Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment最新文献

{"title":"What's the point of peer review?","authors":"Gavin M Jones","doi":"10.1002/fee.2785","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2785","url":null,"abstract":"<p>If there is one common experience shared by all scientists, regardless of subdiscipline, it is the gauntlet of peer review. We all know the painful experience of rejection, the frustration of acquiescing to reviewers’ demands, and the many months that can sometimes elapse between the submission of and first decision on a paper. But for many, it is the peer-review process that adds the necessary ingredient of rigor—the stamp of approval—to science. For instance, science journalists primarily cover peer-reviewed studies, and the court systems consider peer-reviewed science to be the gold standard in environmental and conservation-related cases.</p><p>I have always thought that peer review acted as the primary filter excluding the most egregious error-laden and misguided science from entering the canon of scientific literature. But think about it—how often have you tossed out a paper of yours because it was rejected after peer review? How often have you, after making minimal changes, or no changes at all, re-submitted to another journal hoping for a “better” draw of peer reviewers? Perhaps several decades ago, when all journals were print-only and page space and the number of journal options were limited, the situation really was “make the changes or bust”. But with the remarkable proliferation of journals that now exist in every subdiscipline, every paper can find a home. According to Scopus, there are at least 550 indexed journals in the environmental science subcategory of “ecology”, and that number is growing. After each rejection, you could quite literally re-submit the same paper every few months to a new journal for the rest of your career, and know that you'll get a bite at some point.</p><p>The problem of poor-quality science in the literature is worsened by the exponentially growing sector of “predatory” or “pay-to-publish” outlets. These outlets’ journals, which often spam prospective authors with urgent messages asking for a rapid submission, will publish papers with little to no peer-review oversight, and for a fee. Much has been written about this seedy underbelly of academic publishing, and “sting” operations have revealed how little these outlets care about the content in their journals. One of my favorite examples occurred in 2020 when Dr. Dan Baldassarre, a behavioral ecologist at the State University of New York-Oswego, submitted a spoof paper titled “What's the Deal with Birds?” to a suspected predatory journal, the <i>Scientific Journal of Research and Reviews</i>. To the delight of Dr. Baldassarre's followers on social media, the paper was accepted, published within only seven days of its initial submission (!) if the metadata are to be believed, and still stands as one of the greatest publishing punk-jobs in science. Sometimes we have to laugh so that we don't cry; and while this example still makes me chuckle, the problems in publishing do not.</p><p>If we cannot trust journals at the “fringe”, then perhaps we can place mo","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2785","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141883231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new and unexpected survivor of Aristolochia toxicity?","authors":"Joelcio Freitas, Elton John de Lírio, Favio González, Anderson Alves-Araújo","doi":"10.1002/fee.2786","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2786","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141883232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What is the fitness benefit of night lighting for toads?","authors":"Matthew L Richardson","doi":"10.1002/fee.2787","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2787","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141883359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Logistical and preference bias in participatory science butterfly data","authors":"Benjamin R Goldstein,&nbsp;Sara Stoudt,&nbsp;Jayme MM Lewthwaite,&nbsp;Vaughn Shirey,&nbsp;Eros Mendoza,&nbsp;Laura Melissa Guzman","doi":"10.1002/fee.2783","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2783","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The volume of and interest in unstructured participatory science data has increased dramatically in recent years. However, unstructured participatory science data contain taxonomic biases—encounters with some species are more likely to be reported than encounters with others. Taxonomic biases are driven by human preferences for different species and by logistical factors that make observing certain species challenging. We investigated taxonomic bias in reports of butterflies by characterizing differences between a dedicated participatory semi-structured dataset, eButterfly, and a popular unstructured dataset, iNaturalist, in spatiotemporally explicit models. Across 194 butterfly species, we found that 53 species were overreported and 34 species were underreported in opportunistic data. Ease of identification and feature diversity were significantly associated with overreporting in opportunistic sampling, and strong patterns in overreporting by family were also detected. Quantifying taxonomic biases not only helps us understand how humans engage with nature but also is necessary to generate robust inference from unstructured participatory data.