2022 Publications
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Lee JR, Terauds A, Carwardine J, Shaw JD, Fuller RA, Possingham HP, Chown SL, Convey P, Gilbert N, Hughes KA, McIvor E, Robinson SA, Ropert-Coudert Y, Bergstrom DM, Biersma EM, Christian C, Cowan DA, Frenot Y, Jenouvrier S, Kelley L, Lee MJ, Lynch HJ, Njåstad B, Queseda A, Roura RM, Ashley Shaw E, Stanwell-Smith D, Tsujimoto M, Wall DH, Wilmotte A & Chadès I (2022) Threat management priorities for conserving Antarctic biodiversity. PLoS Biology, 20, e3001921.
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Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity faces multiple threats, from invasive species to climate change. Yet no large-scale assessments of threat management strategies exist. Applying a structured participatory approach, we demonstrate that existing conservation efforts are insufficient in a changing world, estimating that 65% (at best 37%, at worst 97%) of native terrestrial taxa and land-associated seabirds are likely to decline by 2100 under current trajectories. Emperor penguins are identified as the most vulnerable taxon, followed by other seabirds and dry soil nematodes. We find that implementing 10 key threat management strategies in parallel, at an estimated present-day equivalent annual cost of US$23 million, could benefit up to 84% of Antarctic taxa. Climate change is identified as the most pervasive threat to Antarctic biodiversity and influencing global policy to effectively limit climate change is the most beneficial conservation strategy. However, minimising impacts of human activities and improved planning and management of new infrastructure projects are cost-effective and will help to minimise regional threats. Simultaneous global and regional efforts are critical to secure Antarctic biodiversity for future generations.
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Persson AS, Westman A, Smith TJ, Mayfield MM, Olsson P, Smith HG & Fuller RA (2022) Backyard buzz: Human population density modifies the value of vegetation cover for insect pollinators in a subtropical city. Urban Ecosystems, 25, 1875-1890.
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Urbanisation drives overall declines in insect pollinators. Although urban green spaces can provide suitable habitat for pollinators much remains to be learned about how urban landscapes either promote or negatively impact pollinators. We investigated how backyard design, local (100 m) and landscape (500 m) scale vegetation cover and human population density were associated with non-eusocial native bee species, eusocial bees (Apis mellifera and Tetragonula spp.), and hoverflies, in residential green spaces of the subtropical city Brisbane, Australia. We found that associations between bee abundance and vegetation cover were moderated by human density, but the direction of this effect differed for non-eusocial and eusocial species. Non-eusocial bee abundance was positively associated with tree cover at local and landscape scales when human densities were low, but negatively so at high human population densities. We suggest this may be because the quality of vegetation for non-eusocial bees deteriorates as human density increases. In contrast, abundance of eusocial bees was negatively associated with increasing local cover of grass and shrubs at low levels of human density, but positively associated at high densities. This affinity to humans could partly be explained by domesticated “kept” hives. We found no effect of urban gradients on bee species richness. Hoverfly abundance was negatively related to human density and positively related to vegetation cover at local and landscape scales. At the backyard scale, both bee species richness and bee and hoverfly abundances were positively associated to flower abundance. Backyards with more vegetation cover had higher densities of non-eusocial bees. Our results thus support the idea that urban greening in densely populated areas at multiple spatial scales can benefit a range of insect pollinators.
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Chowdhury S, Zalucki MP, Amano T, Poch TJ, Lin M-M, Ohwaki A, Lin D-L, Yang L, Choi S-W, Jennions MD & Fuller RA (2022) Trends and progress in studying butterfly migration. Integrative Conservation, 1, 8-24.
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Several hundred butterfly species show some form of migratory behaviour. Here we identify how the methodologies available for studying butterfly migration have changed over time, and document geographic and taxonomic foci in the study of butterfly migration. We review publications on butterfly migration published in six languages (English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish), summarise how migration in butterflies has been studied, explore geographic and taxonomic patterns in the knowledge base, and outline key future research directions. Using English search keywords, we found only 58 studies from Asia; however, after searching in local languages, we found an additional 98 relevant studies. Overall, butterfly migration studies are mostly from North America and Europe. Most studies focus on three species: monarch (Danaus plexippus), painted lady (Vanessa cardui) and red admiral (Vanessa atalanta). About 62% of publications are focused on the monarch, with nearly 50% of migratory butterfly species mentioned in only a single paper. Several research methods have been applied to ascribe migratory status and to study the physiology, neurobiology, and ecology of migration; however, virtually all this research is on a handful of species. There remain hundreds of species for which we do not understand the comprehensive seasonal pattern of movement, flight destinations, wintering, or breeding grounds. A better understanding of movement ecology and migratory connectivity is needed to effectively conserve migratory butterflies. It is essential that research becomes more geographically and linguistically representative since migrants frequently cross political borders and international cooperation is necessary for their conservation.
