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Urgent solutions to global climate change are needed. Ambitious tree-planting initiatives, many already underway, aim to sequester enormous quantities of carbon to partly compensate for anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which are a major cause of rising global temperatures. However, tree planting that is poorly planned and executed could actually increase CO2 emissions and have long-term, deleterious impacts on biodiversity, landscapes and livelihoods. Here, we highlight the main environmental risks of large-scale tree planting and propose 10 golden rules, based on some of the most recent ecological research, to implement forest ecosystem restoration that maximizes rates of both carbon sequestration and biodiversity recovery while improving livelihoods. These are as follows: (1) Protect existing forest first; (2) Work together (involving all stakeholders); (3) Aim to maximize biodiversity recovery to meet multiple goals; (4) Select appropriate areas for restoration; (5) Use natural regeneration wherever possible; (6) Select species to maximize biodiversity; (7) Use resilient plant material (with appropriate genetic variability and provenance); (8) Plan ahead for infrastructure, capacity and seed supply; (9) Learn by doing (using an adaptive management approach); and (10) Make it pay (ensuring the economic sustainability of the project). We focus on the design of long-term strategies to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises and support livelihood needs. We emphasize the role of local communities as sources of indigenous knowledge, and the benefits they could derive from successful reforestation that restores ecosystem functioning and delivers a diverse range of forest products and services. While there is no simple and universal recipe for forest restoration, it is crucial to build upon the currently growing public and private interest in this topic, to ensure interventions provide effective, long-term carbon sinks and maximize benefits for biodiversity and people.

Resurrecting extinct species is a fascinating and challenging idea for scientists and the general public. Whereas some theoretical progress has been made for animals, the resurrection of extinct plants (de-extinction sensu lato) is a relatively recently discussed topic. In this context, the term 'de-extinction' is used sensu lato to refer to the resurrection of 'extinct in the wild' species from seeds or tissues preserved in herbaria, as we acknowledge the current impossibility of knowing a priori whether a herbarium seed is alive and can germinate. In plants, this could be achieved by germinating or in vitro tissue-culturing old diaspores such as seeds or spores available in herbarium specimens. This paper reports the first list of plant de-extinction candidates based on the actual availability of seeds in herbarium specimens of globally extinct plants. We reviewed globally extinct seed plants using online resources and additional literature on national red lists, resulting in a list of 361 extinct taxa. We then proposed a method of prioritizing candidates for seed-plant de-extinction from diaspores found in herbarium specimens and complemented this with a phylogenetic approach to identify species that may maximize evolutionarily distinct features. Finally, combining data on seed storage behaviour and longevity, as well as specimen age in the novel 'best de-extinction candidate' score (DEXSCO), we identified 556 herbarium specimens belonging to 161 extinct species with available seeds. We expect that this list of de-extinction candidates and the novel approach to rank them will boost research efforts towards the first-ever plant de-extinction.

Societal Impact Statement The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 calls for “strong global partnerships and cooperation” to support the other SDGs. The collections‐based science community offers many examples of conservation of plant and fungal biodiversity, sharing, repatriation and aggregation of data, access to new technologies, supply of plant and fungal material, strengthening capacity of practitioners, and benefit sharing with the providers of biodiversity and genetic resources. Collaboration framed by workable multilateral treaties will increase our understanding of plant and fungal diversity, help halt biodiversity loss, and accelerate our sustainable use of plants and fungi and the exploration of their useful traits. Summary Collections‐based institutes are at the forefront of generating knowledge and understanding of plant and fungal biodiversity. Through the analysis of occurrence data, the use of modern technologies to better understand the evolutionary relationships between species and documentation of their useful properties, the work of collections‐based institutes provides good models for conservation; addressing species loss and improving sustainable use of plants and fungi. Nevertheless, the pressure on the planet's plant and fungal diversity is relentless. We argue that a massive increase in the accessibility of preserved and living collections of plants and fungi is required. An increased scale of responsible exploration to both conserve and unlock the useful properties of plants and fungi is needed to deliver solutions to the many global challenges facing humanity and the planet. This article explores the role of collaborations between collections‐based institutes and their partners in preventing biodiversity loss and delivering sustainable development. Drawing on examples from herbaria, agricultural and wild species genebanks, mycological collections, an international NGO, and the botanic garden community, we demonstrate how collaboration improves efficiency and impact. Collaborations can be peer to peer, institutional, governmental, national, or international, they may involve work with local communities and are frequently a combination of these. We suggest the five key benefits to collaboration and show that with trust, understanding, and mutual respect, powerful and sustainable partnerships develop. Such trust and respect are hard won, but once established, sustain a high level of commitment, enable development of shared long‐term visions of success, and attract diverse funding streams.

