Peer-reviewed publications

The HydroSHEDS database provides seamless hydrographic data to support hydro-ecological research and applications on a regional to global scale. A steadily increasing availability and accuracy of remote sensing data promotes the development of a second and refined version of HydroSHEDS, which is based on the TanDEM-X dataset. To derive hydrographic information from the topographic data, the TanDEM-X digital elevation model (DEM) requires editing, which is summarized in the so-called hydrologic pre-conditioning. The processing steps include an infill of voids and outliers in the DEM and the delineation of a global high-resolution coastline. Furthermore, a global water mask is generated to edit rough and noisy appearing open water surfaces in the DEM. An urban correction layer is calculated to reduce distortions in river flow paths due to built-up areas. Within the HydroSHEDS workflow, the preconditioning will be complemented with refined hydrological optimization and correction algorithms. Compared to HydroSHEDS v1, the resulting hydrologically conditioned DEM ensures a more accurate derivation of flow direction and flow accumulation maps.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are key management tools that contribute to the conservation of worldwide marine ecosystems, increasing nature's contributions to people derived from ecosystem services. These ecosystem services include key processes such as the release of oxygen, but also leisure opportunities, cultural inspiration, and food and medicine provision that improve the health and well-being of millions of people. In this Chapter we explain how natural processes and components in MPAs are valued by different groups of people; and how these can be addressed to maximize their effectiveness, avoiding negative socio-economic effects like social conflicts, or inequitable distribution of benefits. We recommend that creation and management decision-making in MPAs include the collection and integration of interdisciplinary data to develop pluralistic methods of valuation and fostering social equity by involving local stakeholders.

Increasing human pressures are driving a global loss of biodiversity and of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP)—the contributions of living nature to people’s quality of life. Understanding the spatial relationship between biodiversity and NCP is essential for securing Earth’s life support systems. Here we estimate the importance of high-biodiversity regions in maintaining the provision of three NCP under four scenarios of climate change. We focus on critical regulatory NCP which are currently facing decline: regulation of air quality, climate and freshwater quantity. We estimate the current and future value of NCP using a suite of environmental indicators and evaluate whether risk from environmental change is higher or lower within high-biodiversity regions compared with control regions. We find higher levels of NCP within high-biodiversity regions both in the present and the future for all indicators, which highlights the spatial congruence between biodiversity and NCP. Moreover, air quality and climate regulation indicators show rapidly increasing levels within high-biodiversity regions, especially under higher-emission scenarios. Our results point to a substantial contribution of high-biodiversity areas to the provision of NCP. Protecting areas of high biodiversity value will synergistically contribute to the preservation of many of nature’s contributions humanity depends on.

In the pathway toward environmental sustainability, it is important that we understand how individuals can make a difference through diverse types of engagement. Theories suggest that transformative change toward a sustainable future requires individuals to engage in not only private actions (e.g. household energy saving, recycling) but also social-signalling and system-changing civic actions (e.g. opinion sharing, voting, petition signing and protesting). Yet, past research on pro-environmental behaviour has primarily focused on private actions, while overlooking individual contributions to facilitating widespread change through civic actions.We use the exotic pet trade as a focal case to understand how individuals may act to promote environmental sustainability through different patterns of engagement and what factors might explain these distinct patters of action.Results from an online survey about behavioural intentions in the United States (n = 527) revealed three types of individual action that could transform the exotic pet trade.Private actions clustered separately from civic actions. Within the category of civic actions, a distinction emerged between lower social-commitment actions and higher social-commitment actions, based on the perceived level of social engagement and personal efforts involved.We also found that each type of action was associated with unique factors, highlighting the importance of attitudes, perceived social norms, and relational values for variously promoting individual engagement among the U.S. public.Our findings suggest that these distinct types of action should be treated differently when designing future wildlife conservation campaigns and behaviour change interventions.

Over 2 billion people are unable to access safe, nutritious and sufficient food year-round. While global fisheries are considered key in providing essential nutrients to hundreds of millions of people around the globe, the specific contribution of small-scale fisheries to the nutrient supply given other available food supplies is unknown. Here, we combined multiple global databases to quantify the importance of marine small-scale fisheries to national-level nutrient supply of coastal populations. We found that, on average across assessed nutrients (iron, zinc, calcium, DHA + EPA and vitamins A and B12), small-scale fisheries contributed about 32% of overall global seafood nutrient supply, 17% of the nutrient supply from animal-sourced foods and 10% of nutrient supply from all foods. These global averages, however, underrepresent some key roles of ocean-based foods. Combining nutrient supply estimates with global estimates of inadequate nutrient intake, we found that about half of coastal countries that have a mean inadequate intake of at least 50% across assessed nutrients (iron, zinc, calcium, DHA + EPA and vitamins A and B12) rely on small scale fisheries for at least 15% of mean nutrient supply, and many rely on small scale fisheries for more than 30% of mean nutrient supply. Catch from small-scale fisheries is particularly important for the supply of vitamin B12, calcium and DHA + EPA, representing up to 100% of supply in selected countries. Our study demonstrates the significance of small-scale fisheries for nutritionally vulnerable coastal populations, emphasizing how effective fisheries management can contribute to public health.

