COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown as a "Global Human Confinement Experiment" to investigate biodiversity conservation

Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human-wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.

Insights from the 2-year-long human confinement experiment in Grand Cayman reveal the resilience of coral reef fish communities

In March 2020, the world went into lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), with immediate impacts on wildlife across ecosystems. The strict 2-year long lockdown in Grand Cayman provided an unprecedented opportunity to assess how the 'human confinement experiment' influenced the community composition of reef fish. Using a suite of multivariate statistics, our findings revealed a stark increase in reef fish biomass during the 2 years of lockdown, especially among herbivores, including parrotfish, with drastic increases in juvenile parrotfishes identified. Additionally, when comparing baseline data of the community from 2018 to the 2 years during lockdown, over a three-fold significant increase in mean reef fish biomass was observed, with a clear shift in community composition. Our findings provide unique insights into the resilience of reef fish communities when local anthropogenic stressors are removed for an unprecedented length of time. Given the functional role of herbivores including parrotfish, our results suggest that reductions in human water-based activities have positive implications for coral reef ecosystems and should be considered in future management strategies.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Environmental Health (Two Sides of the Same Coin): A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 has led to many changes such as reduced human activities and effects on the environment. There is no big picture of the effects of pandemics on the environment using related evidence.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental health.

METHODS

A systematic search of English language studies was performed in major electronic databases; Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar web search engine from December 2019 to February 2022. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standard guidelines were used to follow up the review process. finally 58 articles entered the review procedure.

RESULTS

The results of indicate a significant reduction of air pollutants and improved air quality. It improved the water quality of some rivers, canals, and seas during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of this disease on the environment cannot be fully described yet.

CONCLUSION

In the short term, the amount of air, water, and coastal pollution has been reduced. few studies have examined the effects of pandemics on the environment in the long run, which paves the way for more researches.

Wearable sensors for monitoring marine environments and their inhabitants

Human societies depend on marine ecosystems, but their degradation continues. Toward mitigating this decline, new and more effective ways to precisely measure the status and condition of marine environments are needed alongside existing rebuilding strategies. Here, we provide an overview of how sensors and wearable technology developed for humans could be adapted to improve marine monitoring. We describe barriers that have slowed the transition of this technology from land to sea, update on the developments in sensors to advance ocean observation and advocate for more widespread use of wearables on marine organisms in the wild and in aquaculture. We propose that large-scale use of wearables could facilitate the concept of an 'internet of marine life' that might contribute to a more robust and effective observation system for the oceans and commercial aquaculture operations. These observations may aid in rationalizing strategies toward conservation and restoration of marine communities and habitats.

Covid-related surge in global wild bird feeding: Implications for biodiversity and human-nature interaction

The global extent of supplementary bird feeding is unknown but has consequences for bird conservation and human well-being. Using a measure of search intensity for words related to bird feeding from Google, we document a surge of interest in bird feeding that occurred around the world after Covid-19 led to lockdowns where people stayed home: 115 countries saw an increase in bird feeding search interest. We test whether the existence of interest in bird feeding is associated with greater species richness of bird species, our proxy for biodiversity, and find the relationship is highly significant. Covid-19 lockdowns may have persistent influences on global bird populations and humans' connection to nature.

Worse sleep and increased energy expenditure yet no movement changes in sub-urban wild boar experiencing an influx of human visitors (anthropulse) during the COVID-19 pandemic

Expansion of urban areas, landscape transformation and increasing human outdoor activities strongly affect wildlife behaviour. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in particular led to drastic changes in human behaviour, exposing wildlife around the world to either reduced or increased human presence, potentially altering animal behaviour. Here, we investigate behavioural responses of wild boar (Sus scrofa) to changing numbers of human visitors to a suburban forest near Prague, Czech Republic, during the first 2.5 years of the COVID-19 epidemic (April 2019-November 2021). We used bio-logging and movement data of 63 GPS-collared wild boar and human visitation data based on an automatic counter installed in the field. We hypothesised that higher levels of human leisure activity will have a disturbing effect on wild boar behaviour manifested in increased movements and ranging, energy spent, and disrupted sleep patterns. Interestingly, whilst the number of people visiting the forest varied by two orders of magnitude (from 36 to 3431 people weekly), even high levels of human presence (>2000 visitors per week) did not affect weekly distance travelled, home range size, and maximum displacement of wild boar. Instead, individuals spent 41 % more energy at high levels of human presence (>2000 visitors per week), with more erratic sleep patterns, characterised by shorter and more frequent sleeping bouts. Our results highlight multifaceted effects of increased human activities ('anthropulses'), such as those related to COVID-19 countermeasures, on animal behaviour. High human pressure may not affect animal movements or habitat use, especially in highly adaptable species such as wild boar, but may disrupt animal activity rhythms, with potentially detrimental fitness consequences. Such subtle behavioural responses can be overlooked if using only standard tracking technology.

Quantification and characterization of macro- and mesoplastic items in the water column of the river Waal

Although studies on plastic concentrations mainly focus on the marine environment, recently, an increasing number of studies point out environmental consequences in freshwater environments around the world. However, there still is a paucity of field data on the abundance of riverine plastic items, in particular in the water column. In this study, we provide an overview of macro- and mesoplastic concentrations, categories, ages, and origin over several years in the water column of the river Waal, in the Netherlands. The river water column was passively sampled at two selected locations using a stow net at very low and low discharges (range 537 - 1345 m³.s^-1). The most dominant macro- and mesoplastic categories were 'Miscellaneous plastic waste', including "Plastic film 2.5 - 50 cm (soft)" and "Plastic film 0 - 2.5 cm (soft)" as main categories. Macro- and mesoplastic categories were found to show limited variability during several years of monitoring. The mean macroplastic concentration (± SD) ranged between 2.2 × 10^-3 ± 0.001 and 7.4 × 10^-3 ± 0.003 particles.m^-3 for October 2020 and November 2018, respectively. In 2020, the plastic concentrations showed a sharp decrease compared to the previous years, most likely as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. The origin of the plastics (e.g., countries) also showed little variability during monitoring. The consistency of several characteristics of the collected plastic suggests that the same sources were responsible for the macro- and mesoplastic input into the river Waal during low discharges and over multiple years. We present the first temporal assessment of macro- and mesoplastic concentrations and composition in the water column of the river Waal. The outcome of the current study can be used to support the development of management measures by decision makers.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on levels of deep-ocean acoustic noise

The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic led to measures to mitigate the spread of the disease, with lockdowns and mobility restrictions at national and international levels. These measures led to sudden and sometimes dramatic reductions in human activity, including significant reductions in ship traffic in the maritime sector. We report on a reduction of deep-ocean acoustic noise in three ocean basins in 2020, based on data acquired by hydroacoustic stations in the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The noise levels measured in 2020 are compared with predicted levels obtained from modelling data from previous years using Gaussian Process regression. Comparison of the predictions with measured data for 2020 shows reductions of between 1 and 3 dB in the frequency range from 10 to 100 Hz for all but one of the stations.

