New Research on Biodiversity and Nature
A round-up of recent work published in scientific journals
Unloved amphibians. Dangerous earthworms. The biodiversity finance gap. 30x30 in India. Dams and fishes. Forestry robots.
Public awareness of amphibians at risk: Frogs, toads and other amphibians are experiencing the fastest and most widespread population declines of any vertebrate group. But how much do people know or care about this? This study tried to assess public awareness of these threatened animals by using Google Trends data on how often people searched for each of 7,297 amphibian species. Around 90 percent of these species’ common and scientific names were Googled zero times. This increased to 98 percent for species for which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lacks data on their conservation status. Read the full paper in Biological Conservation.
Introduced earthworms threaten North American ecosystems: Earthworms are widely perceived to be useful animals, boosting soil quality and carbon storage, for example. But when earthworms are introduced from one place to another, they can alter the properties of soil in ways that harm native species, including plants, amphibians and insects. This study set out to assess the scale of this overlooked threat. It shows that 70 earthworm species from Asia, South America, Europe and Africa have colonized North America. They are present in 97 percent of studied soils. The authors conclude that introduced earthworms pose a serious threat to the biodiversity and functioning of native ecosystems, and are not adequately managed by control and mitigation strategies. Read the press release or find the full paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Public and private sector efforts to close the biodiversity finance gap: Current investments in conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services finance are a fraction of what is needed to achieve the global vision of “living in harmony with nature” by 2050. This paper reviews efforts by the public and private sectors to close this gap — covering asset management, biodiversity credits, crowdfunding, debt-for-nature swaps, environmental fiscal transfer and green bonds. The authors discuss trends and priorities in areas such as harmful subsidies, biodiversity credits, and finance mechanisms that generate climate and biodiversity co-benefits. Find the full paper in Ecosystem Services.
How to protect 30 percent of India by 2030: Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commits Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to protect 30 percent of land and sea by 2030 (the 30x30 target). This paper looks at whether India can meet the target. The authors say the numerical target will be easy to achieve. But when it comes to the quality of protection, they highlight inadequate landscape connectivity, insufficient representation of habitats, and risks to communities that rely on natural resources. To address this, they suggest a four-pronged approach to ensure that conservation is strategic, inclusive, and equitable. Read the full paper in Conservation Letters.
Dams and the persistence of the world's freshwater fishes. This study is the first global assessment of threats that dams pose to the survival of freshwater fish populations. It covers more than 31,000 dams and over 7,300 fish species — more than half of which face losing some of their geographic range because of dams. In most cases, the loss of range is small, averaging just 3.3 percent. But for 74 fish species in Brazil, India, China, South Africa, the Mekong basin, the United States and the East Adriatic Coast in Europe, the geographic range could shrink by more than half. Read the full paper in Global Change Biology.
The world’s first autonomous machine for forestry operations: This study describes an autonomous machine with a computer-based vision system that can pick up logs and move across different forest terrains without human help. The authors say the machine can increase safety and efficiency in timber harvesting, while reducing costs and environmental impacts. Read the press release or the full paper in the Journal of Field Robotics.
See also, new papers on:
How management of marine protected areas overlooks adaptation to climate change
Trees struggling to ‘breathe’ as the climate warms (and press release)
Priority water basins for freshwater conservation in Morocco
In case you missed it…
Earlier this week I published Nature Beat #15 — full of news, resources, jobs, great stories, and more.
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