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This data management report explains theprocess for creating the figure3.17, as part ofChapter 3. Status of and trends in the use of wild species and its implications for wild species, the environment and people, in thethe thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.&nbsp

This data management report explains theprocess for creating figure 3.6, as part ofChapter 3. Status of and trends in the use of wild species and its implications for wild species, the environment and people, in thethe thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.&nbsp

This data management report explains theprocess for creating the figure3.58, as part ofChapter 3. Status of and trends in the use of wild species and its implications for wild species, the environment and people, in thethe thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.&nbsp

This data management report explains theprocess for creating the figure3.22, as part ofChapter 3. Status of and trends in the use of wild species and its implications for wild species, the environment and people, in thethe thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.&nbsp

Trees play a key role in the structure and function of many ecosystems worldwide. In the Mediterranean Basin, forests cover approximately 22% of the total land area hosting a large number of endemics (46 species). Despite its particularities and vulnerability, the biodiversity of Mediterranean trees is not well known at the taxonomic, spatial, functional, and genetic levels required for conservation applications. The WOODIV database fills this gap by providing reliable occurrences, four functional traits (plant height, seed mass, wood density, and specific leaf area), and sequences from three DNA-regions (rbcL, matK, and trnH-psbA), together with modelled occurrences and a phylogeny for all 210 Euro-Mediterranean tree species. We compiled, homogenized, and verified occurrence data from sparse datasets and collated them on an INSPIRE-compliant 10 × 10 km grid. We also gathered functional trait and genetic data, filling existing gaps where possible. The WOODIV database can benefit macroecological studies in the fields of conservation, biogeography, and community ecology.

International audience; Reef fishes are closely connected to many human populations, yet their contributions to society are mostly considered through their economic and ecological values. Cultural and intrinsic values of reef fishes to the public can be critical drivers of conservation investment and success, but remain challenging to quantify. Aesthetic value represents one of the most immediate and direct means by which human societies engage with biodiversity, and can be evaluated from species to ecosystems. Here, we provide the aesthetic value of 2,417 ray-finned reef fish species by combining intensive evaluation of photographs of fishes by humans with predicted values from machine learning. We identified important biases in species’ aesthetic value relating to evolutionary history, ecological traits, and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat status. The most beautiful fishes are tightly packed into small parts of both the phylogenetic tree and the ecological trait space. In contrast, the less attractive fishes are the most ecologically and evolutionary distinct species and those recognized as threatened. Our study highlights likely important mismatches between potential public support for conservation and the species most in need of this support. It also provides a pathway for scaling-up our understanding of what are both an important nonmaterial facet of biodiversity and a key component of nature’s contribution to people, which could help better anticipate consequences of species loss and assist in developing appropriate communication strategies.

Trait- based ecology aims to understand the processes that generate the overarching diversity of organismal traits and their influence on ecosystem functioning. Achieving this goal requires simplifying this complexity in synthetic axes defining a trait space and to cluster species based on their traits while identifying those with unique combinations of traits. However, so far, we know little about the dimensionality, the robustness to trait omission and the structure of these trait spaces. Here, we propose a unified framework and a synthesis across 30 trait datasets representing a broad variety of taxa, ecosystems and spatial scales to show that a common trade- off between trait space quality and operationality appears between three and six dimensions. The robustness to trait omission is generally low but highly variable among datasets. We also highlight invariant scaling relationships, whatever organismal complexity, between the number of clusters, the number of species in the dominant cluster and the number of unique species with total species richness. When species richness increases, the number of unique species saturates, whereas species tend to disproportionately pack in the richest cluster. Based on these results, we propose some rules of thumb to build species trait spaces and estimate subsequent functional diversity indices.

Identifying species that are both geographically restricted and functionally distinct, i.e. supporting rare traits and functions, is of prime importance given their risk of extinction and their potential contribution to ecosystem functioning. We use global species distributions and functional traits for birds and mammals to identify the ecologically rare species, understand their characteristics, and identify hotspots. We find that ecologically rare species are disproportionately represented in IUCN threatened categories, insufficiently covered by protected areas, and for some of them sensitive to current and future threats. While they are more abundant overall in countries with a low human development index, some countries with high human development index are also hotspots of ecological rarity, suggesting transboundary responsibility for their conservation. Altogether, these results state that more conservation emphasis should be given to ecological rarity given future environmental conditions and the need to sustain multiple ecosystem processes in the long-term., There are many available ways to rank species for conservation prioritization. Here the authors identify species of mammals and birds that are both spatially restricted and functionally distinct, finding that such species are currently insufficiently protected and disproportionately sensitive to current and future threats.

