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Highlights • The number of evidence reviews is increasing but their rigour and risks of bias vary. • Easier access to rigorous evidence reviews may support evidence-informed decision-making. • CEEDER collates published evidence reviews into a searchable open-access database. • CEEDER assesses evidence reviews for their reliability using the CEESAT appraisal tool. • CEEDER will be further developed through co-production with evidence user organisations., Evidence-informed decision-making aims to deliver effective actions informed by the best available evidence. Given the large quantity of primary literature, and time constraints faced by policy-makers and practitioners, well-conducted evidence reviews can provide a valuable resource to support decision-making. However, previous research suggests that some evidence reviews may not be sufficiently reliable to inform decisions in the environmental sector due to low standards of conduct and reporting. While some evidence reviews are of high reliability, there is currently no way for policy-makers and practitioners to quickly and easily find them among the many lower reliability ones. Alongside this lack of transparency, there is little incentive or support for review authors, editors and peer-reviewers to improve reliability. To address these issues, we introduce a new online, freely available and first-of-its-kind evidence service: the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Database of Evidence Reviews (CEEDER: www.environmentalevidence.org/ceeder). CEEDER aims to transform communication of evidence review reliability to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners through independent assessment of key aspects of the conduct, reporting and data limitations of available evidence reviews claiming to assess environmental impacts or the effectiveness of interventions relevant to policy and practice. At the same time, CEEDER will provide support to improve the standards of future evidence reviews and support evidence translation and knowledge mobilisation to help inform environmental decision-making.

Societal Impact Statement The current ash dieback epidemic in Europe caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus poses a key question to policy makers: whether or not to commit time and resources to the initiation of a breeding programme for the development of more resistant ash, as a long‐term policy of adaptation to the epidemic. Here we review current evidence on the potential viability of such a programme, from a biological perspective. We conclude that a breeding programme for ash aimed at resistance to current strains of H. fraxineus in the British Isles is biologically feasible. Summary To evaluate the viability and feasibility of a future breeding programme to produce trees resistant to an emerging pest or pathogen, it is helpful to ask the following questions: How much variation in resistance exists in tree populations? To what extent is this resistance heritable? How many genetic loci are involved? What level of resistance is found in other species of the same genus? Here, we survey current knowledge of these issues in relation to the degree of resistance of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) to H. fraxineus, the fungus causing ash dieback (ADB). Several studies have found a low frequency of heritable resistance in F. excelsior populations, which seems to be determined by many genetic loci. This suggests that a breeding programme is viable and that natural selection may also increase the mean resistance of populations over time. More research is needed on the genetic basis of resistance to ADB to understand how quickly natural selection can operate in woodlands and what acceleration may be possible in breeding programmes, including via use of genetic markers. Hybrid breeding programmes may also be a possibility, as some ash species appear to be more resistant to ADB than is F. excelsior, but more research is needed on this issue. We do not yet know if it will be possible to breed F. excelsior to have resistance to both ADB and the emerging threat of emerald ash borer. We recommend short‐term mitigation measures for the ADB epidemic and future research directions.

This book represents a synthesis of knowledge and best practice in the field of DNA-based biomonitoring at the time of writing. It has been written with end-users of molecular tools in mind, as well as those who are new to the field in research settings and are looking to gain an overall grounding in the subject area. For each of the main types of sample (water, soil / sediment, bulk invertebrates and diatoms), and for each stage of the field and laboratory processes, we outline key considerations, decisions that need to be made, factors that might influence those decisions, and trade-offs inherent in the choices made. We hope that this will help users, practitioners, and those commissioning DNA-based monitoring programmes to navigate this large field and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different analysis workflows based on context, project aims and available resources., ISBN:978-619-248-052-3, ISBN:978-619-248-053-0

International audience; In the face of the growing challenges brought about by human activities, effective planning and decision-making in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, restoration, and sustainable development are urgently needed. Ecological models can play a key role in supporting this need and helping to safeguard the natural assets that underpin human wellbeing and support life on land and below water (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 15 & 14). The urgency and complexity of safeguarding forest (SDG 15.2) and mountain ecosystems (SDG 15.4), for example, and halting decline in biodiversity (SDG 15.5) in the Anthropocene requires a re-envisioning of how ecological models can best support the comprehensive assessments of biodiversity and its change that are required for successful action. A key opportunity to advance ecological modeling for both predictive and explanatory purposes arises through a collaboration between ecologists and the Earth observation community, and a close integration of remote sensing and species distribution models. Remote sensing products have the capacity to provide continuous spatiotemporal information about key factors driving the distribution of organisms, therefore improving both the use and accuracy of these models for management and planning. Here we first survey the literature on remote sensing data products available to ecological modelers interested in improving predictions of species range dynamics under global change. We specifically explore the key biophysical processes underlying the distribution of species in the Anthropocene including climate variability, changes in land cover, and disturbances. We then discuss potential synergies between the ecological modeling and remote sensing communities, and highlight opportunities to close the data and conceptual gaps that currently impede a more effective application of remote sensing for the monitoring and modeling of ecological systems. Specific attention is given to how potential collaborations between the two communities could lead to new opportunities to report on progress towards global agendas - such as the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development of the United Nations or the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention for Biological Diversity, and help guide conservation and management strategies towards sustainability.

