Peer-reviewed publications

Many seafood products marketed as “sustainable” are not. More exacting sustainability standards are needed to respond to a fast-changing world and support United Nations SDGs. Future fisheries must operate on principles that minimise impacts on marine life, adapt to climate change and allow regeneration of depleted biodiversity, while supporting and enhancing the health, wellbeing and resilience of people and communities. We set out 11 actions to achieve these goals.

Fences serve multiple purposes, including livestock management, agriculture, property delineation, and conservation. However, fences often act as ecological barriers, limiting wildlife movement and access to resources, particularly for species like bison (Bison bison) in North America. Despite the substantial impacts of fencing, large-scale datasets on fence densities are lacking. Our goal was to create potential fence density maps for the western and central U.S. and Canada using GIS modeling and freely accessible data. Specifically, we aimed to: (1) map potential fence density and identify high density of fence, (2) contrast the potential fence density map with the patterns of high human influences, and (3) identify areas with high bison habitat suitability and low density of potential fences. Using GIS modelling, we generated potential fence density maps by integrating data on land parcels, croplands, roads, and railroads. Subsequently, we identified regions with high and low potential fence density and compared them with patterns of human influence and bison habitat suitability. We found high total potential fence density in central regions of Canada and the U.S., mainly due to agriculture and transportation corridors. Interestingly, areas with high potential density of fence in the western U.S., often had low other human influence, suggesting that human influence maps may underestimate impacts if they miss fences. We also identified large areas with high bison habitat suitability and low fence density, which are promising for bison restoration. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing fences for wildlife conservation and supporting bison restoration in the Great Plains.

Coral reef fisheries are a vital source of nutrients for thousands of nutritionally vulnerable coastal communities around the world. Marine protected areas are regions of the ocean designed to preserve or rehabilitate marine ecosystems and thereby increase reef fish biomass. Here, we evaluate the potential effects of expanding a subset of marine protected areas that allow some level of fishing within their borders (sustainable-use MPAs) to improve the nutrition of coastal communities. We estimate that, depending on site characteristics, expanding sustainable-use MPAs could increase catch by up to 20%, which could help prevent 0.3-2.85 million cases of inadequate micronutrient intake in coral reef nations. Our study highlights the potential add-on nutritional benefits of expanding sustainable-use MPAs in coral reef regions and pinpoints locations with the greatest potential to reduce inadequate micronutrient intake level. These findings provide critical knowledge given international momentum to cover 30% of the ocean with MPAs by 2030 and eradicate malnutrition in all its forms.

Landscape connectivity operates at a variety of scales, depending on the geography of the area in question and the focal species or ecological process under consideration. Most connectivity studies, however, are typically focused on a single scale, which in the case of resistance-based connectivity modelling, is often the entire landscape or protected area (PA) network. This large, single-scale focus may miss areas that are important for connectivity at smaller scales and that can be documented via observed animal movements without resorting to landscape-wide statistical modelling and extrapolation approaches. Here, we characterize landscape connectivity at three different scales (local/micro, inter-PA, and landscape-wide/macro), using observed animal movements rather than conventional resistance surface models, to produce a connectivity conservation blueprint for African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier conservation area (KAZA) in southern Africa. This analysis is based on an extensive, high-resolution GPS tracking database comprising approximately 4 million GPS locations from nearly 300 tagged elephants and their associated herds. Our results show that high-fidelity elephant use of micro-corridors is typically—though not exclusively—related to directed movements towards water, often amidst heavy anthropogenic presence. Movement pathways that connected KAZA's core protected areas were longer and variable, with some channelled into narrow areas of use and others more dispersed across larger sub-landscapes. At the largest scale, a network analysis incorporating all used landscape grid cells revealed several clusters of large-scale movement corridors that connected distant parts of KAZA. Synthesis and applications: Our three scales of analyses reveal disparate geographical priorities for connectivity conservation that collectively could help ensure the functional connectivity of KAZA for its largest inhabitants. Each scale will require its own set of inter-related conservation interventions, while further research into areas with sparse data collection, and other species of conservation concern, could reveal additional connectivity priorities at each scale.

