AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-20DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02461-4
Oscar Soto
{"title":"Governing uncertainty through mobility and commoning: Lessons from transhumant pastoralism in the Argentine Andes.","authors":"Oscar Soto","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02461-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02461-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rural sustainability policies often fail in territories shaped by ecological variability and mobile livelihoods, as they assume stability, fixed land use, and technical control. This article examines transhumant goat pastoralism in Malargüe, Argentine Andes, as a situated response to uncertainty and a source of insights for sustainability governance. Based on seven years of ethnographic research, we analyze how pastoralist families sustain livelihoods, manage common resources, and reproduce territorial relations through seasonal mobility, collective care, and vernacular commoning. Rather than treating mobility as a constraint, we show how transhumant practices constitute a decentralized form of ecological governance aligning production and resource management with environmental variability. Transhumant pastoralism operates as a sufficiency-oriented socio-ecological economy capable of inhabiting uncertainty without enclosure or stabilization. By foregrounding commoning and mobility as governance practices, the article contributes to sustainability transitions debates and offers transferable lessons for designing policies better suited to uncertain, climate-sensitive rural territories.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-20DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02456-1
Katarzyna Baran-Gurgul, Karolina Łach
{"title":"Climate change awareness and flood risk perception among future engineers.","authors":"Katarzyna Baran-Gurgul, Karolina Łach","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02456-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02456-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Increasingly frequent and intense floods, driven by climate change in Poland, highlight the need to raise public awareness of their causes, impacts, and adaptation strategies, with education playing a key role. A survey among over 200 final-year engineering students at the Cracow University of Technology examined attitudes toward climate change, floods, and adaptation measures. Results showed that 89% considered climate change a serious problem, while 80% emphasized the need for pro-environmental actions. The most frequently identified consequences were heatwaves, droughts, and floods, whereas flood prevention was associated mainly with protective infrastructure, water monitoring, and spatial planning. Experience of the 2024 flood in Poland significantly increased risk perception, while proximity to rivers was not decisive. Women more often than men viewed climate change as a serious threat and declared greater readiness for pro-environmental engagement. Media were the main source of knowledge, highlighting the importance of academic education.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-19DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02453-4
Catalina Munteanu, Mihai Daniel Nita, Ana Stritih, Simone Roverelli, Benjamin Michael Kraemer, Ovidiu Ionescu, Ilse Storch
{"title":"Legacies of historical population management shape contemporary bear use of anthropogenic spaces.","authors":"Catalina Munteanu, Mihai Daniel Nita, Ana Stritih, Simone Roverelli, Benjamin Michael Kraemer, Ovidiu Ionescu, Ilse Storch","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02453-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02453-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Romania hosts one of Europe's largest brown bear populations, but rising human-bear encounters and related casualties raise concerns about their drivers and future population management. Using >10 000 encounter reports (2019-2024) in a hierarchical occupancy model accounting for detection processes, we show that bear presence in human-dominated spaces is linked to food conditioning, habituation, and shaped by historical management. Bears occur more often in high wildland-urban interface areas, especially those closer to communist-era elite-hunting grounds with feeding sites. These patterns reflect a long-term legacy of 1960s population management policies interacting with environmental and behavioral processes to shape recent bear behavior. We call for management addressing ecological and social sustainability by phasing out supplemental feeding, reducing habituation and food conditioning, improving public knowledge of bear ecology, and recognizing historical legacies to promote coexistence.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-19DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02457-0
Mikko Mönkkönen, Gediminas Brazaitis, Guntis Brūmelis, Bengt-Gunnar Jonsson, Asko Lõhmus, Raisa Mäkipää, Kimmo Syrjänen