Perceptions of change in the environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for environmental policy

COVID-19 lockdown measures have impacted the environment with both positive and negative effects. However, how human populations have perceived such changes in the natural environment and how they may have changed their daily habits have not been yet thoroughly evaluated. The objectives of this work were to investigate (1) the social perception of the environmental changes produced by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the derived change in habits in relation to i) waste management, energy saving, and sustainable consumption, ii) mobility, iii) social inequalities, iv) generation of noise, v) utilization of natural spaces, and, vi) human population perception towards the future, and (2) the associations of these potential new habits with various socio-demographic variables. First, a SWOT analysis identified strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) generated by the pandemic lockdown measures. Second, a survey based on the aspects of the SWOT was administered among 2370 adults from 37 countries during the period from February to September 2021. We found that the short-term positive impacts on the natural environment were generally well recognized. In contrast, longer-term negative effects arise, but they were often not reported by the survey participants, such as greater production of plastic waste derived from health safety measures, and the increase in e-commerce use, which can displace small storefront businesses. We were able to capture a mismatch between perceptions and the reported data related to visits to natural areas, and generation of waste. We found that age and country of residence were major contributors in shaping the survey participants ´answers, which highlights the importance of government management strategies to address current and future environmental problems. Enhanced positive perceptions of the environment and ecosystems, combined with the understanding that livelihood sustainability, needs to be prioritized and would reinforce environmental protection policies to create greener cities. Moreover, new sustainable jobs in combination with more sustainable human habits represent an opportunity to reinforce environmental policy.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the popularity of protected areas for mountain biking and hiking in Australia: Insights from volunteered geographic information

Although the popularity of protected areas for recreation has been increasing, short term changes in visitation occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine how volunteer geographic information data can be used to monitor such often rapid changes in visitation across multiple locations, data from online fitness platforms for mountain biking (Trailforks) and remote area hiking (Wikiloc) were analysed before (2019) and during (2020-2021) the COVID-19 pandemic for 40 protected areas in Queensland, Australia. Mountain biking was popular with a total of 93,311 routes on Trailforks, with 26,936 routes in 2019, increasing to 37,406 in 2020, and then decreasing to 28,969 in 2021. Approximately 66% of all the routes were from just three urban protected areas out of the 12 with route data. There were 4367 routes for remote area hiking on Wikiloc across 36 protected areas, which increased slightly from 1081 in 2019, to 1421 in 2020 and to 1865 in 2021. Across 18 factors, distance from urban areas and networks of mountain biking trails best predicted popularity for mountain biking based on Generalised Linear Models. In contrast, average slope and large networks of hiking trails best predicted hiking, with similar results for each year. The two sources of online data were correlated with trail counter data, although not consistently. The results highlight how external factors affect visitation, but also how the same types of protected areas remained popular, and that the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on visitation in South-East Queensland protected areas was less dramatic than for other regions. This study further highlights how volunteered geographic information can be used to assess the popularity of protected areas, including in rapidly changing conditions.

Management implications

Rapid changes in visitation can be challenging to monitor and manage, as occurred with the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mountain biking and hiking and factors predicting protected area popularity were examined across different parks. Visitation increased at different stages of the pandemic, with mountain bikers' preferring urban parks with networks of mountain bike trails while some hikers preferred more remote large parks. Managers can expand on traditional methods of visitor monitoring by using volunteered geographic information to monitor rapid and longer-term trends of visitation to protected areas.

Anthropause appreciation, biophilia, and ecophilosophical contemplations amidst a global pandemic

In 2020, COVID-19 mitigation measures, including lockdowns and travel bans to curtail disease transmission, inadvertently led to an "Anthropause" - a unique global pause to anthropogenic activities. While there was a spike in ecological studies measuring Anthropause effects on environmental indicators, people's experiences of the Anthropause or its potential to inspire change were hardly considered. Hence, we aimed to measure people's appreciation of the environmental outcomes of the Anthropause, ecophilosophical contemplations about the pandemic, and experiences of lockdown-triggered biophilia (human's innate love for and draw towards nature) and test the hypothesis that these experiences would be consistently more prominent among the already environmentally inclined. To that end, we developed and tested three measures on a representative sample of 993 New Zealanders. Anthropause Appreciation received the highest overall mean ratings, followed by Lockdown-Biophilia and Eco-Contemplation. Pre-existing pro-environmental dispositions and behaviours did not consistently influence our three measures as expected. Demographic variables had little influence, while experiences of financial and mental health impacts due to COVID-19 had no influence. We interpreted the limited influence of explanatory variables as indicative of a degree of uniformity in people's experiences. High appreciation of Anthropause benefits suggests that the public may be supportive of policies and ways of living that can lead to similar outcomes post-pandemic - offering environmental policymakers and communicators a basis for action. Ecophilosophical contemplations and biophilic draw among the public suggest an awareness of the significance of the human-nature relationship - offering a symbolic global keystone for communicating and advocating conservation and the many values of pauses in life to connect with nature. Building women's environmental leadership capabilities and the ongoing greening of Christianity may be essential steps for global post-pandemic environmental behaviour transformations.

Partial COVID-19 closure of a national park reveals negative influence of low-impact recreation on wildlife spatiotemporal ecology

Human presence exerts complex effects on the ecology of species, which has implications for biodiversity persistence in protected areas experiencing increasing human recreation levels. However, the difficulty of separating the effect on species of human presence from other environmental or disturbance gradients remains a challenge. The cessation of human activity that occurred with COVID-19 restrictions provides a 'natural experiment' to better understand the influence of human presence on wildlife. Here, we use a COVID-19 closure within a heavily visited and highly protected national park (Glacier National Park, MT, USA) to examine how 'low-impact' recreational hiking affects the spatiotemporal ecology of a diverse mammal community. Based on data collected from camera traps when the park was closed and then subsequently open to recreation, we found consistent negative responses to human recreation across most of our assemblage of 24 species, with fewer detections, reduced site use, and decreased daytime activity. Our results suggest that the dual mandates of national parks and protected areas to conserve biodiversity and promote recreation have potential to be in conflict, even for presumably innocuous recreational activities. There is an urgent need to understand the fitness consequences of these spatiotemporal changes to inform management decisions in protected areas.