AimsSpecies distributions result from both biotic and abiotic interactions across large spatial scales. The interplay of these interactions as climate changes quickly has been understudied, particularly in herbivorous insects. Here, we investigate the relative impacts these influences on the putative northern range expansion of the giant swallowtail butterfly in North America.LocationNorth America.Time period1959-2018.Major taxa studiedEastern Giant swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae); common hop tree, Ptelea trifoliata; common prickly ash, Zanthoxylum americanum; southern prickly ash, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (Saphidales: Rutaceae).MethodsWe used data from museum collections and citizen science repositories to generate species distribution models. Distribution models were built for each species over two time periods (T1 = 1959-1999; T2 = 2000-2018).ResultsModels for P. cresphontes and associated host plants had high predictive accuracy on spatially-explicit test data (AUC 0.810-0.996). Occurrence data align with model outputs, providing strong evidence for a northward range expansion in the last 19 years (T2) by P. cresphontes. Host plants have shifted in more complex ways, and result in a change in suitable habitat for P. cresphontes in its historic range. P. cresphontes has a northern range which now closely aligns with its most northern host plant - continued expansion northward is unlikely, and historic northern range limits were likely determined by abiotic, not biotic, factors.Main conclusionsBiotic and abiotic factors have driven the rapid northern range expansion in the giant swallowtail butterfly across North America in the last 20 years. A number of bioclimatic variables are correlated with this expansion, notably an increase in mean annual temperature and minimum winter temperature. We predict a slowing of northward range expansion in the next 20-50 years as butterflies are now limited by the range of host plants, rather than abiotic factors.

Les espèces en situation précaire comptent parmi les plus sensibles aux changements climatiques. Nous avons documenté les effets potentiels de ceux-ci sur les 409 plantes vasculaires en situation précaire au Québec. Nous avons quantifié les modifications potentielles des aires de répartition de 131 d’entre elles avec des modèles de niche bioclimatique et évalué la vulnérabilité des 409 plantes avec un indice de vulnérabilité aux changements climatiques. Nos résultats suggèrent que les conditions climatiques pourraient devenir favorables à plusieurs plantes en situation précaire au Québec. La province pourrait devenir un refuge climatique pour celles pour lesquelles les conditions climatiques deviendraient défavorables aux États-Unis. Toutefois, notre étude révèle que la vitesse de déplacement des niches bioclimatiques des plantes risque de dépasser largement leur capacité de déplacement. Ainsi, il pourrait être impossible pour celles-ci d’étendre naturellement leur répartition dans la province. De plus, 57,7 % des espèces étudiées sont considérées comme vulnérables aux changements climatiques. Les plus vulnérables sont celles ayant une répartition périphérique sud et celles associées aux habitats arctiques-alpins, à l’estuaire et au golfe du Saint-Laurent. Des recommandations sont formulées afin d’intégrer des stratégies d’adaptation aux changements climatiques à la gestion des plantes vasculaires en situation précaire et de leurs habitats au Québec., Species at risk are among the most sensitive to climate change. The present study investigated the potential impacts of climate change on the 409 vascular plant species at risk found in Québec (Canada). A vulnerability index was used to evaluate their susceptibility to climate change, and ecological niche models were used to quantify potential changes in the distribution of 131 of them. Results suggest that climatic conditions in Québec could become suitable for many of the plant species at risk, and that the province could serve as a climate refuge for those for which conditions become unsuitable in the United States of America. However, the study revealed that the ecological niche of plant species may move faster than their capacity for dispersal. Thus it may be impossible for many plants to naturally expand their distribution range within the province. In total, 57.7% of the studied species were found to be susceptible to climate change, with the most vulnerable being those with a southern peripheral distribution, and those associated with arctic-alpine habitats or with the St. Lawrence gulf and estuary. Recommendations are made to incorporate climate change mitigation strategies into the management of plant species at risk and their habitats.

