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Izquierdo-Tort S, Alatorre A, Arroyo-Gerala P, Shapiro-Garza E, Naime J, Dupras J. Exploring local perceptions and drivers of engagement in biodiversity monitoring among participants in payments for ecosystem services schemes in southeastern Mexico. Conserv Biol 2024:e14282. [PMID: 38660922 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are widely applied incentive-based instruments with diverse objectives that increasingly include biodiversity conservation. Yet, there is a gap in understanding of how to best assess and monitor programs' biodiversity outcomes. We examined perceptions and drivers of engagement related to biodiversity monitoring through surveys among current PES participants in 7 communities in Mexico's Selva Lacandona. We conducted workshops among survey participants that included training and field deployment of tools used to monitor biodiversity and land cover, including visual transects, camera traps, acoustic recorders, and forest cover satellite images. We conducted pre- and postworkshop surveys in each community to evaluate changes in respondents' perceptions following exposure to biodiversity monitoring training and related field activities. We also reviewed existing research on participatory environmental management and monitoring approaches. One quarter of current PES participants in the study area participated in our surveys and workshops. The majority stated interest in engaging in diverse activities related to the procedural aspects of biodiversity monitoring (e.g., planning, field data collection, results dissemination) and acknowledged multiple benefits of introducing biodiversity monitoring into PES (e.g., knowledge and capacity building, improved natural resource management, and greater support for conservation). Household economic reliance on PES was positively associated with willingness to engage in monitoring. Technical expertise, time, and monetary constraints were deterrents. Respondents were most interested in monitoring mammals, birds, and plants and using visual transects, camera traps, and forest cover satellite images. Exposure to monitoring enhanced subsequent interest in monitoring by providing respondents with new insights from their communities related to deforestation and species' abundance and diversity. Respondents identified key strengths and weaknesses of applying different monitoring tools, which suggests that deploying multiple tools simultaneously can increase local engagement and produce complementary findings and data. Overall, our findings support the relevance and usefulness of incorporating participatory biodiversity monitoring into PES.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Izquierdo-Tort
- Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Andrea Alatorre
- Département Des Sciences Naturelles, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Ripon, Quebec, Canada
- Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
| | | | | | - Julia Naime
- Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Jérôme Dupras
- Institut des Sciences de la Forêt tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Ripon, Quebec, Canada
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Mammola S, Falaschi M, Ficetola GF. Biodiversity communication in the digital era through the Emoji tree of life. iScience 2023; 26:108569. [PMID: 38187190 PMCID: PMC10767230 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Emojis enable direct expressions of ideas and emotions in digital communication, also contributing to discussions on biodiversity conservation. Nevertheless, the ability of emojis to represent the Earth's tree of life remains unexplored. Here, we quantified the taxonomic comprehensiveness of currently available nature-related emojis and tested whether the expanding availability of emojis enables a better coverage of extant biodiversity. Currently available emojis encompass a broad range of animal species, while plants, fungi, and microorganisms are underrepresented. Within animals, vertebrates are significantly overrepresented compared to their actual richness, while arthropods are underrepresented. Notwithstanding these taxonomic disparities, animal taxa represented by emojis more than doubled from 2015 to 2022, allowing an improved representation of both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, driven by the recent addition of cnidarians and annelids. Creating an inclusive emoji set is essential to ensure a fair representation of biodiversity in digital communication and showcase its importance for biosphere functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Mammola
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute, National Research Council (CNR-IRSA), Verbania Pallanza, Italy
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Mattia Falaschi
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Gentile Francesco Ficetola
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
- University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Laboratoire d’Écologie Alpine, 38000 Grenoble, France
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Boero F, Mergeay J. Darwin's feathers: Eco-evolutionary biology, predictions and policy. Adv Mar Biol 2023; 95:91-111. [PMID: 37923540 DOI: 10.1016/bs.amb.2023.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
The scientific community is often asked to predict the future state of the environment and, to do so, the structure (biodiversity) and the functions (ecosystem functioning) of the investigated systems must be described and understood. In his "handful of feathers" metaphor, Charles Darwin explained the difference between simple and predictable systems, obeying definite laws, and complex (and unpredictable) systems, featured by innumerable components and interactions among them. In order not to waste efforts in impossible enterprises, it is crucial to ascertain if accurate predictions are possible in a given domain, and to what extent they might be reliable. Since ecology and evolution (together forming "natural history") deal with complex historical systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions and to contingencies or 'black swans', it is inherently impossible to accurately predict their future states. Notwithstanding this impossibility, policy makers are asking the community of ecological and evolutionary biologists to predict the future. The struggle for funding induces many supposed naturalists to do so, also because other types of scientists (from engineers to modellers) are keen to sell predictions (usually in form of solutions) to policy makers that are willing to pay for them. This paper is a plea for bio-ecological realism. The "mission" of ecologists and evolutionary biologists (natural historians) is not to predict the future state of inherently unpredictable systems, but to convince policy makers that we must live with uncertainties. Natural history, however, can provide knowledge-based wisdom to face the uncertainties about the future. Natural historians produce scenarios that are of great help in figuring out how to manage our relationship with the rest of nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferdinando Boero
- Fondazione Dohrn, Museo Darwin Dohrn, Villa Comunale, Napoli, Italy; CNR-IAS, Genova, Italy.