This work was supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as part of the Future Proofing Plant Health (FPPH) project. In addition, R.J.A.B. was partly supported by Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative - Phase 2 grant BB/L012162/1, funded jointly by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Defra, Economic and Social Research Council, Forestry Commission, Natural Environment Research Council and the Scottish Government.

Evidence reviews are a key mechanism for incorporating extensive, complex and specialised evidence into policy and practice, and in guiding future research. However, evidence reviews vary in scope and methodological rigour, creating several risks for decision-makers: decisions may be informed by less reliable reviews; apparently conflicting interpretations of evidence may obfuscate decisions; and low quality reviews may create the perception that a topic has been adequately addressed, deterring new syntheses (cryptic evidence gaps). We present a new approach, evidence review mapping, designed to produce a visual representation and critical assessment of the review landscape for a particular environmental topic or question. By systematically selecting and describing the scope and rigour of each review, this helps guide non-specialists to the most relevant and methodologically reliable reviews. The map can also direct future research through the identification of evidence gaps (whether cryptic or otherwise) and redundancy (multiple reviews on similar questions). We consider evidence review mapping a complementary approach to systematic reviews and systematic maps of primary literature and an important tool for facilitating evidence-based decision-making and research efficiency.

International audience; AbstractKey messageTo inform emerging initiatives, we explored five programmes that aimed to develop trees resistant to specific pests or pathogens. These case studies show resistant tree programmes are a medium to long-term approach requiring sustained investment, and can encounter substantial difficulties in developing and maintaining resistance. Equally, adequately resourced and well-planned programmes have resulted in operational deployment of resistant trees.ContextDeveloping trees that are resistant to specific pests and pathogens is an increasingly prominent strategy for responding to this escalating threat. It is therefore important to ensure decisions to use resistant trees and approaches to development are well-informed.AimsWe aimed to provide insights for newer or proposed resistant tree breeding programmes by identifying key lessons from earlier programmes, some of which date back several decades.MethodsWe selected five mature programmes as case studies, and in each case synthesised information from key publications and by following citations to original sources. We examined the objectives, methods, problems, successes and timescales in each programme.ResultsResistant tree breeding is generally a medium to long-term approach requiring sustained investment and co-ordination, although culturally valued species can attract considerable support from volunteers. Deployment of resistant trees often recommends maintaining genetic variation and mixing with other tree species. Substantial costs and loss of confidence in future material can arise if resistance breaks down or resistant material is susceptible to other threats.ConclusionThe case studies illustrate success is not guaranteed, but also provide evidence that adequately resourced and well-planned resistant tree programmes can contribute to strategies to mitigate impacts from pests and pathogens.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a key strategy for mitigating the impacts of fisheries, but their designation can be controversial, and there is uncertainty surrounding when and where MPAs are most effective. Evidence synthesis that collates primary research on MPA effectiveness can provide a crucial bridge between research, policy and practice. However, reviews vary in scope and rigour, meaning decision-makers face the challenge of identifying appropriate reviews. Documenting differences amongst reviews can therefore support nonspecialists in locating the most relevant and rigorous reviews and can also assist researchers in targeting evidence gaps. We addressed these priorities by systematically searching for reviews examining effectiveness of MPAs for biodiversity, critically appraising methods used and categorizing review scope. The 27 reviews assessed overlapped in scope (suggesting some redundancy) and differed substantially in reliability. Key strengths related to the effects of MPAs on fish abundance and the influence of MPA size and age on effectiveness. However, several gaps were noted, with some questions not addressed and others lacking highly reliable syntheses – importantly, the latter may create the perception that particular questions have been adequately addressed, potentially deterring new syntheses. Our findings indicate key aspects of review conduct that could be improved (e.g. documenting critical appraisal of primary research, evaluating potential publication bias) and can facilitate evidence-based policy by guiding nonspecialists to the most reliable and relevant reviews. Lastly, we suggest that future reviews with broader taxonomic coverage and considering the influence of a wider range of MPA characteristics on effectiveness would be beneficial.

