Conservation Science and Practice最新文献

{"title":"Decadal changes in environmental suitability for the margay (Leopardus wiedii) under anthropogenic pressure in the Yucatán Peninsula","authors":"Jimena García-Burgos,&nbsp;Carlos Yáñez-Arenas,&nbsp;Mircea Gabriel Hidalgo-Mihart,&nbsp;Gerardo Martín,&nbsp;Xavier Chiappa-Carrara","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70226","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Assessing distinct impacts of human activities on species distribution is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies. The margay (<i>Leopardus wiedii</i>) is a poorly studied and highly threatened species due to its dependence on forest habitats. Within its distribution range, the Yucatán Peninsula (YP) is a key region due to its habitat diversity and biological connectivity. However, during the last decade, the YP has experienced accelerated anthropogenic pressures, and no studies have evaluated the differential impacts of human activities on margay distribution. In this study, we used MaxEnt species distribution models with Target-Group bias correction to analyze how different types of human activities affected margay distribution and environmental suitability over the last decade (2010–2013 and 2020–2023). This represents the first regional-scale assessment of margay distribution changes in the YP incorporating anthropogenic impacts over a decadal timeframe. Our results reveal contrasting patterns of habitat change: contraction areas (~139,790 km²) showed significant vegetation loss and agricultural expansion, posing threats to margay persistence, while expansion areas (~12,428 km²) demonstrated vegetation recovery within abandoned agricultural landscapes. These findings highlight the dual effects of human activities: agriculture emerges as a critical threat, while land abandonment and forest recovery offer opportunities for recolonization. Notably, margays showed resilience by adapting to disturbed habitats near urban edges, suggesting potential for persistence in human-modified landscapes. Our study also advances methodological approaches for species distribution models by demonstrating the effectiveness of Target-Group bias correction in small datasets, particularly for elusive species with limited occurrence records.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70226","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715168","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}

{"title":"Beyond area: Evaluating Australia's contribution to Aichi Target 11 and implications for 30 × 30","authors":"James E. M. Watson,&nbsp;Ruben Venegas Li,&nbsp;Michelle Ward,&nbsp;James A. Fitzsimons,&nbsp;Hugh P. Possingham,&nbsp;Marc Hockings,&nbsp;Fiona Leverington,&nbsp;Hedley Grantham,&nbsp;Samantha Vine,&nbsp;Jody Gunn,&nbsp;Rachel Morgain,&nbsp;Brendan Wintle,&nbsp;Carly N. Cook","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70256","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Australia has set commitments to address its biodiversity crisis, with expanding area-based conservation forming a key part of its strategy, aligned with the nation's commitments of “30 × 30” in accordance with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Moving forward with these goals requires a picture of how far we have come. However, there is limited understanding of how advancements in Australia's National Reserve System (NRS) have contributed to meeting previous global commitments, specifically the 2010–2020 Aichi Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Here, we assess the expansion of Australia's land-based protected area network between 2010 and 2022 and the level of contribution to the biodiversity-focused components of the Aichi protected area target (Target 11) including (i) “areas of particular importance for biodiversity”; (ii) “areas of particular importance for ecosystem services”; (iii) “ecologically representative”; and (iv) “well-connected.” We found the total area protected increased substantially during the period (from 12.1% to 22.3% of Australia's terrestrial and freshwater environments), with large increases in the coverage of intact landscapes (from 23.5% to 46.3% coverage). But the NRS expansion made limited contribution to enhancing other metrics of biodiversity coverage. For example, since 2010, the extent of a threatened species' range within the NRS increased from a median of 20.5% to 23.3%, and as of 2022, there were still 160 species (11%) with &lt;1% of their range in the NRS. During the 12-year period, bioregional representation increased by a median of 1.5%, skewed heavily toward enlarging protection of bioregions with high levels of pre-existing protection in 2010. By 2022, only 45.8% of bioregions achieved or surpassed a coverage level of 17% of their area. Given these results, we discuss how Australia's area-based conservation could be more strategically targeted in order to contribute to achieving the biodiversity goals outlined in Target 3 of the GBF.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70256","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715226","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}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal patterns of elephant and chimpanzee occurrence amid hunting in an unprotected African rainforest","authors":"Vianny Rodel Vouffo Nguimdo,&nbsp;Ekwoge Enang Abwe,&nbsp;Marcel Eyong Ketchen,&nbsp;Daniel Mbouombouo Mfossa,&nbsp;Abwe Enang Abwe,&nbsp;Nelson Ekole Betobe,&nbsp;Robin Whytock,&nbsp;Mathias W. Tobler,&nbsp;Johannes Kamp,&nbsp;Bethan J. Morgan,&nbsp;Matthias Waltert,&nbsp;Mahmood Soofi","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70260","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Anthropogenic pressures are driving major declines in mammals, especially in unprotected areas. However, our understanding of how mammals coexist with humans and adapt to hunting in human-dominated landscapes remains limited. Here, we used long-term data (2008–2023) from an unprotected biodiversity hotspot facing hunting pressure and impending logging to model how Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees and African forest elephants respond to hunting. We found that elephant occurrence was mostly associated with higher elevations and greater village distance, declined with increasing terrain ruggedness, and was not sensitive to hunting. In contrast, chimpanzee occurrence increased strongly with terrain ruggedness, moderately with elevation, and non-linearly with village distance. It decreased with increasing hunting intensity. During 2008–2023, elephant occurrence remained generally stable but increased in high elevations and near rivers. Concurrently, chimpanzee occurrence declined, especially in areas with high hunting intensity and the species occurred increasingly away from villages. Overall, our findings suggest that hunting may predominately impact chimpanzees. Meanwhile, elephants may be more vulnerable to industrial logging that began after this study, likely outcompeting them in flatter areas. Our results highlight the urgent need to identify and secure key areas for both species to ensure their long-term persistence alongside other land uses in this biodiversity hotspot.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70260","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715308","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}

