Category: Research summaries

Research summaries

Can we count elephants from space? Towards a remote alternative to aerial surveys for large land mammals

Wilks et al. share their experience investigating the potential use of satellite surveys to identify elephants in the heterogeneous terrain of Botswana, Africa. A small Cessna plane flies low across the vast expanse of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, with all eyes abord peeled to detect and record elephants as part of the country-wide aerial survey every 4 years. The survey will fly over 20,000 … Continue reading Can we count elephants from space? Towards a remote alternative to aerial surveys for large land mammals

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Research summaries

Going the extra mile: environmental data collected by citizen scientists help shape new models of UK pollinating insect trends

Authors: Francesca Mancini, Claire Carvell and the PoMS partnership Our new paper “Modelling pollinator trends using multi-scale environmental data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme”, recently published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence, represents an important milestone for the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). Established in 2017, PoMS was designed to fill a critical evidence gap by collecting standardised data on bees, hoverflies and other flower-visiting … Continue reading Going the extra mile: environmental data collected by citizen scientists help shape new models of UK pollinating insect trends

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

What Happens When a Harbour Porpoise Encounters a Fishing Net?

Fishing nets set on the seafloor accidentally catch and kill thousands of small whales and dolphins every year. This accidental capture, known as bycatch, is one of the biggest human-caused threats to these animals. In the Baltic Sea, harbour porpoises are particularly affected by bycatch in fishing nets. Although many studies have investigated how well porpoises can detect nets, we still know surprisingly little about … Continue reading What Happens When a Harbour Porpoise Encounters a Fishing Net?

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Climate-Driven Changes in Habitat Suitability of two keystone species in Dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia

Mountain forests provide many benefits, including storing carbon, protecting water supplies, reducing soil erosion, and supporting biodiversity. In Ethiopia’s Dry Evergreen Afromontane forests, two tree species – African pencil cedar (Juniperus procera) and African wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata) – play particularly important ecological and cultural roles. However, rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns can alter where these species can survive in the future. … Continue reading Climate-Driven Changes in Habitat Suitability of two keystone species in Dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia

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Research summaries, Restoration

When does a soft-release actually work? The importance of time in the enclosure in carnivore reintroductions

Reintroducing a carnivore into the wild is never simple. Years of planning, significant resources, and a great deal of careful coordination go into each release. Yet despite all this effort, reintroduced animals do not always settle where we want them to, and understanding why is critical for improving future reintroductions. One of the key decisions managers face when planning a reintroduction is how to release … Continue reading When does a soft-release actually work? The importance of time in the enclosure in carnivore reintroductions

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Research summaries

Out of the weeds: Building on lessons learned for better collaboration on aquatic plant management

Authors: Erin Smith and Sarah Rijkenberg Collaborative research approaches with local practitioners and community members are creating more meaningful environmental research. This process is often called ‘knowledge coproduction’, and it’s been shown to increase uptake of scientific findings, build interpersonal trust, and strengthen relationships between researchers and practitioners. Co-production is, however, not easy. We are still figuring out the best practices to make it work … Continue reading Out of the weeds: Building on lessons learned for better collaboration on aquatic plant management

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Forests, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Why forest cover around your coffee farm matters? Scaling up bird conservation in Colombia

Whenever you walk through a shade-grown coffee farm in the Colombian Andes, it is easy to feel optimistic about biodiversity. Tall trees form a canopy above the coffee shrubs, birds call from every direction, and the system looks far more “natural” than a monoculture field. For years, this kind of agroforestry has been promoted as a win–win solution for farmers and biodiversity. But how much … Continue reading Why forest cover around your coffee farm matters? Scaling up bird conservation in Colombia

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Monitoring and methods, Pathogens and disease, Research summaries

Emerging gastric parasite risks in mountain gorillas: What we found and why it matters

Mountain gorillas are often celebrated as a conservation success story. Their numbers have increased thanks to long-term protection from conservation organisations, park authorities and local communities. However, the remaining two populations live in small, environmentally constrained habitats and recent veterinary records have documented cases of severe gastritis associated with strongylid nematodes in Virunga Massif. This raised an important question for us: are there changes in … Continue reading Emerging gastric parasite risks in mountain gorillas: What we found and why it matters

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Coastal and marine, Research summaries

Critically endangered penguins face higher risk of fisheries competition when fish are scarce

The decline of the African penguin The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) population has plummeted by nearly 80% in the past three decades, in part due to competition with the local purse-seine fishery which targets the penguins’ key prey of sardines and anchovies. To understand the role of fisheries in the penguin decline, a fishery closure experiment was conducted between 2008 and 2021 around two pairs … Continue reading Critically endangered penguins face higher risk of fisheries competition when fish are scarce

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Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

The landscapes we created hold clues to today’s wildfires

Wildfires are becoming larger, more frequent and more severe in many parts of the world. In Mediterranean-type regions, extreme wildfires that once seemed exceptional now return every year. According to Copernicus data, over 670,000 hectares burned Spain and Portugal in 2025, mostly during August. Nearly 400,000 hectares burned in Spain alone, the largest area since these records began. These extreme events have led many to … Continue reading The landscapes we created hold clues to today’s wildfires

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