We reviewed the status of orthodox seed collections of globally threatened plants conserved in − 20 °C long-term storage at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK in terms of their geographic and bioclimatic representativeness, taxonomic and genetic diversity, quality and physiological status. The comprehensive dataset used spans over 45 years of worldwide conservation effort across various organisations. The data provides evidence-based results and future directions for the represented globally threatened flora that are of relevance to all plant conservation and seed banking organisations across the globe. The reviewed sample includes 523 collections and represents a wide geographic range, originating from 67 countries, from all nine bio-geographic continents. The majority of collections originated from temperate climates and from habitats with no dry seasons but experiencing warm summer periods. The taxonomic composition of the collections highlighted a substantial diversity, with 303 taxa (four extinct in the wild; 56 critically endangered; 105 endangered; and 138 vulnerable) represented by 297 species, 199 genera and 74 families. Almost four fifths of the collections were harvested from wild habitats. Whilst wild-origin collections can harbour useful genes not available in the cultivated gene pool, for threatened plants both collections and taxa are likely to suffer from low genetic diversity as a low number of individual plants, populations and/or potentially viable or usable seeds were sampled at the original harvest. Large numbers of empty and infested seeds in the original harvest have significantly affected the quality of collections in terms of availability of potentially viable or usable seeds in collections. As a result, just over one third of taxa and one fifth of collections consisted of ≥ 5000 potentially viable or usable seeds. Viable seeds exhibited a sound physiological status in terms of germinability and viability at the initial round of germination tests after storage, but on average, relative germination and viability achieved were below 85%. A decline in germinability during their variable time of storage was evident for 16% of the 78 collections analysed for longevity. According to a set of criteria, suitable germination protocols for propagation of plants from seeds were identified for 165 taxa. Given the apparent differences between wild species, especially those that are rare and threatened, and domesticated crops, the quality and physiological status of reviewed collections are reasonably sound. The characteristics we observed for collections, the challenges we identified for conserving them and the germination protocols we suggested for propagation of plants from seeds have the scope to be noted, integrated and used globally across various conservation activities and policies.

There is a pressing need to conserve plant diversity to prevent extinctions and to enable sustainable use of plant material by current and future generations. Here, we review the contribution that living collections and seed banks based in botanic gardens around the world make to wild plant conservation and to tackling global challenges. We focus in particular on the work of Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with its associated global Partnership. The advantages and limitations of conservation of plant diversity as both living material and seed collections are reviewed, and the need for additional research and conservation measures, such as cryopreservation, to enable the long-term conservation of ‘exceptional species’ is discussed. We highlight the importance of networks and sharing access to data and plant material. The skill sets found within botanic gardens and seed banks complement each other and enable the development of integrated conservation (linking in situ and ex situ efforts). Using a number of case studies we demonstrate how botanic gardens and seed banks support integrated conservation and research for agriculture and food security, restoration and reforestation, as well as supporting local livelihoods.

We can increase the stability of our food systems against environmental variability and climate change by following the footsteps of our ancestors and domesticating edible wild plants. Reinforced by recent advances in comparative genomics and gene editing technologies, neodomestication opens possibilities for a rapid generation of new crops. By starting the candidate selection pipeline with climatic parameters, we orient neodomestication efforts to increase food security against climate change. We highlight the fact that the edible species conservation and characterization will be key in this process. Utilization of genetic resources, entrusted to conservationists and researchers by local communities, has to be conducted with highest ethical standards and benefit-sharing in mind.

