Tag: biodiversity

Agriculture, Forest management, Research summaries

The hidden benefits of chocolate: cacao agroforests offer a conservation solution that supports biodiversity and livelihoods.

New work by Arnold and colleagues shows that sustainably grown cacao is a conservation solution which can support both people and nature, and that cacao agroforests and secondary forest can enrich regional biodiversity. Conservation initiatives have traditionally focused on protecting untouched natural areas. While this is important, we also need to understand how biodiversity can be promoted not as an alternative to human use of … Continue reading The hidden benefits of chocolate: cacao agroforests offer a conservation solution that supports biodiversity and livelihoods.

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Coastal and marine, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Simple, low-cost tools can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on incubating sea turtle clutches.

Successful incubation and production of male sea turtle hatchlings is threatened by increased global temperatures. In their latest research, Clarke and colleagues test the efficacy of two potential nest intervention approaches in reducing nest incubation temperatures in a nesting loggerhead turtle population in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Sea Turtles Are Vulnerable to Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts increases in global mean … Continue reading Simple, low-cost tools can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on incubating sea turtle clutches.

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Forest management, Grasslands, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Investigating the effects of fire management on savanna biodiversity with grid‐based spatially explicit population simulations

The development of effective fire management regimes is a global challenge. New research from Davies and colleagues aims to develop a flexible modelling approach to investigate how the spatiotemporal application of fire influences savanna biodiversity. Despite the integral role that fire plays in the functioning of ecosystems around the world, there remain few areas where the occurrence of fire has not been disrupted, in some … Continue reading Investigating the effects of fire management on savanna biodiversity with grid‐based spatially explicit population simulations

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Agriculture, Forest management, Research summaries

Can forest remnants in oil palm act as microclimate oases for biodiversity?

There is growing interest in the ecological value of set‐aside habitats around rivers in tropical agriculture. In their latest research, Williamson and colleagues investigate the capacity for riparian buffers to act as microclimatic refugia across an oil palm dominated landscape in Borneo. In many ways, oil palm is a miracle crop – it is vastly more productive than its temperate and tropical counterparts and is … Continue reading Can forest remnants in oil palm act as microclimate oases for biodiversity?

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Agriculture, Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

How does replanting of oil palm plantations affect arthropod biodiversity?

Palm oil plantations require replanting every twenty to thirty years but its effects on biodiversity are widely understudied. In their latest research, Pashkevich and colleagues assess the impact of replanting on arthropod communities in an industrial plantation. Biodiversity in oil palm plantations Oil palm plantations are often in areas that were once tropical rainforests, and this conversion has resulted in widespread declines in biodiversity and … Continue reading How does replanting of oil palm plantations affect arthropod biodiversity?

Journal of Applied Ecology1 Comment
Agriculture, Pollinators, Research summaries

Biodiversity in West African parklands promotes pollination of shea

With demand on shea parklands increasing, Aoife Delaney and colleagues explore the pollination services to shea and how we can better support this resource of both ecological and economic importance. Their new research was recently published in Journal of Applied Ecology. Shea parklands occupy over 1 million km2 in the Sudano-Sahelian semi-arid zone of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal in the west to Uganda in the … Continue reading Biodiversity in West African parklands promotes pollination of shea

Journal of Applied Ecology2 Comments
Research summaries, Restoration

Reclaiming contaminated land through biodiversity

How can we develop efficient ways to reclaim contaminated lands? Ecological Solutions and Evidence Editor-in-Chief, Marc Cadotte shares his recent work with Jia et al.,published in Journal of Applied Ecology. A version of this post is available in Chinese here. According to the IPBES report on land degradation, the degradation of productive lands and intact habitats is a major threat to sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystem … Continue reading Reclaiming contaminated land through biodiversity

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Research summaries, Restoration, Translation

利用生物多样性修复退化土地

Translation by Jin-tian Li.
根据IPBES关于土地退化的报告，农业用地和原生境的退化大大降低了生态系统的恢复力和经济系统的弹性，是对全球可持续发展、生物多样性和生态系统功能的重大威胁。在许多新兴经济体和发展中国家，人类活动所导致的环境污染使大量农业用地和原生境发生了严重退化。在很多情况下，将遭受严重污染的生境恢复到原始状态是不可行的，因为这些生境承载一个健全的原始生态系统的能力十分有限。在这种情况下，我们需要实施一系列修复退化土地的措施，以期达到提高生物多样性、增强生态系统功能的目的… Continue reading 利用生物多样性修复退化土地

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Associate Editor, Research summaries

Hedging against biodiversity loss

Research recently published in Journal of Applied Ecology shows how hedgerows and road verges can host more plant species than corresponding woodland and grassland. Lead author, Thomas Vanneste and Associate Editor, Pieter De Frenne highlight what this means for managers and policymakers. Hedgerows and road verges are important habitats across the globe. Road verges cover an estimated 270,000 km² (0.2 %) of the earth’s land … Continue reading Hedging against biodiversity loss

Journal of Applied Ecology1 Comment
Grasslands, Research summaries, Urban ecosystems, Video

Age is a better indicator of biodiversity for road verges than surrounding landscape

In their recently published article, Alistair Auffret and Evelina Lindgren show how historical maps can be a useful tool to identify which road verges can best support grassland habitats. Here the authors provide a summary of their work Road verges are by now quite well known to provide valuable habitat for grassland species if they are managed appropriately (Phillips et al., 2019; Vanneste et al., … Continue reading Age is a better indicator of biodiversity for road verges than surrounding landscape

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