Source: Opinion: It’s time for a project drawdown for conservation
The latest academic papers on conservation. If you have a paper that you would like to share, please get in contact with us. Click on the title to follow the link to each article. Please note that some of these articles are behind a paywall.
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- Underprotected Marine Protected Areas in a Global Biodiversity Hotspot
- Source: One Earth
- Author(s): Joachim Claudet, Charles Loiseau, Marta Sostres, Mirta Zupan
- This work investigates how successfully the introduction of marine protected areas (MPAs) has been in the Mediterranean Sea. We show that 1,062 MPAs currently cover 6% of the basin, short of the 10% target…
- Opportunities for big data in conservation and sustainability
- Source: Nature Communications
- Author(s): Rebecca K. Runting, Stuart Phinn, Zunyi Xie, Oscar Venter & James E. M. Watson
- Big data reveals new, stark pictures of the state of our environments. It also reveals ‘bright spots’ amongst the broad pattern of decline and—crucially—the key conditions for these cases. Big data analyses could benefit the planet if tightly coupled with ongoing sustainability efforts. This big…
- Topography and human pressure in mountain ranges alter expected species responses to climate change
- Source: Nature Communications
- Author(s): Paul R. Elsen, William B. Monahan & Adina M. Merenlender
- Climate change is leading to widespread elevational shifts thought to increase species extinction risk in mountains. We integrate digital elevation models with a metric of human pressure to examine changes in the amount of intact land area available for species undergoing elevational range shifts…
- Return of ‘the Blob’ could intensify climate change impacts on Northeast Pacific fisheries
- Source: Scientific Reports
- Author(s): William W. L. Cheung, Thomas L. Frölicher
- A large marine heatwave would double the rate of the climate change impacts on fisheries species in the northeast Pacific by 2050, says a recently released study.
- Physical drivers of the summer 2019 North Pacific marine heatwave
- Source: Nature Communications
- Author(s): Dillon J. Amaya, Arthur J. Miller, Shang-Ping Xie, Yu Kosaka
- Weak winds in the Pacific drove record-breaking 2019 summertime marine heat wave…
- Arctic Sea Ice in CMIP6
- Source: Geophysical Research Letters
- Author(s): Dirk Notz et al.
- The Arctic Ocean in summer will very likely be ice free before 2050, at least temporally, according to new research. The efficacy of climate-protection measures will determine how often and for how long.
- Seasonal and latitudinal variations in sea ice algae deposition in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas determined by algal biomarkers
- Source: Plos One
- Author(s): Chelsea Wegner Koch et al.
- A new study shows that plant materials originating in Arctic sea ice are significantly incorporated into marine food webs that are used for subsistence in local communities of the greater Bering Strait region. The research has the potential to demonstrate the importance of sea ice ecosystems as a source…
- Progress towards a representative network of Southern Ocean protected areas
- Source: Plos One
- Author(s): Cassandra M. Brooks et al.
- Current marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean need to be at least doubled to adequately safeguard the biodiversity of the Antarctic, according to a new study.
- Expansion of world’s cities creating ‘new ecological niches’ for infectious diseases
- Source: Urban Studies
- Author(s): Creighton Connolly, Roger Keil, S. Harris Ali
- New research highlights how urban expansion is creating the conditions for infectious diseases to emerge and spread around the world by blurring the classical boundaries between city, suburb, and countryside.
- Changing role of coral reef marine reserves in a warming climate
- Source: Nature Communications
- Author(s): Nicholas A. J. Graham et al.
- A new study highlights that tropical coral reef marine reserves can offer little defence in the face of climate change impacts. And the changes that are being observed will force scientists, conservationists and reserve managers to rethink the role these protected areas can bring.
- Mapping tree species vulnerability to multiple threats as a guide to restoration and conservation of tropical dry forests
- Source: Global Change Biology
- Author(s): Tobias Fremout et al.
- A new tool maps the threats to the tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador. Bioscience engineers combined data on possible threats to these forests with data on the vulnerability of local tree species to these dangers, which the team estimated on the basis of species traits such as bark thickness and…
- The co-evolution of technological promises, modelling, policies and climate change targets
- Source: Nature Climate Change
- Author(s): Duncan McLaren, Nils Markusson
- Over-reliance on promises of new technology to solve climate change is enabling delay, say researchers. They argue instead for cultural, social and political transformation to enable widespread deployment of both behavioral and technological responses to climate change.
