plants (family Brassicaceae and Cleomaceae) by examining untargeted metabolic fingerprints of the plants and the larval herbivores feeding on them. Visualisation of the metabolic fingerprints of the different host plant species showed highly distinctive clusters in the PCA-X score plots. Larvae could also be distinguished based on the species of host plant they fed on but clusters overlapped to a greater extent. The fingerprints of larvae feeding on Cleome spinosa plants were most distinctive due to a large group of abundant metabolites also found in high abundance in C. spinosa, but not in the other host plants examined. We conclude that host plants influence the biochemistry of their larval herbivores, and that some metabolites are conserved from one trophic level to the next.

1. Genetic diversity is important for species persistence and Gene Conservation Units (GCUs) have been implemented for forest trees to protect genetic diversity and evolutionary processes in situ. The Convention on Biological Diversity stipulates the protection of genetic diversity as an Aichi target, and so we explore the potential for GCUs to be implemented more widely. 2. Our global systematic review showed that GCUs are currently implemented primarily for plant species of economic importance (109/158 species studied), but a questionnaire sent to land managers and conservationists (60 U.K. participants) revealed strong support for fully integrating genetic information into conservation management (90% agree), and for creating GCUs for other plant and animal taxa. 3. Using four case studies of U.K. species of conservation importance which vary in genetic threat and population dynamics (two insect species, a fungus and a plant), we highlight that GCU implementation criteria need to be flexible to account for variation in effective breeding population size and geographic extent of target species. The wider uptake of GCUs would ensure that threatened genetic diversity is protected and support evolutionary processes that aid adaptation to changing environments.

Conservation planning tends to focus on protecting species' ranges or landscape connectivity but seldom both-particularly in the case of diverse taxonomic assemblages and multiple planning goals. Therefore, information on potential trade-offs between maintaining landscape connectivity and achieving other conservation objectives is lacking. We developed an optimization approach to prioritize the maximal protection of species' ranges, ecosystem types, and forest carbon stocks, while also including habitat connectivity for range-shifting species and dispersal corridors to link protected area. We applied our approach to Sabah, Malaysia, where the state government mandated an increase in protected-area coverage of approximately 305,000 ha but did not specify where new protected areas should be. Compared with a conservation planning approach that did not incorporate the 2 connectivity features, our approach increased the protection of dispersal corridors and elevational connectivity by 13% and 21%, respectively. Coverage of vertebrate and plant species' ranges and forest types were the same whether connectivity was included or excluded. Our approach protected 2% less forest carbon and 3% less butterfly range than when connectivity features were not included. Hence, the inclusion of connectivity into conservation planning can generate large increases in the protection of landscape connectivity with minimal loss of representation of other conservation targets.Incorporación de la Conectividad a la Planeación de la Conservación para la Representación Óptima de Especies Múltiples y Servicios Ambientales Resumen Las tendencias de planeación de la conservación tienden a enfocarse en la protección de la distribución geográfica de las especies o en la conectividad de paisajes, pero rara vez se enfocan en ambas - particularmente para el caso de los ensamblajes taxonómicos y las metas múltiples de planeación. Por lo tanto, hay carencias en la información sobre las compensaciones potenciales entre mantener la conectividad de los paisajes y alcanzar otros objetivos de conservación. Desarrollamos una estrategia de optimización para priorizar la protección máxima de la distribución de las especies, los tipos de ecosistemas y los stocks de carbono de los bosques, a la vez que incluimos la conectividad del hábitat para las especies que modifican su distribución y los corredores de dispersión para conectar el área protegida. Aplicamos nuestra estrategia en Sabah, Malasia, en donde el gobierno estatal ordenó un incremento de ∼305, 000 ha en la cobertura de áreas protegidas sin especificar la ubicación de las nuevas áreas protegidas. En comparación con una estrategia de planeación de la conservación que no incorporó las dos características de la conectividad, nuestra estrategia incrementó la protección de los corredores de dispersión y la conectividad altitudinal en un 13% y 21% respectivamente. La cobertura de la distribución de las especies de plantas y vertebrados y de los tipos de bosque fue la misma con o sin la inclusión de la conectividad. Nuestra estrategia protegió 2% menos del carbono forestal y 3% menos de la distribución de mariposas que cuando no se incluyeron las características de conectividad en la estrategia. Por lo tanto, incluir a la conectividad en la planeación de la conservación puede generar grandes incrementos en la protección de la conectividad del paisaje con una pérdida mínima de representación para los demás objetivos de conservación.