SUMMARYCamera traps now represent a reliable, efficient and cost-effective technique to monitor wildlife and collect biological data in the field. However, efficiently extracting information from the massive amount of images generated is often extremely time-consuming and may now represent the most rate-limiting step in camera trap studies.To help overcome this challenge, we developed FoxMask, a new tool performing the automatic detection of animal presence in short sequences of camera trap images. FoxMask uses background estimation and foreground segmentation algorithms to detect the presence of moving objects (most likely, animals) on images.We analyzed a sample dataset from camera traps used to monitor activity on arctic fox Vulpes lagopus dens to test the parameter settings and the performance of the algorithm. The shape and color of arctic foxes, their background at snowmelt and during the summer growing season were highly variable, thus offering challenging testing conditions. We compared the automated animal detection performed by FoxMask to a manual review of the image series.The performance analysis indicated that the proportion of images correctly classified by FoxMask as containing an animal or not was very high (> 90%). FoxMask is thus highly efficient at reducing the workload by eliminating most false triggers (images without an animal). We provide parameter recommendations to facilitate usage and we present the cases where the algorithm performs less efficiently to stimulate further development.FoxMask is an easy-to-use tool freely available to ecologists performing camera trap data extraction. By minimizing analytical time, computer-assisted image analysis will allow collection of increased sample sizes and testing of new biological questions.

Indirect impacts of climate change, mediated by new species interactions (including pathogens or parasites) will likely be key drivers of biodiversity reorganization. In addition, direct effects of extreme weather events remain understudied. Simultaneous investigation of the significance of ectoparasites on host populations and extreme weather events is lacking, especially in the Arctic. Here we document the consequences of recent black fly outbreaks and extreme precipitation events on the reproductive output of an arctic top predator, the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus tundrius) nesting at the northern range limit of ornithophilic black flies in Nunavut, Canada. Overall, black fly outbreaks and heavy rain reduced annual nestling survival by up to 30% and 50% respectively. High mortality caused by ectoparasites followed record-breaking spring snow precipitation, which likely increased stream discharge and nutrient runoff, two key parameters involved in growth and survival of black fly larvae. Using the RCP4.5 intermediate climate scenario run under the Canadian Global Climate Model, we anticipate a northward expansion of black fly distribution in Arctic regions. Our case study demonstrates that, in the context of climate change, extreme weather events can have substantial direct and indirect effects on reproductive output of an arctic top-predator population.

The Northern Biodiversity Paradox predicts that, despite its globally negative effects on biodiversity, climate change will increase biodiversity in northern regions where many species are limited by low temperatures. We assessed the potential impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a northern network of 1,749 protected areas spread over >600,000 km2 in Quebec, Canada. Using ecological niche modeling, we calculated potential changes in the probability of occurrence of 529 species to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on (1) species gain, loss, turnover, and richness in protected areas, (2) representativity of protected areas, and (3) extent of species ranges located in protected areas. We predict a major species turnover over time, with 49% of total protected land area potentially experiencing a species turnover >80%. We also predict increases in regional species richness, representativity of protected areas, and species protection provided by protected areas. Although we did not model the likelihood of species colonising habitats that become suitable as a result of climate change, northern protected areas should ultimately become important refuges for species tracking climate northward. This is the first study to examine in such details the potential effects of climate change on a northern protected area network.

Predicting species distributions requires substantial numbers of georeferenced occurrences and access to remotely sensed climate and land cover data. Reliable estimates of the distribution of most species are unavailable, either because digitized georeferenced distributional data are rare or not digitized. The emergence of online biodiversity information databases and citizen science platforms dramatically improves the amount of information available to establish current and historical distribution of lesser-documented species. We demonstrate how the combination of museum and online citizen science databases can be used to build reliable distribution maps for poorly documented species. To do so, we investigated the distribution and the potential range expansions of two north-eastern North American spider species (Arachnida: Araneae), the Northern black widow (Latrodectus variolus) and the Black purse-web spider (Sphodros niger). Our results provide the first predictions of distribution for these two species. We also found that the Northern black widow has expanded north of its previously known range providing valuable information for public health education. For the Black purse-web spider, we identify potential habitats outside of its currently known range, thus providing a better understanding of the ecology of this poorly-documented species. We demonstrate that increasingly available online biodiversity databases are rapidly expanding biogeography research for conservation, ecology, and in specific cases, epidemiology, of lesser known taxa.

The Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and is intensively studied because it is adapted to extreme environments and influences the ecology of many other species. We introduce here a collection of 12 articles on Arctic fox biology and management. After summarizing the main biological features of the species, we explore the peer-reviewed literature dealing with the Arctic fox through a bibliometric network analysis which identifies clusters of papers sharing a high similarity of cited literature. We visualize with a word cloud analysis 10 clusters comprising 97% of 755 articles published by 1742 authors from 1996–2015. Behavioural and ecological questions, including conservation science, dominate this recent literature. The collection of papers published in the supplement offers an excellent representation of current research dealing with Arctic fox biology and management.