Substantial changes in Gaseous pollutants and health effects during COVID-19 in Delhi, India

Background

Coronavirus disease has affected the entire population worldwide in terms of physical and environmental consequences. Therefore, the current study demonstrates the changes in the concentration of gaseous pollutants and their health effects during the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, the national capital city of India.

Methodology

In the present study, secondary data on gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), ammonia (NH₃), and ozone (O₃) were collected from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a daily basis. Data were collected from January 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, to determine the relative changes (%) in gaseous pollutants for pre-lockdown, lockdown, and unlockdown stages of COVID-19.

Results

The current findings for gaseous pollutants reveal that concentration declined in the range of 51%-83% (NO), 40%-69% (NOx), 31%-60% (NO₂), and 25%-40% (NH₃) during the lockdown compared to pre-lockdown period, respectively. The drastic decrease in gaseous pollutants was observed due to restricted measures during lockdown periods. The level of ozone was observed to be higher during the lockdown periods as compared to the pre-lockdown period. These gaseous pollutants are linked between the health risk assessment and hazard identification for non-carcinogenic. However, in infants (0-1 yr), Health Quotient (HQ) for daily and annual groups was found to be higher than the rest of the exposed group (toddlers, children, and adults) in all the periods.

Conclusion

The air quality values for pre-lockdown were calculated to be "poor category to "very poor" category in all zones of Delhi, whereas, during the lockdown period, the air quality levels for all zones were calculated as "satisfactory," except for Northeast Delhi, which displayed the "moderate" category. The computed HQ for daily chronic exposure for each pollutant across the child and adult groups was more than 1 (HQ > 1), which indicated a high probability to induce adverse health outcomes.

Potential Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Perception of Water Pipes on Reddit: Observational Study

Background

Socializing is one of the main motivations for water pipe smoking. Restrictions on social gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic might have influenced water pipe smokers' behaviors. As one of the most popular social media platforms, Reddit has been used to study public opinions and user experiences.

Objective

In this study, we aimed to examine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on public perception and discussion of water pipe tobacco smoking using Reddit data.

Methods

We collected Reddit posts between December 1, 2018, and June 30, 2021, from a Reddit archive (PushShift) using keywords such as "waterpipe," "hookah," and "shisha." We examined the temporal trend in Reddit posts mentioning water pipes and different locations (such as homes and lounges or bars). The temporal trend was further tested using interrupted time series analysis. Sentiment analysis was performed to study the change in sentiment of water pipe-related posts before and during the pandemic. Topic modeling using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to examine major topics discussed in water pipe-related posts before and during the pandemic.

Results

A total of 45,765 nonpromotion water pipe-related Reddit posts were collected and used for data analysis. We found that the weekly number of Reddit posts mentioning water pipes significantly increased at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (P<.001), and gradually decreased afterward (P<.001). In contrast, Reddit posts mentioning water pipes and lounges or bars showed an opposite trend. Compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average number of Reddit posts mentioning lounges or bars was lower at the beginning of the pandemic but gradually increased afterward, while the average number of Reddit posts mentioning the word "home" remained similar during the COVID-19 pandemic (P=.29). While water pipe-related posts with a positive sentiment were dominant (12,526/21,182, 59.14% before the pandemic; 14,686/24,583, 59.74% after the pandemic), there was no change in the proportion of water pipe-related posts with different sentiments before and during the pandemic (P=.19, P=.26, and P=.65 for positive, negative, and neutral posts, respectively). Most topics related to water pipes on Reddit were similar before and during the pandemic. There were more discussions about the opening and closing of hookah lounges or bars during the pandemic.

Conclusions

This study provides a first evaluation of the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public perceptions of and discussions about water pipes on Reddit.

Impacts of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 on wildlife behaviour via human activities

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), resulting in a global lockdown in 2020. This stagnation in human activities ('anthropause') has been reported to affect the behaviour of wildlife in various ways. The sika deer Cervus nippon in Nara Park, central Japan, has had a unique relationship with humans, especially tourists, in which the deer bow to receive food and sometimes attack if they do not receive it. We investigated how a decrease and subsequent increase in the number of tourists visiting Nara Park affects the number of deer observed in the park and their behaviour (bows and attacks against humans). Compared with the pre-pandemic years, the number of deer in the study site decreased from an average of 167 deer in 2019 to 65 (39%) in 2020 during the pandemic period. Likewise, the number of deer bows decreased from 10.2 per deer in 2016-2017 to 6.4 (62%) in 2020-2021, whereas the proportion of deer showing aggressive behaviour did not change significantly. Moreover, the monthly numbers of deer and their bows both corresponded with the fluctuation in the number of tourists during the pandemic period of 2020 and 2021, whereas the number of attacks did not. Thus, the anthropause caused by the coronavirus altered the habitat use and behaviour of deer that have continuous interactions with humans.

COVID-19 lockdown has indirect, non-equivalent effects on activity patterns of Reeves's Pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) and sympatric species

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive shifts in human activities through a global blockade, directly affecting wildlife survival. However, the indirect impacts of changes in human activities are often easily overlooked. We conducted surveys of Reeves's Pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) and its sympatric species by camera traps in forest-type nature reserves in three different scenarios: pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown. An increase in livestock activities observed during the lockdown and post-lockdown period in our study area provided us an opportunity to investigate the indirect impact of the lockdown on wildlife. The pre-lockdown period was used as a baseline to compare any changes in trends of relative abundance index, activity patterns and temporal spacing of targeted species and livestock. During the lockdown period, the relative abundance index of livestock increased by 50% and there was an increase in daytime activity. Reeves's Pheasant showed avoidance responses to almost all sympatric species and livestock in three different periods, and the livestock avoidance level of Reeves's Pheasant during the lockdown period was significantly and positively correlated with the relative abundance index of livestock. Species-specific changes in activity patterns of study species were observed, with reduced daytime activities of Hog Badger and Raccoon Dog during and after the confinement periods. This study highlights the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the responses of wildlife by considering the changes in their temporal and spatial use before, during and after lockdown. The knowledge gained on wildlife during reduced human mobility because of the pandemic aids in understanding the effect of human disturbances and developing future conservation strategies in the shared space, to manage both wildlife and livestock.