Given the proliferation of primary research articles, the importance of reliable environmental evidence reviews for informing policy and management decisions is increasing. Although conducting reviews is an efficient method of synthesising the fragmented primary evidence base, reviews that are of poor methodological reliability have the potential to misinform by not accurately reflecting the available evidence base. To assess the current value of evidence reviews for decision-making we appraised a systematic sample of articles published in early 2015 (N = 92) using the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Synthesis Assessment Tool (CEESAT). CEESAT assesses the methodology of policy-relevant evidence reviews according to elements important for objectivity, transparency and comprehensiveness. Overall, reviews performed poorly with a median score of 2.5/39 and a modal score of zero (range 0–30, mean 5.8), and low scores were ubiquitous across subject areas. In general, reviews that applied meta-analytical techniques achieved higher scores than narrative syntheses (median 18.3 and 2.0 respectively), as a result of the latter consistently failing to adequately report methodology or how conclusions were drawn. However, some narrative syntheses achieved high scores, illustrating that the reliability of reviews should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Given the potential importance of reviews for informing management and policy, as well as research, it is vital that overall methodological reliability is improved. Although the increasing number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses highlight that some progress is being made, our findings suggest little or no improvement in the last decade. To motivate progress, we recommend that an annual assessment of the methodological reliability of evidence reviews be conducted. To better serve the environmental policy and management communities we identify a requirement for independent critical appraisal of review methodology thus enabling decision-makers to select reviews that are most likely to accurately reflect the evidence base.

Tropical land-use change is a key driver of global declines in biodiversity and a major source of anthropogenic carbon emissions, yet there is a substantial shortfall in the funding available to tackle these issues. We urgently need mechanisms that can simultaneously tackle both biodiversity and carbon losses, with carbon-based payments for ecosystem services (e.g. REDD+) of particular interest. A critical question is whether such payments offer strong carbon–biodiversity co-benefits via the regrowth of forests on abandoned farmlands (carbon enhancements) for amphibians, which are the most threatened vertebrate group and reach the greatest richness of threatened and small-ranged species in the montane tropics (>1000 m a.s.l.). Here, we study changes in amphibian communities across a typical Andean habitat transition from cattle pasture through secondary forests (8–35 years) to primary forest. As secondary forests mature, they recovered the abundance, species richness, species composition and Red-listed (near threatened and threatened) species typically found in primary forest. By contrast, cattle pasture contained much lower richness of Red-listed species and a different species composition compared to forest. We then reveal positive relationships between carbon stocks and amphibian species richness and abundance, Red-listed species richness and abundance and the similarity of communities to primary forests, confirming significant carbon–biodiversity co-benefits. Our results underscore the high conservation value of secondary forests and the strong potential for carbon and biodiversity recovery. Using carbon-based funding initiatives to support the regrowth of forests on marginal agricultural land is therefore likely to conserve threatened biodiversity in the Tropical Andes.

The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become an applicable non‐invasive tool with which to obtain information about biodiversity. A sub‐discipline of eDNA is iDNA (invertebrate‐derived DNA), where genetic material ingested by invertebrates is used to characterise the biodiversity of the species that served as hosts. While promising, these techniques are still in their infancy, as they have only been explored on limited numbers of samples from only a single or a few different locations. In this study, we investigate the suitability of iDNA extracted from more than 3,000 haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool for detecting a wide range of terrestrial vertebrates across five different geographical regions on three different continents. These regions cover almost the full geographical range of haematophagous terrestrial leeches, thus representing all parts of the world where this method might apply. We identify host taxa through metabarcoding coupled with high‐throughput sequencing on Illumina and IonTorrent sequencing platforms to decrease economic costs and workload and thereby make the approach attractive for practitioners in conservation management. We identified hosts in four different taxonomic vertebrate classes: mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, belonging to at least 42 different taxonomic families. We find that vertebrate blood ingested by haematophagous terrestrial leeches throughout their distribution is a viable source of DNA with which to examine a wide range of vertebrates. Thus, this study provides encouraging support for the potential of haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool for detecting and monitoring terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity.

Review articles can provide valuable summaries of the ever-increasing volume of primary research in conservation biology. Where findings may influence important resource-allocation decisions in policy or practice, there is a need for a high degree of reliability when reviewing evidence. However, traditional literature reviews are susceptible to a number of biases during the identification, selection, and synthesis of included studies (e.g., publication bias, selection bias, and vote counting). Systematic reviews, pioneered in medicine and translated into conservation in 2006, address these issues through a strict methodology that aims to maximize transparency, objectivity, and repeatability. Systematic reviews will always be the gold standard for reliable synthesis of evidence. However, traditional literature reviews remain popular and will continue to be valuable where systematic reviews are not feasible. Where traditional reviews are used, lessons can be taken from systematic reviews and applied to traditional reviews in order to increase their reliability. Certain key aspects of systematic review methods that can be used in a context-specific manner in traditional reviews include focusing on mitigating bias; increasing transparency, consistency, and objectivity, and critically appraising the evidence and avoiding vote counting. In situations where conducting a full systematic review is not feasible, the proposed approach to reviewing evidence in a more systematic way can substantially improve the reliability of review findings, providing a time- and resource-efficient means of maximizing the value of traditional reviews. These methods are aimed particularly at those conducting literature reviews where systematic review is not feasible, for example, for graduate students, single reviewers, or small organizations.