Improving predictions of the location of suitable environmental conditions for species using species distribution models (SDM) is at the core of biodiversity/climate change research, but modelling species abundance, rather than distribution, is proving particularly challenging. Using data from more than 200,000 forest plots in eastern North America and Random Forest, we evaluated the performance of species abundance models (SAM) in predicting the relative abundance (measured as importance value) of each of 105 tree species in relation to climate, edaphic, and topographic variables. We calculated the coefficient of determination R SAM 2 between observed and predicted abundances as a measure of model performance for each species. We also performed multiple linear regressions to explain variation of R SAM 2 among species using five biogeographical or spatial attributes of species as explanatory variables. Predictive performances of SAM R SAM 2 were generally low, ranging from 0.016 to 0.815 (mean = 0.258). Black spruce (Picea mariana) had the best predictive model and Florida maple (Acer barbatum) and American chestnut (Castanea dentata) the worst. Thirty-seven of the 41 best performing species R SAM 2 ⩾ 0.3 had climate ranked as the best and/or second best predictor. Species with the best performance tended to be those that could reach dominance, showed aggregated distribution of abundance, and/or had high latitudinal limits in the study area. Climate change is likely to affect patterns of dominance in communities by altering patterns of co-occurrences, but for many species that constitute the bulk of tree diversity, predictions based solely on the current distribution of relative abundances may not be reliable enough to inform conservation or management decisions. Predicting tree abundance in a warming climate using SAM remains a challenge, but it is only by reporting performances across a range of climate and statistical models, regions and species, as well as by highlighting model limitations and strengths, that we will improve the reliability of predictions and in turn better inform forest conservation and management.

Arctic arthropods are essential prey for many vertebrates, including birds, but arthropod populations and phenology are susceptible to climate change. The objective of this research was to model the relationship between seasonal changes in arthropod abundance and weather variables using data from a collaborative pan-Canadian (Southampton, Herschel, Bylot, and Ellesmere Islands) study on terrestrial arthropods. Arthropods were captured with passive traps that provided a combined measure of abundance and activity (a proxy for arthropod availability to foraging birds). We found that 70% of the deviance in daily arthropod availability was explained by three temperature covariates: mean daily temperature, thaw degree-day, and thaw degree-day2. Models had an adjusted R2 of 0.29–0.95 with an average among sites and arthropod families of 0.67. This indicates a moderate to strong fit to the raw data. The models for arthropod families with synchronous emergence, such as Tipulidae (Diptera), had a better fit (average adjusted R2 of 0.80) than less synchronous taxa, such as Araneae (R2 = 0.60). Arthropod abundance was typically higher in wet than in mesic habitats. Our models will serve as tools for researchers who want to correlate insectivorous bird breeding data to arthropod availability in the Canadian Arctic.

Monitoring programmes and studies focused on secondary sexual characters (SSCs) depend on the accuracy of measurements. However, methods of measurements of SSC, such as horns of ungulates, vary throughout the literature. Thus, the accuracy of horn growth measurements as proxies of true horn growth and the comparability of results inferred from different horn growth measurements may be questionable. We used the horns of Iberian ibex Capra pyrenaica to compare horn growth measurements and to analyse reliability with true horn growth. Our results reveal that measurements used in previous studies differed substantially from true horn growth and volume estimated as a barrel appeared as the best proxy of annular segments of horns in the Iberian ibex. Horn growth measurements are not necessarily mutually comparable, just as classical measurements are not necessarily representative of true horn growth. We discuss the wider implications of these results and suggest that biological processes linked to horns of ungulates should be reappraised using improved and accurate measurements because horn growth pattern is a key factor in sustainable management and conservation plans of ungulate species around the world. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Zoology © 2012 The Zoological Society of London.

Species distribution modelling has been widely applied in order to assess the potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Many methodological decisions, taken during the modelling process and forecasts, may, however, lead to a large variability in the assessment of future impacts. Using measures of species range change and turnover, the potential impacts of climate change on French stream fish species and assemblages were evaluated. Our main focus was to quantify the uncertainty in the projections of these impacts arising from four sources of uncertainty: initial datasets (Data), statistical methods [species distribution models (SDM)], general circulation models (GCM), and gas emission scenarios (GES). Several modalities of the aforementioned uncertainty sources were combined in an ensemble forecasting framework resulting in 8400 different projections. The variance explained by each source was then extracted from this whole ensemble of projections. Overall, SDM contributed to the largest variation in projections, followed by GCM, whose contribution increased over time equalling almost the proportion of variance explained by SDM in 2080. Data and GES had little influence on the variability in projections. Future projections of range change were more consistent for species with a large geographical extent (i.e., distribution along latitudinal or stream gradients) or with restricted environmental requirements (i.e., small thermal or elevation ranges). Variability in projections of turnover was spatially structured at the scale of France, indicating that certain particular geographical areas should be considered with care when projecting the potential impacts of climate change. The results of this study, therefore, emphasized that particular attention should be paid to the use of predictions ensembles resulting from the application of several statistical methods and climate models. Moreover, forecasted impacts of climate change should always be provided with an assessment of their uncertainty, so that management and conservation decisions can be taken in the full knowledge of their reliability.

Anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity is now critical for managing wild species and ecosystems. Climate change is a global driver and thus affects biodiversity globally. However, land-use planners and natural resource managers need regional or even local predictions. This provides scientists with formidable challenges given the poor documentation of biodiversity and its complex relationships with climate. We are approaching this problem in Quebec, Canada, through the CC-Bio Project (http://cc‑bio.uqar.ca/), using a boundary organization as a catalyst for team work involving climate modelers, biologists, naturalists, and biodiversity managers. In this paper we present the CC-Bio Project and its general approach, some preliminary results, the emerging hypothesis of the northern biodiversity paradox (a potential increase of biodiversity in northern ecosystems due to climate change), and an early assessment of the conservation implications generated by our team work.

The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of species geographical and environmental ranges on the predictive performances of species distribution models (SDMs). We explored the usefulness of ensemble modelling approaches and tested whether species attributes influenced the outcomes of such approaches. Eight SDMs were used to model the current distribution of 35 fish species at 1110 stream sections in France. We first quantified the consensus among the resulting set of predictions for each fish species. Next, we created an average model by taking the average of the individual model predictions and tested whether the average model improved the predictive performances of single SDMs. Lastly, we described the ranges of fish species along four gradients: latitudinal, thermal, stream gradient (i.e. upstream-downstream) and elevation. After accounting for the effects of phylogenetic relatedness and species prevalence, these four species attributes were related to the observed variations in both consensus among SDMs and predictive performances by using generalized estimation equations. Our results highlight the usefulness of ensemble approaches for identifying geographical areas of agreement among predictions. Although the geographical extent of species had no effect on the performances of SDMs, we demonstrated that more consensual and accurate predictions were obtained for species with low thermal and elevation ranges, validating the hypothesis that specialist species yield models with higher accuracy than generalist ones. We emphasized that significant improvements in the accuracy of SDMs can be achieved by using an average model. Furthermore, these improvements were higher for species with smaller ranges along the four gradients studied. The geographical extent and ranges of species along environmental gradients provide promising insights into our understanding of uncertainties in species distribution modelling.

Chapter 1 of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services., Suggested citation: Fromentin, J.M., Emery, M. R., Donaldson, J., Hallosserie, A., Michaud-Lopez, C. E., Parma, A., St. Martin, K., and Stockland, H. (2022). Chapter 1: Setting the scene. In: Thematic Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Fromentin, J.M., Emery, M.R., Donaldson, J., Danner, M.C., Hallosserie, A., and Kieling, D. (eds.). IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6425671

Chapter 3 of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services., Suggested citation: Barron, E.S., Chaudhary, R.P., Carvalho Ribeiro, S., Gilman, E., Hess, J., Hilborn, R., Katz, E., Kigonya, R., Masski, H., Mesa Castellanos, L.I., Mograbi, P.J., Nayak, P.K., Queiroz, H., Sidorovich, A., Silvano, R.A.M., Zeng, Y, Djagoun, C, and Danner, M.C. (2022). Chapter 3: Status of and trends in the use of wild species and its implications for wild species, the environment and people. In: Thematic Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Fromentin, J.M., Emery, M.R., Donaldson, J., Danner, M.C., Hallosserie, A., and Kieling, D. (eds.). IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6451322

Chapter 4 of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services., Suggested citation: Balachander, G., Halmy, M.W.A., Parlee, B., Biggs, D., Chatakonda, M., Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M., Cormier-Salem, M-C., Dasgupta, R., Devkota, S., Diniz, J., Elfaki, A., Hiwasaki, L., Lichtenstein, G., Richter, A., Shah, M.A., Shanley, P., Shrestha, U.B., Lee, T.M., Bayarbaatar, B. and Kieling, D. (2022). Chapter 4: The drivers of the sustainable use of wild species. In: Thematic Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Fromentin, J.M., Emery, M.R., Donaldson, J., Danner, M.C., Hallosserie, A., and Kieling, D. (eds.). IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6451494