Retention and restoration priorities for climate adaptation in a multi-use landscape
Retaining and restoring habitat in areas that will remain climatically suitable through time is a key strategy for helping species' adapt to climate change - particularly in multi-use landscapes where species' find it difficult to track suitable climates. We advance on existing climate-smart conservation planning studies to identify retention and restoration priorities for potential climate change refugia sites in a vast multi-use landscape. We illustrate our approach for Aus
Identifying global centers of unsustainable commercial harvesting of species
Overexploitation is one of the main threats to biodiversity, but the intensity of this threat varies geographically. We identified global concentrations, on land and at sea, of 4543 species threatened by unsustainable commercial harvesting. Regions under high-intensity threat (based on accessibility on land and on fishing catch at sea) cover 4.3% of the land and 6.1% of the seas and contain 82% of all species threatened by unsustainable harvesting and >80% of the ranges of Cr
How to send a finch extinct
Australia’s high species extinction rate shows no sign of abating, with at least three vertebrate extinctions recorded within the last decade. In each case, scientists have published ‘post-mortems’ examining the context of these recent extinctions. By tracing the decline of a once-widespread and common bird to the point that it has disappeared from over 80% of its original range, and describing the circumstances under which habitat loss continues to be approved despite its fo
Conservation implications of ecological responses to extreme weather and climate events
Many conservation efforts now focus on mitigating biodiversity loss due to climate change. While a focus on impacts from mean, long‐term changes in climate is warranted, the vast majority of conservation plans largely ignore another key factor of climate change—changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events. A typology of the full range and severity of ecological responses to extreme events would help underpin tracking of their impacts. Read full
Metrics of progress in the understanding and management of threats to Australian birds
Although evidence‐based approaches have become commonplace for determining the success of conservation measures for the management of threatened taxa, there are no standard metrics for assessing progress in research or management. We developed 5 metrics to meet this need for threatened taxa and to quantify the need for further action and effective alleviation of threats. These metrics (research need, research achievement, management need, management achievement, and percent t
Hotspots of human impact on threatened terrestrial vertebrates
Conserving threatened species requires identifying where across their range they are being impacted by threats, yet this remains unresolved across most of Earth. Here, we present a global analysis of cumulative human impacts on threatened species by using a spatial framework that jointly considers the co-occurrence of eight threatening processes and the distribution of 5,457 terrestrial vertebrates. We show that impacts to species are widespread, occurring across 84% of Earth
Brokering trust in citizen science
Citizen science (CS) information requires systematic review that incorporates a range of interests and concerns. Yet, there has been little research on what might constitute reviewing best practice to ensure CS is trusted by contributors and users of the data. Insights from a survey of all 1134 reviewers who curate the global eBird Project highlight the knowledge-brokering work involved to ensure CS data are trusted by both citizens and science. Drawing on scholarship focused
Manage forests as protection against warming.
We disagree with those who caution against relying on forests as a solution to global warming until the warming effects of trees themselves are better understood (see Nature 565, 280–282; 2019). Read full story here.
Madagascar: Crime threatens biodiversity.
Madagascar’s new president, Andry Rajoelina, was elected on a promise to improve living standards for the millions who live in poverty (1). To achieve this goal, he must address the declining rule of law. Madagascar fell eight places in the Rule of Law Index between 2016 and 2018 (2), and it is 155th of 180 countries listed in the Corruption Perceptions Index (3). Weak governance slows development by reducing the willingness of citizens and foreign companies to invest (4). Si
Improved management is more important than sparing-sharing strategies for tropical forests
Tropical forests are globally significant for both biodiversity conservation and the production of economically valuable wood products. Two contrasting approaches have been suggested to simultaneously produce timber and conserve biodiversity; one partitions forests to deliver these objectives separately (sparing), the other integrates both objectives in the same location (sharing). To date, the ‘sparing or sharing’ debate has focused on agricultural landscapes, with scant att