Strong global demand for tropical timber and agricultural products has driven large-scale logging and subsequent conversion of tropical forests. Given that the majority of tropical landscapes have been or will likely be logged, the protection of biodiversity within tropical forests thus depends on whether species can persist in these economically exploited lands, and if species cannot persist, whether we can protect enough primary forest from logging and conversion. However, our knowledge of the impact of logging and conversion on biodiversity is limited to a few taxa, often sampled in different locations with complex land-use histories, hampering attempts to plan cost-effective conservation strategies and to draw conclusions across taxa. Spanning a land-use gradient of primary forest, once- and twice-logged forests, and oil palm plantations, we used traditional sampling and DNA metabarcoding to compile an extensive data set in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo for nine vertebrate and invertebrate taxa to quantify the biological impacts of logging and oil palm, develop cost-effective methods of protecting biodiversity, and examine whether there is congruence in response among taxa. Logged forests retained high species richness, including, on average, 70% of species found in primary forest. In contrast, conversion to oil palm dramatically reduces species richness, with significantly fewer primary-forest species than found on logged forest transects for seven taxa. Using a systematic conservation planning analysis, we show that efficient protection of primary-forest species is achieved with land portfolios that include a large proportion of logged-forest plots. Protecting logged forests is thus a cost-effective method of protecting an ecologically and taxonomically diverse range of species, particularly when conservation budgets are limited. Six indicator groups (birds, leaf-litter ants, beetles, aerial hymenopterans, flies, and true bugs) proved to be consistently good predictors of the response of the other taxa to logging and oil palm. Our results confidently establish the high conservation value of logged forests and the low value of oil palm. Cross-taxon congruence in responses to disturbance also suggests that the practice of focusing on key indicator taxa yields important information of general biodiversity in studies of logging and oil palm.

The volume of primary literature in conservation and environmental science is expanding rapidly. Evidence syntheses that review and combine the findings from research on policy-relevant questions are therefore vital for informing decision-making. However, such syntheses exhibit considerable variation in conduct and reporting, potentially undermining their value to decision-makers. To address this problem, we developed a scoring system – the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Synthesis Assessment Tool (CEESAT) – that uses detailed criteria and guidelines to evaluate policy-relevant syntheses in conservation and environmental science. The higher the score awarded, the greater the objectivity, comprehensiveness and transparency of the synthesis, hence the greater the confidence in its reliability. We then used 40 review articles to test CEESAT in terms of (i) applicability to different syntheses, (ii) validity of scores awarded, (iii) effectiveness at discriminating between syntheses, and (iv) repeatability of scoring by different assessors. CEESAT was applicable to 36 articles, and scores ranged from 1 to 33 (mean = 13.2, median = 15, maximum possible = 39). Variation in overall scores and in the individual criteria shows that CEESAT discriminates effectively among syntheses, making differences in rigour clear. Scoring was repeatable, indicating that assessments are not overly susceptible to differences in the application and interpretation of guidelines. The detailed rationale and guidelines for each criterion should help improve future syntheses and promote consistent scoring between assessors. Furthermore, scores can be used directly by non-specialists to compare syntheses that investigate key conservation questions and to incorporate reliability and rigour into decision-making.

Selecting economically viable forest management strategies that deliver carbon storage and biodiversity benefits can be a difficult task. Now, research in the western Andes of Colombia shows that naturally regenerating forests can quickly accumulate carbon and support diverse ecological communities at minimal cost. Climate change and biodiversity loss can be addressed simultaneously by well-planned conservation policies, but this requires information on the alignment of co-benefits under different management actions1,2,3. One option is to allow forests to naturally regenerate on marginal agricultural land: a key question is whether this approach will deliver environmental co-benefits in an economically viable manner4,5,6,7. Here we report on a survey of carbon stocks, biodiversity and economic values from one of the world’s most endemic-rich and threatened ecosystems: the western Andes of Colombia. We show that naturally regenerating secondary forests accumulate significant carbon stocks within 30 years, and support biodiverse communities including many species at risk of extinction. Cattle farming, the principal land use in the region, provides minimal economic returns to local communities, making forest regeneration a viable option despite weak global carbon markets. Efforts to promote natural forest regeneration in the tropical Andes could therefore provide globally significant carbon and biodiversity co-benefits at minimal cost.

Selective logging is a major driver of rainforest degradation across the tropics. Two competing logging strategies are proposed to meet timber demands with the least impact on biodiversity: land sharing, which combines timber extraction with biodiversity protection across the concession; and land sparing, in which higher intensity logging is combined with the protection of intact primary forest reserves. We evaluate these strategies by comparing the abundances and species richness of birds, dung beetles and ants in Borneo, using a protocol that allows us to control for both timber yield and net profit across strategies. Within each taxonomic group, more species had higher abundances with land-sparing than land-sharing logging, and this translated into significantly higher species richness within land-sparing concessions. Our results are similar when focusing only on species found in primary forest and restricted in range to Sundaland, and they are independent of the scale of sampling. For each taxonomic group, land-sparing logging was the most promising strategy for maximizing the biological value of logging operations.