{"title":"From guidelines to practice: Operational criteria for identifying old-growth forests in northern Europe.","authors":"Mikko Mönkkönen, Gediminas Brazaitis, Guntis Brūmelis, Bengt-Gunnar Jonsson, Asko Lõhmus, Raisa Mäkipää, Kimmo Syrjänen","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02457-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02457-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Primary and old-growth forests are globally valued for their biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural significance. The EU biodiversity strategy and EU forest strategy for 2030 require strict protection of remaining primary and old-growth forests, yet they cover only about 3% of EU forest area and remain highly threatened. The European Commission's guidelines define old-growth forests using three main indicators-native tree species, deadwood, and large/old trees-supported by four complementary indicators. Implementing these indicators for boreal and hemiboreal old-growth forests in Europe currently lack science-based operational criteria that meet EU legal standards. We provide recommendations for implementing European Commission's indicators with science-based criteria to minimize misclassification and ensure cost-effective conservation. Key criteria include native species dominance, ≥ 5% deadwood of the total wood volume, and ≥ 20 large/old trees per hectare. Additional guidance is offered for regeneration patterns, structural complexity, microhabitats, and indicator species, emphasizing that all indicators should be applied collectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-19DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02462-3
Aitor Ibáñez Alonso, Phuc Thien Khoa Nguyen, Trong Dat Cao Tien, Thi Mai Trinh, Daan van Uhm
{"title":"From forests to chopsticks: Mapping semi-legal wildlife supply chains in Vietnam.","authors":"Aitor Ibáñez Alonso, Phuc Thien Khoa Nguyen, Trong Dat Cao Tien, Thi Mai Trinh, Daan van Uhm","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02462-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02462-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The exploitation of wildlife for meat consumption-both legal and illegal-poses major conservation, animal welfare, and public health risks. While scholarship often centers on CITES-listed species, non-CITES species remain underexamined. Focusing on the trade in civets and bamboo rats in Vietnam, this study examines the illegal trade embedded within ostensibly legal businesses using crime script analysis (CSA) to map it through two complementary scripts, one farm-based and one restaurant-based. Drawing on 107 interviews and direct observations, findings reveal that more than half of surveyed facilities (34/63) acknowledged illegal sourcing; eight farms operated outside the regulatory system or maintained unregistered satellite locations; two-thirds of registered farms had earlier operated unregistered; and logbook manipulation was widespread. Ritualized inspections and facilitation payments compounded lax oversight. These procedural dynamics provide a foundation for targeted interventions essential to conservation and zoonotic disease surveillance within a One Health framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-14DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02454-3
Veera Kangaspunta
{"title":"Belief structures in civic online forest discussion.","authors":"Veera Kangaspunta","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02454-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02454-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this article, I approach online civic discussion as an important form of public debate that reflects and supplements the official forest discussion. I identify the shared beliefs and belief-based structures within the Finnish online forest-related debate among participating citizens. In addition, I examine the extent to which these identified structures reflect the established forestry and preservation positions and paradigms of the official discussion. A range of online user discussions about forests from five Finnish-language platforms in 2023 are subjected to multiphase qualitative and quantitative analyses. Based on these analyses, three key belief structures are identified: a preservation-positive structure, a forestry-positive structure and a compromise-seeking structure. These structures both reflect and challenge the established positions of the official Finnish forest discussion and, interestingly, reveal the importance of online discussions as an arena for critique and fundamental value-based debate.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148757516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-14DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02473-0
Pranay Arora
{"title":"Leopard sterilisation in India: The ecological and ethical costs of anthropocentric wildlife management","authors":"Pranay Arora","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02473-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13280-026-02473-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>India’s rising human–leopard conflict has prompted the government to adopt immune contraceptives to manage leopard populations. The decision has sparked debate among wildlife experts and conservation organisations, government officials, and local communities. Here, I discuss the ecological and ethical implications of this intervention and highlight alternative, coexistence-based approaches that recognise both humans and wildlife as stakeholders within shared socio-ecological systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":"55 11","pages":"2806 - 2810"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13280-026-02473-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148757337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-13DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02466-z
Jiangwei Zhai, Enzai Du, Matthew A Sturchio, Alan K Knapp