{"title":"Using structured decision making to evaluate the tradeoffs of selective fish passage","authors":"Shane Flinn,&nbsp;Andrew M. Muir,&nbsp;Kelly Robinson","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70234","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Dams have dramatically altered rivers and are a major contributor to native fish population declines. However, many dams serve important ecological, social, and economic functions, such as flood control, invasive species control, and provision of recreational opportunities. Therefore, dam removal is often contentious among stakeholders and involves making tradeoffs among multiple competing objectives. This research uses structured decision making to evaluate the ecological, social, and economic consequences and tradeoffs of enhancing connectivity for migratory fishes in the Boardman River, Michigan. We describe efforts to engage a diverse group of stakeholders to elicit their objectives under various fish passage alternatives. We used multi-attribute tradeoff methods to help stakeholders weigh the costs and benefits of enhancing connectivity for several fish species with varying life history traits and initial distributions. We found that the optimal alternative was passage of native fishes only; however, the optimal alternative varied based on the weight stakeholders might place on each objective. We created four objective weighting scenarios to evaluate the sensitivity of the optimal alternative to changes in objective weights. This research will help inform decision-makers on fish passage alternatives that are preferred by stakeholders and that are likely to achieve their objectives.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70234","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715111","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}

{"title":"Density dependence and habitat selection affect overwintering abundance of monarch butterflies at regional and site scales in California","authors":"Peter C. Ibsen,&nbsp;Zachary H. Ancona,&nbsp;Emma Pelton,&nbsp;Stephanie Little,&nbsp;Jay E. Diffendorfer","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70253","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The monarch butterfly (<i>Danaus plexippus</i>) is a species of iconic cultural interest. Thanks to annual overwintering monarch counts at hundreds of locations in coastal California, we are able to track fluctuations with high temporal and spatial resolution. Between 1997 and 2024, monarch populations at overwintering sites in the western United States experienced severe dips, at times (2018–2020, 2023–2024) giving the appearance of a population collapse. From 2018 to present, the Pismo State Beach Overwintering Monarch Grove has conducted multiple counts during overwintering and geolocated counts of individual monarch clusters to specific trees within the site. This study determined how annual monarch population variability is influenced by both climate and prior year population density at the state, region, and overwintering-site scale. Furthermore, through a machine-learning process, we investigated how overwintering site configuration and structure drive monarch winter space-use dynamics within the Pismo Beach site. Our approach found monarchs exhibit a preference for specific overwintering sites in California, and that 64% of annual variability of counts across sites can be explained by climate and density dependence, with density dependence explaining 50% of total variability. Within the site we found very little regional climate effect, but individual trees, tree size, distance to boundary, and the amount of shade were all strong indicators of monarch presence. Additionally, only 11 out of 320 trees at the Pismo Beach site accounted for 83.6% of all counts over 6 years, highlighting how monarchs use specific trees and how tree structure may create preferred microclimates for clustering.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70253","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715150","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}