Populations undergoing rapid climate-driven range expansion experience distinct selection regimes dominated both by increased dispersal at the leading edges and steep environmental gradients. Characterisation of traits associated with such expansions provides insight into the selection pressures and evolutionary constraints that shape demographic and evolutionary responses. Here we investigate patterns in three components of wing morphology (size, shape, colour) often linked to dispersal ability and thermoregulation, along latitudinal gradients of range expansion in the Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) in Britain (two regions of expansion in England and Scotland). We measured 774 males from 54 sites spanning 799 km with a 10-year mean average temperature gradient of 4 °C. A geometric morphometric method was used to investigate variation in size and shape of forewings and hindwings; colour, pattern, and contrast of the wings were examined using a measure of lightness (inverse degree of melanism). Overall, wing size increased with latitude by ∼2% per 100 km, consistent with Bergmann’s rule. Forewings became more rounded and hindwings more elongated with history of colonisation, possibly reflecting selection for increased dispersal ability. Contrary to thermal melanism expectations, wing colour was lighter where larvae developed at cooler temperatures and unrelated to long-term temperature. Changes in wing spot pattern were also detected. High heterogeneity in variance among sites for all of the traits studied may reflect evolutionary time-lags and genetic drift due to colonisation of new habitats. Our study suggests that temperature-sensitive plastic responses for size and colour interact with selection for dispersal traits (wing size and shape). Whilst the plastic and evolutionary responses may in some cases act antagonistically, the rapid expansion ofP. aegeriaimplies an overall reinforcing effect between these two mechanisms.

Temperature is a core component of a species' fundamental niche. At the fine scale over which most organisms experience climate (mm to ha), temperature depends upon the amount of radiation reaching the Earth's surface, which is principally governed by vegetation. Tropical regions have undergone widespread and extreme changes to vegetation, particularly through the degradation and conversion of rainforests. As most terrestrial biodiversity is in the tropics, and many of these species possess narrow thermal limits, it is important to identify local thermal impacts of rainforest degradation and conversion. We collected pantropical, site‐level (

Although the number of studies discerning the impact of climate change on ecological systems continues to increase, there has been relatively little sharing of the lessons learnt when accumulating this evidence. At a recent workshop entitled ‘Using climate data in ecological research’ held at the UK Met Office, ecologists and climate scientists came together to discuss the robust analysis of climate data in ecology. The discussions identified three common pitfalls encountered by ecologists: 1) selection of inappropriate spatial resolutions for analysis; 2) improper use of publically available data or code; and 3) insufficient representation of the uncertainties behind the adopted approach. Here, we discuss how these pitfalls can be avoided, before suggesting ways that both ecology and climate science can move forward. Our main recommendation is that ecologists and climate scientists collaborate more closely, on grant proposals and scientific publications, and informally through online media and workshops. More sharing of data and code (e.g. via online repositories), lessons and guidance would help to reconcile differing approaches to the robust handling of data. We call on ecologists to think critically about which aspects of the climate are relevant to their study system, and to acknowledge and actively explore uncertainty in all types of climate data. And we call on climate scientists to make simple estimates of uncertainty available to the wider research community. Through steps such as these, we will improve our ability to robustly attribute observed ecological changes to climate or other factors, while providing the sort of influential, comprehensive analyses that efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change so urgently require.

1. Abundance data are the foundation for many ecological and conservation projects, but are only available for a few taxonomic groups. In contrast, distribution records (georeferenced presence records) are more widely available. Here we examine whether year-to-year changes in numbers of distribution records, collated over a large spatial scale, can provide a measure of species' population variability, and hence act as a metric of abundance changes. 2. We used 33 British butterfly species to test this possibility, using distribution and abundance data (transect counts) from 1976 to 2012. 3. Comparing across species, we found a strong correlation between mean year-to-year changes in total number of distribution records and mean year-to-year changes in abundance (N = 33 species; r2 = 0.66). This suggests that annual distribution data can be used to identify species with low versus high population variability. 4. For individual species, there was considerable variation in the strength of relationships between year-to-year changes in total number of distribution records and abundance. Between-year changes in abundance can be identified from distribution records most accurately for species whose populations are most variable (i.e. have high annual variation in numbers of records). 5. We conclude that year-to-year changes in distribution records can indicate overall population variability within a taxon, and are a reasonable proxy for year-to-year changes in abundance for some types of species. This finding opens up more opportunities to inform ecological and conservation studies about population variability, based on the wealth of citizen science distribution records that are available for other taxa.

Advances in phenology (the annual timing of species’ life-cycles) in response to climate change are generally viewed as bioindicators of climate change, but have not been considered as predictors of range expansions. Here, we show that phenology advances combine with the number of reproductive cycles per year (voltinism) to shape abundance and distribution trends in 130 species of British Lepidoptera, in response to ~0.5 °C spring-temperature warming between 1995 and 2014. Early adult emergence in warm years resulted in increased within- and between-year population growth for species with multiple reproductive cycles per year (n = 39 multivoltine species). By contrast, early emergence had neutral or negative consequences for species with a single annual reproductive cycle (n = 91 univoltine species), depending on habitat specialisation. We conclude that phenology advances facilitate polewards range expansions in species exhibiting plasticity for both phenology and voltinism, but may inhibit expansion by less flexible species., Many species’ life cycles have moved earlier in the year because of climate change, but we do not know the consequences for range expansions. The authors show that these advances promote range expansions in species with multiple reproductive cycles per year, but not in species with only one.