As climate change reshapes marine ecosystems, the dynamics of fish stocks are undergoing rapid transformation. Understanding these shifts and their multifaceted impacts demands more than just scientific inquiry; it necessitates a fusion of knowledge, collaboration, and action. However, the translation of cutting-edge research on the changing distributions and abundance of fish stocks into actionable strategies remains a daunting challenge. Climate change considerations are a relatively new area for fisheries management in the US, and there is often a gap between the scientific research being produced and the management processes through which it can be applied in practice. To address this gap, this research utilizes a co-productive workshop approach to elucidate and assess the current trajectory from scientific inquiry to management practice in the context of climate-impacted US fisheries. The workshop and subsequent analyses yielded 27 actionable recommendations and two strategic pathways. These pathways were designed to concentrate efforts on two critical fronts: 1) enhancing venues for collaboration between scientists and managers; and 2) establishing a cooperative framework for defining and prioritizing goals for climate-resilient management. Post-hoc analyses grounded these pathways within established frameworks and literature related to implementation science and science-policy connectivity. Tangible examples further exemplify the recommended actions and demonstrate the practical significance of this work for enhancing resilient management of fisheries in the face of climate uncertainty.

A range of interventions have been established to manage international wildlife trade and protect traded species; however, there is little consensus as to whether, when, and how they are effective. Here, through a comprehensive, systematic review of >8000 articles, we appraise the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions on conservation, biological, and/or socio-economic outcomes. Our systematic review examined four intervention types: “laws and regulations”, “detection and enforcement”, “efforts to reduce threats to species”, and “support local livelihoods”. We find that while laws and regulations were most well-studied, with some reported positive outcomes, over half of articles reported unintended consequences including shifting exploitation and trade routes, increased illegal trade, and socio-economic trade-offs. Detection and enforcement efforts appeared effective in protecting target species but limited for high-value species especially when combined with low reproductive rates. Efforts to reduce threats to species (particularly through area protection) had positive biological impacts, but some socio-economic trade-offs were reported. Evidence on community-based approaches was limited but our review indicated positive synergies occurring between conservation and socio-economic outcomes. Overall, socio-economic outcomes were underrepresented, limiting understanding of potentially important socio-ecological feedbacks. This review furthers understanding of relevant conditions, risks and enabling factors around effectiveness of wildlife trade interventions.

Large-scale reforestation, afforestation, and forest restoration schemes have gained global support as climate change mitigation strategies due to their significant carbon dioxide removal (CDR) potential. However, there has been limited research into the unintended consequences of forestation from a biophysical perspective. In the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2), we apply a global forestation scenario, within a Paris Agreement-compatible warming scenario, to investigate the land surface and hydroclimate response. Compared to a control scenario where land use is fixed to present-day levels, the forestation scenario is up to 2 °C cooler at low latitudes by 2100, driven by a 10 % increase in evaporative cooling in forested areas. However, afforested areas where grassland or shrubland are replaced lead to a doubling of plant water demand in some tropical regions, causing significant decreases in soil moisture (∼ 5 % globally, 5 %–10 % regionally) and water availability (∼ 10 % globally, 10 %–15 % regionally) in regions with increased forest cover. While there are some increases in low cloud and seasonal precipitation over the expanded tropical forests, with enhanced negative cloud radiative forcing, the impacts on large-scale precipitation and atmospheric circulation are limited. This contrasts with the precipitation response to simulated large-scale deforestation found in previous studies. The forestation scenario demonstrates local cooling benefits without major disruption to global hydrodynamics beyond those already projected to result from climate change, in addition to the cooling associated with CDR. However, the water demands of extensive forestation, especially afforestation, have implications for its viability, given the uncertainty in future precipitation changes.