Explanatory model of symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression in the general population: Cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact worldwide, specially affecting mental health and has undoubtedly taken part in human behaviour modification, increasing global health burden and with stress, anxiety and depression being the main contributors to this load. Because of the importance of this issue, the objective of this study was the creation of an explanatory model for the causal relationship of the main psychological variables: stress, anxiety and depression in the COVID-19 pandemic context. A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 709 volunteers, sociodemographic variables and psychological symptoms were measured through a virtual DASS-21 questionnaire, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dated from November 2 to 6, 2020. A structural equation model using the weighted least squares means and the adjusted variance was employed for the creation and adjustment of the explanatory relational model. The results showed the presence of stress, anxiety and depression symptoms among the general population. The model showed an adequate fit (CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.06; P = 0.000) and was able to explain more than 80% of depressive symptoms (R²  = 0.86) and more than 70% of anxiety symptoms (R²  = 0.72), in addition to showing a unidirectional causal relationship of long-term stress on anxiety, and anxiety on depressive symptoms, showing a linked behaviour of the same, in the adjusted model. It was also outlined that this model was characterized by being expressed mainly in women, with lower quality of sleep and at a younger age.

Experience Them, Love Them, Protect Them-Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed People's Perception of Urban and Suburban Green Spaces and Their Conservation Targets?

Public green and open spaces fulfil various social, ecological, economic, and aesthetic roles, which can be complementary while also competing with one another. The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed multiple societal changes, including citizens' perception, needs and expectations relating to urban green spaces. This article discusses the extent to which the temporally and geographically changed patterns of experiencing these natural spaces also influenced users' perception and behaviour as well as their appreciation of the conservation areas. The study is based upon two surveys carried out in the greater metropolitan region of Vienna, the capital city of Austria. A quantitative survey (representative online panel) among Viennese population (n = 1012), as well as qualitive interviews with experts responsible for conservation areas, administrators of federal parks, along with NGOs representatives were carried out in spring and summer 2021. Our study shows changed perception of urban citizens towards green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increased importance of time spent in nature (68%) and possibility to visit large green areas (67%) was reported by Viennese citizens. Also, higher recognition of green spaces located close to home was observed among 69% of the respondents. There were significant differences in opinions on green areas during the pandemic in various age and gender groups. Thus, the presented study contributes to the ongoing international discussion on the transition of societal needs and its effects on urban green spaces induced by the pandemic. Presented results highlight the need of urgent transformation towards a more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban space. Graphical abstract.

Behavioral plasticity mediates adaptation to changes in food provisioning following the COVID-19 lockdown in black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus)

The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown provides an opportunity to assess how the anthropause affected the behavior of birds. Black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) wintering at Dianchi Lake (Yunnan Province, southwestern China) prefer to forage on easily accessible human-provided food at various sites along the lake. Following the closure of the lake because of the pandemic, synthetic food was provided at a single location. We expected that the home range size and distribution of gulls would change in response to these changes in food provisioning. A total of 91 gulls were tagged with satellite transmitters in November 2018 and March 2019, and their movements were tracked during the winter months. We analyzed their home range size and spatial distribution in four periods, SCP2019, SOP2019, SCP2020, and SOP2020 (Scenic Opening/Closing Period in 2019/2020), and the difference between SOP2019 and SCP2019 was used as the control group. The eutrophication level in the wintering periods “Nov. 2018–Apr. 2019” and “Oct. 2019–Apr. 2020” was determined using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and the coverage ratio of algal blooms and NDVI were used as indicators of the amount of naturally available food. The home range sizes of gulls were reduced in SCP2020 compared with SOP2019, SCP2019, and SOP2020. The gulls were most abundant in the 600–900 m buffer zone and least abundant in the 0–300 m buffer zone in SCP2019; they were most abundant in the 0–300 m buffer zone and least abundant in the 900–2000 m buffer zone in SCP2020. These patterns were consistent with variation in the NDVI and the coverage ratio of algal blooms among buffer zones. Changes in wintering behaviors in SCP2020 relative to other periods suggested that gulls modified their behavior following anthropause-related changes in the distribution and provisioning of food. Our findings provide insights into the role of behavioral plasticity in mediating adaptation to changes in human activities in birds.

Family still matters: Human social motivation across 42 countries during a global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic social changes for many people, including separation from friends and coworkers, enforced close contact with family, and reductions in mobility. Here we assess the extent to which people's evolutionarily-relevant basic motivations and goals—fundamental social motives such as Affiliation and Kin Care—might have been affected. To address this question, we gathered data on fundamental social motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) across two waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered both before and during the pandemic (pre-pandemic wave: 32 countries, N = 8998; 3302 male, 5585 female; M_age = 24.43, SD = 7.91; mid-pandemic wave: 29 countries, N = 6917; 2249 male, 4218 female; M_age = 28.59, SD = 11.31). Samples include data collected online (e.g., Prolific, MTurk), at universities, and via community sampling. We found that Disease Avoidance motivation was substantially higher during the pandemic, and that most of the other fundamental social motives showed small, yet significant, differences across waves. Most sensibly, concern with caring for one's children was higher during the pandemic, and concerns with Mate Seeking and Status were lower. Earlier findings showing the prioritization of family motives over mating motives (and even over Disease Avoidance motives) were replicated during the pandemic. Finally, well-being remained positively associated with family-related motives and negatively associated with mating motives during the pandemic, as in the pre-pandemic samples. Our results provide further evidence for the robust primacy of family-related motivations even during this unique disruption of social life.

Biodiversity in Times of COVID-19 and its Relationship with the Socio-Economic and Health Context: A Look from the Digital Media

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a pause in people's activities and a socio-economic crisis worldwide due to confinement. This situation is an unprecedented opportunity to understand how these changes may impact biodiversity and its conservation, as well as to study human-nature interaction. Biodiversity plays an essential role in conservation and economic activities, and in countries with greater inequality and low gross domestic product (GDP), biodiversity could have a low priority. Moreover, how biodiversity is prioritized in a society impacts how the citizens view it, and digital news tends to shape biodiversity narratives. The aim of this work was to determine the main trends in biodiversity-related news categories during the COVID-19 pandemic in countries with terrestrial and marine hotspots and relate them to the socioeconomic and public health context of each country. For this, we searched for news on biodiversity and Covid-19 in the first 6 months of the pandemic and related them to GDP, Gini-index, deaths, and infections by Covid-19. Results showed that conservation, public policies, and use of natural resources stood out as the main news categories across countries, with a positive narrative and mostly related to terrestrial rather than marine environments. On the other hand, the socio-economic and public health characteristics of each country had an influence on which aspect of the biodiversity was reflected in the media. For example, countries with greater inequality were associated with tourism news, additionally, countries with low GDP, high cases, and deaths by Covid-19 were associated with news about cultural diversity. In contrast, countries with high GDP and low inequality were associated with news about zoonosis, research and development, public policies, and alien and invasive species.