Habitat connectivity is important for tropical biodiversity conservation. Expansion of commodity crops, such as oil palm, fragments natural habitat areas, and strategies are needed to improve habitat connectivity in agricultural landscapes. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) voluntary certification system requires that growers identify and conserve forest patches identified as High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) before oil palm plantations can be certified as sustainable. We assessed the potential benefits of these conservation set‐asides for forest connectivity.We mapped HCVAs and quantified their forest cover in 2015. To assess their contribution to forest connectivity, we modelled range expansion of forest‐dependent populations with five dispersal abilities spanning those representative of poor dispersers (e.g. flightless insects) to more mobile species (e.g. large birds or bats) across 70 plantation landscapes in Borneo.Because only 21% of HCVA area was forested in 2015, these conservation set‐asides currently provide few connectivity benefits. Compared to a scenario where HCVAs contain no forest (i.e. a no‐RSPO scenario), current HCVAs improved connectivity by ~3% across all dispersal abilities. However, if HCVAs were fully reforested, then overall landscape connectivity could improve by ~16%. Reforestation of HCVAs had the greatest benefit for poor to intermediate dispersers (0.5–3 km per generation), generating landscapes that were up to 2.7 times better connected than landscapes without HCVAs. By contrast, connectivity benefits of HCVAs were low for highly mobile populations under current and reforestation scenarios, because range expansion of these populations was generally successful regardless of the amount of forest cover. Synthesis and applications. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) requires that High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) be set aside to conserve biodiversity, but HCVAs currently provide few connectivity benefits because they contain relatively little forest. However, reforested HCVAs have the potential to improve landscape connectivity for some forest species (e.g. winged insects), and we recommend active management by plantation companies to improve forest quality of degraded HCVAs (e.g. by enrichment planting). Future revisions to the RSPO's Principles and Criteria should also ensure that large (i.e. with a core area >2 km2) HCVAs are reconnected to continuous tracts of forest to maximize their connectivity benefits., The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) requires that High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) be set aside to conserve biodiversity, but HCVAs currently provide few connectivity benefits because they contain relatively little forest. However, reforested HCVAs have the potential to improve landscape connectivity for some forest species (e.g. winged insects), and we recommend active management by plantation companies to improve forest quality of degraded HCVAs (e.g. by enrichment planting). Future revisions to the RSPO's Principles and Criteria should also ensure that large (i.e. with a core area >2 km2) HCVAs are reconnected to continuous tracts of forest to maximize their connectivity benefits.

Trends in insect abundance are well established in some datasets, but far less is known about how abundance measures translate into biomass trends. Moths (Lepidoptera) provide particularly good opportunities to study trends and drivers of biomass change at large spatial and temporal scales, given the existence of long‐term abundance datasets. However, data on the body masses of moths are required for these analyses, but such data do not currently exist.To address this data gap, we collected empirical data in 2018 on the forewing length and dry mass of field‐sampled moths, and used these to train and test a statistical model that predicts the body mass of moth species from their forewing lengths (with refined parameters for Crambidae, Erebidae, Geometridae and Noctuidae).Modeled biomass was positively correlated, with high explanatory power, with measured biomass of moth species (R 2 = 0.886 ± 0.0006, across 10,000 bootstrapped replicates) and of mixed‐species samples of moths (R 2 = 0.873 ± 0.0003), showing that it is possible to predict biomass to an informative level of accuracy, and prediction error was smaller with larger sample sizes.Our model allows biomass to be estimated for historical moth abundance datasets, and so our approach will create opportunities to investigate trends and drivers of insect biomass change over long timescales and broad geographic regions., Assessment of trends in insect biomass is hampered by a lack of data. To address this, we developed a method to estimate the biomass of historical samples of moths, where abundance and species identity have been recorded. Estimates made using this method explain >85% of total variation in sample biomass, allowing biomass to be predicted to an informative level of accuracy.

1. It is necessary to improve knowledge exchange between scientists and decision‐makers so that scientific evidence can be readily accessed to inform policy. 2. To maximise impact of scientific evidence in policy development, the scientific community should engage more fully with decision‐makers, building long‐term working relationships in order to identify and respond to ‘policy windows’ with science that is reframed for policy‐relevance. 3. We illustrate the process and challenges using a case study in which we synthesised evidence from studies of habitat fragmentation to provide information for improved biodiversity conservation in the oil palm sector, resulting in the uptake of this research into new industry guidelines. 4. Policy implications. The case study demonstrates how having an in‐depth understanding of the ‘policy arena’ (the state of policy and the actors and influencing factors that affect policy) and responding with relevant and specific information, enabled effective uptake of science to inform the design of conservation set‐asides in the oil palm industry.