Rangers play a crucial role on the frontline of conservation; however, they often face difficult and sometimes dangerous working conditions, along with inadequate pay, equipment, training, and recognition. This study aims to determine the influence of rangers’ working conditions on their vulnerability to corruption using correlation analysis. The research utilized the Global Ranger Perception Survey 2019 dataset, a global-scale survey that collected responses from 6,101 rangers across 25 countries on various aspects of their working conditions. We further analyzed the results by gender and geographic region. Key findings indicate that women have a lower propensity to engage in corrupt activities. Conversely, at the regional level, Latin America demonstrates a heightened susceptibility to corruption compared to other regions. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between corruption and certain aspects of rangers’ working conditions in Latin America. Future assessments, such as the State of the Ranger Report, could provide a monitoring mechanism to evaluate the long-term effects of improvements in rangers' working conditions and their potential vulnerability to corruption worldwide. Country-specific or even landscape-specific in-depth studies would be valuable for developing targeted strategies to address corruption within the workforce while also improving rangers’ working conditions.

Integrated assessment models that incorporate biodiversity and ecosystem services could be an important tool for improving our understanding of interconnected social-economic-ecological systems, and for analyzing how policy alternatives could shift future trajectories towards more sustainable development. Despite recent scientific and technological advances, key gaps remain in the scientific community’s ability to deliver information to decision-makers at the pace and scale needed to address sustainability challenges. We identify five research frontiers for integrated social-economic-ecological modeling that incorporate biodiversity and ecosystem services: 1) downscaling impacts of direct and indirect drivers on ecosystems; 2) incorporating long-term feedbacks in ecosystems; 3) linking ecological impacts to social and economic impacts, 4) disaggregating outcomes for distributional equity considerations, 5) incorporating ecological feedbacks within the social-economic system. We discuss challenges and progress along each of these five frontiers, and the science-policy linkages needed to move new research and information into action.

In birds, patterns of development of the adrenocortical response to stressors vary among individuals, types of stressors, and species. Since there are benefits and costs of exposure to elevated glucocorticoids, this variation is presumably a product of selection such that animals modulate glucocorticoid secretion in contexts where doing so increases their fitness. In this study, we evaluated hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) activity in first-hatched free-living seabird nestlings that engage in intense sibling competition and facultative siblicide (black-legged kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla). We sampled 5 day old chicks (of the ∼45 day nestling period), a critical early age when food availability drives establishment of important parent-offspring and intra-brood dynamics. We experimentally supplemented parents with food (“supplemented”) and measured chick baseline corticosterone secretion and capacity to rapidly increase corticosterone in response to an acute challenge (handling and 15 min of restraint in a bag). We also used topical administration of corticosterone to evaluate the ability of chicks to downregulate physiologically relevant corticosterone levels on a short time scale (minutes). We found that 5 day old chicks are not hypo-responsive but release corticosterone in proportion to the magnitude of the challenge, showing differences in baseline between parental feeding treatments (supplemented vs non-supplemented), moderate increases in response to handling, and a larger response to restraint (comparable to adults) that also differed between chicks from supplemented and control nests. Topical application of exogenous corticosterone increased circulating levels nearly to restraint-induced levels and induced downregulation of HPA responsiveness to the acute challenge of handling. Parental supplemental feeding did not affect absorbance/clearance or negative feedback. Thus, while endogenous secretion of corticosterone in young chicks is sensitive to environmental context, other aspects of the HPA function, such as rapid negative feedback and/or the ability to clear acute elevations in corticosterone, are not. We conclude that 5 day old kittiwake chicks are capable of robust adrenocortical responses to novel challenges, and are sensitive to parental food availability, which may be transduced behaviorally, nutritionally, or via maternal effects. Questions remain about the function of such rapid, large acute stress-induced increases in corticosterone in very young chicks.