In high latitude and alpine environments many plants show an increase in viviparous reproduction in response to harsh environmental conditions. Low or no seed set means that ex situ conservation in the form of seed banking is not a conservation option for such species. We investigated the potential for bulbils to be stored ex situ in seed banks using traditional storage methods (drying and freezing at −20 °C) and cryopreservation (drying and freezing at −180 °C) as a means of ensuring the long-term conservation of such species. In addition, the impact of drying bulbils to 15% eRH or maintaining initial humidity (60% eRH) was investigated. The study was based on bulbils of the drooping or nodding saxifrage (Saxifraga cernua) collected in Bellalui (commune d’Icogne, Switzerland) at an altitude of 2200 m.a.s.l. Our findings suggest that conservation under traditional seed banking methods or by cryopreservation is a viable option for species producing small (

There is a growing demand for species-based conservation to be strategic and deliver the greatest possible benefits for the money and resources invested. There is no global consensus on what constitutes an important species, but many biodiversity conservation initiatives prioritise the most rare, unique, vulnerable and/or useful as deserving attention. Currently, a wide range of prioritisation methods using varied criteria are available, but it can be difficult for conservation managers to choose the appropriate protocol best suited to their conservation purposes, and to combine the protocols that are available. The prioritisation process proposed here is integrative, adaptable, straightforward and transparent, and open to refinement by interested parties. Based on the availability of taxon level data, from an initial list of 337,137 accepted scientific names, we produced a conservation priority list for 25,025 vascular plant taxa (pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) that accounts for their geographic rarity or endemism, taxonomic rarity or uniqueness, vulnerability to extinction and natural capital value by means of a multicriteria decision making approach. This list represents about 4.47% of pteridophyte, 36.12% of gymnosperm and 7.41% of angiosperm global diversity. The list consisted of a high percentage of taxa from South America (30%), Africa (23%) and North America (22%) followed by Asia-Temperate and Europe (each 15%) and Asia-Tropical (14%) with a low percentage from Australasia (6%), the Pacific (5%) and Antarctic (~2%). The occurrence of some taxa was reported from more than one geographic continent. We found 573 taxa (2%) had a high priority status, 21,707 taxa (87%) had a medium priority status and 2745 taxa (11%) had a low priority status for conservation. Results were validated against existing prioritisation schemes with a global or continental focus. The resulting list of plants with priority status along with their geographical distribution patterns should complement, not replace, existing conservation plans. Our method can be used as a rapid and preliminary assessment technique in prioritising vascular plants and has the scope to be used globally across various conservation activities.

QUESTION: The existence of monodominant forest in highly diverse tropical rainforest has been the subject of much debate. One hypothesis suggests that the combination of advantageous traits and long periods of low disturbance is key for this forest's persistence. Here we ask whether there is evidence for the long‐term presence of monodominant Gilbertiodendron forest in the absence of fire and climate change. LOCATION: Republic of Congo. METHODS: We extracted fossil pollen and macro‐charcoal from a sediment sequence collected in present‐day monodominant Gilbertiodendron forest stand that spans the last 2,700 years. Climatic changes were inferred using other published palaeoecological records from Central Africa. We also looked at Gilbertiodendron dewevrei's present‐day ecological tolerances. RESULTS: Gilbertiodendron pollen was found in every sample covering the last 2,700 years in similar percentages to present‐day soil surface samples. In addition, no statistically significant change in pollen composition was found during this time despite vegetation changes being documented in nearby mixed and swamp forest cores over the same time period. No evidence of fire was found for a period of 2,400 years. Only minimal burning occurred over the last 300 years in this monodominant stand. The analysis of ecological tolerances shows G. dewevrei has a broad niche for precipitation (1,300–2,460 mm). CONCLUSIONS: Our pollen record is the first to describe the long‐term ecological history of an African monodominant forest. Our results show this monodominant stand existed over the past 2,700 years mostly in the absence of fire, providing support for the low disturbance hypothesis as an explanation for monodominance persistence. However, we show that the monodominant forest was continuous, at this site, despite climatic fluctuations in the immediate region. This combined with the broad tolerance of water requirements of the species suggests a potential resilience to future climate variability. However, additional pollen records from a wider area are needed to confirm this.