{"title":"Cold-blooded commerce: Characterizing and predicting trade in Australian squamates","authors":"Sebastian Chekunov,&nbsp;Rodolfo O. Anderson,&nbsp;Thomas A. A. Prowse,&nbsp;John Measey,&nbsp;Adam Toomes,&nbsp;Phillip Cassey","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70233","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Reptiles are popular exotic pets worldwide, with species valued for rarity, uniqueness, and colorful appearances. Despite Australia having banned the commercial export of native wildlife for several decades, Australian reptiles continually accumulate in international trade. For trade interventions to be most effective, approaches must be tailored to specific taxa or regions, based on comprehensive understandings of trade dynamics. We characterized the diversity of trade in endemic Australian squamates and used boosted regression trees (fitting separate models for snakes and lizards) to predict which species may be targeted for future trade. Contrary to expectations, species' color and patterning had little impact on trade presence. The main trait influencing presence was body size (length and mass), with larger species more likely to be traded. There was also a phylogenetic signal in trade; the larger-bodied Pythonidae and Varanidae families were over-represented, as were Australian geckos (Carphodactylidae and Diplodactylidae). From this novel understanding of trade, we predicted that 59 species possess traits that make them potential targets for future trade. Our results provide government enforcement agencies with detailed information on at-risk species with the hope of improving preventative enforcement capabilities, protecting populations before they can be detrimentally impacted by illegal trade.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70233","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147714931","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}

{"title":"Carbon finance initiatives can provide biodiversity benefits","authors":"H. S. Sathya Chandra Sagar,&nbsp;Jennifer Raynor,&nbsp;Felicity A. Edwards,&nbsp;Fiona J. Sanderson,&nbsp;Sorrel Jones,&nbsp;Douglas W. Yu,&nbsp;Alex Bush,&nbsp;Maia E. Persche,&nbsp;Tarik Bodasing,&nbsp;Michael E. Taire,&nbsp;Ben Gottesman,&nbsp;Mohamed A. Feika,&nbsp;Mohamed Nyallay,&nbsp;Zuzana Buřivalová","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70254","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Carbon finance initiatives such as Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), designed to mitigate climate change, offer an opportunity to also protect biodiversity. However, managing forests to store and sequester carbon does not necessarily conserve biodiversity. We evaluated the biodiversity co-benefits of the Gola-REDD+ initiative in the tropical forests of Sierra Leone, using bioacoustics and DNA metabarcoding under a quasi-experimental study design. We used soundscape saturation (SS) as a measure of vocalizing diversity, and e-DNA arthropod community as a complementary measure of biodiversity to examine whether a Gola-REDD+ financed protected area (Treatment-PA) conserved biodiversity more than (1) a multiuse community land (Control-CL) and (2) a PA without REDD+ finance (Control-PA). We found that REDD+ financing is associated with additional biodiversity co-benefits in the Treatment-PA compared to both control areas. Our study makes three key contributions. First, we provide concrete evidence on a carbon finance (REDD+) project's effectiveness in conserving faunal diversity while sequestering carbon. Second, we present a gold-standard causal inference study design for evaluating biodiversity co-benefits of conservation strategies. Third, we highlight the role of conservation technologies like bioacoustics and DNA metabarcoding in informing conservation policy.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70254","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715132","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}

{"title":"Importance of context-specific community perspectives in human–wildlife coexistence: Evidence from Chitwan National Park, Nepal","authors":"Arockia E J Ferdin,&nbsp;Rajiv Pandey,&nbsp;Shyam Kumar Shah,&nbsp;Udit Chandra Aryal,&nbsp;Kumar Paudel,&nbsp;Abhinaya Pathak,&nbsp;Rinchen Zangmo,&nbsp;Babu Ram Lamichhane,&nbsp;Azlan Abas,&nbsp;Nagarajan Baskaran","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70245","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human–wildlife coexistence requires context-specific strategies that accommodate diverse community needs in landscapes where heterogeneous communities live in proximity to protected areas and wildlife. This study evaluates community priorities for eight coexistence strategies using importance-performance analysis across four management sectors of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We documented a significant spatial variation among the management sectors (<i>H</i> = 34.638–243.425, all <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001): Madi (Southern Sector) prioritized rapid response teams (12.5% of strategies classified as high priority), Sauraha (Eastern Sector) emphasized technology integration and community funding (25% as high priority), while Amaltari (Western Sector) focused on partnership diversification, integration of indigenous knowledge with science, and community funding (37.5% as high priority). In contrast, Kasara (Northern Sector) showed no clear preferences for specific strategies. Agriculture-dependent sectors demonstrated distinct priorities compared to tourism-dependent ones, with agriculture-dependent communities facing disproportionately higher conflict intensities. Community funding emerged as a shared priority only in tourism-dependent sectors. These findings demonstrate that uniform coexistence strategies are inadequate for spatially and socioeconomically heterogeneous protected areas. This study provides protected area managers globally with a sector-specific framework and evidence-based guidance for adapting interventions to local socioecological contexts, thereby enhancing both conservation effectiveness and community support.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70245","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715191","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}