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Sockhill NJ, Dean AJ, Oh RRY & Fuller RA (2022) Beyond the ecocentric: Diverse values and attitudes influence engagement in pro-environmental behaviours. People and Nature, 5, 1500-1512.
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1. Changing human behaviour and social systems are key to reversing the global biodiversity crisis. Pro-environmental behaviour is guided by values and connection with nature, but because they have mostly been studied separately, the interplay between values and nature connection in influencing pro-environmental behaviour remains unclear.
2. In particular, it is uncertain whether people who hold anthropocentric values have a less positive connection with nature than those who hold ecocentric values, and whether nature protection behaviours differ between people with different values or strengths of connection to nature.
3. We used a stratified survey of 2100 respondents across Australia to measure orientation towards nature. We created segments based on individual values and connection with nature and characterised each segment based on demographics, nature-exposure, pro-environmental behaviours, support for environmental policies and political alignment.
4. We discovered that a quarter of respondents had anthropocentric values alongside a strong connection with nature. Moreover, of those with a strong connection with nature, people with anthropocentric values more frequently undertook certain pro-environmental behaviours than those with ecocentric values.
5. Our findings indicate that the strong expression of pro-environmental behaviour is not limited to people with ecocentric values. Rather, people with different values and strengths of connection to nature engage in different types of impactful nature protection behaviours, challenging stereotypes about those with anthropocentric values.
6. These results further suggest that behavioural intervention strategies could be tailored to reach sectors of society with various combinations of values and strengths of connection to nature, thus maximising the expression of pro-environmental behaviour across the entire population.
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Callaghan CT, Mesaglio T, Ascher JS, Brooks TM, Cabras AA, Chandler M, Cornwell WK, Cristóbal Ríos-Málaver IC, Dankowicz E, Dhiya’ulhaq NU, Fuller RA, Galindo-Leal C, Grattarola F, Hewitt S, Higgins L, Hitchcock C, Hung K-LJ, Iwane T, Kahumbu P, Kendrick R, Kieschnick SR, Kunz G, Lee CC, Lin C-T, Loarie S, Medina MN, McGrouther MA, Miles L, Modi S, Nowak K, Oktaviani R, Waswala Olewe BM, Pagé J, Petrovan S, Saari C, Seltzer CE, Seregin AP, Sullivan JJ, Sumanapala AP, Takoukam A, Widness J, Willmott K, Wüster W & Young AN (2022) The benefits of contributing to the citizen science platform iNaturalist as an identifier. PLoS Biology, 20, e3001843.
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As the number of observations submitted to the citizen science platform iNaturalist continues to grow, it is increasingly important that these observations can be identified to the finest taxonomic level, maximizing their value for biodiversity research. Here, we explore the benefits of acting as an identifier on iNaturalist.
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Choi C-Y, Xiao H, Jia M, Jackson MV, Lai Y-C, Murray NJ, Gibson L & Fuller RA (2022) An emerging coastal wetland management dilemma between mangrove expansion and shorebird conservation. Conservation Biology, 36, e13905.
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Coastal wetlands around the world have been degraded by human activities. Global declines in the extent of important coastal wetlands, including mangroves, salt marshes, and tidal flats, necessitate mitigation and restoration efforts. However, some well-meaning management actions, particularly mangrove afforestation, can inadvertently cause further loss and degradation of other habitats if these actions are not planned carefully. In particular, there is a potential conflict between mangrove and shorebird conservation because mangrove afforestation and restoration may occur at the expense of bare tidal flats, which form the main foraging habitats for threatened shorebirds and support other coastal organisms. We examined several case studies that illustrate the trade-off between mangrove restoration and bare tidal flat maintenance. To investigate whether these examples reflect an emerging broad-scale problem, we used satellite imagery to quantify the change in mangrove habitat extent in 22 important shorebird areas in mainland China from 2000 to 2015.The extent of tidal flat across all sites declined significantly (p < 0.01, n = 22) while among sites with mangroves present, the extent of mangroves expanded significantly (p < 0.01, n = 14). Our results suggest mangrove expansion and tidal flat loss have considerably reduced shorebird habitat in 8 of these sites. To improve the overall conservation outcome, we devised a decision tree for addressing the dilemma. Important factors to consider include whether the area of interest is of importance to shorebirds and what the potential impacts of mangrove expansion are; what the value of the proposed mangrove ecosystem is compared with the existing ecosystem; and that a conflict-resolution process will be needed if the choices are very similar. With careful consideration of alternative management strategies, decision makers can ensure that the conservation of mangroves does not imperil migratory shorebirds.
