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In 2008, a group of conservation scientists compiled a list of 100 priority questions for the conservation of the world's biodiversity [Sutherland et al. (2009) Conservation Biology, 23, 557–567]. However, now almost a decade later, no one has yet published a study gauging how much progress has been made in addressing these 100 high‐priority questi...
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In conservation biology, umbrella species are often used as agents for a broader set of species, or as representatives of an ecosystem, and their conservation is expected to benefit a large number of naturally co-occurring species. Southwest China is home to not only global biodiversity hotspots, but also rapid economic and population growth and ex...
Citations
... An analysis (Jucker et al., 2018) of the outputs of an exercise to identify priority questions for the conservation of global biological diversity a decade earlier showed that, as of July 2016, seventy documents cited the exercise specifically to justify research on topics it highlighted. They also identified 21 questions that met their criteria for knowledge gaps and so needed further work. ...
There are severe problems with the decision-making processes currently widely used, leading to ineffective use of evidence, faulty decisions, wasting of resources and the erosion of public and political support. In this book an international team of experts provide solutions.
The transformation suggested includes rethinking how evidence is assessed, combined, communicated and used in decision-making; using effective methods when asking experts to make judgements (i.e. avoiding just asking an expert or a group of experts!); using a structured process for making decisions that incorporate the evidence and having effective processes for learning from actions. In each case, the specific problem with decision making is described with a range of practical solutions.
Adopting this approach to decision-making requires societal change so detailed suggestions are made for transforming organisations, governments, businesses, funders and philanthropists. The practical suggestions include twelve downloadable checklists.
The vision of the authors is to transform conservation so it is more effective, more cost-efficient, learns from practice and is more attractive to funders. However, the lessons of this important book go well beyond conservation to decision-makers in any field.
... The importance of transcendental human values within the sustainability context has been clearly recognized (Dietsch et al. 2016;Hicks et al. 2015;Manfredo et al. 2016Manfredo et al. , 2017a, including the dependence of environmental values on the larger values system within which they are embedded. This 'systems' approach to thinking about human values holistically (see Hicks et al. 2015) has been reflected in questions around value driven behaviors and environmental protection policies, which have been at the forefront of sustainability efforts (Jucker et al. 2018;Manfredo et al. 2020). ...
... Simply knowing that there are substantial individual differences in environmental value change over time (in this case, during periods of relative stability and crisis) has limited practical application. In contrast, understanding the role that connection with nature may play in explaining differences between individuals in their environmental value change over time offers a more fruitful approach for institutions aiming to promote environmental values (see also Jucker et al. 2018). ...
Environmental values emphasize protection of the natural environment and promote behaviors that express this broad motivational goal. Thus, changes in these values at the community and individual levels are likely to have significant consequences for sustainability efforts. We examined the relative importance of environmental values in Australian adults at five time points over 4 years, including a period of stability (2017-2019) and a period of crisis (early and late in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic). We found that the relative importance of environmental values increased from 2017 to 2019 and decreased during the pandemic. Importantly, the decrease in 2020 was lessened by individuals' connection with nature.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01151-w.
... to the loss of important habitats such as wetlands and free-flowing rivers (Reis et al., 2017;Grill et al., 2019 Although the percentages of threatened and extinct species and the rate of decline of vertebrate populations are much higher in fresh waters than those in terrestrial or marine ecosystems (Costello, 2015;McRae, Deinet & Freeman, 2017), freshwater ecosystems are largely under-represented in biodiversity and conservation research (Jucker et al., 2018;Mazor et al., 2018;Tydecks et al., 2018). Even more worryingly, gaps in conservation actions could be worse than those in research (Clark & May, 2002;Abell & Harrison, 2020 Globally, 89% of seasonal freshwater wetlands are not covered by protected areas (Reis et al., 2017) and most of the world's largest rivers have less than 10% of their basins targeted by integrated protection, which falls short of the goal (i.e. ...
... Indeed, information on biodiversity and studies focusing on biodiversity are currently biased towards certain species (e.g. large mammals and birds) and ecosystems (e.g. the terrestrial realm) (Clark & May, 2002;Jucker et al., 2018;Mazor et al., 2018;Tydecks et al., 2018). Consequently, the need for conservation efforts for threatened species (e.g. ...
• Freshwater ecosystems have a higher percentage of threatened and extinct species than terrestrial or marine realms, but remain under-represented in conservation research and actions arguably as a consequence of less popularity and promotion.
• Cover images of conservation journals were used as a proxy of exposure and potential promotion opportunities provided for different ecosystems and species. To examine whether articles related to cover images received more attention, citations and Altmetric scores of cover-featured articles were compared with non-featured ones within the same host journal issue.
