Conservation biology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crop wild relatives’ genetic diversity is usually not considered in conservation planning. Here, the authors introduce an approach to identify conservation areas based on evolutionary and threat processes, by developing proxies of genetic differentiation, and including taxa’s habitat preferences.

    • Wolke Tobón-Niedfeldt
    • , Alicia Mastretta-Yanes
    •  & Patricia Koleff

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The long-term effects of extreme climate events in early life are largely overlooked in forecasts of climate change impacts. Here, the authors show that raptorial red kites born during drought are disadvantaged throughout life, and including this climate legacy leads to substantial decreases in forecasted population size and time to extinction.

    • Fabrizio Sergio
    • , Giacomo Tavecchia
    •  & Steven R. Beissinger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine protected areas are proposed to protect elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) but the fishing impact from small-scale fisheries in these areas is unknown. From 1256 fishing operations carried out in partially protected and unprotected areas in six Mediterranean countries, this study shows that catches were higher in partially protected areas than in unprotected areas, indicating poor small-scale fisheries management as a threat for these species.

    • Manfredi Di Lorenzo
    • , Antonio Calò
    •  & Paolo Guidetti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study shows that sea anemones acclimated to high temperatures exhibit increased resistance to thermal stress and that this improved fitness can be transferred by microbiome transplantation. These results indicate that plasticity mediated by the microbiota might be an important factor facilitating thermal adaptations in animals.

    • Laura Baldassarre
    • , Hua Ying
    •  & Sebastian Fraune

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear how far the impact of deforestation can spread. Here the authors analyse freshwater eDNA data along two rivers in the Amazon forest, and find that low levels of deforestation are linked to substantial reductions of fish and mammalian diversity downstream.

    • Isabel Cantera
    • , Opale Coutant
    •  & Sébastien Brosse

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using a season-long field manipulation with an established model fish system on the Great Barrier Reef, this study demonstrates that limiting motorboat activity on reefs leads to faster growth and survival of more fish offspring compared to reefs experiencing busy motorboat traffic. Noise mitigation and abatement could therefore present a valuable opportunity for enhancing ecosystem resilience.

    • Sophie L. Nedelec
    • , Andrew N. Radford
    •  & Stephen D. Simpson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Commercial fisheries have decimated keystone species, including oysters in the past 200 years. Here, the authors examine how Indigenous oyster harvest in North America and Australia was managed across 10,000 years, advocating for effective future stewardship of oyster reefs by centering Indigenous peoples.’

    • Leslie Reeder-Myers
    • , Todd J. Braje
    •  & Torben C. Rick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invertebrate-derived eDNA (iDNA) is an emerging tool for taxonomic and spatial biodiversity monitoring. Here, the authors use metabarcoding of leech-derived iDNA to estimate vertebrate occupancy over an entire protected area, the Ailaoshan Nature Reserve, China.

    • Yinqiu Ji
    • , Christopher C. M. Baker
    •  & Douglas W. Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Animals often migrate in social groups, but little is known about the social learning of migration behaviours. Here, Byholm et al. analyse high-resolution tracking data from Caspian Terns and reveal that juveniles’ survival and learning of migration routes depend critically on following a parent.

    • Patrik Byholm
    • , Martin Beal
    •  & Susanne Åkesson

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data without jeopardising open sharing is a major obstacle for the Convention on Biological Diversity and other UN negotiations. Here, the authors propose a solution to address the concerns of both developing countries and life scientists.

    • Amber Hartman Scholz
    • , Jens Freitag
    •  & Jörg Overmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rare species are crucial for biological diversity and ecosystem functioning. Here, the authors combine taxonomic and functional diversity data to quantify rarity across marine fish species, identifying mismatches between rarity hotspots and protected areas.

    • Isaac Trindade-Santos
    • , Faye Moyes
    •  & Anne E. Magurran

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Animal ecologists are increasingly limited by constraints in data processing. Here, Tuia and colleagues discuss how collaboration between ecologists and data scientists can harness machine learning to capitalize on the data generated from technological advances and lead to novel modeling approaches.

    • Devis Tuia
    • , Benjamin Kellenberger
    •  & Tanya Berger-Wolf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorn Starfish (CoTS) have caused coral cover declines across the Indo-Pacific. Here the authors analyse long-term CoTS, coral reef fish monitoring, and fisheries catch data from the Great Barrier Reef to demonstrate removal of predatory fish as a contributor to CoTS outbreaks.