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Murray NJ, Phinn SP, Fuller RA, DeWitt M, Ferrari R, Johnston R, Clinton N & Lyons MB (2022) High-resolution global maps of tidal flat ecosystems from 1984 to 2019. Scientific Data, 9, 542.
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Assessments of the status of tidal flats, one of the most extensive coastal ecosystems, have been hampered by a lack of data on their global distribution and change. Here we present globally consistent, spatially-explicit data of the occurrence of tidal flats, defined as sand, rock or mud flats that undergo regular tidal inundation. More than 1.3 million Landsat images were processed to 54 composite metrics for twelve 3-year periods, spanning four decades (1984–1986 to 2017–2019). The composite metrics were used as predictor variables in a machine-learning classification trained with more than 10,000 globally distributed training samples. We assessed accuracy of the classification with 1,348 stratified random samples across the mapped area, which indicated overall map accuracies of 82.2% (80.0–84.3%, 95% confidence interval) and 86.1% (84.2–86.8%, 95% CI) for version 1.1 and 1.2 of the data, respectively. We expect these maps will provide a means to measure and monitor a range of processes that are affecting coastal ecosystems, including the impacts of human population growth and sea level rise.
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Day G, Fuller RA, Nichols C & Dean AJ (2022) Characteristics of immersive citizen science experiences that drive conservation engagement. People and Nature, 4, 983-995.
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1. The biodiversity crisis poses a real and present global threat to humanity. The acceleration of species and ecosystem decline coupled with climate change suggests that as it stands, nature cannot absorb the pressure humanity is placing on the planet. Bold new approaches to biodiversity conservation are needed.
2. Promoting an engaged community is an important part of achieving conservation outcomes. Research shows that citizen science has the potential to elicit conservation engagement. However, research has not specifically explored how intensive citizen science expedition programs contribute to change.
3. Here we use transformative learning theory as a tool to investigate how participation in citizen science programs influences conservation engagement. We analysed evaluation surveys of Earthwatch Institute citizen science participants (N = 608) and conducted in-depth interviews (N = 11), to examine the links between citizen science experiences and engagement outcomes.
4. We discovered that while nature-based components of citizen science programs attract participants and create a salient environment for transformation, these are not objectively associated with engagement outcomes. Strengthened awareness was associated with learning, social interactions and cultural experiences, whereas intentions to engage in conservation action was only influenced by experiencing a sense of contribution.
5. Rather than focusing only on learning and nature experiences, our results suggest that the elements of citizen science programs which support social change may require allowing participants to develop a sense of contribution amid an interactive social environment.
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Oh RRY, Zhang Y, Nghiem LTP, Chang C-C, Tan CLY, Quazi SA, Shanahan DF, Lin BB, Gaston KJ, Fuller RA & Carrasco RL (2022) Connection to nature and time spent in gardens predicts social cohesion. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, 127655.
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A person’s health and wellbeing are contingent on the amount of social support that they receive. Similarly, experiencing nature has been shown to improve people’s health and wellbeing. However, we do not know how relationships between social cohesion, nature experiences and nature connection could interrelate and vary across different types of urban green spaces, and in non-Westernised cultures. We conducted a study on 1249 residents in Singapore, a tropical city-state, and measured three dimensions of social cohesion (i.e. general social cohesion; trust and sense of community; and social interactions), various types of nature experiences (i.e. amount of green space around one’s residence; frequency and duration of urban green space visits; frequency and duration of visits to gardens), and three dimensions of one’s connection to nature: self-identity with nature, desire to experience nature, and environmental concern (using the nature relatedness scale). We found that people who strongly identify with nature, who enjoy being in nature, and who had more frequent gardens visits were more likely to have a stronger sense of social cohesion across two dimensions. However, those with stronger environmental concern reported an overall weaker sense of social cohesion, possibly due to the perception that society’s contributions to conserve environmental problems was insufficient. Further, people who gardened more frequently were also more likely to visit green spaces, self-identify with nature and exhibit a stronger desire to experience nature. We propose that strategies targeted at encouraging people to engage in nature-related, collaborative activities at the local community level, such as spending time in local gardens, will increase urban residents’ daily nature experiences and its associated benefits such as improving social cohesion.
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Bird JP, Terauds A, Fuller RA, Pascoe PP, Travers TD, McInnes JC, Alderman R & Shaw JD (2022) Generating unbiased estimates of burrowing seabird populations. Ecography, 2022, e06204.