Making waves: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 anthropause in the Netherlands on urban aquatic ecosystem services provisioning and management

The anomalous past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a test of human response to global crisis management as typical human activities were significantly altered. The COVID-instigated anthropause has illustrated the influence that humans and the biosphere have on each other, especially given the variety of national mobility interventions that have been implemented globally. These local COVID-19-era restrictions influenced human-ecosystem interactions through changes in accessibility of water systems and changes in ecosystem service demand. Four urban aquatic case studies in the Netherlands demonstrated shifts in human demand during the anthropause. For instance, reduced boat traffic in Amsterdam canals led to improved water clarity. In comparison, ongoing service exploitation from increased recreational fishing, use of bathing waters and national parks visitation are heightening concerns about potential ecosystem degradation. We distilled management lessons from both the case studies as well as from recent literature pertaining to ecological intactness and social relevance. Equally important to the lessons themselves, however, is the pace at which informed management practices are established after the pandemic ends, particularly as many communities currently recognize the importance of aquatic ecosystems and are amenable to their protection.

Drivers of avian habitat use and detection of backyard birds in the Pacific Northwest during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns

Birds living in developed areas contend with numerous stressors, including human disturbance and light, noise, and air pollution. COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns presented a unique opportunity to disentangle these effects during a period of reduced human activity. We launched a community science project in spring 2020 to explore drivers of site use by and detection of common birds in cities under lockdown in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Our goals were twofold: (1) consider how intensity of urbanization, canopy cover, and availability of bird feeders and bird baths influenced avian habitat use; and (2) quantify how daily changes in weather, air pollution, and human mobility influenced detection of birds. We analyzed 6,640 surveys from 367 volunteers at 429 monitoring sites using occupancy models for 46 study species. Neither land cover nor canopy cover influenced site use by 50% of study species, suggesting that backyard birds may have used a wider range of habitats during lockdowns. Human mobility affected detection of 76% of study species, suggesting that birds exhibited species-specific behavioral responses to day-to-day changes in human activity beginning shortly after initial lockdown restrictions were implemented. Our study also showcases how existing community science platforms can be leveraged to support local monitoring efforts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered illegal fishing activities inside and outside a marine protected area

The global COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique opportunity to explore the consequences of illegal exploitation on wildlife communities, as it continues to have wide-reaching impacts on multiple sectors, including local and national economies, international trade, and conservation enforcement¹. The ongoing reductions in monitoring and enforcement during the pandemic have allowed increased opportunities for illegal, unreported, and unregulated activities, particularly for small-scale fisheries². Even before the pandemic, policymakers and fisheries managers intent on controlling illegal fishing activities established marine protected areas (MPAs) that restrict or prohibit fishing³. Unfortunately, non-compliance with MPAs is often the rule rather than the exception, and less than 10% of the world’s MPAs have managed to effectively reduce infringement⁴. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these management challenges: a recent review of MPAs worldwide has revealed a general decline in tourism revenue to operate park services during the pandemic, especially revenue needed for supporting personnel to monitor, patrol, and enforce restrictions². Here, we compile infraction records of illegal fishing activities by both professional (commercial) and amateur (recreational) boats inside and outside of the Tupinambás Ecological Station and the Alcatrazes Wildlife Refuge (Figure 1A), notable for its high reef-fish biomass and diversity in the Southwestern Atlantic⁵. We show that illegal exploitation has shifted since the onset of the pandemic, targeting larger, higher-value species that contribute disproportionately to the structure and function of reef-fish communities in the region.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on aquatic environment and fishing community: Boon or bane?

COVID-19 pandemic is a serious threat for mankind having an extensive socio-economic impact. However, it is considered as an unfortunate event with some positive environmental effects where nature is retrieving itself. The water quality index in different places of the world was reported to be improved during the lockdown, which in turn whipped up the regenerative process of fishes, sea turtles, marine mammals, and aquatic birds. Additionally, ecologically sensitive areas such as mangroves and coral reefs were also seen rejuvenating during COVID-19 seal off. But these favourable implications are temporary as there is an unexpected surge in plastic waste generation in the form of PPE kits, face masks, gloves, and other healthcare equipment. Moreover, the outbreak of the pandemic resulted in the complete closure of fishing activities, decline in fish catch, market disruption, and change in consumer preference. To address these multidimensional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, government organizations, NGOs, and other concerned authorities should extend their support to amplify the positive impacts of the lockdown and reduce the subsequent pollution level while encouraging the fisheries sector.

Ruling the roost: Avian species reclaim urban habitat during India's COVID-19 lockdown

As we retreated to our dwellings in the "anthropause" of spring 2020, were the wildlife sightings in previously crowded spaces a reclamation of habitat, or a mere increase in detection? We leverage an increase in balcony birdwatching, a million eBird entries, and difference-in-difference techniques to test if urban avian species richness rose during India's COVID-19 lockdown. Controlling for effort, birdwatchers in the 20 most populous cities observed a 16% increase in the number of species during lockdown. While human activity stopped overnight, and noise and visual pollution decreased soon after, increased species diversity was observed 1-2 weeks later; evidence that gradual population recovery, not better detection, underlay our results. We find at-risk, and rare, species among those reclaiming cities, implying that reducing human disturbance in urban areas can protect threatened species. Increased species diversity likely derives from a reduction in noise and air pollution associated with the lockdown, implying that urban planners should consider conservation co-benefits of urban policies when designing sustainable cities.

The impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on wildlife in Deccan Plateau, India

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented changes in human activity via extensive lockdowns worldwide. Large-scale shifts in human activities bestowed both positive and negative impacts on wildlife. Unforeseen reduction in the activities of people allowed wildlife to venture outside of forested areas to exploit newfound habitats and increase their diurnal activities. While on a negative note, a reduction in forest-related law enforcement led to substantial increase in illegal activities such as poaching. We conducted mammal surveys in forested and nearby farmland of a fragmented landscape under two distinct scenarios: pre-lockdown and lockdown. An increase in poaching activities observed during the lockdown period in our study area provided us an opportunity to investigate the impact of the lockdown on wildlife. Camera trapping data of four highly poached mammalian species, namely black-naped hare Lepus nigricollis, wild pig Sus scrofa, four-horned antelope Tetracerus quadricornis and leopard Panthera pardus were considered to investigate activity patterns and habitat use, to understand the effect of lockdown. The pre-lockdown period was used as a baseline to compare any changes in trends of activity patterns, habitat use and detection probabilities of targeted species. Species-specific changes in activity patterns of study species were observed, with an increment in daytime activity during lockdown. The results showed species-specific increase in the habitat use of study species during lockdown. Reduction in the detection probability of all study species was witnessed. This is the first study to highlight the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on the responses of wildlife by considering the changes in their temporal and spatial use before and during lockdown. The knowledge gained on wildlife during reduced human mobility because of the pandemic aid in understanding the effect of human disturbances and developing future conservation strategies in the shared space, to manage both wildlife and humans.

