Source: Scientists cheered by bowhead whale recovery despite Arctic warming
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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A robust goal is needed for species in the Post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
- Source: Conservation Letters
- Author(s):Brooke Williams et al.
- The emerging Post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework has potential to catalyze efforts to “bend the curve” of biodiversity loss. Thus, the inclusion of a goal on species, articulated as Goal B in the Zero Draft of the Post‐2020 Framework, is essential. However, as currently formulated, this goal is inadequate…
The Evolution of a Tropical Biodiversity Hotspot
- Source: Science
- Author(s): Michael Harvey et al.
- The tropics are the source of most biodiversity yet inadequate sampling obscures answers to fundamental questions about how this diversity evolves. We leveraged samples assembled over decades of fieldwork to study diversification of the largest tropical bird radiation, the suboscine passerines…
The erosion of biodiversity and biomass in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot
- Source: Ecology
- Author(s): Renato de Lima et al.
- Tropical forests are being deforested worldwide, and the remaining fragments are suffering from biomass and biodiversity erosion. Quantifying this erosion is challenging because ground data on tropical biodiversity and biomass are often sparse. Here, we use an unprecedented dataset of 1819 field surveys covering the entire Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot…
Tropical riparian forests in danger from large savanna wildfires
- Source: Journal of Applied Ecology
- Author(s): Bernardo Flores et al.
- Our findings reveal how riparian forests embedded in tropical savanna landscapes are in danger from large wildfires. The destruction of some forests has opened space for new plant species that may propel a shift to an alternative ecosystem state…
- Source: Journal for Nature Conservation
- Author(s): Janneke Westermann, Goddertvon Oheimb
- In the core areas of National Parks (NPs), there might be a conflict between the approaches of process-based conservation. To better understand this conflict and its consequences, we collected data on non-native plant species (neophytes) managed in 12 German terrestrial NPs and the measures implemented to control these in the period 2006–2016…
Effectiveness of crossings as wildlife passages for mammals in the Yungas of Argentina
- Source: Journal for Nature Conservation
- Author(s): Johan Baechli, Sebastián Albanesi, Laura Bellis
- Irrigation canals are an important cause of wild mammal mortality in the Piedmont forest of the Argentine Yungas. Here, we identified the mammalian species that use the crossings, determined the global frequency of use of each crossing through a use index, and evaluated the possible predilection of a species for a particular crossing type using species-specific models…
- Source: Biological Conservation
- Author(s): Kamaljit Bawa et al.
- Here we describe a framework for biodiversity conservation – the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being (NMBHWB) for India – which integrates biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate change, agriculture, health, bio-economy and capacity building in the realm of biodiversity science…
- Source: Biological Conservation
- Author(s): Victoria Graham et al.
- Here, we examine the relationship between management effectiveness using the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) and trends of 79 populations of mammals and birds in 12 Southeast Asian protected areas from Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam…
Land consolidation negatively affects farmland bird diversity and conservation value
- Source: Journal for Nature Conservation
- Author(s): Katarina Denac, Primož Kmecl
- Land consolidation can negatively affect biodiversity, as it is usually followed by the expansion of arable land, a decrease in crop and land cover diversity, and an increase in the application of agrochemicals. The aim of our study was to compare the species’ composition and abundance of farmland birds as well as habitat structure, on consolidated and non-consolidated sites in Goričko, NE Slovenia…
Risks to large marine protected areas posed by drifting fish aggregation devices
- Source: Conservation Biology
- Author(s): David Curnick, David Feary, Geórgenes Cavalcante
- Mapping and predicting the potential risk of fishing activities to large marine protected areas (MPAs), where management capacity is low, but fish biomass may be globally important, is vital to prioritize enforcement and maximize conservation benefits. Using Lagrangian particle modelling we…
Ocean planning for species on the move provides substantial benefits and requires few trade-offs
- Source: Science Advances
- Author(s): M. Pinsky, L. Rogers, J. Morley, T. Frölicher
- Societies increasingly use multisector ocean planning as a tool to mitigate conflicts over space in the sea, but such plans can be highly sensitive to species redistribution driven by climate change or other factors. A key uncertainty is whether planning ahead for future species redistributions imposes high opportunity costs and sharp trade-offs against current ocean plans. Here, we use more than 10,000 projections for marine animals around North America to test the impact of climate-driven species redistributions on the ability of ocean plans to meet their goals…
Exploring coral reef biodiversity via underwater soundscapes
- Source: Biological Conservation
- Author(s): Tzu-Hao Lin, Tomonari Akamatsu, Frederic Sinniger, Saki Harii
- Sounds produced by reef-associated organisms have been used as a biodiversity indicator. However, the interference from abiotic sounds and the lack of a comprehensive audio library have impeded effective evaluation. This study investigated the application of underwater soundscapes as a remote-sensing method to detect biological and anthropogenic activities…
The upward elevational shifts of pond breeding amphibians following climate warming
- Source: Biological Conservation
- Author(s): Rocco Tiberti, Marco Mangiacotti, Rolando Bennati
- In this study, we analysed a 15-year data series on the distribution of three amphibians, where temperatures have increased significantly over the last decades. By using multi-season occupancy models, we estimated the occupancy trend of each species over the study period and tested the occurrence of an actual elevational shift after accounting for the probability of false absence.…
Increasing protected area coverage mitigates climate-driven community changes
- Source: Biological Conservation
- Author(s): Petteri Lehikoinen et al.
- Protected areas (PAs) have been shown to be beneficial for preserving and reallocating species occurrences under climate change. Yet, studies investigating effects of PA networks on species’ range shifts under climate change remain scarce. In theory, a well-connected network of PAs should…
We live in a changing world, but that shouldn’t mean we abandon the concept of equilibrium
- Source: Ecology Letters
- Author(s): Tim Coulson
- Ecological systems are no longer at equilibrium, but over much of the history of the Earth, the natural world has been in stationary states. Just because we have knocked our planet away from a stable state, doesn’t mean we have to abandon the concept…
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