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Maximising survey efficiency can help reduce the tradeoff between spending limited conservation resources on identifying population changes and responding to those changes through management. Burrow-nesting seabirds are particularly challenging to survey because nests cannot be counted directly. We evaluated a stratified random survey design for generating unbiased population estimates simultaneously for four petrel species nesting on Macquarie Island, Australia, where the survey cue, burrow entrances, is similar for all species. We also compared the use of design-based and model-based analyses for minimising uncertainty in estimates. We recorded 2845 Antarctic prion burrows, 306 white-headed petrel burrows and two blue petrel burrows while distance-sampling along 154 km of transects. For blue petrels and grey petrels, we completed nocturnal searches along a further 71 km and searched 249 km of tracks during follow-up ground searches. We failed to generate unbiased population estimates for two rare and localised species, blue and grey petrels, from our stratified random survey. Only for the most widespread and abundant species, Antarctic prion, did the estimate have reasonable power to detect a rapid population change. Model-based analyses of the stratified random survey data did not improve upon traditional design-based analyses in terms of uncertainty in population estimates, but they did provide useful spatial representation of current populations. Models that used the targeted survey data did not reflect current population sizes and distributions of the two rare and localised species. We found that when species ecologies, distributions and abundances vary, a multi-method approach to surveys is needed. Species with low abundance that occur patchily across large islands are likely to be best estimated using targeted surveys, whereas widespread and abundant species can be accurately and precisely estimated from randomised surveys using informative model-based analyses.
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Hansen BD, Rogers DI, Watkins D, Weller DR, Clemens RS, Newman M, Woehler EJ, Mundkur T & Fuller RA (2022) Generating population estimates for migratory shorebird species in the world’s largest flyway. Ibis, 164, 735-749.
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Population estimates are widely used to underpin conservation decisions. However, determining accurate population estimates for migratory species is especially challenging, as they are often widespread and it is rarely possible to survey them throughout their full distribution. In the East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF), this problem is compounded by its size (85 million square kilometres) and the number of migratory species it supports (nearly 500). Here, we provide analytical approaches for addressing this problem, presenting a revision of the EAAF population estimates for 37 migratory shorebird species protected under Australian national environmental legislation. Population estimates were generated by (1) summarizing existing count data in the non-breeding range, (2) spatially extrapolating across uncounted areas, and (3) modelling abundance on the basis of estimates of breeding range and density. Expert review was used to adjust modelled estimates, particularly in under-counted areas. There were many gaps in shorebird monitoring data, necessitating substantial use of extrapolation and expert review, the extent of which varied among species. Spatial extrapolation to under-counted areas often produced estimates that were much higher than the observed data, and expert review was used to cross-check and adjust these where necessary. Estimates of population size obtained through analyses of breeding ranges and density indicated that 18 species were poorly represented by counts in the non-breeding season. It was difficult to determine independently the robustness of these estimates, but these breeding ground estimates were considered the best available data for 10 species that mostly use poorly surveyed freshwater or pelagic habitats in the non-breeding season. We discuss the rationale and limitations of these approaches to population estimation, and how they could be modified for other applications. Data available for population estimates will vary in quality and extent among species, regions and migration stage, and approaches need to be flexible enough to provide useful information for conservation policy and planning.
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Kendal D, Ordóñez C, Davern M, Fuller RA, Hochuli DF, van der Ree R, Livesley SJ & Threlfall CG (2022) Public satisfaction with urban trees and their management: the roles of values, beliefs, knowledge, and trust. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 73, 127623.
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The success of urban forest management strategies is dependent on public support for and engagement with urban trees. Satisfaction with urban trees and their management, and the level of trust people have in urban tree managers, are useful for understanding public opinions. Yet these concepts, and the mechanisms leading to the formation of public opinions remain poorly explored in the literature. Here we explore how satisfaction with urban trees and with urban tree management, and trust in the agencies responsible for urban tree management, are explained by cognitive factors (values, beliefs, and knowledge) and socio-ecological contextual factors (tree presence/canopy cover, cultural diversity, and socioeconomic status) using an online survey of 16 local government areas in south-eastern Australia. Analyses of 2367 responses revealed that people’s opinions about trees in general (values and beliefs) were overwhelmingly positive, while their opinions about more contextualised measures such as satisfaction and trust were more mixed. Two distinct pathways that influence satisfaction were identified: one linked to beliefs about having trees in cities, and another one linked to trust in urban tree management. At the local government level, satisfaction was negatively associated with a measure of cultural diversity and very low levels of tree canopy cover, but not with socioeconomic disadvantage. Satisfaction with local trees could be improved by increasing the quality of ecological function of trees, such as habitat provision and tree diversity. Community engagement could also improve satisfaction and trust, particularly perceived procedural fairness of decision-making, reinforce positive beliefs about the outcomes of having trees in cities, and dispel negative beliefs. Engagement processes should recognise that people hold complex and diverse opinions about urban trees, and by incorporating these opinions into decision-making we can meet the increasingly complex and diverse expectations being placed on urban forests.