Studying vegetation change across biome boundaries provides insight into vegetation resilience. In this study, shifts in grassland composition are reconstructed from sediments in three wetland sites across altitudinal gradient from 2128 to 897 m.a.s.l., representing a gradient from the grassland biome to the grassland/savanna boundary in the Mpumalanga region, north-eastern South Africa. Phytolith records from Verloren Valei (dated from 10,600 BP), Graskop (dated from 6500 BP) and Versailles (dated from 4500 BP) are used to reconstruct shifts in grassland composition and vegetation change. Phytolith morphotypes are used to construct environmental indices that are correlated with pollen main ecological groups, charcoal and δ13C and C/N ratio. The results are compared to available regional paleoclimate data. Both Verloren Valei and Graskop have been dominated by grassland, but Versailles show a stronger influence of bushveld/savanna pollen. Phytolith data suggest that grassland composition was stable at Versailles and Graskop, but grassland at Verloren Valei has changed significantly over time. The early Holocene was dominated by a Pooideae/Chloridoideae C3 and C4 grassland, probably a remnant of the earlier Pleistocene cool-dry conditions. After 8500 BP grassland composition changed gradually to a Chloridoideae and Panicoidea dominated C4 grassland BP, and finally a moist Cyperaceae and Panicoidea dominated C3/C4 grassland after 4000 BP. This shift possibly occurs as a delayed response to the warmer and wetter conditions of the mid Holocene optimum at this high altitude site. The results suggest that the grassland/savanna boundary has remained stable over time, indicating considerable resilience of grasslands to climate change. This resilience may be related to the turnover of species within the grassland biome, as indicated by shifts between 8500 and 4000 BP at Verloren Valei.

Effective conservation of biodiversity should build on a strong basis of taxonomic and spatial distribution knowledge. The Carpathian Mountains, an iconic centre of biodiversity in temperate Europe, harbour a remarkable number of endemic vascular plants. Current knowledge on their taxonomic status, spatial distribution and genetic diversity is, however, incomplete. Research and conservation efforts have mostly been country specific, resulting in contrasting chorological knowledge and taxonomic acceptance between neighbouring countries, and differing conservation policies. Urgent synchronisation of cross-border conservation measures is required. Here, we present an overview of a new international project that will address these issues, outlining the current state of knowledge and theoretical background concerning Carpathian subendemics and endemics in order to improve their conservation status. The project involves partners from eight countries, working collaboratively in conservation, research and sharing of standardised data for the Carpathian flora. Long-term seed conservation of 500 species, with a focus on endemics, regionally endangered species and range-margin populations from the Carpathians, will be used as an effective measure for the conservation of Carpathian endemics and endangered species. Research focused on the biosystematics of selected taxa will increase our knowledge of the evolutionary processes involved in the origin of the Carpathian flora. Finally, the establishment of the Carpathian Research Network (CRN) provides an official framework for pooling, sharing and standardising scientific data on Carpathian endemics from different countries. The CRN is developing an online database of the distribution of selected species (The Carpathian Endemics Distribution Database, CEDD) including their intrinsic and extrinsic traits and current opinion on their taxonomic status. This will be used to produce a monograph on the Carpathians’ endemic flora.

The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) Partnership, developed and managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew), conserves propagules primarily from orthodox seed-bearing wild vascular plants. It is the largest ex situ conservation programme in the world, currently involving 96 countries and territories. Where possible, seeds are collected and conserved in the country of origin with duplicates being sent to RBG Kew’s MSB for storage. In this paper we assess the conservation value of the germplasm stored at the MSB using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The MSB holdings represent a high quality, rich biological resource. Substantial and unique taxonomic diversity exists amongst the collections, representing 365 families, 5813 genera, 36,975 species and 39,669 taxa conserved. The collections cover a wide geographic range, originating from 189 countries and territories, representing all nine bio-geographic regions and all 35 biodiversity hotspots. The collections possess significant natural capital and population value: 32% of taxa, representing 49% of collections, have at least one identified use to humans; and 74% of taxa, representing 78% of collections, are either endemic, endangered (nationally or globally) and/or have an economic, ecological, social, cultural or scientific value. While 10% of taxa, representing > 8% of collections, are either extinct, rare or vulnerable to extinction at the global and/or national level, 20% of taxa, representing 13% collections, are endemic at the country or territory scale. Over the 17-year period since 2000 at least 11,182 seed samples, representing 12% of taxa and 8% of collections, have been distributed globally for conservation, research, education and display. This analysis highlighted collection gaps in MSB holdings in relation to their geographic representativeness, the taxonomic diversity of large families and genera of angiosperms, and coverage of threatened taxa. Further analysis across the entire MSB Partnership is required to underpin future collection activities and maximize the usefulness of collections.