{"title":"Where leopards die: identifying mortality hotspots in northern Pakistan","authors":"Muhammad Kabir,&nbsp;Faizan Ahmad,&nbsp;Luciano Bosso,&nbsp;Muhammad Rehan,&nbsp;Asma Ul Husna,&nbsp;Muhammad Raqeeb","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70258","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Human–wildlife conflict poses a major threat to large carnivores worldwide, particularly in human-dominated landscapes where their persistence increasingly depends on effective coexistence strategies. This study employs geostatistical and time-series analyses to identify conflict hotspots, temporal trends, and key anthropogenic drivers of human-induced leopard (<i>Panthera pardus</i>) mortality in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. We applied kernel density estimation, hotspot analysis, and multiscale geographically weighted regression to assess spatial patterns of mortality, identify underlying drivers, and examine temporal trends. Based on 178 verified leopard mortality records collected between 2000 and 2023, retaliatory killings following livestock depredation emerged as the primary cause of death, accounting for 63% of cases, with mortality peaking during autumn and winter. Spatial analyses revealed a high concentration of leopard mortalities in areas adjacent to and outside protected area boundaries. Furthermore, distance to protected areas and proximity to human settlements significantly influenced mortality risk, operating across variable spatial scales. Our findings indicate that leopard killings intensify where fear, misinformation, and economic losses intersect. These results emphasize the importance of landscape-level conservation planning, improved conflict mitigation strategies, and the integration of human-dominated areas into carnivore conservation frameworks. This study provides spatially explicit evidence to support targeted management interventions and policy actions for leopard conservation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.</p>","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70258","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715253","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}

{"title":"Islands: Microcosms of socioecological change and barometers of global biodiversity trends","authors":"Ricardo Rocha,&nbsp;James C. Russell,&nbsp;Nick D. Holmes,&nbsp;Maria P. Dias,&nbsp;Tomas Chaigneau,&nbsp;Ana Nuno","doi":"10.1111/csp2.70250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70250","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;The recent declaration of the Christmas Island shrew (&lt;i&gt;Crocidura trichura&lt;/i&gt;) as extinct offers a stark reminder of the vulnerability of island species (Woinarski &amp; Burbidge, &lt;span&gt;2025&lt;/span&gt;). This enigmatic mammal, restricted to Christmas Island, Australia, seems to have declined sharply after the arrival of invasive black rats carrying novel pathogens and due to predation by invasive predators such as cats and snakes and habitat disturbance from yellow crazy ants (Woinarski et al., &lt;span&gt;2023&lt;/span&gt;). This quiet, incremental, and ultimately irreversible disappearance characterizes the global trend of islands as extinction epicenters, an outcome driven by vulnerability to well-established threats like invasive species and exacerbated by new pressures like climate change (Russell &amp; Kueffer, &lt;span&gt;2019&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fate of the Christmas Island shrew is far from a singular loss. It is a symptomatic example of a long-standing broader global pattern of erosion of island biodiversity in the aftermath of human arrival. Islands occupy ca. 5% of Earth's land surface but hold roughly 20% of global biodiversity (Tershy et al., &lt;span&gt;2015&lt;/span&gt;). The magnitude of anthropogenically driven island species loss is still far from understood (see e.g., Rando et al., &lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt; for a recent example of unknown extinctions in the North Atlantic Macaronesian archipelagos). Yet, from what is documented, approximately three-quarters of human-driven extinctions over the past 500 years have occurred on islands (Fernández-Palacios et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;; Matthew et al., &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;). The ecological richness of islands is matched by their cultural distinctiveness, with many island societies having developed deep local ecological knowledge systems that are tightly intertwined with their environments (Hong, &lt;span&gt;2013&lt;/span&gt;; Kueffer &amp; Kinney, &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;). With islands at the epicenter of global socioecological change—facing increasing challenges associated with invasive species introductions, habitat loss and degradation, pollution, climate change and human socio-political dynamics—the socioecological systems, that converge on islands with exceptional intensity, are shifting at alarming rates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Islands have been in the forefront of conservation science and practice, with some of the most high-profile conservation success stories being linked to insular species and ecosystems (Bolam et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;; Jones et al., &lt;span&gt;2016&lt;/span&gt;), with these actions driven by consistently recorded threats to island species, particularly invasive mammals. Yet, substantial knowledge gaps persist. Basic data on lesser well known native species distributions, trends, ecological roles, and genetic diversity remain scarce (Aslan et al., &lt;span&gt;2015&lt;/span&gt;; Nori et al., &lt;span&gt;2022&lt;/span&gt;; Rato et al., &lt;span&gt;2024&lt;/span&gt;), while interacting threats—especially associated with invasive species—are poorly understood (Russell &amp; Kaiser-","PeriodicalId":51337,"journal":{"name":"Conservation Science and Practice","volume":"8 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/csp2.70250","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147568788","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}