Effects of logging on species composition in tropical rainforests are well known but may fail to reveal key changes in species interactions. We used nitrogen stable-isotope analysis of 73 species of understory birds to quantify trophic responses to repeated intensive logging of rainforest in northern Borneo and to test 4 hypotheses: logging has significant effects on trophic positions and trophic-niche widths of species, and the persistence of species in degraded forest is related to their trophic positions and trophic-niche widths in primary forest. Species fed from higher up the food chain and had narrower trophic-niche widths in degraded forest. Species with narrow trophic-niche widths in primary forest were less likely to persist after logging, a result that indicates a higher vulnerability of dietary specialists to local extinction following habitat disturbance. Persistence of species in degraded forest was not related to a species' trophic position. These results indicate changes in trophic organization that were not apparent from changes in species composition and highlight the importance of focusing on trophic flexibility over the prevailing emphasis on membership of static feeding guilds. Our results thus support the notion that alterations to trophic organization and interactions within tropical forests may be a pervasive and functionally important hidden effect of forest degradation.

Given the dramatic loss of tropical forests and accelerating climate change, secondary forest regeneration is increasingly recognised as being an important method for reversing losses in biodiversity and carbon stocks. The recolonisation of biodiversity within secondary forests depends in part upon the recovery of forest structure, including the range of microhabitats used by diverse local communities. Here, we investigate the return of critical microhabitats along a successional gradient of secondary forest in the Tropical Andes of Colombia. We measured the abundance of live (bromeliads, tree ferns and moss) and dead (deadwood and leaf litter) microhabitats across three landscapes, each encompassing primary, and young (4–18 yr old) and old secondary forests (19–35 yr old). Considering the increasing rate of climate warming in the region, we also explored whether these microhabitats provide thermally buffered microclimates. We found that secondary forests have different composition and lower complexity of microhabitats than primary forests, but microhabitats appear to be recovering towards primary forest levels. Furthermore, in all forest types, microhabitats had lower maximum temperatures and higher minimum temperatures, thereby serving as thermal buffers that reduced exposure to extreme temperatures. These benefits exist despite ambient temperatures in secondary forests surpassing those of primary forests by 1–2 °C on average. The protection of secondary forest and promotion of further forest regrowth in the Tropical Andes should represent an urgent investment for conservation, and the value of these forests for offering critical microhabitats and buffered microclimates under climate change should not be overlooked.

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.

Nitrogen isotope signatures (δ(15)N) provide powerful measures of the trophic positions of individuals, populations and communities. Obtaining reliable consumer δ(15)N values depends upon controlling for spatial variation in plant δ(15)N values, which form the trophic 'baseline'. However, recent studies make differing assumptions about the scale over which plant δ(15)N values vary, and approaches to baseline control differ markedly. We examined spatial variation in the δ(15)N values of plants and ants sampled from eight 150-m transects in both unlogged and logged rainforests. We then investigated whether ant δ(15)N values were related to variation in plant δ(15)N values following baseline correction of ant values at two spatial scales: (1) using 'local' means of plants collected from the same transect and (2) using 'global' means of plants collected from all transects within each forest type. Plant δ(15)N baselines varied by the equivalent of one trophic level within each forest type. Correcting ant δ(15)N values using global plant means resulted in consumer values that were strongly positively related to the transect baseline, whereas local corrections yielded reliable estimates of consumer trophic positions that were largely independent of transect baselines. These results were consistent at the community level and when three trophically distinct ant subfamilies and eight abundant ant species were considered separately. Our results suggest that assuming baselines do not vary can produce misleading estimates of consumer trophic positions. We therefore emphasise the importance of clearly defining and applying baseline corrections at a scale that accounts for spatial variation in plant δ(15)N values.

The most practically useful arrangement for making Electrochemical Noise Measurements is NOCS (no connection to substrate). Previously reported work using NOCS suggested that the arrangement had somewhat increased sensitivity to error (drift, spikes etc) in the value of noise resistance (Rn) that was calculated. The current work looked to address this by using an improved data analysis approach using a drift removal programme. Also Rsn (spectral noise resistance at 0.002Hz) has been calculated using either the MEM or FFT methods and compared with (Rn). To investigate possible ambiguity arising from interrogating three separate areas, samples with known values of resistance (high, medium and low) were joined in combinations measured for Rn. It was found that the cell connected to the reference input tended to dominate ie potential noise prevails over current noise. With some refinement, the NOCS method should soon be a practical method for field application.