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2783","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141771958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil carbon offset markets are not a just climate solution","authors":"Mustafa Saifuddin,&nbsp;Rose Z Abramoff,&nbsp;Erika J Foster,&nbsp;Shelby C McClelland","doi":"10.1002/fee.2781","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2781","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is growing interest in enhancing soil carbon sequestration (SCS) as a climate mitigation strategy, including neutralizing atmospheric emissions from fossil-fuel combustion through the development of soil carbon offset markets. Several studies have focused on refining estimates of the magnitude of potential SCS or on developing methods for soil carbon quantification in markets. We call on scientists and policy makers to resist assimilating soils into carbon offset markets due to not only fundamental flaws in the logic of these markets to reach climate neutrality but also environmental justice concerns. Here, we first highlight how carbon offset markets rely on an inappropriate substitution of inert fossil carbon with dynamic stocks of soil carbon. We then note the failure of these markets to account for intersecting anthropogenic perturbations to the carbon cycle, including the soil carbon debt and ongoing agricultural emissions. Next, we invite scientists to consider soil functions beyond productivity and profitability. Finally, we describe and support historical opposition to offset markets by environmental justice advocates. We encourage scientists to consider how their research and communications can promote diverse soil functions and just climate-change mitigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2781","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141519466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Translocation Continuum Framework for context-specific decision making","authors":"Belinda A Wilson,&nbsp;Maldwyn J Evans,&nbsp;Iain J Gordon,&nbsp;Adrian D Manning","doi":"10.1002/fee.2784","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2784","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Translocations are a critical tool for reversing biodiversity loss but are often characterized by unreasonably high expectations, leading to many translocation programs being brief and terminated before achieving their full potential. To address these issues, we developed the “Translocation Continuum Framework”, an easy-to-use tool that clarifies the criteria, strategies, tactics, progress measures, and expected outcomes for five key translocation “phases”: Feasibility Studies, Pilot Studies, Primary Trials, Secondary Experiments, and Tertiary Reinforcements. By accounting for uncertainty, the Framework aims to empower practitioners to design translocation programs that suit their context. We also discuss the limitations of “success” and “failure” labels in translocations, and the importance of parsimonious decision making to maximize learning with the least amount of loss. Only by managing expectations of the likelihood of establishment, growth, and regulation throughout a program's lifetime can we galvanize trust and investment in translocations so they can contribute meaningfully to long-term restoration.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2784","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141519468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How ignoring detection probability hurts biodiversity conservation","authors":"Joseph R Bennett,&nbsp;Brandon PM Edwards,&nbsp;Jordanna N Bergman,&nbsp;Allison D Binley,&nbsp;Rachel T Buxton,&nbsp;Dalal EL Hanna,&nbsp;Jeffrey O Hanson,&nbsp;Emma J Hudgins,&nbsp;Sahebeh Karimi,&nbsp;Calla V Raymond,&nbsp;Courtney D Robichaud,&nbsp;Trina Rytwinski","doi":"10.1002/fee.2782","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2782","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Conservation priorities and legal protections are often based on confirmed species occurrences. However, imperfect detection is likely the norm in biological surveys, resulting in negative consequences for conservation. Focusing on threatened species in the US and Canada, we show that detectability information appears to be lacking for most species that are conservation priorities. Although more research on species detection is needed, detectability estimates are important for many immediate decisions. Thus, we recommend: (1) estimating and accounting for detectability and designing rigorous surveys when confirming presence or absence is crucial. Otherwise, absence in surveys should be considered suggestive only and critical habitat should be managed even if species presences are unconfirmed. (2) When directly estimating detectability is prohibitively difficult, indirect estimates should be explored, for example through expert elicitation or trait-based predictors. (3) Detectability should be explicitly incorporated into decisions to ensure that surveys and management actions are directed where they have the greatest potential benefit.