Animal-vehicle collisions during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 in the Krakow metropolitan region, Poland

The interrelations between human activity and animal populations are of increasing interest due to the emergence of the novel COVID-19 and the consequent pandemic across the world. Anthropogenic impacts of the pandemic on animals in urban-suburban environments are largely unknown. In this study, the temporal and spatial patterns of urban animal response to the COVID-19 lockdown were assessed using animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) data. We collected AVC data over two 6-month periods in 2019 and 2020 (January to June) from the largest metropolis in southern Poland, which included lockdown months. Furthermore, we used traffic data to understand the impact of lockdown on AVC in the urban area. Our analysis of 1063 AVC incidents revealed that COVID-19 related lockdown decreased AVC rates in suburban areas. However, in the urban area, even though traffic volume had significantly reduced, AVC did not decrease significantly, suggesting that lockdown did not influence the collision rates in the urban area. Our results suggest that there is a need to focus on understanding the effects of changes in traffic volume on both human behaviour and wildlife space use on the resulting impacts on AVC in the urban area.

Uncovering patterns of public perceptions towards biodiversity crime using conservation culturomics

This paper examines aspects of the relationship between (1) the recently typified form of biodiversity crime, (2) information made available to the public through the Internet, and (3) cultural dynamics quantified through info-surveillance methods through Culturomics techniques. We propose two conceptual models: (1) the building-up process of a biodiversity crime culturome, in some language, and (2) a multi-stage biodiversity conservation chain and biodiversity-crime activities relating to each stage. We use crowd search volumes on the Internet on biodiversity crime-related terms and topics as proxies for measuring public interest. The main findings are: (1) the concept of biodiversity-crime per se is still immature and presents low penetration to the general public; (2) biodiversity-crime issues, not recognized as such, are amalgamated in conservation-oriented websites and pages; and (3) differences in perceptions and priorities between general vs. niche public with particular interest(s) in environmental issues- are discernable.

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions in NW of Spain

Wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) in many places have a significant impact on wildlife management and road safety. The COVID-19 lockdown enabled the study of the specific impact that traffic has on these events. WVC variation in the Asturias and Cantabria regions (NW of Spain) because of the COVID-19 lockdown reached a maximum reduction of −64.77% during strict confinement but it was minimal or nonexistent during “soft” confinement. The global average value was −30.22% compared with the WVCs registered in the same period in 2019, but only −4.69% considering the average throughout the period 2010–2019. There are huge differences between conventional roads, where the traffic reduction was greater, and highways, where the traffic reduction was lesser during the COVID-19 lockdown. The results depend on the season, the day of the week and the time of day, but mainly on the traffic reduction occurring. The results obtained highlight the need to include the traffic factor in WVC reduction strategies.

Long-term ecological research and the COVID-19 anthropause: A window to understanding social-ecological disturbance

The period of disrupted human activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, coined the "anthropause," altered the nature of interactions between humans and ecosystems. It is uncertain how the anthropause has changed ecosystem states, functions, and feedback to human systems through shifts in ecosystem services. Here, we used an existing disturbance framework to propose new investigation pathways for coordinated studies of distributed, long-term social-ecological research to capture effects of the anthropause. Although it is still too early to comprehensively evaluate effects due to pandemic-related delays in data availability and ecological response lags, we detail three case studies that show how long-term data can be used to document and interpret changes in air and water quality and wildlife populations and behavior coinciding with the anthropause. These early findings may guide interpretations of effects of the anthropause as it interacts with other ongoing environmental changes in the future, particularly highlighting the importance of long-term data in separating disturbance impacts from natural variation and long-term trends. Effects of this global disturbance have local to global effects on ecosystems with feedback to social systems that may be detectable at spatial scales captured by nationally to globally distributed research networks.

Effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on shorebird assemblages in an urban South African sandy beach ecosystem

Human pressures are pervasive in coastal ecosystems, but their effect magnitudes are masked by methodological limitations. Government lockdowns associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic can address this gap since lockdowns are effectively manipulations of human presence in ecosystems at scales unachievable otherwise. We illustrate this using a study on shorebirds in an urban South African sandy beach ecosystem. Data collected prior to (2019) and during the COVID-19 (2020) pandemic indicated an inverse relationship between shorebird and human numbers, but this was stronger in 2020. In 2020, human exclusion resulted in a six-fold increase in shorebird abundance relative to 2019. Following easing of lockdowns, shorebird abundance declined by 79.6% with a 34.1% increase in human density. Our findings highlight the sensitivity of shorebirds to recreational disturbance, the potential for current methodological approaches to underestimate repercussions of disturbance and the capacity for COVID-19 lockdowns to refine understanding of human-induced stress in ecosystems.

Anthropause Opportunities: Experimental Perturbation of Road Traffic and the Potential Effects on Wildlife

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic severely reduced many human activities. So pronounced was the change, it has given rise to the term “anthropause”: the considerable alteration of modern human activities. Among these was surface transportation, with prolonged traffic reductions, in excess, of 50% in many countries. Roads and traffic are responsible for functionally fragmenting ecosystems, wildlife populations, and species interactions. The unintentional “dialing-down” of traffic has given continuous monitoring systems of wildlife-vehicle conflict a unique opportunity to study the consequences of perturbing this source of wildlife disturbance and mortality. Experimental manipulation of traffic at the global scale would not have been possible without mitigation responses to SARS-CoV-2. Such a perturbation allows robust empirical investigation into wildlife responses to traffic, including changes in mortality, behavior, genetic connectivity, and knock-on ecosystem effects, the responses to which can be replicated across a global network of wildlife-vehicle conflict monitoring systems. We review the extent to which these extensive data-collection systems provide the primary source of data to study many of these responses, providing the raw material to understand some striking wildlife consequences of the anthropause.