A key challenge in the study of mutualism is to understand the mechanisms that prevent cheating. In some systems, host retaliation against cheaters prevents the breakdown of cooperation. Here, we focus on the converse of this demonstration, and ask whether hosts that fail to retaliate are commonly inhabited by cheaters. We do so using the classic antplant interaction, in which plants provide ant-housing (domatia) in return for protection from herbivores. Our model system is the rattan ant-palm Korthalsia furtadoana, which grows swollen leaf sheaths as domatia and associates with two species of obligate host-ants, Camponotus sp90 and C. sp93, and with facultative Crematogaster and 'tramp' ant species. One ant-tree species is known to retaliate by tying the growth of domatia to the successful protection of new leaves, and non-protecting cheaters are rare. In contrast, K. furtadoana grows the domatium before the new leaf develops, suggesting that sanctioning may not be possible. We experimentally simulated herbivory by cutting leaves from shoots and found no difference in the mortality and growth of domatia on such 'cheated' shoots than on controls, confirming that K. furtadoana cannot sanction non-protectors. We then investigated the intensity of protection that Camponotus and Crematogaster ant- symbionts provide K. furtadoana. We demonstrate that C. sp90, which only inhabit half of colonised plants, vigorously protects leaves, that C. sp93 rarely protects, and that Crematogaster never protects. We then show that plants inhabited by C. sp90 have a higher growth rate than those inhabited by C. sp93. We conclude that C. sp90 is a protection mutualist, while C. sp93 and Crematogaster are parasites, the first such demonstrations for an antpalm interaction. The presence of commonly occurring parasites, as well as rare tramp ants, provides the first clear correlative evidence that an inability to punish results in abundant cheating. A key challenge in the study of inter-specific cooperation, or mutualisms, is to understand the mechanisms that prevent cheating. Several overlapping theories, with different de- grees of generality, have been developed to explain the maintenance of cooperation in the face of (a) invasion by parasites that purloin the benefits one mutualist provides another, and (b) selection for cheating behaviour among the

The electrochemical noise method (ENM) has particular attractions because of its non-intrusive nature, quickness in gathering data and ease of interpretation. The electrode arrangement for the standard (“Bridge”) method of conducting ENM requires two separate working electrodes, e.g. two painted Q panels and a reference electrode. Although satisfactory for laboratory use, it is not so suitable for monitoring or quality control. An improved experimental configuration is the single substrate (SS) method but this still requires the metal to be connected to the measuring instrument. This is avoided in the most recent development which needs no connection to substrate (NOCS). Results will be given for immersed low VOC samples monitored using the ENM NOCS arrangement and compared with the standard (“Bridge”) method and DC resistance. Results will also be presented for work done using several different electrodes (platinum, calomel and silver/silver chloride). It is accepted that, because of the very small voltages and currents involved, ENM data can sometimes be affected by extraneous signals (although normally the results are changed by only a factor of two or less) and it may be that NOCS is more sensitive to interference of this type than the standard bridge arrangement. A simple data analysis package checking on the Gaussian nature of data enables the operator to have confidence in the Rn value. This has been applied to NOCS data. Further work is required to make ENM attractive enough to be employed as the electrochemical method of choice by users, specifiers and producers of organic anti-corrosive paints.

This particular study has the aim of developing a new set of reduced VOC (also known as compliant) coatings. The reasoning for this is linked with the mass reduction scheme (MRS) and the requirement for environmentally friendly coatings. To this end a comparison needs to be made between these products and the higher solvent products which it is hoped that they will replace. Accelerated tests are required to get results in reasonably short times. Previous work has established the electrochemical noise method (ENM) as a useful technique for investigating the corrosion resistance of intact organic coatings on steel substrates. To date the most useful parameter obtained has been resistance noise ( R n ) and results have shown that coatings that effectively protect the metal substrate demonstrate considerably higher R n values and these remain high with time. In this work ENM has been used to monitor intact coatings under immersion conditions. Results will be given and compared with standard “salt spray” testing. The immersion test has also had a temperature cycle incorporated and this latter modification makes it effective at separating coatings within an even shorter time. The results so far look very promising and this test regime is helping the company to formulate the lower solvent replacements to be as effective from the anti-corrosion angle as the coatings which they will replace.

Strong global demand for tropical timber and agricultural products has driven large-scale logging and subsequent conversion of tropical forests. Given that the majority of tropical landscapes have been or will likely be logged, the protection of biodiversity within tropical forests thus depends on whether species can persist in these economically exploited lands, and if species cannot persist, whether we can protect enough primary forest from logging and conversion. However, our knowledge of the impact of logging and conversion on biodiversity is limited to a few taxa, often sampled in different locations with complex land-use histories, hampering attempts to plan cost-effective conservation strategies and to draw conclusions across taxa. Spanning a land-use gradient of primary forest, once- and twice-logged forests, and oil palm plantations, we used traditional sampling and DNA metabarcoding to compile an extensive data set in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo for nine vertebrate and invertebrate taxa to quantify the biological impacts of logging and oil palm, develop cost-effective methods of protecting biodiversity, and examine whether there is congruence in response among taxa. Logged forests retained high species richness, including, on average, 70% of species found in primary forest. In contrast, conversion to oil palm dramatically reduces species richness, with significantly fewer primary-forest species than found on logged forest transects for seven taxa. Using a systematic conservation planning analysis, we show that efficient protection of primary-forest species is achieved with land portfolios that include a large proportion of logged-forest plots. Protecting logged forests is thus a cost-effective method of protecting an ecologically and taxonomically diverse range of species, particularly when conservation budgets are limited. Six indicator groups (birds, leaf-litter ants, beetles, aerial hymenopterans, flies, and true bugs) proved to be consistently good predictors of the response of the other taxa to logging and oil palm. Our results confidently establish the high conservation value of logged forests and the low value of oil palm. Cross-taxon congruence in responses to disturbance also suggests that the practice of focusing on key indicator taxa yields important information of general biodiversity in studies of logging and oil palm.