• Freshwater ecosystems (10.4%) were featured less often than marine (15.2%) or terrestrial (74.4%) ecosystems on covers of 18 conservation journals from 1997 to 2016. All 15 most featured species are from terrestrial or marine ecosystems.
• In addition, cover-featured studies showed higher citations and Altmetric scores than non-featured ones within the same host journal issue, indicating that cover-featured articles received more attention. Further investigations are needed to examine the relationship (i.e. whether there is a true causality) between being featured on the cover, and citations and Altmetric scores received by articles, as well as potentially resulting in greater conservation efforts. Nevertheless, we believe that providing exposure opportunities is likely to better inform the public about the continuing degradation of freshwater ecosystems and its impacts on human well-being, including economic loss and danger to public health. Journal editors can contribute by balancing their selection of featured ecosystems and species when opportunities arise.
• Increasing exposure opportunities for freshwater ecosystems through various channels seems a promising approach to raise public awareness and appreciation of freshwater biodiversity. Scientists can play an active role and form an alliance with journal editors, conservation organizations, and media, to increase momentum in society for fresh waters to be experienced as essential ecosystems and prevent further degradation of freshwater habitats and biodiversity loss.
... Lack of broad institutional and societal representation is certainly a valid criticism of our work, and a limitation we ourselves drew attention to in our article. However, de Gracia overlooks 3 important aspects of Jucker et al. (2018). First, our goal was not to set new conservation priorities, but to develop a method to reevaluate existing ones; second, the approach we developed actively seeks to increase representation (albeit imperfectly) and third, despite our shared institutional affiliation, as authors we actually represent a diverse group of early-career researchers (ECRs). ...
... Instead, what motivated our work echoes several of de Gracia's general criticisms of current priority-setting exercises. Recently, priority-setting research has become increasingly popular in the environmental sciences (Dey et al., 2020), with at least 35 such articles published between 2006 and 2016 (see Figure S12 in Supporting Information in Jucker et al. [2018]). However, continuously identifying new areas of priority research might not necessarily be the best way to advance conservation, particularly if no attempt is made to determine how the broader conservation community judges their relative importance. ...
... Third, although the authors of Jucker et al. (2018) were all based at the University of Cambridge and its Conservation Research Institute (UCCRI), we did not reflect the typical makeup of a priority-setting group. For one, at the time this project was undertaken, all 45 authors were ECRs (PhDs, postdocs, or research fellows), not established experts in our respective fields. ...
... In addition to data on the perceived importance of each research question, we also collected expert opinion on the amount of scientific resources required to answer each research question (i.e., the financial, human resources, and time costs), and on the amount of scientific information that is already available for each research question. Most previous collaborative research prioritization studies have not considered these important elements of context (but see Cvitanovic et al. 2013;McWhinnie et al. 2017), which may have hindered progress on addressing previously identified research priorities (Rees et al. 2016;Jucker et al. 2018;Dey et al. 2020). ...
Effective management of freshwater fish habitat is essential to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems and sustainable fisheries. In Canada, recent changes to the Fisheries Act enhanced the protection of fish habitat, but application of those provisions relies on sound scientific evidence. We employed collaborative research prioritization methods to identify scientific research questions that, if addressed, would significantly advance the management of freshwater fish habitat in Canada. This list was generated by a diverse group of freshwater fish experts, including substantial contributions from practitioners who administer provisions of the Fisheries Act. The research questions generated in this study identify priority topics for future research, while highlighting issues that could be addressed with different funding models. As a result, this study should support evidence-based management of Canada’s aquatic resources by identifying scientific knowledge gaps faced by practitioners, and suggesting mechanisms to address them. Given the important contribution of Canadian freshwater systems to global ecosystem values, and the similar scientific challenges facing fish habitat managers in other jurisdictions, this study is likely to have broad applicability.
... Because of the global impact to freshwater ecosystems, their associated vertebrate populations are declining at alarming rates (83% decline since 1970;WWF, 2018), and their conservation and management are a priority for global biodiversity (IPBES, 2019). Nevertheless, despite broad agreement on the requirements to understand and monitor biodiversity and ecological networks in freshwater habitats (Socolar et al., 2015), our comprehension of biodiversity conservation in this realm lags behind terrestrial and marine environments (Jucker et al., 2018). ...