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Rowell DA, Arafeh-Dalmau N, Fuller RA, Possingham HP & Hereu B (2022) Efficient small-scale marine reserve design requires high-resolution biodiversity and stakeholder data. Ocean and Coastal Management, 223, 106152.
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Establishing marine reserves is particularly challenging in highly populated coastal areas where stakeholders compete for resources and space, such as the Mediterranean Sea. While large-scale conservation planning is useful, there is a need for finer-grained assessments at local and regional scales. Yet fine scale environmental and socioeconomic data are not always available. Here, we evaluate the influence of the spatial resolution of biodiversity and socioeconomic data on the selection of priority areas for conservation in Montgrí, the Illes Medes and the Baix Ter Natural Park, Spain. We used varying levels of habitat data, from fine-scale maps created using detailed bathymetry and underwater surveys to less detailed ones using existing data or broader classifications. We also used different estimates of the cost of protection, from a combined recreational and artisanal fishing cost obtained through local consultation and in situ mapping to simple indirect measures such as distance to port. Our results reveal that conservation planning scenarios that do not use fine-scale bathymetry are ineffective at protecting biodiversity and only represent 40% or less of the habitats. Scenarios that only include recreational fishing, which is limited to certain planning units in the park, perform very poorly at minimizing cost, highlighting the need to use cost estimates that include all planning units. We conclude that local-scale data will often be needed to support and guide local-scale efforts to expand or establish new marine reserves.
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Wauchope HS, Jones JPG, Geldmann J, Simmons BI, Amano T, Blanco DE, Fuller RA, Johnston A, Langendoen T, Mundkur T, Nagy S & Sutherland WJ (2022) Protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, but management helps. Nature, 605, 103-107.
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International policy is focused on increasing the proportion of the Earth’s surface that is protected for nature. Although studies show that protected areas prevent habitat loss, there is a lack of evidence for their effect on species’ populations: existing studies are at local scale or use simple designs that lack appropriate controls. Here we explore how 1,506 protected areas have affected the trajectories of 27,055 waterbird populations across the globe using a robust before–after control–intervention study design, which compares protected and unprotected populations in the years before and after protection. We show that the simpler study designs typically used to assess protected area effectiveness (before–after or control–intervention) incorrectly estimate effects for 37–50% of populations—for instance misclassifying positively impacted populations as negatively impacted, and vice versa. Using our robust study design, we find that protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, with a strong signal that areas managed for waterbirds or their habitat are more likely to benefit populations, and a weak signal that larger areas are more beneficial than smaller ones. Calls to conserve 30% of the Earth’s surface by 2030 are gathering pace, but we show that protection alone does not guarantee good biodiversity outcomes. As countries gather to agree the new Global Biodiversity Framework, targets must focus on creating and supporting well-managed protected and conserved areas that measurably benefit populations.
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Negret PJ, Atkinson SC, Woodworth BK, Corella Tor M, Allan JR, Fuller RA & Amano T (2022) Language barriers in global bird conservation. PLoS ONE, 17, e0267151.
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Multiple languages being spoken within a species’ distribution can impede communication among conservation stakeholders, the compilation of scientific information, and the development of effective conservation actions. Here, we investigate the number of official languages spoken within the distributions of 10,863 bird species to identify which species might be particularly affected by consequences of language barriers. We show that 1587 species have 10 languages or more spoken within their distributions. Threatened and migratory species have significantly more languages spoken within their distributions, when controlling for range size. Particularly high numbers of species with many languages within their distribution are found in Eastern Europe, Russia and central and western Asia. Global conservation efforts would benefit from implementing guidelines to overcome language barriers, especially in regions with high species and language diversity.
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Bird JP, Fuller RA, Pascoe PP & Shaw JD (2022) Trialling camera traps to determine occupancy and breeding in burrowing seabirds. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 8, 180-190.
