Research summaries

Studying habitat requirements at the edge of a species’ range: lessons from a critically endangered warbler in the Italian Alps

Ceresa et al. share their experience investigating the conservation of peripheral populations, focusing on the critically endangered barred warbler Curruca nisoria in the Italian Alps. Peripheral populations — those living at the edges of a species’ distribution — are often small and isolated. Yet they can be disproportionately important for conservation, harbouring unique genetic diversity and local adaptations that may help species cope with environmental change. … Continue reading Studying habitat requirements at the edge of a species’ range: lessons from a critically endangered warbler in the Italian Alps

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Qualitatively Assessing Carbon Management Trade-offs at the Nature Conservancy’s Meyer Preserve

Written by Rylee McMillan and Adrienne Keller At The Nature Conservancy’s Newell and Ann Meyer Preserve in Wisconsin, USA, managers face an increasingly difficult challenge: understanding the trade-offs and benefits of managing for carbon outcomes among other management objectives.  This challenge is not unique. Ecosystems globally are witnessing clear and intensifying effects of climate change, driving a growing interest in using natural lands for their … Continue reading Qualitatively Assessing Carbon Management Trade-offs at the Nature Conservancy’s Meyer Preserve

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Where Could Ireland and Britain’s Temperate Rainforest Actually Go?

Katerina Chernyuk highlights the need to understand the various factors impacting temperate rainforests and shares her team’s research investigating the potential climate envelopes in Ireland and Britain. Recently, temperate rainforests have captured public awareness across Ireland and Britain, with everything from award-winning books, media articles and restoration projects, leading to attention from both NGOs and governments. Temperate rainforests have become a flagship habitat for Irish … Continue reading Where Could Ireland and Britain’s Temperate Rainforest Actually Go?

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Dirt to the rescue: Using sediment to restore evolving saltmarshes in the subtropics

Coastal wetlands such as saltmarshes and mangrove forests provide benefits including storm protection and fisheries support to millions of people around the world. Yet, these habitats are changing rapidly as sea levels rise and temperatures warm, especially in areas affected by both of these stressors at the same time. In the subtropics, for example, saltmarshes are deteriorating from sea level rise while also transitioning to … Continue reading Dirt to the rescue: Using sediment to restore evolving saltmarshes in the subtropics

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Insect farming can repeat the invasion mistakes of aquaculture – unless we act early

Insect farming is often promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional livestock, with the potential to reduce land use, emissions, and pressure on natural resources. However, scaling up any food production system also carries environmental risks. In this study, we show that one important risk – biological invasions caused by escaped farmed species – has received far too little attention in the rapidly growing insect … Continue reading Insect farming can repeat the invasion mistakes of aquaculture – unless we act early

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Plant mixture effects on soil nitrogen cycling

We conducted a global synthesis using paired observations of plant mixtures and corresponding monocultures to determine the long-term effects of plant diversity on soil N pools and N transformations. Our findings demonstrate that plant mixtures improve the sustainability of nitrogen cycling and reduce N2O emissions in the long term. We suggest that the conservation and restoration of terrestrial plant diversity should be designated as a … Continue reading Plant mixture effects on soil nitrogen cycling

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Bringing back birds to Mediterranean heathlands one cut and one burn at a time

For centuries, the heathlands of Tuscany in north-central Italy were used to graze livestock and to harvest heather for making brooms (the old witch-style ones) and other wares. These traditional land-use practices maintained perfect habitat for birds like the woodlark and tawny pipit – specialists of open and shrubby habitats. But here, and throughout Europe, birds that depend on open habitats like heathlands and grasslands … Continue reading Bringing back birds to Mediterranean heathlands one cut and one burn at a time

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What happens belowground when invasive species are controlled?

A better understanding of what happens belowground when restoring coastal vegetation may be useful to better plan restoration. However, little is known about what happens belowground when invasive species are controlled in restoration settings. My students and I used a protected area of sandy coastal vegetation in an island in Southern Brazil as a model to investigate belowground dynamics in plant communities under restoration. These … Continue reading What happens belowground when invasive species are controlled?

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Turning camera-trap overload into actionable wildlife monitoring in African rainforests

To support adaptive management, Magaldi et al. have developed a deep-learning model to analyse ground-level camera traps in African tropical forests. A familiar problem If you work in wildlife research or protected-area management, you’ll know the feeling: camera traps are brilliant at “being there” 24/7 in dense forest, but they come with a hidden cost—an avalanche of photos and videos that someone has to sort, … Continue reading Turning camera-trap overload into actionable wildlife monitoring in African rainforests

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How climate change affects carbon storage in Mediterranean pine forests

Reforestation is widely promoted as a way to mitigate climate change by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. However, its real success depends on how trees invest (allocate) the carbon they capture, that is, how much they invest to grow leaves, stems or roots, particularly under warmer and drier conditions. In this study, we analysed how climate affects carbon allocation in large-scale pine reforestations across the … Continue reading How climate change affects carbon storage in Mediterranean pine forests

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