Safeguarding plants as seeds in ex situ collections is a cost effective element in an integrated plant conservation approach. The European Alps are a regional centre of plant diversity. Six institutions have established a regional network covering the European Alps which will conserve at least 500 priority plant species and which will improve the conservation status of plant species in grassland communities in the subalpine, alpine and nival altitudinal belts. Targeted research will expand the knowledge of the ecology of target species. Public engagement activities will raise the awareness for the importance of specific conservation actions in the European Alps.

The contribution of the European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET, 2004-2009) and the ENSCONET Consortium (since 2010) towards meeting the 2020 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) target 8 was assessed in 2017. While the outcome was positive (62.7% of European threatened species already conserved ex situ in seed banks), the analysis showed that it was essential to provide guidance on which European native threatened species should be collected as a priority if the target was to be reached by 2020. In this paper we present a priority-setting method and its result, designed to guide collecting strategies across Europe to meet the 2020 GSPC target 8. The result of our study is a country-based checklist of European threatened taxa to be collected and stored ex situ across the seed banks of the ENSCONET Consortium by 2020. After discussing the results of the applied method, the ENSCONET Consortium Steering Committee has identified some key action points to support the implementation of such a collecting strategy across Europe in order to meet the 2020 GSPC target 8 for Europe.

The Middle Kalahari is characterised by significant regional scale geomorphic activity and landscape change during the late Quaternary period. Very little however, is known about vegetation dynamics over this period due in part to the absence of well-preserved organic records. Here we test the application of phytolith analyses to sandy shoreline deposits of megalake Makgadikgadi, one of the sumps of the Okavango delta, routinely sampled and dated as part of a separate systematic geomorphological analysis. We confirm the presence of both an abundant and diverse assemblage of diagnostic phytoliths within these sand-dominated samples. The phytolith record reveals significant differences in the savanna vegetation through time with the composition of shoreline vegetation during different lake high-stand events was found to vary. Lake high stands are characterised by a coherently grassland dominated signal as well as a general trend towards more mesic and C 3 prominent taxa during lake events after ∼40 ka. We suggest that phytolith analyses, whilst far from a perfect proxy, provide the potential to offer an important insight into long-term changes in Kalahari savanna, critical for understanding the response of regional vegetation to climatic and hydrological change both in the past and under future climate change scenarios.

Sand ramps have been identified in a side-valley on the southern side of the Little Caledon River in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Free State, South Africa. The site lies in the foothills of the northern Drakensberg (Maluti) Mountains, and this study aims to explore the potential of such deposits to add to the sparse palaeoenvironmental record of the region. Up to 11 m of aeolian sand, banked against north-facing slopes, is exposed by fluvial incision through the deposits, revealing interbedded fluvial lenses and palaeosols. The region is currently devoid of significant aeolian sediment transport or deposition, and supports well-developed grassland vegetation; these deposits testify to former conditions different from those of today, which would have been characterised by depleted vegetation and a different wind and/or climatic regime. Biogenic proxies are absent from the deposits, but Optically-Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the sediments reveals that they accumulated at intervals throughout much of the last glacial event, from around 45 to 16 ka. These dates are consistent with those of vegetation changes from palaeoecological sites elsewhere in the region, and also with dated evidence for niche glaciation further south in the high Drakensberg. Evidence from this study supports significant landscape changes in the Drakensberg during the last glacial, with the foothills in the region of Golden Gate Highlands National Park subject to aeolian processes under a periglacial environment.