When considering the development of potential controlled-release pulmonary drug delivery systems, there is at present no standard method available for the assessment of in vitro drug release profiles necessary to understand how the drug might release following deposition in the lungs. For this purpose, the twin-stage impinger (TSI), apparatus A of the BP, has been redesigned and tested. This modified TSI was found capable of discriminating between drug release rates from conventional and different dry powder formulations consisting of model controlled-release excipients, providing information related to (a) drug diffusion properties of controlled-release dry powder blends with different excipient components and (b) the effect of varying drug concentration within a given formulation.

With the rapidly expanding ecological footprint of agriculture, the design of farmed landscapes will play an increasingly important role for both carbon storage and biodiversity protection. Carbon and biodiversity can be enhanced by integrating natural habitats into agricultural lands, but a key question is whether benefits are maximized by including many small features throughout the landscape ('land-sharing' agriculture) or a few large contiguous blocks alongside intensive farmland ('land-sparing' agriculture). In this study, we are the first to integrate carbon storage alongside multi-taxa biodiversity assessments to compare land-sparing and land-sharing frameworks. We do so by sampling carbon stocks and biodiversity (birds and dung beetles) in landscapes containing agriculture and forest within the Colombian Choco-Andes, a zone of high global conservation priority. We show that woodland fragments embedded within a matrix of cattle pasture hold less carbon per unit area than contiguous primary or advanced secondary forests (>15 years). Farmland sites also support less diverse bird and dung beetle communities than contiguous forests, even when farmland retains high levels of woodland habitat cover. Landscape simulations based on these data suggest that land-sparing strategies would be more beneficial for both carbon storage and biodiversity than land-sharing strategies across a range of production levels. Biodiversity benefits of land-sparing are predicted to be similar whether spared lands protect primary or advanced secondary forests, owing to the close similarity of bird and dung beetle communities between the two forest classes. Land-sparing schemes that encourage the protection and regeneration of natural forest blocks thus provide a synergy between carbon and biodiversity conservation, and represent a promising strategy for reducing the negative impacts of agriculture on tropical ecosystems. However, further studies examining a wider range of ecosystem services will be necessary to fully understand the links between land-allocation strategies and long-term ecosystem service provision.

Trophic organisation defines the flow of energy through ecosystems and is a key component of community structure. Widespread and intensifying anthropogenic disturbance threatens to disrupt trophic organisation by altering species composition and relative abundances and by driving shifts in the trophic ecology of species that persist in disturbed ecosystems. We examined how intensive disturbance caused by selective logging affects trophic organisation in the biodiversity hotspot of Sabah, Borneo. Using stable nitrogen isotopes, we quantified the positions in the food web of 159 leaf-litter ant species in unlogged and logged rainforest and tested four predictions: (i) there is a negative relationship between the trophic position of a species in unlogged forest and its change in abundance following logging, (ii) the trophic positions of species are altered by logging, (iii) disturbance alters the frequency distribution of trophic positions within the ant assemblage, and (iv) disturbance reduces food chain length. We found that ant abundance was 30% lower in logged forest than in unlogged forest but changes in abundance of individual species were not related to trophic position, providing no support for prediction (i). However, trophic positions of individual species were significantly higher in logged forest, supporting prediction (ii). Consequently, the frequency distribution of trophic positions differed significantly between unlogged and logged forest, supporting prediction (iii), and food chains were 0.2 trophic levels longer in logged forest, the opposite of prediction (iv). Our results demonstrate that disturbance can alter trophic organisation even without trophically-biased changes in community composition. Nonetheless, the absence of any reduction in food chain length in logged forest suggests that species-rich arthropod food webs do not experience trophic downgrading or a related collapse in trophic organisation despite the disturbance caused by logging. These food webs appear able to bend without breaking in the face of some forms of anthropogenic disturbance.