Many areas of tropical rainforest have been fragmented and the habitat quality of fragments is often poor. For example, on Borneo, many forest fragments are highly degraded by repeated logging of Dipterocarpaceae trees prior to fragmentation, and we examined the viability of enrichment planting as a potential management tool to enhance the conservation value of these forest fragments. We planted seedlings of three dipterocarp species with contrasting light demands and tolerances (Parashorea malaanonan (light demander), Dryobalanops lanceolata (intermediate), Hopea nervosa (shade tolerant)) in eight forest fragment sites (3–3529 ha), and compared seedling performance with four sites in continuous forest. Eighteen months after planting, survival rates of seedlings were equally high in fragment sites (mean survival = 63 %), and in continuous forest sites (mean survival = 68 %). By contrast, seedling growth and herbivory rates were considerably higher in fragments (by 60 % for growth and 45 % for herbivory) associated with higher light environments in degraded forest fragments compared with continuous forest sites. Among the three study species, H. nervosa seedlings had the highest survival rates overall, and P. malaanonan seedlings generally grew fastest and suffered highest herbivory rates. There were no interactions between species performance and the effects of fragment site area, forest structure or soil characteristics of sites suggesting that the three species responded similarly to fragmentation effects. High survival of planted seedlings implies that enrichment planting would be a successful forest management strategy to improve forest quality, and hence conservation value, of fragments.

Previously extensive tracts of primary rain forest have been degraded by human activities, and we examined how the effects of forest disturbance arising from habitat fragmentation and commercial selective logging affected ecosystem functioning in these habitats by studying leaf litter decomposition rates in litter bags placed on the forest floor. The rain forests of Borneo are dominated by trees from the family Dipterocarpaceae, and we compared leaf litter decomposition rates of three dipterocarp species at eight forest fragment sites (area 3-3529 ha) that had different histories of disturbance pre-fragmentation: four fragments had been selectively logged prior to fragmentation and four had been formed from previously undisturbed forest. We compared these logged and unlogged forest fragments with sites in continuous forest that had been selectively logged (two sites) and fully protected and undisturbed (two sites). After 120 d, undisturbed continuous forest sites had the fastest rates of decomposition (52% mass loss). Forest fragments formed from unlogged forest (32% mass loss) had faster decomposition rates than logged forest fragments (28% mass loss), but slower rates than continuous logged forest (39% mass loss). Leaves of a light-demanding species (Parashorea malaanonan) decomposed faster than those of a shade-tolerant species (Hopea nervosa), but decomposition of all three dipterocarp species that we studied responded similarly to logging and fragmentation effects. Reduced decomposition rates in logged and fragmented forest sites may affect nutrient cycling and thus have detrimental consequences for forest regeneration. Conservation management to improve forest quality should be a priority, particularly in logged forest fragments.

The loss of huge areas of peat swamp forest in Southeast Asia and the resulting negative environmental effects, both local and global, have led to an increasing interest in peat restoration in the region. Satellite remote sensing offers the potential to provide up‐to‐date information on peat swamp forest loss across large areas, and support spatial explicit conservation and restoration planning. Fusion of optical and radar remote sensing data may be particularly valuable in this context, as most peat swamp forests are in areas with high cloud cover, which limits the use of optical data. Radar data can ‘see through’ cloud, but experience so far has shown that it doesn't discriminate well between certain types of land cover. Various approaches to fusion exist, but there is little information on how they compare. To assess this untapped potential, we compare three different classification methods with Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2 images to map the remnant distribution of peat swamp forest in the area surrounding Sungai Buluh Protection Forest, Sumatra, Indonesia. Results show that data fusion increases overall accuracy in one of the three methods, compared to the use of optical data only. When data fusion was used with the pixel‐based classification using the original pixel values, overall accuracy increased by a small, but statistically significant amount. Data fusion was not beneficial in the case of object‐based classification or pixel‐based classification using principal components. This indicates optical data are still the main source of information for land cover mapping in the region. Based on our findings, we provide methodological recommendations to help those involved in peatland restoration capitalize on the potential of big data.