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2782","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141500719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing water protection on Tribal lands","authors":"S Mažeika Patricio Sulliván,&nbsp;Dylan Hedden-Nicely,&nbsp;Grace Bulltail","doi":"10.1002/fee.2751","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2751","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Multiple rulemaking iterations have led to variable definitions of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS), a rule that determines which waterbodies receive federal protection under the Clean Water Act. The rulemaking process has incorporated American Indian Tribes as “stakeholders” rather than as sovereign peoples, compounding a colonial legacy that limits the ability of Indigenous peoples to choose appropriate strategies for water protection on Tribal lands. For example, protecting waters for Tribal beneficial uses requires applying both Western science and Indigenous knowledge to document patterns of waterbody connectivity and permanence, which underpin WOTUS policy. To honor the federal trust responsibility (a legal obligation) of the US Government to Tribes, policy should incorporate a parallel set of scientific standards for determining WOTUS on Tribal lands. These standards must recognize culturally distinct uses of waters and account for place-based Indigenous knowledge. Examination of the intersection of the science supporting water protection, Indigenous sovereignty, and US policy has relevance to similar issues around the globe.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2751","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141519467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do urban trees vary across the US? It depends on where and how you look","authors":"Gisselle A Mejía,&nbsp;Peter M Groffman,&nbsp;Meghan L Avolio,&nbsp;Anika R Bratt,&nbsp;Jesse M Engebretson,&nbsp;Noortje Grijseels,&nbsp;Sharon J Hall,&nbsp;Sarah E Hobbie,&nbsp;Susannah B Lerman,&nbsp;Elizaveta Litvak,&nbsp;Dexter H Locke,&nbsp;Desiree L Narango,&nbsp;Josep Padullés Cubino,&nbsp;Diane E Pataki,&nbsp;Tara LE Trammell","doi":"10.1002/fee.2777","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2777","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Urban forests provide ecosystem services important for regulating climate, conserving biodiversity, and maintaining human well-being. However, these forests vary in composition and physiological traits due to their unique biophysical and social contexts. This variation complicates assessing the functions and services of different urban forests. To compare the characteristics of the urban forest, we sampled the species composition and two externally sourced traits (drought tolerance and water-use capacity) of tree and shrub species in residential yards, unmanaged areas, and natural reference ecosystems within six cities across the contiguous US. As compared to natural and unmanaged forests, residential yards had markedly higher tree and shrub species richness, were composed primarily of introduced species, and had more species with low drought tolerance. The divergence between natural and human-managed areas was most dramatic in arid climates. Our findings suggest that the answer to the question of “what is an urban forest” strongly depends on where you look within and between cities.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141500720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Centering Indigenous Knowledges in ecology and beyond","authors":"Joseph Gazing Wolf,&nbsp;Danielle D Ignace,&nbsp;Dominique M David-Chavez,&nbsp;Lydia L Jennings,&nbsp;Deondre Smiles,&nbsp;Paulette Blanchard,&nbsp;Ellen Simmons,&nbsp;Diana Doan-Crider,&nbsp;Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills,&nbsp;Michelle Montgomery,&nbsp;Melissa K Nelson,&nbsp;Linda Black Elk,&nbsp;Luke Black Elk,&nbsp;Gwen Bridge,&nbsp;Ann Marie Chischilly,&nbsp;Kevin Deer,&nbsp;Kathy DeerinWater,&nbsp;Trudy Ecoffey,&nbsp;Judith Vergun,&nbsp;Daniel Wildcat,&nbsp;James Rattling Leaf","doi":"10.1002/fee.2776","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fee.2776","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is a resurgent enthusiasm for Indigenous Knowledges (IK) across settler–colonial institutions of research, education, and conservation. But like fitting a square peg in a round hole, IK are being forced into colonial systems, and then only as marginal alternatives. To address this mismatch, the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) hosted a 2-day workshop—entitled <i>Elevating Indigenous Knowledges in Ecology</i>—at the 2022 ESA Annual Meeting, which was held on Kanien'keháka (Mohawk) and Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee) territories in Montreal, Canada. This gathering of 21 interdisciplinary Indigenous ecologists included scholars from across the career and professional spectrum. By consensus, workshop participants (including the authors of this article) identified four emergent themes and respective guiding questions as a pathway toward the transformation of settler–colonial institutions into IK-led spaces. We highlight this pathway to support actions toward systemic change, inspire future directions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous ecologists, and nurture stronger relationships between Indigenous communities and the Western sciences, toward actualized decoloniality.</p>","PeriodicalId":171,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment","volume":"22 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2776","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141500722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}