Grassland and savanna are globally important ecosystems, both ecologically and economically. These grass-dominated systems are at risk from current and future climate change and increasing anthropogenic impact. Key questions for understanding the resilience and variability of grass-dominated ecosystems under current and future environmental conditions include: How have these systems responded to climate change and disturbance in the past? What are the principal driving agents responsible for their present-day composition and distribution? Do the palaeoecological data provide evidence for feedbacks between climate, fire and anthropogenic activities? In this study, the temporal dynamics of grassland, savanna and forest in the summer rainfall region of northern South Africa were reconstructed for the last ~6500 years. Palaeoecological techniques used include analyses of fossil pollen, charcoal and stable isotopes. Data from two sites located at the present-day grassland-savanna ecotone in Mpumalanga province of South Africa are reported. Results indicate that a mosaic of grassland, savanna and Podocarpus forest occupied the landscape throughout the late Holocene, with grassland and forest dominating higher altitudes, and savanna and forest lower altitudes. Podocarpus forest retreated and grass-dominated vegetation expanded its range around 1800 cal. yr BP at the lower altitude site (Lowveld) and 600 cal. yr BP at the higher altitude site (Highveld), representing a change from a stable state forest savanna/grassland mosaic to an increasingly grass-dominated system. Climatic stress, changes in fire regime and anthropogenic impact led to the vegetation transitions recorded, and resulted in changes in water and nutrient cycles. In an increasingly warm world, with fluctuating water availability and heightened anthropogenic use of natural resources, the future of grass-dominated ecosystems appears far from stable.

Four major forest types are currently present in the central African rainforest; mixed forest, Marantaceae forest, monodominant Gilbertiodendron forest and swamp forest. These forest types span vast areas and demonstrate highly significant differences in diversity and productivity; yet factors responsible for their formation are poorly understood. One hypothesis is that they are as a consequence of different intensities of past human activity, in particular burning. Here we present results from fossil charcoal contained in 12 sediment cores spanning the last 2500 yr and covering a spatial area of more than 900 km2. These records demonstrate that burning started in the last 1100 yr with areas currently covered by Marantaceae forest undergoing more frequent burning events than the other forest types. In comparison monodominant Gilbertiodendron forest appear to have undergone large burning events only in the past 200 yr. These records also demonstrate a lack of spatial relationship between fire events at the different sites (discontinuous and asynchronous) suggesting that these fires resulted from localised burning events probably caused by human ignitions. Whilst the large spatial scale of past human activities in the South American rainforest is now widely acknowledged, these results indicate, for the first time, the significant impact that early human populations had on the community composition of central African rainforest.

1. Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science, used to identify research foci which are relevant to the needs of the scientific community and which also have high policy and conservation relevance. 2. To date there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct ecological and environmental systems far into the past. 3. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. We used a set of criteria that were designed to identify realistic and achievable research goals, and selected questions from a pool submitted by the international palaeoecology research community and relevant policy practitioners. Questions are not ranked by priority but are grouped thematically, and are generally focussed on the late Cenozoic onwards (past c. 65 Ma). 4. The major difference in our methodology compared to other, similar exercises was the integration of online participation both before and during the workshop, representing an important development for increasing engagement and visibility. 5. The questions selected are structured around six themes: human-environment interactions in the Anthropocene; biodiversity, conservation, and novel ecosystems; biodiversity over long timescales; ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling; comparing, combining and synthesising information from multiple records; and methodological approaches to palaeoecology. 6. Future opportunities in palaeoecology are related to improved incorporation of uncertainty into reconstructions, an enhanced understanding of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and processes, and the continued application of long-term data for better-informed landscape management. 7. SYNTHESIS: The 50 priority questions selected in this exercise present palaeoecological science as a vibrant and thriving discipline, and highlight its vast potential for resolving both pure (e.g. theoretical) and applied (e.g. environmental) research questions directly related to ecological science and global change.