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Burrowing seabirds are important in ecological and conservation terms. Many populations are in flux due to both negative and positive anthropogenic impacts, but their ecology makes measuring changes difficult. Reliably recording key metrics, the proportion of burrows with breeding pairs and the success of breeding attempts requires burrow-level information on occupancy. We investigated the use of camera traps positioned at burrow entrances for determining the number of breeding pairs in a sample to inform population estimates, and for recording breeding success. The performance of two cameras makes we tested differed markedly, with Spypoint Force 10 trail cameras prone to malfunction while Reconyx HC600 Hyperfire cameras performed well. Nevertheless, both makes yielded season-long activity patterns for individual burrows, eliminating uncertainty around successful fledging attempts. Dimensionality reduction of activity metrics derived from camera time series suggests breeding and non-breeding burrows may be identifiable using linear discriminant analyses but sample sizes from our trial were low and group means were only significantly different during certain breeding stages (permutational multivariate analysis of variance: early chick-rearing f = 3.64, P = 0.06; late chick-rearing f = 8.28, P = 0.009). Compared with traditional techniques for determining burrow occupancy (e.g. manual burrow inspection and playback of conspecific calls at burrow entrances), camera traps can reduce uncertainty in estimated breeding success and potentially breeding status of burrows. Significant up-front investment is required in terms of equipment and human resources but for long-term studies, camera traps may deliver advantages, particularly when unanticipated novel observations and the potential for calibrating traditional methods with cameras are factored in.
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Wang X, Li X, Ren X, Jackson MV, Fuller RA, Melville DS, Amano T & Ma Z (2022) Effects of anthropogenic landscapes on population maintenance of waterbirds. Conservation Biology, 36, e13808.
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Anthropogenic impacts have reduced natural areas but increased the area of anthropogenic landscapes. There is debate about whether anthropogenic landscapes (e.g., farmlands, orchards, and fish ponds) provide alternatives to natural habitat and under what circumstances. We considered whether anthropogenic landscapes can mitigate population declines for waterbirds. We collected data on population trends and biological traits of 1203 populations of 579 species across the planet. Using Bayesian generalized linear mixed models, we tested whether the ability of a species to use an anthropogenic landscape can predict population trends of waterbird globally and of species of conservation concern. Anthropogenic landscapes benefited population maintenance of common but not less-common species. Conversely, the use of anthropogenic landscapes was associated with population declines for threatened species. Our findings delineate some limitations to the ability of anthropogenic landscapes to mitigate population declines, suggesting that the maintenance of global waterbird populations depends on protecting remaining natural areas and improving the habitat quality in anthropogenic landscapes.
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Berdejo-Espinola V, Zahnow R, Suárez-Castro AF, Rhodes JR & Fuller RA (2022) Changes in green space use during a COVID-19 lockdown are associated with both individual and green space characteristics. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 804443.
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Mobility restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic present a useful study system for understanding the temporal and spatial patterns of green space use. Here, we examine green space characteristics and sociodemographic factors associated with change in frequency of green space use before and during a COVID-19 lockdown in Brisbane, Australia drawing on a survey of 372 individuals. Applying regression analysis, we found that individuals who visited a different green space during lockdown than before tended to decrease their frequency of visits. In contrast, individuals who continued visiting their usual green space during lockdown were more inclined to increase their number of visits. Changes in frequency of green space use were also associated with particular characteristics of their usually visited green space. The presence of blue spaces and accessibility (carparks/public transport) were associated with increased frequency of use while foliage height diversity was associated with reduced frequency of use. We found that females were more likely to change their green space visitation frequency during COVID-19 compared to men and they also reported greater importance of green spaces for social and family interactions and spiritual reasons during COVID-19 compared to before. Males showed greater increases than females in the importance of green space for nature interactions and mental health benefits during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to before. Our results provide key insights for future resilient urban planning and policy that can fulfil a wide range of physical and psychological needs during a time of crisis and beyond.
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Chowdhury S, Alam S, Labi MM, Khan N, Rokonuzzaman M, Biswas D, Tahea T, Mukul SA & Fuller RA (2022) Protected areas in South Asia: Status and prospects. Science of the Total Environment, 811, 152316.
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Natural ecosystems globally have been disrupted by anthropogenic activities, and the current biodiversity extinction rate exceeds the natural extinction rate by 1,000-fold. Protected areas (PAs) help insulate samples of biodiversity from these human-induced threats; however, assessments of the factors threatening biodiversity in PAs are scarce in South Asia – one of the key global epicentres of human population growth. Here, by synthesizing published literature and analysing the current configuration of the PA estate, we discuss the trends and biases in existing knowledge, identify research gaps, measure the level of PA coverage and growth patterns, and discuss the threats to South Asian biodiversity inside PAs. We showed that published studies focused mainly on documenting species distributions in PAs, were heavily biased toward vertebrates, and had been mostly conducted in India. Nearly 70% of studies focused on the distribution of organisms, while only 9% performed conservation assessments or devised strategies to manage PAs; 70% of studies cover vertebrates, while only two studies focused on marine fauna; 50% of studies focused on India, with only a handful from Afghanistan. Only three (Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka) of the eight countries already meet a terrestrial PA representation target of 17%, while no country meets a marine representation target of 10%. Most PAs were very small, with nearly 80% below 100 km2, and 22% below 1 km2. We identified that South Asian PAs are facing a broad range of anthropogenic threats – about three in five studies reported threats inside protected areas. Due to extensive anthropogenic pressures, biodiversity in South Asia is facing an existential crisis, and society-wide collaborative efforts are needed to arrest and reverse the declines. We hope this review will stimulate efforts to capitalise on the opportunity for efficient PA growth in the region on the eve of the post-2020 global biodiversity targets.