Both community composition changes due to species redistribution and within-species size shifts may alter body-size structures under climate warming. Here we assess the relative contribution of these processes in community-level body-size changes in tropical moth assemblages that moved uphill during a period of warming. Based on resurvey data for seven assemblages of geometrid moths (>8000 individuals) on Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo, in 1965 and 2007, we show significant wing-length reduction (mean shrinkage of 1.3% per species). Range shifts explain most size restructuring, due to uphill shifts of relatively small species, especially at high elevations. Overall, mean forewing length shrank by ca. 5%, much of which is accounted for by species range boundary shifts (3.9%), followed by within-boundary distribution changes (0.5%), and within-species size shrinkage (0.6%). We conclude that the effects of range shifting predominate, but considering species physiological responses is also important for understanding community size reorganization under climate warming., Body size shifts under climate change may arise from species range shifts, intraspecific size shifts, or both. Here the authors show that body size reduction in moth assemblages on Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo, over 42 years are driven more by species range shifts than by within-species shrinkage.

1. The ability of species' to undergo climate-driven range shifts across fragmented landscapes depends on their dispersal ability as well as the structure of the landscape. For species' range shifts to occur, individuals must first leave suitable habitat to seek new habitat; this is likely to depend on the rate of movement of individuals within habitat and the likelihood that a boundary is crossed, once it is encountered. For three species of butterfly with contrasting histories of recent range expansion, we examined the propensity of individuals to move within a habitat and their responses to habitat boundaries. 2. We quantified the extent to which Plebejus argus (Linnaeus) (a declining habitat specialist), Aricia agestis (Schiffermuller) (an expanding generalist) and Polymmatus icarus (Rottemburg) (a geographically ubiquitous generalist) crossed habitat boundaries into unsuitable habitat and moved within suitable habitat. The observed movement was then related to individual and environmental conditions. 3. Species differed in their activity levels in accordance within their recent distribution patterns (P. icarus > A. agestis > P. argus). Our results for P. argus suggest that movement may be motivated by nectar-seeking, and that males generally move more than females. All three species tended to avoid crossing habitat boundaries; however the proportion of individuals crossing habitat boundaries did not differ significantly among species. 4. We conclude that levels of activity within a habitat, which will affect the frequency with which individuals encounter habitat boundaries, rather than behavioural responses to the boundaries, may be important drivers of distribution change.

Many species are extending their leading-edge (cool) range margins polewards in response to recent climate change. In the present study, we investigated range margin changes at the northern (cool) range margins of 1573 southerly-distributed species from 21 animal groups in Great Britain over the past four decades of climate change, updating previous work. Depending on data availability, range margin changes were examined over two time intervals during the past four decades. For four groups (birds, butterflies, macromoths, and dragonflies and damselflies), there were sufficient data available to examine range margin changes over both time intervals. We found that most taxa shifted their northern range margins polewards and this finding was not greatly influenced by changes in recorder effort. The mean northwards range margin change in the first time interval was 23 km per decade (N = 13 taxonomic groups) and, in the second interval, was 18 km per decade (N = 16 taxonomic groups) during periods when the British climate warmed by 0.21 and 0.28 °C per decade, respectively. For the four taxa examined over both intervals, there was evidence for higher rate of range margin change in the more recent time interval in the two Lepidoptera groups. Our analyses confirm a continued range margin shift polewards in a wide range of taxonomic groups.

A cornerstone of conservation is the designation and management of protected areas (PAs): locations often under conservation management containing species of conservation concern, where some development and other detrimental influences are prevented or mitigated. However, the value of PAs for conserving biodiversity in the long term has been questioned given that species are changing their distributions in response to climatic change. There is a concern that PAs may become climatically unsuitable for those species that they were designated to protect, and may not be located appropriately to receive newly-colonizing species for which the climate is improving. In the present study, we analyze fine-scale distribution data from detailed resurveys of seven butterfly and 11 bird species in Great Britain aiming to examine any effect of PA designation in preventing extinctions and promoting colonizations. We found a positive effect of PA designation on species' persistence at trailing-edge warm range margins, although with a decreased magnitude at higher latitudes and altitudes. In addition, colonizations by range expanding species were more likely to occur on PAs even after altitude and latitude were taken into account. PAs will therefore remain an important strategy for conservation. The potential for PA management to mitigate the effects of climatic change for retracting species deserves further investigation.

Land-use change is a major driver of tropical biodiversity declines. The “High Conservation Value” (HCV) approach aims to protect critical environmental and social values in production landscapes, and is a common feature of many voluntary certification schemes (e.g., Forest Stewardship Council, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). Despite the popularity of the HCV approach within forestry and agriculture production systems, it is little known in academia and the scientific evidence base supporting it is not well developed. By raising the profile of the HCV approach, we hope to instigate new research to examine the impact of the HCV approach on biodiversity conservation. We argue for better knowledge exchange between scientists, policy makers, and HCV users, sharing of information, and consideration of the practical constraints within which HCV users and commodity producers operate. Given the continuing loss and degradation of tropical rainforests, such strategies are required urgently to reduce biodiversity losses in production landscapes.