The relative importance of COVID-19 pandemic impacts on biodiversity conservation globally

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on almost all aspects of human society and endeavor; the natural world and its conservation have not been spared. Through a process of expert consultation, we identified and categorized, into 19 themes and 70 subthemes, the ways in which biodiversity and its conservation have been or could be affected by the pandemic globally. Nearly 60% of the effects have been broadly negative. Subsequently, we created a compendium of all themes and subthemes, each with explanatory text, and in August 2020 a diverse group of experienced conservationists with expertise from across sectors and geographies assessed each subtheme for its likely impact on biodiversity conservation globally. The 9 subthemes ranked highest all have a negative impact. These were, in rank order, governments sidelining the environment during their economic recovery, reduced wildlife-based tourism income, increased habitat destruction, reduced government funding, increased plastic and other solid waste pollution, weakening of nature-friendly regulations and their enforcement, increased illegal harvest of wild animals, reduced philanthropy, and threats to survival of conservation organizations. In combination, these impacts present a worrying future of increased threats to biodiversity conservation but reduced capacity to counter them. The highest ranking positive impact, at 10, was the beneficial impact of wildlife-trade restrictions. More optimistically, among impacts ranked 11-20, 6 were positive and 4 were negative. We hope our assessment will draw attention to the impacts of the pandemic and, thus, improve the conservation community's ability to respond to such threats in the future.

COVID-19 lockdown and natural resources: a global assessment on the challenges, opportunities, and the way forward

BACKGROUND

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has an enormous effect on human lives and the global environment. This review aimed to assess the global scientific evidence on the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on natural resources using international databases and search engines. Thus, the unprecedented anthropause due to COVID-19 has positive and negative effects on natural resources.

MAIN BODY

This review showed that the unprecedented pandemic lockdown events brought a negative impact on the physical environment, including pollution associated with a drastic increase in person protective equipment, deforestation, illegal poaching and logging, overfishing, disruption of the conservation program and projects. It is noted that the spread of pandemic diseases could be aggravated by environmental pollution and a rapid increase in the global population. Despite these negative impacts of COVID-19, the anthropause appear to have also several positive effects on natural resources such as short term reduction of indoor and outdoor environmental pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and CO2), reduction in noise pollutions from ships, boats, vehicles, and planes which have positive effects on aquatic ecosystems, water quality, birds behaviour, wildlife biodiversity, and ecosystem restoration.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, governments and scientific communities across the globe have called for a green recovery to COVID-19 and implement multi-actor interventions and environmentally friendly technologies to improve and safeguard sustainable environmental and biodiversity management and halt the next pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: An Excellent Opportunity to Study the Effects of Trawling Disturbance on Macrobenthic Fauna in the Shallow Waters of the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, Central Mediterranean Sea)

This study describes for the first time in the central Mediterranean Sea the effects of bottom trawling on macrobenthic fauna in tidal channels of the Kneiss Islands in the Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia. Following a BACI protocol, two control stations (protected by artificial reefs) and two trawled stations (impacted stations) were sampled during a period with the absence of bottom trawling activity (the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period from March to May 2020) and during a trawled period. Although bottom trawling had no impact on sediment composition, this anthropogenic activity reduced the concentration of dissolved oxygen and had a noticeable effect on water column turbidity. The absence of trawling led to a significant increase in biomass, number of species, and abundance of total macrofauna. This illustrated the negative effect of trawling activity in shallow waters and the high resilience of macrobenthic communities of the tidal ecosystem of the Kneiss Islands. In the future, it would be very important to control the use of this destructive fishing gear due to its negative impact on the marine habitat and macrofauna, which represents essential prey for fishes and birds living in this protected area.

The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the human experience of nature

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in extensive lockdowns implemented all around the world and billion of people have been asked to stay at home for several weeks. Although this global confinement has had potentially huge unintended consequences on the environment and on its associated wildlife, this study shows that it has also impacted the human experience of nature. Based on an online questionnaire, this study aims to assess how the significant changes in people's everyday lives induced by the French lockdown impacted their relationship with other species. Participants did not only observe and interact more with non human species, but also discovered new traits characterizing them, and felt less lonely thanks to them. The impact of the lockdown was stronger on people's relationship with their pets, farm animals, home plants and with birds than with other plants and animals. This study further demonstrates that participants with different profiles have been affected differently. In particular, women and people with better access to nature were clearly more sensitive to changes and have been more positively impacted in their relationships with other species. Acting as a real world experiment, the lockdown reveals to which extent our experience of nature is embedded in social, cultural and political contexts.

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity sustain life on Earth and hold intrinsic value. Critical marine ecosystem services include maintenance of global oxygen and carbon cycles, production of food and energy, and sustenance of human wellbeing. However marine ecosystems are swiftly being degraded due to the unsustainable use of marine environments and a rapidly changing climate. The fundamental challenge for the future is therefore to safeguard marine ecosystem biodiversity, function, and adaptive capacity whilst continuing to provide vital resources for the global population. Here, we use foresighting/hindcasting to consider two plausible futures towards 2030: a business-as-usual trajectory (i.e. continuation of current trends), and a more sustainable but technically achievable future in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We identify key drivers that differentiate these alternative futures and use these to develop an action pathway towards the desirable, more sustainable future. Key to achieving the more sustainable future will be establishing integrative (i.e. across jurisdictions and sectors), adaptive management that supports equitable and sustainable stewardship of marine environments. Conserving marine ecosystems will require recalibrating our social, financial, and industrial relationships with the marine environment. While a sustainable future requires long-term planning and commitment beyond 2030, immediate action is needed to avoid tipping points and avert trajectories of ecosystem decline. By acting now to optimise management and protection of marine ecosystems, building upon existing technologies, and conserving the remaining biodiversity, we can create the best opportunity for a sustainable future in 2030 and beyond.

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity sustain life on Earth and hold intrinsic value. Critical marine ecosystem services include maintenance of global oxygen and carbon cycles, production of food and energy, and sustenance of human wellbeing. However marine ecosystems are swiftly being degraded due to the unsustainable use of marine environments and a rapidly changing climate. The fundamental challenge for the future is therefore to safeguard marine ecosystem biodiversity, function, and adaptive capacity whilst continuing to provide vital resources for the global population. Here, we use foresighting/hindcasting to consider two plausible futures towards 2030: a business-as-usual trajectory (i.e. continuation of current trends), and a more sustainable but technically achievable future in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We identify key drivers that differentiate these alternative futures and use these to develop an action pathway towards the desirable, more sustainable future. Key to achieving the more sustainable future will be establishing integrative (i.e. across jurisdictions and sectors), adaptive management that supports equitable and sustainable stewardship of marine environments. Conserving marine ecosystems will require recalibrating our social, financial, and industrial relationships with the marine environment. While a sustainable future requires long-term planning and commitment beyond 2030, immediate action is needed to avoid tipping points and avert trajectories of ecosystem decline. By acting now to optimise management and protection of marine ecosystems, building upon existing technologies, and conserving the remaining biodiversity, we can create the best opportunity for a sustainable future in 2030 and beyond.