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Choi C-Y, Shi X, Shi J, Gan X, Wen C, Zhang J, Jackson MV, Fuller RA & Gibson L (2022) China’s Ecological Conservation Redline policy is a new opportunity to meet post-2020 protected area targets. Conservation Letters, 5, e12853.
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Designating protected and conserved areas is a critical component of biodiversity conservation. The 10th Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010 set global targets for the areal extent of protected areas (PAs) that were met partially in 2020, yet a new, more ambitious target is needed to halt ongoing global biodiversity loss. China recently introduced a national Ecological Conservation Redline policy, which aims to ensure no net change in land cover and no net loss of biodiversity or degradation of ecosystem services within areas that are critical for maintaining ecological safety and functions. Enacting this policy could achieve ancillary conservation outcomes even where conservation is not the primary objective, thus meeting CBD’s definition of “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECM). By comparing the Ecological Conservation Redline boundaries with important coastal waterbird sites in China, we found that three times more sites could be conserved under the new redline policy compared to the national nature reserve system alone. This indicates that considering the redline policy approach as a form of OECM is a promising pathway to expand the areal coverage of PAs and conserve biodiversity outside currently designated PAs, providing a model that could be adopted around the world.
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Akasaka M, Kadoya T, Fujita T & Fuller RA (2022) Narrowly distributed taxa are disproportionately informative for conservation planning. Scientific Reports, 12, 2229.
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Biological atlas data can be used as inputs into conservation decision-making, yet atlases are sometimes infrequently updated, which can be problematic when the distribution of species is changing rapidly. Despite this, we have a poor understanding of strategies for efficiently updating biological atlas data. Using atlases of the distributions of 1630 threatened plant taxa, we quantitatively compared the informativeness of narrowly distributed and widespread taxa in identifying areas that meet taxon-specific conservation targets, and also measured the cost-efficiency of meeting those targets. We also explored the underlying mechanisms of the informativeness of narrowly distributed taxa. Overall, narrowly distributed taxa are far more informative than widespread taxa for identifying areas that efficiently meet conservation targets, while their informativeness for identifying cost-efficient areas varied depending on the type of conservation target. Narrowly distributed taxa are informative mainly because their distributions disproportionately capture areas that are either relatively taxon rich or taxon poor, and because of larger number of taxa captured with given number of records. Where resources for updating biological data are limited, a focus on areas supporting many narrowly distributed taxa could benefit conservation planning.
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Chang C-c, Cox DTC, Fan Q, Nghiem TPL, Tan CLY, Oh RRY, Lin BB, Shanahan DF, Fuller RA, Gaston KJ & Carrasco LR (2022) People’s desire to be in nature and how they experience it are partially heritable. PLoS Biology, 20, e3001500.
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Nature experiences have been linked to mental and physical health. Despite the importance of understanding what determines individual variation in nature experience, the role of genes has been overlooked. Here, using a twin design (TwinsUK, number of individuals = 2,306), we investigate the genetic and environmental contributions to a person’s nature orientation, opportunity (living in less urbanized areas), and different dimensions of nature experience (frequency and duration of public nature space visits and frequency and duration of garden visits). We estimate moderate heritability of nature orientation (46%) and nature experiences (48% for frequency of public nature space visits, 34% for frequency of garden visits, and 38% for duration of garden visits) and show their genetic components partially overlap. We also find that the environmental influences on nature experiences are moderated by the level of urbanization of the home district. Our study demonstrates genetic contributions to individuals’ nature experiences, opening a new dimension for the study of human–nature interactions.
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Chang C-c, Nghiem TPL, Fan Q, Tan CLY, Oh RRY, Lin BB, Shanahan DF, Fuller RA, Gaston KJ & Carrasco LR (2022) Genetic contribution to concern for nature and proenvironmental behaviour. Bioscience, 72, 160-165.
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Earth is undergoing a devastating extinction crisis caused by human impacts on nature, but only a fraction of society is strongly concerned and acting on the crisis. Understanding what determines people’s concern for nature, environmental movement activism, and personal conservation behavior is fundamental if sustainability is to be achieved. Despite its potential importance, the study of the genetic contribution to concern for nature and proenvironmental behaviors has been neglected. Using a twin data set (N = 2312), we show moderate heritability (30%–40%) for concern for nature, environmental movement activism, and personal conservation behavior and high genetic correlations between them (.6–.7), suggesting a partially shared genetic basis. Our results shed light on the individual variation in sustainable behaviors, highlighting the importance of understanding both the environmental and genetic components in the pursuit of sustainability.
