Category: Monitoring and methods

Careers, Freshwater, Monitoring and methods, Perspectives, Research summaries

Lucy Dowdall: The Natural Capital approach to estuaries

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize 2022 In their latest Perspective, Lucy Dowdall and colleagues present a framework for successful recovery of nature in estuaries using the Natural Capital approach. Estuaries are the transitional zones between freshwater rivers and saltwater seas. They are also some of the most complex and unique habitats on earth. They provide important habitats for a wide range of key species, … Continue reading Lucy Dowdall: The Natural Capital approach to estuaries

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Careers, Freshwater, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Kieran Gething: Predicting invertebrate richness and rarity in aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize 2022 In their latest research, Kieran Gething and colleagues use a citizen science habitat survey to predict the richness and rarity of invertebrate communities in frequently inundated river sediments in order to guide monitoring and management of these dynamic habitats. River channels and their surrounding areas are dynamic ecosystems in which the extent of water varies in space and … Continue reading Kieran Gething: Predicting invertebrate richness and rarity in aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems

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Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Multiple incentives to harvest can increase the extinction risk of rare species

Ryan Almeida talks us through recent research on extinction risk with Juan Bonachela and Julie Lockwood. Through a case study on the ground pangolin, or the Smutsia temminckii, the study uses models to consider rare species extinction risk and the rate at which overexploitation occurs. The economics of exploitation Overexploitation, the unsustainable harvest of species from the wild, is recognized as one of the “big … Continue reading Multiple incentives to harvest can increase the extinction risk of rare species

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Coastal and marine, Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

How can soundscapes enhance recruitment and habitat building on new oyster reef restorations?

Author Dominic McAfee talks us through his and colleagues’ recently published research article which experimented with the use of home-made speakers to boost oyster recruitment at sites throughout Australia. We’ve all, at one time or another, used music as a band aid. Perhaps to mend a broken heart, or to help us through challenging times. And in this regard, it seems we are not alone … Continue reading How can soundscapes enhance recruitment and habitat building on new oyster reef restorations?

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Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems

FAR-sighted conservation: Facing the inevitability of ongoing environmental change

Chris Thomas and colleagues describe their latest Perspective article outlining a new framework – Facilitate-Accept-Resist (FAR) – that operationalizes conservation decision-making in a way that leads to greater adoption of positive biodiversity change. Conservation is in a bind. The biological world is changing, and so are our human priorities. When we declare a nature reserve on the basis of a particular species, for example, is … Continue reading FAR-sighted conservation: Facing the inevitability of ongoing environmental change

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Citizen science, Infographic, Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries

MammalWeb: The potential of citizen science for large-scale mammal monitoring

Feature photo: A camera trap photo © MammalWeb (CC BY-SA 2.0) In their latest article, Pen-Yuan Hsing et al. describe the processes involved in launching and running MammalWeb – a successful camera trapping project that has produced over 440,00 classified image sequences and videos over the past decade. It is unlikely to come as a shock to readers of the Applied Ecologist that the world … Continue reading MammalWeb: The potential of citizen science for large-scale mammal monitoring

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Journal news, Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Themed collections

Call for proposals: Innovation in Practice

The British Ecological Society journals Ecological Solutions and Evidence and Methods in Ecology and Evolution are seeking proposals for its new cross-journal Special Feature: “Innovation in Practice“. Applied ecological management relies in part on the application of technology to help mitigate anthropogenic impacts and facilitate the recovery of populations and ecosystems. In the past few decades, new and advanced technology has been applied to solve … Continue reading Call for proposals: Innovation in Practice

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Forests, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Research stories: How to (almost) double woodland carbon overnight

How much carbon is stored in the aboveground biomass (AGB) of Wytham Woods aka the ‘most studied forest in the world’? Professors Mat Disney and Kim Calders thought this would be very well-known but were surprised to find this perhaps wasn’t the case after all. They discuss how their team approached their latest research. Over the years, a number of studies have estimated the carbon … Continue reading Research stories: How to (almost) double woodland carbon overnight

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Citizen science, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Research stories: Strava, GBIF and Citizen Science

Lead author Caitlin Mandeville recalls how she and her co-authors kept their focus close to home in their latest research that explores connections between citizen science and recreation in natural areas. Just about every community has some small, unassuming natural areas that are mainly known to locals: a neighbourhood park, a small wildlife preserve, a field on the edge of town. These places might not … Continue reading Research stories: Strava, GBIF and Citizen Science

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Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries

Making optimal adaptive management accessible to everyone

Author Sam Nicol describes his team’s latest research developing a new model to help managers easily identify and employ adaptive management interventions to protect threatened species. Adaptive management—what’s the problem? Adaptive management has been the coolest thing in conservation for almost 40 years – everyone wants to do it. Way back in the ‘80s, the elegant seminal formulations by Hollings and Walters proposed that conservation … Continue reading Making optimal adaptive management accessible to everyone

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