The construction of solar energy facilities can have positive or negative impacts on biodiversity depending on siting and associated land use transitions. We identified drivers of solar siting and quantified patterns of buildout in states surrounding the Chesapeake Bay watershed – a biodiversity hotspot with numerous ecosystem services. Using a convolutional neural network, we mapped the footprints of ground-mounted solar arrays present in satellite imagery annually from 2017 to 2021 in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia. As of 2021, we identified 958 solar arrays covering 52.3 km2 built primarily on previously cultivated land, while avoiding natural landcover. We fit a binomial-Weibull model to these solar timeseries data in a hierarchical, Bayesian framework to quantify the relationship between geospatial covariates and rate of solar development. Solar array construction rate increased in cultivated areas, areas of lower agricultural suitability, lower slope, lower forest cover, lower biodiversity protection, and greater distances from roads. We also estimated changes in the rate of solar construction over time and found differences among states: acceleration in Virginia and deceleration in New York. We used parameter estimates to map the relative likelihood of future solar development across the study area. This methodology can be used to anticipate where solar is likely to be built in different landscapes and how these patterns align with conservation goals. Around the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the selection of lower quality agricultural areas for solar energy minimizes removal of important habitat and provides opportunities for native plant and pollinator restoration.

Community-based conservation can support livelihoods and biodiversity, while reinforcing local and Indigenous values, cultures, and institutions. Its delivery can help address cross-cutting global challenges, such as climate change, conservation, poverty, and food security. Therefore, understanding trends in community-based conservation is pertinent to setting and implementing global goals. We undertook a horizon scan to prioritize 15 emerging threats and opportunities expected to impact the future effectiveness of community-based conservation. Topics relate to global biodiversity policy; human rights; shifting human geography; inclusion, diversity, equity, and access; conservation finance and income; and economic reforms. Our findings offer guidance on strengthening community-based conservation to achieve global environmental and development goals.

Understanding large carnivore demography on human-dominated lands is a priority to inform conservation strategies, yet few studies examine long-term trends. Jaguars (Panthera onca) are one such species whose population trends and survival rates remain unknown across working lands. We integrated nine years of camera trap data and tourist photos to estimate jaguar density, survival, abundance, and probability of tourist sightings on a working ranch and tourism destination in Colombia. We found that abundance increased from five individuals in 2014 to 28 in 2022, and density increased from 1.88 ± 0.87 per 100 km2 in 2014 to 3.80 ± 1.08 jaguars per 100 km2 in 2022. The probability of a tourist viewing a jaguar increased from 0% in 2014 to 40% in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Our results are the first robust estimates of jaguar survival and abundance on working lands. Our findings highlight the importance of productive lands for jaguar conservation and suggest that a tourism destination and working ranch can host an abundant population of jaguars when accompanied by conservation agreements and conflict interventions. Our analytical model that combines conventional data collection with tourist sightings can be applied to other species that are observed during tourism activities.

Conservation interventions are central strategies for achieving sustainable development goals given the inextricable dependence of humanity on nature. Current debate centres on whether interventions such as marine protected areas (MPAs) promote co-benefits or trade-offs among multiple goals such as poverty alleviation, food security and protection of marine resources. Resolving this question is hindered by a lack of quantitative impact evaluations of concurrent ecological and social co-benefits of MPAs. Here we use a statistical matching approach to examine whether MPAs are associated with co-benefits or trade-offs between reef fish abundances and measures of human well-being, including income, diet and food security in the Mesoamerican region. We find that highly protected areas (HPAs) with stringent fishing restrictions tend to support high mean abundances and stable or increasing trends in fish abundances compared with unprotected sites and ‘general use zones’ of MPAs. At the same time, indicators of income and food security were elevated in communities near MPAs, especially HPAs, compared with communities far from MPAs. Finally, proximity to MPAs and to reefs with high fish abundance were both positively associated with well-being across space. Together, these results provide quantitative evidence of co-benefits for fish and people associated with MPAs, highlighting the potential value of MPAs in achieving multiple sustainable development goals.

Approaches to marine conservation and management issues has often been limited to using scientific research to propose technical and policy interventions. However, communicating outputs as scientific publications and policy briefs has limited reach and impact for non-academic audiences. Art markets in Mombasa and Kilifi Counties in Kenya were sampled to determine how the creative arts can be used to communicate ocean science. Artwork with terrestrial themes was popular and increasingly available to buyers compared to ocean art. Billfish as a representative species was popular in ocean art culture, underscoring its potential in a niche market for ocean art. Our study highlights opportunities for active collaboration between scientists and artists in communicating messages from scientific work to non-academic audiences. Engagement of Western Indian Ocean countries in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will benefit from the use of ocean art in science communication and enhance ocean literacy in the region.