The biodiverse Neotropical ecoregion remains insufficiently assessed, poorly managed, and threatened by unregulated human activities. Novel, rapid and cost-effective DNA-based approaches are valuable to improve understanding of the biological communities and for biomonitoring in remote areas. Here, we evaluate the potential of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding for assessing the structure and distribution of fish communities by analysing water and sediment from 11 locations along the Jequitinhonha River catchment (Brazil). Each site was sampled twice, before and after a major rain event in a five-week period and fish diversity was estimated using high-throughput sequencing of 12S rRNA amplicons. In total, 252 Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) and 34 fish species were recovered, including endemic, introduced, and previously unrecorded species for this basin. Spatio-temporal variation of eDNA from fish assemblages was observed and species richness was nearly twice as high before the major rain event compared to afterwards. Yet, peaks of diversity were primarily associated with only four of the locations. No correlation between β-diversity and longitudinal distance or presence of dams was detected, but low species richness observed at sites located near dams might that these anthropogenic barriers may have an impact on local fish diversity. Unexpectedly high α-diversity levels recorded at the river mouth suggest that these sections should be further evaluated as putative “eDNA reservoirs” for rapid monitoring. By uncovering spatio-temporal changes, unrecorded biodiversity components, and putative anthropogenic impacts on fish assemblages, we further strengthen the potential of eDNA metabarcoding as a biomonitoring tool, especially in regions often neglected or difficult to access.
... Limiting the CTN section to 10 Likert-style questions minimized survey length but ensured valid measurement of nature connectedness. To assess participant perceptions of conservation concern for each species that was recognized by the participant, participants were asked to give a conservation attention score for each species between 0 and 5 for each species, in which species considered to be of highest priority gained a score of 5 (Jucker et al., 2018). ...
Shifting baseline syndrome (SBS) describes a persistent downgrading of perceived ‘normal’ environmental conditions with every sequential generation, leading to under‐estimation of the true magnitude of long‐term environmental change on a global scale. The presence of SBS should be considered when local ecological knowledge and participatory techniques are involved in conservation target‐setting. However, despite increasing recognition of the phenomenon, there is little empirical evidence for SBS. Here we provide evidence of SBS, and the first empirical investigation of the impacts of SBS on public perceptions of conservation need.
Large‐scale online questionnaires were used to collect public perceptions of long‐term biological change regarding 10 UK bird species, as well as demographic information and measures of knowledge and experience of the local environment (n = 330). A paired data approach compared social perceptions to a large‐scale longitudinal biological dataset. Using information theoretic and model selection techniques, we estimate the relative importance of multiple demographic, social and psychological predictors of SBS. We provide a framework for investigating evidence of SBS and its impacts on perceptions of conservation need for species in decline.
Evidence of generational amnesia was found as an age‐related difference in perceptions of past ecological conditions. The perceptions of older participants had significantly higher agreement with biological data than the perceptions of younger participants. Our results therefore support the expectation that younger, less experienced people are less aware of historical ecological conditions and show greater evidence of SBS. We also present evidence of a negative impact of SBS on future conservation, as older people were more likely than younger people to perceive a greater need for conservation action for three declining species.
Our research supports the need to encourage greater intergenerational communication and increase experience of local nature. Discovering evidence of SBS in public perceptions of species experienced within everyday life demonstrates SBS as a pervasive social issue with the potential to impact public perceptions of local nature.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
... How long would it take to answer these questions to a level that is sufficient for science users? A recent review [55] of progress on Sutherland et al.'s [4] '100 questions of importance for the conservation of global biological diversity' demonstrated a considerable variation in effort directed towards each question, but did not suggest that any of those questions had been sufficiently addressed in the intervening decade, such that further research was no longer needed. It may be that CRP studies have been too broad in their definition of priority research topics, or too vague in the formulation of those priorities [56], and are therefore at risk of diluting focus on the most important research questions. ...
Collaborative research prioritization (CRP) studies have become increasingly popular during the last decade. By bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders, and using a democratic process to create a list of research priorities, these methods purport to identify research topics that will better meet the needs of science users. Here, we review 41 CRP studies in the fields of ecology, biodiversity conservation and environmental science that collectively identify 2031 research priorities. We demonstrate that climate change, ecosystem services and protected areas are common terms found in the research priorities of many CRP studies, and that identified research priorities have become less unique over time. In addition, we show that there is a considerable variation in the size and composition of the groups involved in CRP studies, and that at least one aspect of the identified research priorities (lexical diversity) is related to the size of the CRP group. Although some CRP studies have been highly cited, the evidence that CRP studies have directly motivated research is weak, perhaps because most CRP studies have not directly involved organizations that fund science. We suggest that the most important impact of CRP studies may lie in their ability to connect individuals across sectors and help to build diverse communities of practice around important issues at the science-policy interface.