    • Frederieke J. Kroon
    • , Diego R. Barneche
    •  & Michael J. Emslie

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The COVID-19 lockdown reduced human mobility and led to immediate insights into how humans impact nature. Yet the strongest ecological impacts are likely to come. As we emerge from the pandemic, governments should avoid prioritizing short-term economic gains that compromise ecosystems and the services they provide humanity. Instead, the pandemic can be a pivot point for societal transformation to value longer term ecosystem and economic sustainability.

    • Amanda E. Bates
    • , Sangeeta Mangubhai
    •  & Valeria Vergara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Habitat fragmentation and eutrophication have strong impacts on biodiversity but there is limited understanding of their cumulative impacts. This study presents simulations of meta-food-webs and provides a mechanistic explanation of how landscape heterogeneity promotes biodiversity through rescue and drainage effects.

    • Remo Ryser
    • , Myriam R. Hirt
    •  & Ulrich Brose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How can we best conserve the evolutionary heritage of our planet? Focusing on mammals, this study identifies the species and areas across the globe for which conservation actions would be the most beneficial for future projected phylogenetic diversity and highlights that they currently lack protection.

    • Marine Robuchon
    • , Sandrine Pavoine
    •  & Boris Leroy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Captive breeding could prevent species extinctions, but selection for captivity may decrease fitness. Here the authors analyse pedigree data on 15 long-running vertebrate breeding programs and find generational fitness changes that processes such as inbreeding depression cannot explain.

    • Katherine A. Farquharson
    • , Carolyn J. Hogg
    •  & Catherine E. Grueber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An experimental study finds that birds and bats avoid whitewater river noise, and that intense noise reduces bird foraging activity and causes bats to switch hunting strategies. Overlap between noise and song frequency predicts bird declines until high levels where other mechanisms appear important.

    • D. G. E. Gomes
    • , C. A. Toth
    •  & J. R. Barber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Growing human population density and farming expansion are fuelling human-wildlife conflict. Here the authors map spatial conflict with lions and elephants across Africa, identify high-risk areas, and estimate the cost-effectiveness of mitigation fences.

    • Enrico Di Minin
    • , Rob Slotow
    •  & Craig Packer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anthropogenic losses of animal pollinators threaten ecosystem functioning. Here the authors report a global analysis showing geographically varied yet widespread declines of pollinator diversity and abundance with land use intensification, particularly in tropical biomes.

    • Joseph Millard
    • , Charlotte L. Outhwaite
    •  & Tim Newbold

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Trait-based approaches assume upper critical thermal limits (CTLs) are good predictors of climate change vulnerability. Here, the authors show that male fertility thermal limits, which are lower than CTLs, are better at predicting Drosophila extinction in the lab, suggesting species may be living close to their thermal limits.

    • Belinda van Heerwaarden
    •  & Carla M. Sgrò

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant population growth rate is sensitive to annual temperature and precipitation anomalies. Here the authors analyse time series of population projection models from multiple biomes, finding a relationship between short generation times and strong demographic responses to climate—particularly precipitation—anomalies.

    • Aldo Compagnoni
    • , Sam Levin
    •  & Tiffany M. Knight

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate change is a threat to global biodiversity, but the potential effects on freshwater fishes have not been well studied. Here the authors model future flow and water temperature extremes and predict that increases in water temperature in particular will pose serious threats to freshwater fishes

    • Valerio Barbarossa
    • , Joyce Bosmans
    •  & Aafke M. Schipper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Proected areas (PA) expansion is a major conservation goal, but its effectiveness is debated. Here, the authors propose a multi-dimensional framework to assess PA vulnerability and select areas suitable for expansion, demonstrating it for 2572 PAs in China under a low-emission scenario.

    • Nawal Shrestha
    • , Xiaoting Xu
    •  & Zhiheng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biological fate of nanomaterials in organisms is an important topic, however, limitations of analytical techniques has hampered understanding. Here, the authors report on a study into the fate of model, gold nanoparticles in an aquatic food chain using an analytical workflow and range of analytical methods.

    • Fazel Abdolahpur Monikh
    • , Latifeh Chupani
    •  & Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A global analysis of population-level variation in genetic diversity for 727 plant and animal species finds that biogeography, life history traits and climate are important for predicting the distribution of local genetic diversity, and should be considered together when assessing the local conservation status of species.

    • H. De Kort
    • , J. G. Prunier
    •  & S. Blanchet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nature of forest disturbances are changing, yet consequences for forest dynamics remain uncertain. Using a new index, Stanke et al. show the populations of over half of the most abundant tree species in the western US have declined in the last two decades, with grim implications for how temperate forests globally will respond to sustained anthropogenic and natural stress.

    • Hunter Stanke
    • , Andrew O. Finley
    •  & David W. MacFarlane

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Temperature-dependent host–pathogen interactions may lead species to shift their thermal preferences under pathogen pressure. However, here the authors show that bats have not altered their microclimate preferences due to temperature-mediated mortality from white-nose syndrome, finding instead a sustained preference for warmer sites with high mortality.