{"title":"Impacts of solar panels on vegetation biomass shift with climate aridity.","authors":"Jiangwei Zhai, Enzai Du, Matthew A Sturchio, Alan K Knapp","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02466-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-026-02466-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Photovoltaic power generation provides a promising solution of future energy supply to achieve carbon neutrality. The rapid expansion of ground-mounted photovoltaic solar panels, however, has aroused concerns of potential negative impacts on ecosystems. Based on a global meta-analysis of paired field observations across 55 sites, we show that solar panels exert divergent impacts on aboveground biomass in the under-panel areas compared with the gap areas dependent on the trade-off between a shading effect and altered water relations. Specifically, solar panels on average cause a significant decrease in under-panel aboveground biomass by 38% (95% CI: -63% to -13%) in regions with aridity index (annual precipitation/potential evapotranspiration) above 0.26 (95% CI: 0.19 to 0.33), whereas no significant effect is found for regions with aridity index below this threshold. Using a criterion of aridity index below 0.26, we identify a global dryland area of 11.67 million km<sup>2</sup> where aboveground biomass is not decreased by the presence of infrastructure for photovoltaic solar power generation. Within these areas, we estimate that 71 countries have a potential capacity for photovoltaic solar power generation to meet their national electricity demands. Our study identifies an aridity threshold for the negative effect of solar panels on aboveground biomass and for the first time, sets up an ecological threshold for future solar power utilization in global drylands to reduce potential losses of ecosystem functioning.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148758761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-12DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02445-4
Agnes B Olin, Josep Sardanyés, Ceren Ekinci, Maria Eggertsen, Mikael van Deurs, Ulf Bergström, Filip Ivančić, Karen Timmermann, Hans Jakob Olesen, Lena Bergström
{"title":"The sound of resilience? Exploring trophic cascades and positive feedbacks between cod and eelgrass in a trawl-free ecosystem.","authors":"Agnes B Olin, Josep Sardanyés, Ceren Ekinci, Maria Eggertsen, Mikael van Deurs, Ulf Bergström, Filip Ivančić, Karen Timmermann, Hans Jakob Olesen, Lena Bergström","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02445-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13280-026-02445-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examines The Sound, a strait between Denmark and Sweden protected by a trawl ban since 1932. Consistent with previous research, we show that the area supports greater densities, sizes, and landings of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) than adjacent trawled waters. Simulations from a bespoke food web model indicate that predation from the cod can suppress mesopredators, thus reducing filamentous algal growth through a trophic cascade, which benefits eelgrass (Zostera marina). In line with this, monitoring data show lower mesopredator densities and more extensive eelgrass meadows in The Sound compared with nearby trawled areas, although salinity and hydrodynamic conditions could also contribute. However, despite the trawl ban, adult cod densities are currently at their lowest levels since monitoring started, raising concerns about the ecosystem's long-term resilience. Model results further demonstrate how preserving eelgrass meadows benefits cod, illustrating feedback mechanisms that highlight the importance of integrated fisheries and conservation management.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148719676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
AmbioPub Date : 2026-08-06DOI: 10.1007/s13280-026-02446-3
Jaclyn Fox Rushing, Kira Hefty, Teresa N Hollingsworth, Amanda E Cravens, Christopher A Armatas, Clare Boerigter, Kellie J Carim, Shelley D Crausbay, Olga Helmy, David J Lawrence, Lauren Redmore, Gregor W Schuurman, Eric J Taylor, Jennifer L Wilkening, Katherine A Zeller, Sean A Parks
{"title":"Wicked problems in practice: Responding to ecological transformation in wilderness.","authors":"Jaclyn Fox Rushing, Kira Hefty, Teresa N Hollingsworth, Amanda E Cravens, Christopher A Armatas, Clare Boerigter, Kellie J Carim, Shelley D Crausbay, Olga Helmy, David J Lawrence, Lauren Redmore, Gregor W Schuurman, Eric J Taylor, Jennifer L Wilkening, Katherine A Zeller, Sean A Parks","doi":"10.1007/s13280-026-02446-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13280-026-02446-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Congressionally designated wilderness offers the highest level of land protection in the USA, comparable to category 1b wilderness as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, yet wilderness areas face impacts of climate change. Researchers and managers increasingly recognize the immense challenge of stewarding wilderness in a changing climate. Although responding to climate change is considered a wicked problem, this framing has not been applied to wilderness contexts. We move theory into practice by using wicked problem framing and four illustrative cases to explore how the resist-accept-direct (RAD) framework can help untangle the wicked problem of addressing unprecedented ecological transformation in wilderness. The RAD framework clarifies a range of response options including resisting transformation, accepting it, or directing it toward preferred new conditions. As climate change continues to challenge wilderness managers, the RAD framework can help assess trade-offs and preserve wilderness character into the twenty-first century.</p>","PeriodicalId":461,"journal":{"name":"Ambio","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148683097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}