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Scientific knowledge of species and the ecosystems they inhabit is the cornerstone of modern conservation. However, research effort is not spread evenly among taxa (taxonomic bias), which may constrain capacity to identify conservation risk and to implement effective responses. Addressing such biases requires an understanding of factors that promote or constrain the use of a particular species in research projects. To this end, we quantified conservation science knowledge of the world's extant non-marine mammal species (n = 4108) based on the number of published documents in journals indexed on Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science (TM). We use an innovative hurdle model approach to assess the relative importance of several ecological, biogeographical and cultural factors for explaining variation in research production between species. The most important variable explaining the presence/absence of conservation research was scientific capacity of countries within the range of the species, followed by body mass and years since the taxonomic description. Research volume (more than one document) was strongly associated with number of years since the data describing on that species, followed by scientific capacity within the range of species, high body mass and invasiveness. The threat status was weakly associated to explain the presence/absence and research volume in conservation research. These results can be interpreted as a consequence of the dynamic interplay between the perceived need for conservation research about a species and its appropriateness as a target of research. As anticipated, the scientific capacity of the countries where a species is found is a strong driver of conservation research bias, reflecting the high variation in conservation research funding and human resources between countries. Our study suggests that this bias could be most effectively reduced by a combination of investing in pioneering research, targeted funding and supporting research in countries with low scientific capacity and high biodiversity.

SummaryProtected areas are frequently used loci for ecological and conservation research, with several national/international designations identifying scientific research as a key objective. For example, Ecological Stations (ESs) in Brazil are strictly protected areas with the explicit goals of protecting nature and hosting scientific research. Nevertheless, simply mandating scientific research does not necessarily translate into action. Here, we quantitatively assess the scientific productivity of ESs and identify the main socio-ecological factors associated with different levels of scientific research. Specifically, we adopt a multi-model inference approach with a hurdle regression model to independently evaluate the factors associated with the presence/absence of research and the volume of studies in ESs. Surprisingly, given their stated remit, a large proportion of ESs had little or no scientific productivity. Results also indicate that older ESs were more likely to be associated with published research and that the volume of publications was associated with the number of years since the first article was published. The presence of a management plan and a management council were also significant positive drivers of research. Our results strongly suggest that, despite their clear mandate, ESs are not effectively fulfilling their role as a policy instrument for generating valuable scientific data.

The remarkable biodiversity of the Brazilian Amazon is poorly documented and threatened by deforestation. When undocumented areas become deforested, in addition to losing the fauna and flora, we lose the opportunity to know which unique species had occupied a habitat. Here we quantify such knowledge loss by calculating how much of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested and will likely be deforested until 2050 without having its tree flora sufficiently documented. To this end, we analysed 399 147 digital specimens of nearly 6000 tree species in relation to official deforestation statistics and future deforestation scenarios. We find that by 2017, 30% of all the localities where tree specimens had been collected were mostly deforested. Some 300 000 km (12%; 485 25 × 25 km grid cells) of the Brazilian Amazon had been deforested by 2017, without having a single tree specimen recorded. An additional 250 000–900 000 km of severely under-collected rainforest will likely become deforested by 2050. If future tree sampling is to cover this area, sampling effort has to increase two- to six-fold. Nearly 255 000 km or 7% of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon is easily accessible but does yet but remain under-collected. Our study highlights how progressing deforestation increases the risk of losing undocumented species of a hyper-diverse tree flora., This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES; Finance Code 001; PPG-DIBICT fellowship to BU and PNPD fellowship to JVS), the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq research project (#448688/2014-0) and post-doctoral fellowship to JS (#434391/2016-6)). RAC is currently funded by the Helsinki Inst. for Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and the Univ. of Helsinki. RJL and ACMM are supported by CNPq (#309879/2019-1 and #309980/2018-6). This study also benefited from financial support from ‘GBIF’s 2016 Young Researchers’ Award’ and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (grant agreement #843234; project: TAXON-TIME).

Protected areas (PAs) are the main spatial policy instrument for conserving biodiversity and have expanded dramatically in the last 30 years. This expansion has not been matched by a corresponding increase in financial investment, leaving many areas without sufficient resources for essential management actions. Moreover, in some parts of the world politicians and policy-makers are increasingly viewing PAs as an ‘opportunity costs’ that are holding back economic and social development. A major contributor to this perspective is that PAs are consistently undervalued, with the multiple benefits that they provide to society frequently obscured by the focus on their core missions to conserve biodiversity, protect rare species and sustain vital ecosystem processes and services. The recently proposed ‘Protected Area Asset Framework’ (PAAF) was designed to address these twin challenges (funding shortfalls and negative perceptions) by: i) revealing and highlighting the multiple values (tangible and intangible) that PAs generate for society, and; ii) leveraging the value-generating characteristics (assets) of PAs to attract inward investments. Here, we argue that, going forward, assets-based approaches will be essential for recapitalizing and safeguarding PAs, especially in developing countries. We conclude by proposing a protocol for implementing and monitoring the PAAF.

This study assessed the influence of the seasonal fluctuation of abiotic conditions (wet v. dry season) on the functional diversity (FD) of tropical coastal fish assemblages. Sampling was carried out in three regions of north-east Brazil with contrasting coastlines (influenced by reef, lagoon and estuary). In each region, fishes were sampled from three depth strata (10, 20 and 30 m) and FD was estimated using an index based on key phenotypic and behavioural characteristics. All three regions had higher FD in the wet season at shallower depths, indicating the coexistence of species with low functional redundancy in sites subject to seasonal flushing of fresh water. Deeper sites had lower FD than shallower sites, although this difference was less pronounced for region 3, which is strongly affected by its proximity to the Sao Francisco estuary. The results broadly support the hypothesis that alterations in abiotic conditions in the wet season allow estuarine-adapted fishes with a different suite of functional traits to invade shallow coastal regions.

Protected areas are often used by scientists to observe natural processes and organisms in habitats that have been minimally influenced by human actions. In contrast to many PA objectives, their effectiveness for promoting and supporting scientific research can be easily quantified in terms of quantity and quality of scientific products (primarily peer-reviewed articles) that are based on research within a PA’s boundaries. In addition to their contribution to global scientific knowledge, these research products may support local conservation efforts and contribute to park management, monitoring and governance. Here, we investigate the effectiveness of Neotropical PAs at supporting scientific research based on data from the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA). Specifically, we randomly selected 102 PAs from each designation from the Latin American and Caribbean region, to give a total of 612 PAs. A total of 444 PAS did not return any results and only 30 were associated with more than 10 publications. Research topics varied widely in the PAs in our dedicated sample, but we found an evident trend to research related to geosciences and paleontology. Conservation and biodiversity were secondary subjects. there seems to be a lack of influence of PAs type and presence of management plan on scientific productivity. On the other hand, we have seen that most areas do not present a management plan, the absence of which makes it more difficult to assess the effectiveness of these areas.

Culturomics is an emerging field of study that seeks to understand human culture through the quantitative analysis of changes in word frequencies in large bodies of digital texts. Culturomics research can help nature conservation respond to cultural trends, building and reinvigorating its societal relevance. We identify five areas where culturomics can be used to advance the practice and science of conservation: 1) demonstrating constituency and public interest in nature; 2) identifying conservation emblems; 3) providing new metrics and tools for near real-time environmental monitoring and to support decision-making; 4) assessing the cultural impact of conservation interventions, and; 5) framing conservation issues and promoting public understanding. More generally, culturomics opens up an exciting new area of research, equipping conservationists with novel tools to engage with and shape human interactions with the natural world.