Traditionally, assessment has been seen as something done by academics after the teaching and learning takes place. In this paper we argue that it is timely to rethink our approach to assessment, and who is implicated in the acts of judgement which lie at the heart of both formative and summative assessment. Assessment is more likely to lead to valued learning if some of the judgement employed belongs to students, and not just the academic-teachers (Boud, 1990; Nicol and McFarlane-Dick, 2006). Through two case studies, we illustrate how the development of students' skills in assessment and especially self-assessment can become more prominent in our curriculum and learning objectives. Our experiences suggest not only that student learning can be enhanced in this fashion, but that there are efficiency gains for teaching academics too: outcomes that become especially important as we seek ways to overcome the challenging expectations experienced by modern-day academia. Tradicionalmente el profesorado se ha encargado de realizar la evaluación una vez que se ha producido la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. En este artículo hacemos algunas consideraciones que creemos oportuno presentar acerca de nuestro enfoque sobre la evaluación y sobre quiénes están implicados en los momentos de valoración que se consideran punto clave de la evaluación formativa y sumativa. Es más probable que la evaluación produzca un aprendizaje de más valor si algunos de los juicios empleados provienen de los estudiantes y no de los profesores (Boud, 1990; Nicol and McFarlane-Dick, 2006). En base a dos estudios mostramos cómo el desarrollo de las habilidades de los estudiantes en la evaluación y, concretamente, en la autoevaluación puede tomar más protagonismo en el currículum y en los objetivos de aprendizaje. Nuestra experiencia sugiere que no sólo se puede mejorar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes de esta manera, sino que los profesores también pueden ganar en eficacia. Se trata de resultados que cobran relevancia conforme intentamos encontrar formas de superar las expectativas que suponen un reto y que experimentan los académicos hoy en día.

Recent discussion on invasive species has invigorated the debate on strategies to manage these species. Lantana camara L., a shrub native to the American tropics, has become one of the worst weeds in recorded history. In Australia, India and South Africa, Lantana has become very widespread occupying millions of hectares of land. Here, we examine historical records to reconstruct invasion and management of Lantana over two centuries and ask: Can we fight the spread of invasive species or do we need to develop strategies for their adaptive management? We carried out extensive research of historical records constituting over 75% of records on invasion and management of this species in the three countries. The records indicate that governments in Australia, India and South Africa have taken aggressive measures to eradicate Lantana over the last two centuries, but these efforts have been largely unsuccessful. We found that despite control measures, the invasion trajectory of Lantana has continued upwards and that post-war land-use change might have been a possible trigger for this spread. A large majority of studies on invasive species address timescales of less than one year; and even fewer address timescales of >10 years. An understanding of species invasions over long time-scales is of paramount importance. While archival records may give only a partial picture of the spread and management of invasive species, in the absence of any other long-term dataset on the ecology of Lantana, our study provides an important insight into its invasion, spread and management over two centuries and across three continents. While the established paradigm is to expend available resources on attempting to eradicate invasive species, our findings suggest that in the future, conservationists will need to develop strategies for their adaptive management rather than fighting a losing battle. publishedVersion

UV-B radiation currently represents c. 1.5% of incoming solar radiation. However, significant changes are known to have occurred in the amount of incoming radiation both on recent and on geological timescales. Until now it has not been possible to reconstruct a detailed measure of UV-B radiation beyond c. 150yr ago. • Here, we studied the suitability of fossil Pinus spp. pollen to record variations in UV-B flux through time. In view of the large size of the grain and its long fossil history, we hypothesized that this grain could provide a good proxy for recording past variations in UV-B flux. • Two key objectives were addressed: to determine whether there was, similar to other studied species, a clear relationship between UV-B-absorbing compounds in the sporopollenin of extant pollen and the magnitude of UV-B radiation to which it had been exposed; and to determine whether these compounds could be extracted from a small enough sample size of fossil pollen to make reconstruction of a continuous record through time a realistic prospect. • Preliminary results indicate the excellent potential of this species for providing a quantitative record of UV-B through time. Using this technique, we present the first record of UV-B flux during the last 9500yr from a site near Bergen, Norway. © 2011 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2011 New Phytologist Trust.