In view of the rapid rate of expansion of agriculture in tropical regions, attention has focused on the potential for privately-managed rainforest patches within agricultural land to contribute to biodiversity conservation. However, these sites generally differ in their history of forest disturbance and management compared with other forest fragments, and more information is required on the biodiversity value of these privately-managed sites, particularly in oil-palm dominated landscapes of SE Asia. Here we address this issue, using tropical leaf-litter ants in rainforest fragments surrounded by mature oil palm plantations in Sabah, Borneo as a model system. We compare the species richness and composition of ant assemblages in privately-managed forest fragments ('high conservation value' fragments; HCVs) with those in publically-managed fragments of forest (virgin jungle reserves; VJRs) and control sites in extensive tracts of primary forest. In this way, we test the hypothesis that privately-managed and publically-managed forest fragments differ in their species richness and composition as a result of differences in history and management and hence in habitat quality. In support of this hypothesis, we found that HCVs had much poorer habitat quality than VJRs, including lower sizes and densities of trees, less canopy cover, fewer dipterocarp trees and shallower leaf litter. Consequently, HCVs supported only half the species richness of ants in VJRs, which in turn supported 70 % of the species richness of control sites, with vegetation structure and composition explaining 77 % of the variation among forest fragments in ant species richness. HCVs were also much smaller than VJRs but there was only a weak relationship between fragment size and habitat quality, and species richness was not related to fragment size. VJRs supported 78 % of the 156 species found in extensive tracts of forest whereas HCVs supported only 22 %, which was only slightly higher than the proportion previously recorded in oil palm (19 %). These data support previous findings that publically-managed VJR fragments can make an important contribution to biodiversity conservation within agricultural landscapes. However, we suggest that for these HCVs to be effective as reservoirs of biodiversity, management is required to restore vegetation structure and habitat quality, for instance through enrichment planting with native tree species. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

In our recent Research Article “Individualistic sensitivities and exposure to climate change explain variation in species’ distribution and abundance changes” (1), we presented an analysis relating species-specific measures of sensitivity and exposure to climate, to species’ recent population changes. While our measure and interpretation of species’ climate sensitivity remain correct, we now recognize our interpretation of the exposure measure was inaccurate: Our climate models included an intercept, representing a nonzero average population growth rate; thus, the exposure measure incorporated not only climate effects but other nonclimatic—and potentially unmeasured climatic—effects as well. While our results still demonstrate that a significant proportion of variation in population trends can be explained by exposure and sensitivity, the correct interpretation of the exposure measure means that the explained variation is not solely due to climate. As such, our conclusion that a large proportion of variation in population changes can be explained by individualistic responses to climate is misleading. Given this, and to avoid confusion, we are wholly retracting the Research Article, and we apologize that this was not picked up sooner.

Conversion of natural habitats to agriculture reduces species richness, particularly in highly diverse tropical regions, but its effects on species composition are less well-studied. The conversion of rain forest to oil palm is of particular conservation concern globally, and we examined how it affects the abundance of birds, beetles, and ants according to their local population size, body size, geographical range size, and feeding guild or trophic position. We re-analysed data from six published studies representing 487 species/genera to assess the relative importance of these traits in explaining changes in abundance following forest conversion. We found consistent patterns across all three taxa, with large-bodied, abundant forest species from higher trophic levels, declining most in abundance following conversion of forest to oil palm. Best-fitting models explained 39–66 % of the variation in abundance changes for the three taxa, and included all ecological traits that we considered. Across the three taxa, those few species found in oil palm tended to be small-bodied species, from lower trophic levels, that had low local abundances in forest. These species were often hyper-abundant in oil palm plantations. These results provide empirical evidence of consistent responses to land-use change among taxonomic groups in relation to ecological traits.

The benefits of protected areas (PAs) for biodiversity have been questioned in the context of climate change because PAs are static, whereas the distributions of species are dynamic. Current PAs may, however, continue to be important if they provide suitable locations for species to colonize at their leading-edge range boundaries, thereby enabling spread into new regions. Here, we present an empirical assessment of the role of PAs as targets for colonization during recent range expansions. Records from intensive surveys revealed that seven bird and butterfly species have colonized PAs 4.2 (median) times more frequently than expected from the availability of PAs in the landscapes colonized. Records of an additional 256 invertebrate species with less-intensive surveys supported these findings and showed that 98% of species are disproportionately associated with PAs in newly colonized parts of their ranges. Although colonizing species favor PAs in general, species vary greatly in their reliance on PAs, reflecting differences in the dependence of individual species on particular habitats and other conditions that are available only in PAs. These findings highlight the importance of current PAs for facilitating range expansions and show that a small subset of the landscape receives a high proportion of colonizations by range-expanding species.