- A meeting framework for inclusive and sustainable science
- Source: Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Author(s): Rosetta C. Blackman et al.
- The ABCD conference format (All continents, Balanced gender, low Carbon transport, Diverse backgrounds) mixes live-streamed and pre-recorded talks with in-person ones to reflect a diverse range of viewpoints and reduce the environmental footprint of meetings while also lowering barriers to inclusiveness.
- Changing role of coral reef marine reserves in a warming climate
- Source: Nature Communications
- Author(s): Nicholas A. J. Graham et al.
- Coral reef ecosystems are among the first to fundamentally change in structure due to climate change, which leads to questioning of whether decades of knowledge regarding reef management is still applicable.
- Emerging illegal wildlife trade issues: A global horizon scan
- Source: Conservation Letters
- Author(s): Nafeesa Esmail et al.
- Illegal wildlife trade is gaining prominence as a threat to biodiversity, but addressing it remains challenging. To help inform proactive policy responses in the face of uncertainty, in 2018 we conducted a horizon scan of significant emerging issues.
- Integrating oceans into climate policy: Any green new deal needs a splash of blue
- Source: Conservation Letters
- Author(s): Steven J. Dundas et al.
- Recent warnings from scientists suggest there is limited time to enact policies to avert wide‐ranging ecological and social damage from climate change. In the United States, discussions about comprehensive national policies to avert climate change have begun, with “Green New Deal” proposals…
- The need for a more inclusive science of elephant conservation
- Source: Conservation Letters
- Author(s): Lin Cassidy PhD, Jonathan Salerno PhD
- We argue that elephant conservation policy must take into account the voices of the people bearing the cost of living with wildlife, as well as the nations with the responsibility of hosting elephant populations.
- Estimating changes and trends in ecosystem extent with dense time‐series satellite remote sensing
- Source: Conservation Biology
- Author(s): Calvin K.F. Lee, Emily Nicholson, Clare Duncan, Nicholas J. Murray
- Quantifying trends in ecosystem extent is essential to understanding the status of ecosystems. Estimates of ecosystem loss are widely used for tracking progress towards conservation targets, monitoring deforestation, and identifying ecosystems undergoing rapid change. Satellite remote sensing…
- Characterizing the landscape of movement to identify critical wildlife habitat and corridors
- Source: Conservation Biology
- Author(s): Guillaume Bastille‐Rousseau, George Wittemyer
- Landscape planning that ensures the ecological integrity of ecosystems is critical in the face of rapid, human driven habitat conversion and development pressure. Wildlife tracking data provide unique and valuable information on animal distribution and location specific behaviors that can…
- Meta-analysis reveals declines in terrestrial but increases in freshwater insect abundances
- Source: Science
- Author(s): Roel van Klink et al.
- A worldwide compilation of insect abundance studies shows the number of land-dwelling insects is in decline. On average, there is a global decrease of 0.92 percent per year, which translates to approximately 24 percent over 30 years. At the same time, the number of insects living in freshwater has increased…
- Interactions between a large marine protected area, pelagic tuna and associated fisheries – UCL Discovery
- Source: UCL Discovery
- Author(s): D curnick et al.
- The efficacy of large marine protected areas (MPA) for the conservation of mobile pelagic species is widely debated. Here, we quantified spatial and temporal trends in standardised catch per unit effort (CPUE) of two target pelagic species, yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the Indian Ocean to analyse the impact of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) MPA’s creation in 2010.
- Open Standards for conservation as a tool for linking research and conservation agendas in complex socio-ecological systems
- Source: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
- Author(s): Mauricio M Núñez-Regueiro et al.
- Disparity between the knowledge produced and knowledge required to address complex environmental challenges, such as biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation, continues to grow. Systems thinking under the Open Standards for Conservation framework can help close this gap by facilitating interdisciplinary engagement, advancing conversations on how environmental systems work, and identifying actions that could be implemented to achieve defined conservation goals.
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