To manage and conserve biodiversity, one must know what is being lost, where, and why, as well as which remedies are likely to be most effective. Metabarcoding technology can characterise the species compositions of mass samples of eukaryotes or of environmental DNA. Here, we validate metabarcoding by testing it against three high‐quality standard data sets that were collected in Malaysia (tropical), China (subtropical) and the United Kingdom (temperate) and that comprised 55,813 arthropod and bird specimens identified to species level with the expenditure of 2,505 person‐hours of taxonomic expertise. The metabarcode and standard data sets exhibit statistically correlated alpha‐ and beta‐diversities, and the two data sets produce similar policy conclusions for two conservation applications: restoration ecology and systematic conservation planning. Compared with standard biodiversity data sets, metabarcoded samples are taxonomically more comprehensive, many times quicker to produce, less reliant on taxonomic expertise and auditable by third parties, which is essential for dispute resolution., We thank Yang Yahan, Alice Wang, Vincent Moulton, David Warton and Wadud Miah for support and advice and to Ding Zhaoli for sequencing. LA, YT, AN and RK were supported by the Queensland‐Chinese Academy of Sciences (QCAS) Biotechnology Fund (GJHZ1130) and Griffith University. DPE was supported by a STEP fellowship at Princeton University. SP was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, Forestry Commission, Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service and Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership. Additional support for DPE, PW, FAE, THL and WHH was provided by a grant from the High Meadows Foundation to DSW. YQJ, XYW and DWY were supported by Yunnan Province (20080A001), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (0902281081, KSCX2‐YW‐Z‐1027), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170498), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012FY110800), the University of East Anglia, and the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology.

Effects of logging on species composition in tropical rainforests are well known but may fail to reveal key changes in species interactions. We used nitrogen stable-isotope analysis of 73 species of understory birds to quantify trophic responses to repeated intensive logging of rainforest in northern Borneo and to test 4 hypotheses: logging has significant effects on trophic positions and trophic-niche widths of species, and the persistence of species in degraded forest is related to their trophic positions and trophic-niche widths in primary forest. Species fed from higher up the food chain and had narrower trophic-niche widths in degraded forest. Species with narrow trophic-niche widths in primary forest were less likely to persist after logging, a result that indicates a higher vulnerability of dietary specialists to local extinction following habitat disturbance. Persistence of species in degraded forest was not related to a species' trophic position. These results indicate changes in trophic organization that were not apparent from changes in species composition and highlight the importance of focusing on trophic flexibility over the prevailing emphasis on membership of static feeding guilds. Our results thus support the notion that alterations to trophic organization and interactions within tropical forests may be a pervasive and functionally important hidden effect of forest degradation.

A key driver of rain forest degradation is rampant commercial logging. Reduced-impact logging (RIL) techniques dramatically reduce residual damage to vegetation and soils, and they enhance the long-term economic viability of timber operations when compared to conventionally managed logging enterprises. Consequently, the application of RIL is increasing across the tropics, yet our knowledge of the potential for RIL also to reduce the negative impacts of logging on biodiversity is minimal. We compare the impacts of RIL on birds, leaf-litter ants, and dung beetles during a second logging rotation in Sabah, Borneo, with the impacts of conventional logging (CL) as well as with primary (unlogged) forest. Our study took place 1–8 years after the cessation of logging. The species richness and composition of RIL vs. CL forests were very similar for each taxonomic group. Both RIL and CL differed significantly from unlogged forests in terms of bird and ant species composition (although both retained a large number of the species found in unlogged forests), whereas the composition of dung beetle communities did not differ significantly among forest types. Our results show little difference in biodiversity between RIL and CL over the short term. However, biodiversity benefits from RIL may accrue over longer time periods after the cessation of logging. We highlight a severe lack of studies investigating this possibility. Moreover, if RIL increases the economic value of selectively logged forests (e.g., via REDD+, a United Nations program: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries), it could help prevent them from being converted to agricultural plantations, which results in a tremendous loss of biodiversity.

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.

Objective To increase understanding of how the prison environment influences the mental health of prisoners and prison staff. Design Qualitative study with focus groups. Setting A local prison in southern England. Participants Prisoners and prison staff. Results Prisoners reported that long periods of isolation with little mental stimulus contributed to poor mental health and led to intense feelings of anger, frustration, and anxiety. Prisoners said they misused drugs to relieve the long hours of tedium. Most focus groups identified negative relationships between staff and prisoners as an important issue affecting stress levels of staff and prisoners. Staff groups described a “circle of stress,” whereby the prison culture, organisation, and staff shortages caused high staff stress levels, resulting in staff sickness, which in turn caused greater stress for remaining staff. Staff shortages also affected prisoners, who would be locked up for longer periods of time, the ensuing frustration would then be released on staff, aggravating the situation still further. Insufficient staff also affected control and monitoring of bullying and reduced the amount of time in which prisoners were able to maintain contact with their families. Conclusions Greater consideration should be given to understanding the wider environmental and organisational factors that contribute to poor mental health in prisons. This information can be used to inform prison policy makers and managers, and the primary care trusts who are beginning to work in partnership with prisons to improve the mental health of prisoners.