Many species are expanding at their leading-edge range boundaries in response to climate warming. Species are known to respond individualistically to climate change, but there has been little consideration of whether responses are consistent over time. We compared responses of 37 southerly distributed British butterflies over two study periods, first between 1970–1982 and 1995–1999 and then between 1995–1999 and 2005–2009, when mean annual temperature increased regionally by 0.03 °C/yr (a significant rate of increase) and 0.01 °C/yr (a nonsignificant increase) respectively. Our study species might be expected to benefit from climate warming. We measured three responses to climate to investigate this; changes in range margin, distribution area and abundance. In general, the responses of species were inconsistent over time. Species that increased their distribution areas during the first period tended to do so again during the second period, but the relationship was weak. Changes in range margins and abundance were not consistent. In addition, only 5/37 species showed qualitatively similar responses in all three response variables over time (three species increased and two species declined in all variables in both periods). Overall rates of range expansion and distribution area change were significantly greater in the second study period, despite the lower rate of warming, perhaps due to species exploiting climate-distribution lags remaining from the earlier, warmer period. However, there was a significantly greater decline in abundance during the second study period, so range expansions northwards were not necessarily accompanied by increases in distribution area and/or abundance. Hence, species ranges have been thinning as they have expanded northwards. The idiosyncratic responses of these species likely reflect the balance of climatic and habitat drivers of species distribution and abundance changes.

Large areas of tropical forest now exist as remnants scattered across agricultural landscapes, and so understanding the impacts of forest fragmentation is important for biodiversity conservation. We examined species richness and nestedness among tropical forest remnants in birds (meta-analysis of published studies) and insects (field data for fruit-feeding Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and ants). Species–area relationships were evident in all four taxa, and avian and insect assemblages in remnants typically were nested subsets of those in larger areas. Avian carnivores and nectarivores and predatory ants were more nested than other guilds, implying that the sequential loss of species was more predictable in these groups, and that fragmentation alters the trophic organization of communities. For butterflies, the ordering of fragments to achieve maximum nestedness was by fragment area, suggesting that differences among fragments were driven mainly by extinction. In contrast for moths, maximum nestedness was achieved by ordering species by wing length; species with longer wings (implying better dispersal) were more likely to occur at all sites, including low diversity sites, suggesting that differences among fragments were driven more strongly by colonization. Although all four taxa exhibited high levels of nestedness, patterns of species turnover were also idiosyncratic, and thus even species-poor sites contributed to landscape-scale biodiversity, particularly for insects.

Conversion of natural forest to oil palm plantations is a major threat to biodiversity in Southeast Asia. The retention of natural forest habitats within plantations has been proposed as a method to reduce biodiversity losses in agricultural areas, and we examined whether forest areas resulted in spillover of species into adjacent oil palm plantations. We sampled ants and butterflies along two 2-km transects across an ecotone from plantation into adjacent forest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Species richness of both taxa was reduced in plantations, but to a greater extent in butterflies (54% reduction) than in ants (25% reduction). Butterfly diversity increased in plantations with increasing proximity to forest primarily due to spillover of ‘vagrant’ forest species (whose larval host plants do not occur in plantations), although richness of species that could potentially breed in plantations also increased near to forest. By contrast, ants showed no spillover effects and were less sensitive to land-use changes, with much higher levels of similarity in species assemblages across habitats than for butterflies. Our results for butterflies suggest that despite the negative impacts of plantations on diversity, proximity to forest could improve diversity in adjacent plantations for some taxa. Spillover of forest species implies that retaining forest areas within plantations may be important for facilitating dispersal of some species through the landscape.

In many cases, the designation of Protected Areas (PAs) is not based on biological information, particularly in tropical regions where such information is generally lacking. Thus it is unclear whether tropical PAs are well-placed for conserving biodiversity currently, or under future climate change. We used reserve-design software (‘Zonation’) to investigate current and future conservation value of PAs of Thailand (N = 187 PAs, covering ∼20% of Thailand) in relation to forest-cover and butterfly diversity. Currently, PAs are about 2 °C cooler than non-PAs because PAs tend to occur at higher elevation (66% of land above 1000 m is protected compared with only 6% below 250 m). Temperature is predicted to increase in Thailand in future, but PAs are predicted to remain ∼2 °C cooler than non-PAs in future. We obtained modelled distribution data for 161 butterfly species (∼12% of national butterfly fauna), and used Zonation to rank areas (∼1 km2 grid resolution) based on species richness, complementarity, and forest cover. The conservation value of PAs was approximately twice that of non-PA areas, although many highly-ranked areas are not currently protected. The species richness of PAs was projected to decline by ∼30% in future, but the relative conservation rankings of individual PAs were projected to change very little. The preponderance of PAs in montane regions makes them well-placed to support forest species shifting from areas at lower elevation that become climatically unsuitable in future. By contrast, the conservation value of low-elevation PAs may decline in future if climate conditions become unsuitable for species.