... Given that a 'critical mass' of practitioners in conservation palaeobiology has now been reached [3], one needs to ask why palaeontologists are not consulted more regularly in defining priority questions and in modern-day conservation efforts. For example, the recent 10year assessment [10] of the widely-cited paper that posed 100 priority questions in conservation [11] did not include palaeontologists among its 45 authors, nor the terms 'palaeo' or 'paleo' in the paper. These omissions were likely unintentional but nevertheless reflect a community that considers palaeontology (abbreviated as 'palaeo' below) as irrelevant to conservation endeavours that are 'applicable to the practice of conservation and organizations' [11, p. 559]. ...
... Assessing the impact of a scientific paper is difficult [18], but the impact of Sutherland et al. [11] is likely high among scientists and conservation organizations. This assessment is based on (i) the wide acceptance and popularity of Sutherland et al. [11] (443 citations in Google Scholar, 20 July 2019), (ii) the reliance of conservation organizations on policyrelevant research questions [19,20], (iii) the reproduction of Sutherland et al.'s approach to identify priority questions in other conservation fields [17,21,22], and (iv) roughly one third of the works citing Sutherland et al. do so to justify their research [10]. Underscoring further the impact of the 100 priority questions is the study of Jucker et al. [10], which provided a 10-year assessment of these questions and quantified their relevance and research effort. ...
... This assessment is based on (i) the wide acceptance and popularity of Sutherland et al. [11] (443 citations in Google Scholar, 20 July 2019), (ii) the reliance of conservation organizations on policyrelevant research questions [19,20], (iii) the reproduction of Sutherland et al.'s approach to identify priority questions in other conservation fields [17,21,22], and (iv) roughly one third of the works citing Sutherland et al. do so to justify their research [10]. Underscoring further the impact of the 100 priority questions is the study of Jucker et al. [10], which provided a 10-year assessment of these questions and quantified their relevance and research effort. ...
Palaeontologists often ask identical questions to those asked by ecologists. Despite this, ecology is considered a core discipline of conservation biology, while palaeontologists are rarely consulted in the protection of species, habitats and ecosystems. The recent emergence of conservation palaeobiology presents a big step towards better integration of palaeontology in conservation science, although its focus on historical baselines may not fully capture the potential contributions of geohistorical data to conservation science. In this essay we address previously defined priority questions in conservation and consider which of these questions may be answerable using palaeontological data. Using a statistical assessment of surveys, we find that conservation biologists and younger scientists have a more optimistic view of potential palaeontological contributions to the field compared to experienced palaeontologists. Participants considered questions related to climate change and marine ecosystems to be the best addressable with palaeontological data. As these categories are also deemed most relevant by ecologists and receive the greatest research effort in conservation, they are the natural choice for future academic collaboration.
This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?’
... In aquatic ecosystems, particularly for wetlands, there are few long-term datasets focused on biological responses to climate-related changes. In fact, even though the conservation of freshwater ecosystems has high relevance, there is less research output related to these issues compared to those focused on terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Jucker et al., 2018). Among wetlands, ponds dominate the total area of continental standing waters in the Mediterranean region and harbour most of the aquatic biodiversity at the landscape scale (Miracle, Oertli, Céréghino, & Hull, 2010). ...
Aims
Phenological shifts are useful trackers of climate change effects on species and communities, but few datasets focus on the climate‐driven phenological responses of aquatic ecosystem vegetation. We aimed to analyse the reproductive seasonality of a submerged macrophyte community, the synchrony among coexisting species, and their responses to several environmental factors.
Location
A Mediterranean coastal pond in Valencia, Spain.
Methods
We analysed three years of data on a submerged macrophyte community. Plants were collected biweekly or monthly (57 collection dates) to quantify the intensity of flowering/fruiting per species. The reproductive seasonality of the community was tested with circular statistics. The reproductive synchrony of species was calculated with the Augspurger and the Freitas and Bolmgren indexes. The environmental factors driving reproduction in macrophytes were analysed with redundancy analyses.
Results
The reproductive activity of the community was seasonal (peaking in spring–summer) or non‐seasonal (peaking in spring–summer and autumn) depending on the year‐to‐year variations of precipitations after the summer drought. The synchronization among species in flowering and fruiting (overlap in time and intensity) was low, because the species‐specific reproductive patterns were spread throughout the long Mediterranean growing season. Temperature, water level, and conductivity were the variables that best explained flowering variability in the community, indicating that these factors affected each species differently. Fruiting was temporally correlated to flowering, with different lags depending on the species life cycle.
Conclusions
The species‐specific responses suggest that a warming climate may act as an environmental filter, gradually changing the community structure. The reproductive phenology of submerged macrophytes could act as an early indicator of a changing climate, with charophytes (Characeae) as suitable tracker candidates. Further studies concerning their phenology are needed to assess the resilience of submerged macrophyte communities to drought and assure the long‐term functioning of Mediterranean aquatic ecosystems.