| | - Joachim Mergeay
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Gaverstraat, Geraardsbergen, Belgium; Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, KULeuven, Deberiotstraat, Leuven, Belgium
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Mammola S, Adamo M, Antić D, Calevo J, Cancellario T, Cardoso P, Chamberlain D, Chialva M, Durucan F, Fontaneto D, Goncalves D, Martínez A, Santini L, Rubio-Lopez I, Sousa R, Villegas-Rios D, Verdes A, Correia RA. Drivers of species knowledge across the tree of life. eLife 2023; 12:RP88251. [PMID: 37846960 PMCID: PMC10581686 DOI: 10.7554/elife.88251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Knowledge of biodiversity is unevenly distributed across the Tree of Life. In the long run, such disparity in awareness unbalances our understanding of life on Earth, influencing policy decisions and the allocation of research and conservation funding. We investigated how humans accumulate knowledge of biodiversity by searching for consistent relationships between scientific (number of publications) and societal (number of views in Wikipedia) interest, and species-level morphological, ecological, and sociocultural factors. Across a random selection of 3019 species spanning 29 Phyla/Divisions, we show that sociocultural factors are the most important correlates of scientific and societal interest in biodiversity, including the fact that a species is useful or harmful to humans, has a common name, and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Furthermore, large-bodied, broadly distributed, and taxonomically unique species receive more scientific and societal attention, whereas colorfulness and phylogenetic proximity to humans correlate exclusively with societal attention. These results highlight a favoritism toward limited branches of the Tree of Life, and that scientific and societal priorities in biodiversity research broadly align. This suggests that we may be missing out on key species in our research and conservation agenda simply because they are not on our cultural radar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Mammola
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
| | - Martino Adamo
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Dragan Antić
- University of Belgrade - Faculty of BiologyBelgradeSerbia
| | - Jacopo Calevo
- Royal Botanic GardensLondonUnited Kingdom
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin UniversityPerthAustralia
| | - Tommaso Cancellario
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Pedro Cardoso
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Dan Chamberlain
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Matteo Chialva
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Furkan Durucan
- Department of Aquaculture, Isparta University of Applied SciencesIspartaTurkey
| | - Diego Fontaneto
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
| | - Duarte Goncalves
- CIIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of PortoMatosinhosPortugal
| | - Alejandro Martínez
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Luca Santini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of RomeRomeItaly
| | - Iñigo Rubio-Lopez
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Ronaldo Sousa
- CBMA – Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, University of MinhoMinhoPortugal
| | | | - Aida Verdes
- Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesMadridSpain
| | - Ricardo A Correia
- Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science (HELICS), Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- CESAM – Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of AveiroAveiroPortugal
- Biodiversity Unit, University of TurkuTurkuFinland
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Rabone M, Wiethase JH, Simon-Lledó E, Emery AM, Jones DOB, Dahlgren TG, Bribiesca-Contreras G, Wiklund H, Horton T, Glover AG. How many metazoan species live in the world's largest mineral exploration region? Curr Biol 2023; 33:2383-2396.e5. [PMID: 37236182 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The global surge in demand for metals such as cobalt and nickel has created unprecedented interest in deep-sea habitats with mineral resources. The largest area of activity is a 6 million km2 region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the central and eastern Pacific, regulated by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Baseline biodiversity knowledge of the region is crucial to effective management of environmental impact from potential deep-sea mining activities, but until recently this has been almost completely lacking. The rapid growth in taxonomic outputs and data availability for the region over the last decade has allowed us to conduct the first comprehensive synthesis of CCZ benthic metazoan biodiversity for all faunal size classes. Here we present the CCZ Checklist, a biodiversity inventory of benthic metazoa vital to future assessments of environmental impacts. An estimated 92% of species identified from the CCZ are new to science (436 named species from a total of 5,578 recorded). This is likely to be an overestimate owing to synonyms in the data but is supported by analysis of recent taxonomic studies suggesting that 88% of species sampled in the region are undescribed. Species richness estimators place total CCZ metazoan benthic diversity at 6,233 (+/-82 SE) species for Chao1, and 7,620 (+/-132 SE) species for Chao2, most likely representing lower bounds of diversity in the region. Although uncertainty in estimates is high, regional syntheses become increasingly possible as comparable datasets accumulate. These will be vital to understanding ecological processes and risks of biodiversity loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muriel Rabone
- Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, SW7 5BD London, UK.
| | - Joris H Wiethase
- Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Erik Simon-Lledó
- National Oceanography Centre, European Way, SO14 3ZH Southampton, UK
| | - Aidan M Emery
- Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, SW7 5BD London, UK
| | - Daniel O B Jones
- National Oceanography Centre, European Way, SO14 3ZH Southampton, UK
| | - Thomas G Dahlgren
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden; NORCE, Norwegian Research Centre, 112, 5008 Bergen, Norway
| | - Guadalupe Bribiesca-Contreras
- Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, SW7 5BD London, UK
| | - Helena Wiklund
- Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, SW7 5BD London, UK; Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Tammy Horton
- National Oceanography Centre, European Way, SO14 3ZH Southampton, UK
| | - Adrian G Glover
- Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group, Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, SW7 5BD London, UK
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