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Gibson MR, Runge CA, Stephens PA, Fuller RA & Willis SG (2022) Where nothing stands still: Quantifying nomadism in Australian arid-zone birds. Landscape Ecology, 37, 191-208.
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Context: Nomadism is a movement strategy in response to non-seasonal environmental variability. Knowledge of nomadic species movements is poor but is necessary to understand life histories and develop appropriate conservation strategies.
Objectives: We provide a first quantification of nomadism among Australia’s arid bird community, which is presumed to be highly nomadic, by measuring variation in species’ occurrence and abundance among years to determine whether there are clear nomadic and non-nomadic strategists.
Methods: We surveyed birds annually from 2012 to 2016. We measured how many years each species was present at a site and estimated inter-annual variability in species abundance, using both measures to infer species movement patterns. We used results to inform existing movement classifications.
Results: Most arid species showed low site persistence, with species detected at the same site, on average, 1.8 out of the five survey years. Movement varied along a continuum rather than grouping into distinct nomadic and non-nomadic groups. Species classified as nomadic showed higher variation in abundance and lower site persistence than species classified as resident. Our method of quantifying nomadism closely replicated existing expert-derived movement classifications of arid zone bird species.
Conclusions: Rather than a fixed attribute, movements of many species in our study can be heavily environment-dependent, and individuals of a single species can display a continuum of movements in different times and places. This complicates the conservation of species, but the growing recognition of the complexity of species movements offers opportunities for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between species and environment.
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Morrick ZN, Lilleyman A, Fuller RA, Bush R, Coleman JT, Garnett ST, Gerasimov YN, Jessop R, Ma Z, Maglio G, Minton CDT, Syroechkovskiy E & Woodworth BK (2022) Differential population trends align with migratory connectivity in an endangered shorebird. Conservation Science and Practice, 4, e594.
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Migratory connectivity describes the extent to which migratory species’ populations are connected throughout the annual cycle. While recognized as critical for understanding the population dynamics of migratory species and conserving them, empirical evidence of links between migratory connectivity and population dynamics are uncommon. We analyzed associations between spatiotemporal connectivity and differential population trends in a declining and endangered migratory shorebird, the far eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), with multiyear tracking data from across the Australian nonbreeding grounds. We found evidence of temporal and spatial segregation during migration and breeding: curlew from southeast Australia initiated northward migration earlier, arrived at breeding sites earlier, and bred at lower latitudes than curlew from northwest Australia. Analysis of land modification intensity revealed that populations from southeast Australia face greater human impacts compared to those from northwest Australia at both the breeding and nonbreeding grounds, a pattern that aligns with steeper population declines in southeast Australia. This alignment between migratory connectivity, human impacts, and differential population change highlights the importance of a full annual cycle approach to conservation that includes mitigating threats on the breeding grounds and better protecting nonbreeding habitats in Australia where far eastern curlew spend over half of each year.
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Benedetti Y, Morelli F, Callaghan CT & Fuller RA (2022) Distribution and protection of avian specialization in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31, 10-24.
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Aim: We assessed the spatial distribution of four different types of avian specialization throughout Europe, identifying landscape features associated with specialization and quantifying where the Natura 2000 network intersects with areas of high avian specialization.
Location: Europe.
Time period: Present day.
Taxa studied: European breeding birds.
Methods: We used the European Atlas of breeding birds and four avian specialization measures (diet, foraging behaviour, foraging substrate and habitat). We calculated
specialization richness and identified geographical hotspots for each of these ecological traits. We tested whether elevational gradient, landscape heterogeneity or dominant land use predicted each type of specialization richness. We determined which types of European protected areas are most associated with higher specialization richness.
Results: Diet and foraging substrate specialists increased with elevation, whereas richness of foraging behavioural specialists decreased. There was a greater richness of dietary and habitat specialists in forests than in other environments. The Natura 2000 areas declared under Bird and both directives (Birds and Habitats) intersected with a high dietary, foraging substrate and habitat specialist richness. The richness of foraging behaviour specialists was high in Birds directive areas. Single and multiple hotspots of specialization were greater in protected than non-protected areas. However, almost 30% of specialization hotspots did not intersect with protected areas.
Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that higher levels of avian specialization in Europe are positively associated with elevation and forested land cover. Importantly, we found that the Natura 2000 network supports all types of avian ecological specialization, albeit mainly in areas declared under both directives.
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