Throughout the world, previously extensive areas of natural habitats have been degraded and fragmented, and improving habitat connectivity may help the long-term persistence of species, and their ability to adapt to climate changes. We focused on Borneo, where many remaining areas of tropical forest are highly fragmented, and we assessed the extent to which Protected Areas (PAs) protect highly-connected forest sites. We analysed remotely-sensed land cover data (0.86 km2 grid cell resolution) using ‘Zonation’ reserve design software, and we ranked grid cells (rank 0–1) according to forest extent and connectivity. PAs currently cover 9% of Borneo, but 60% of Borneo’s total land area lies below 200 m and only 15% of highly-connected cells occurred in these low elevation areas. These findings were relatively insensitive to assumptions about species’ dispersal ability (within the range 1–20 km; representing relatively mobile animal species). The percentage of highly-connected grid cells within PAs could rise from 50% under proposed new PAs (including the ‘Heart of Borneo’ project), although many other highly-connected sites will remain unprotected. On-going land-use changes mean that existing PAs in lowland areas are likely to become increasingly isolated within inhospitable agricultural landscapes, and improving connectivity through reforestation and rehabilitation of degraded forest may be required to maintain the conservation value of these PAs in future.

Creation of new habitat could help species respond to climate change by facilitating range expansion in fragmented landscapes. However, there are currently no guidelines for deciding where new habitat should be placed to promote range changes. We developed a model to simulate the expansion of populations across a heavily fragmented landscape in the United Kingdom, and investigated the effectiveness of six habitat creation strategies for woodland, grassland, heathland, and wetland habitats. A strategy aimed at linking clusters of habitat patches was most effective for three of the four habitat types. Adding habitat evenly or randomly across the landscape, or according to stakeholder suggestions, were consistently better strategies than increasing aggregation of habitat. The results highlight that the best spatial pattern to facilitate range expansion is different from the best pattern to prevent extinction.

Vast numbers of insects and passerines achieve long-distance migrations between summer and winter locations by undertaking high-altitude nocturnal flights. Insects such as noctuid moths fly relatively slowly in relation to the surrounding air, with airspeeds approximately one-third of that of passerines. Thus, it has been widely assumed that windborne insect migrants will have comparatively little control over their migration speed and direction compared with migrant birds. We used radar to carry out the first comparative analyses of the flight behaviour and migratory strategies of insects and birds under nearly equivalent natural conditions. Contrary to expectations, noctuid moths attained almost identical ground speeds and travel directions compared with passerines, despite their very different flight powers and sensory capacities. Moths achieved fast travel speeds in seasonally appropriate migration directions by exploiting favourably directed winds and selecting flight altitudes that coincided with the fastest air streams. By contrast, passerines were less selective of wind conditions, relying on self-powered flight in their seasonally preferred direction, often with little or no tailwind assistance. Our results demonstrate that noctuid moths and passerines show contrasting risk-prone and risk-averse migratory strategies in relation to wind. Comparative studies of the flight behaviours of distantly related taxa are critically important for understanding the evolution of animal migration strategies.

During recent climate warming, many insect species have shifted their ranges to higher latitudes and altitudes. These expansions mirror those that occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum when species expanded from their ice age refugia. Postglacial range expansions have resulted in clines in genetic diversity across present-day distributions, with a reduction in genetic diversity observed in a wide range of insect taxa as one moves from the historical distribution core to the current range margin. Evolutionary increases in dispersal at expanding range boundaries are commonly observed in virtually all insects that have been studied, suggesting a positive feedback between range expansion and the evolution of traits that accelerate range expansion. The ubiquity of this phenomenon suggests that it is likely to be an important determinant of range changes. A better understanding of the extent and speed of adaptation will be crucial to the responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change.

Most multicellular terrestrial organisms experience climate at scales of millimetres to metres, yet most species-climate associations are analysed at resolutions of kilometres or more. Because individuals experience heterogeneous microclimates in the landscape, species sometimes survive where the average background climate appears unsuitable, and equally may be eliminated from sites within apparently suitable grid cells where microclimatic extremes are intolerable. Local vegetation structure and topography can be important determinants of fine-resolution microclimate, but a literature search revealed that the vast majority of bioclimate studies do not include fine-scale habitat information, let alone a representation of how habitat affects microclimate. In this paper, we show that habitat type (grassland, heathland, deciduous woodland) is a major modifier of the temperature extremes experienced by organisms. We recorded differences among these habitats of more than 5°C in monthly temperature maxima and minima, and of 10°C in thermal range, on a par with the level of warming expected for extreme future climate change scenarios. Comparable differences were found in relation to variation in local topography (slope and aspect). Hence, we argue that the microclimatic effects of habitat and topography must be included in studies if we are to obtain sufficiently detailed projections of the ecological impacts of climate change to develop detailed adaptation strategies for the conservation of biodiversity.