    • Skylar R. Hopkins
    • , Joseph R. Hoyt
    •  & Kate E. Langwig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mapping and quantifying degree of forest modification is critical to conserve and manage forests. Here the authors propose a new quantitative metric for landscape integrity and apply it to a global forest map, showing that less than half of the world’s forest cover has high integrity, most of which is outside nationally designed protected areas.

    • H. S. Grantham
    • , A. Duncan
    •  & J. E. M. Watson

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Marine aquaculture is widely proposed as compatible with ocean sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and human nutrition goals. In this Perspective, Belton and colleagues dispute the empirical validity of such claims and contend that the potential of marine aquaculture has been much exaggerated.

    • Ben Belton
    • , David C. Little
    •  & Shakuntala H. Thilsted

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Not all plants are equally able to support native insects. Here, the authors use data on interactions among >12,000 Lepidoptera species and >2000 plant genera across the United States, showing that few plant genera host the majority of Lepidoptera species; this information is used to suggest priorities for plant restoration.

    • Desiree L. Narango
    • , Douglas W. Tallamy
    •  & Kimberley J. Shropshire

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long-term dynamics of species’ range sizes play a crucial role in determining extinction risks. Here the authors simulate global vegetation cover and scenarios of anthropogenic land cover change to estimate habitat range sizes of thousands of mammal, bird, and amphibian species since 1700, and project trajectories up to 2100 under four emission scenarios and five socio-economic pathways.

    • Robert M. Beyer
    •  & Andrea Manica

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (BD) associated with widespread amphibian declines is present in Europe but has not consistently caused disease-induced declines in that region. Here, the authors suggest that an endemic strain of BD with low virulence may protect the hosts upon co-infection with more virulent strains.

    • Mark S. Greener
    • , Elin Verbrugghe
    •  & An Martel

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Protected areas (PAs) are the most important conservation tool, yet assessing their effectiveness is remarkably challenging. We clarify the links between the many facets of PA effectiveness, from evaluating the means, to analysing the mechanisms, to directly measuring biodiversity outcomes.

    • Ana S. L. Rodrigues
    •  & Victor Cazalis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are many available ways to rank species for conservation prioritization. Here the authors identify species of mammals and birds that are both spatially restricted and functionally distinct, finding that such species are currently insufficiently protected and disproportionately sensitive to current and future threats.

    • Nicolas Loiseau
    • , Nicolas Mouquet
    •  & Cyrille Violle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are gaps in international efforts to monitor the wildlife trade, with many species potentially being undetected by the established monitoring groups. Here the authors use an automated web search to document the sale of reptiles online, revealing over 36% of all known reptile species are in trade, including many missing from official databases.

    • Benjamin M. Marshall
    • , Colin Strine
    •  & Alice C. Hughes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How to best allocate limited resources for conserving imperilled species is a difficult challenge. Here the authors analyse data on over 2000 threatened species from USA, Australia, and New Zealand, finding that on average half of the budget is allocated to research and monitoring. Species with higher budget allocation to research and monitoring tend to have poorer recovery outcomes.

    • Rachel T. Buxton
    • , Stephanie Avery-Gomm
    •  & Joseph R. Bennett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Due to legislative shortfalls, species of global conservation concern can still be captured in commercial fisheries. Here the authors show that 91 threatened species are reported in catch/landing databases, 13 of which are traded internationally despite their conservation concern.

    • Leslie A. Roberson
    • , Reg A. Watson
    •  & Carissa J. Klein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assessing the effectiveness of protected areas requires sufficient monitoring data inside and outside of protected areas; such data are lacking in many tropical regions. Here the authors use robust citizen science data on bird occupancy to show that protected areas are effective in maintaining bird species diversity across eight tropical biodiversity hotspots.

    • Victor Cazalis
    • , Karine Princé
    •  & Ana S. L. Rodrigues

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effectiveness of protected areas depends not only on whether they are intact, but also on whether they are mutually connected. Here the authors examine the structural connectivity of terrestrial protected areas globally, finding that less than 10% of the protected network can be considered connected.

    • Michelle Ward
    • , Santiago Saura
    •  & James E. M. Watson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Islands have disproportionate importance for biodiversity conservation, yet they may be underrepresented in protected areas. Here the authors assess how climate, geography, habitat diversity, and socio-economic conditions explain terrestrial and marine protected area coverage on inhabited islands and in the surrounding seas globally.

    • David Mouillot
    • , Laure Velez
    •  & Marc Troussellier

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