An overview on metal pollution on touristic sandy beaches: Is the COVID-19 pandemic an opportunity to improve coastal management?

The worldwide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 caused an unprecedented lockdown measures in most countries with consequences on the world society, economy, and sanitary systems. This situation provided an opportunity to identify the effects of human confinement on natural environments, like touristic sandy beaches, which are stressed due to anthropogenic pressures. Based on previous articles about heavy metals sources and levels in these ecosystems, this paper discusses the dynamic of these pollutants and a regulatory scenario associated with COVID-19 sanitation policies. The main findings suggest that 39% of the studies were on Asian sandy beaches, 16% from Europe, while America and Africa with 23% each. Also Co, Cd, Cu, Cr, Zn, Pb, Ni, Fe and Mn were the most frequently analyzed metals in sediments and in several cases their concentrations exceed international guidelines assessment. Finally, even though beaches are under several metals inputs, tourism plays a key role in these ecosystems quality. After analyzing the potential indirect effect of COVID-19 measures on metals dynamics, we propose some key recommendations and management strategies to mitigate heavy metal pollution on sandy tourist beaches. These proposals are useful for decision-makers and stakeholders to improve sandy beach management, mainly those beaches not addressed from a management perspective; and their implementation should be adapted according to the regulations and legislation of each country.

Animal movements occurring during COVID-19 lockdown were predicted by connectivity models

Recent events related to the measures taken to control the spread of the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) reduced human mobility (i.e. anthropause), potentially opening connectivity opportunities for wildlife populations. In the Italian Alps, brown bears have recovered after reintroduction within a complex anthropogenic matrix, but failed to establish a metapopulation due to reduced connectivity and human disturbance (i.e. infrastructure, land use, and human mobility). Previous work from Peters et al. (2015, Biol. Cons. 186, 123–133) predicted the main corridors and suitable hot spots for road network crossing for this population across all major roads and settlement zones, to link most suitable habitats. Bears used the identified hot spots for road network crossing over the years, but major barriers such as main motor roads were not overcome, possibly due to functional anthropogenic disturbance, specifically human mobility. By analyzing 404 bear occurrences reported to local authorities (as bear-related complaints) collected between 2016 and 2020 (March 9th - May 18th), hence including the COVID-19 related lockdown, we tested the effect of human presence on brown bears' use of space and hot spots for road network crossing. Animals occupied human-dominated spaces and approached hot spots for crossing at a higher rate during the lockdown than in previous years, suggesting that connectivity temporarily increased with reduced human mobility for this population. As a result of their increased use of hot spots, bears expanded their use of suitable areas beyond the population core area. Movement of animals across structural barriers such as roads and human settlements may therefore occur in absence of active disturbance. We also showed the value of predictive models to identify hot spots for animal barrier crossing, the knowledge of which is critical when implementing management solutions to enhance connectivity. Understanding the factors that influence immigration and emigration across metapopulations of large mammals, particularly carnivores that may compete indirectly with humans for space or directly as super-predators, is critical to ensure the long-term viability of conservation efforts for their persistence. We argue that dynamic factors such as human mobility may play a larger role than previously recognized.

Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness.

Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on amphibian road mortality

The COVID-19 pandemic and its related human activity shutdowns provide unique opportunities for biodiversity monitoring through what has been termed the "anthropause" or the "great human confinement experiment." The pandemic caused immense disruption to human activity in the northeastern United States in the spring of 2020, with notable reductions in traffic levels. These shutdowns coincided with the seasonal migration of adult amphibians, which are typically subject to intense vehicle-impact mortality. Using data collected as part of an annual community science monitoring program in Maine from 2018 to 2021, we examined how amphibian mortality probabilities responded to reductions in traffic during the pandemic. While we detected a 50% decline for all amphibians, this was driven entirely by reductions in frog mortality. Wildlife collision data from the Maine Department of Transportation on other wildlife species support our finding of drastic declines in wildlife road mortality in spring 2020 when compared with immediately previous and subsequent years. Additionally, we find that frogs suffer significantly higher road mortality than salamanders, particularly when conditions are warmer and wetter.

Effects of a COVID-19 lockdown-induced pause and resumption of artificial provisioning on blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and pink whiprays (Pateobatis fai) in French Polynesia (East-Pacific)

The tourism activities linked to artificial provisioning of blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and pink whiprays (Pateobatis fai) on a specific site in French Polynesia were suddenly and completely stopped due to a COVID‐19 lockdown that lasted 6 weeks from March 20 until April 30, 2020. Using both drone footage and underwater counting, we were able to track the abundance of those two species before, during, and after reopening and thus investigate the impact of provisioning on wild shark populations. The absence of any stimulus during this long period resulted in almost total desertion of the site by the elasmobranchs. However, 1 day prior to reopening, some individuals of both species positively reacted to the single acoustic stimulus of an engine boat, showing the resilience of conditioning, and some elasmobranchs reacted to acoustic and olfactive stimuli linked to the provisioning practice from the first day after reopening. During the first 2 weeks after reopening, the abundance of both species remained at reduced levels comparable to those observed between 2008 and 2010 for sharks; i.e., around 9 animals in the presence of local tourists. Pre‐lockdown abundance levels, reaching approximatively 15 individuals for sharks and 10 for rays, were considered restored 1 and 2 months after reopening for blacktip reef sharks and pink whiprays, respectively. These findings improve our capacity to better understand the potential effects of artificial provisioning tourism on the abundance of elasmobranchs by showing that conditioning is resilient for several weeks, suggesting that intermittent interruption of elasmobranchs feeding would not really help to decrease its impact on animal welfare.

Different patterns of human activities in nature during Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreak confirm direct impact on wildlife disruption

Implementation of various restrictions to eradicate viral diseases has globally affected human activity and subsequently nature. But how can the altered routines of human activity (restrictions, lockdowns) affect wildlife behaviour? This study compared the differences between human and wildlife occurrences in the study forest area with acreage of 5430.6 ha in 2018 (African swine fever outbreak, complete entrance ban), 2019 (standard pattern) and 2020 (COVID-19 restrictions) during the breeding season. The number of visitors was lower by 64% in 2018 (non-respecting of the entry ban by forest visitors) compared to standard 2019, while in 2020, the number of visitors increased to 151%. In the COVID-19 period, distinct peaks in the number of visitors were observed between 8-11 AM and 4-7 PM. The peaks of wildlife activity were recorded between 4-7 AM and 9-12 PM. Animals avoided the localities that were visited by humans during the people-influenced time (24 h after people visit), which confirmed the direct negative impact of human activities on wildlife.