BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-23eCollection Date: 2025-06-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf030
David J Baker, Kevin J Gaston, Kristian Metcalfe, Ilya M D Maclean
{"title":"Systematic conservation planning for nature recovery.","authors":"David J Baker, Kevin J Gaston, Kristian Metcalfe, Ilya M D Maclean","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf030","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nature conservation is increasingly focused on recovering depleted populations and ecosystems. The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and global commitments to ecosystem restoration in response to biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development targets are now considerable, with over 100 nations committed to halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The impacts of these resources on nature recovery will depend on how actions are identified and implemented. Systematic conservation planning has historically been used to prioritize areas for protection but has shown great potential to guide nature recovery actions that are underpinned by principles of spatial conservation planning. In the present article, we advocate for systematic conservation planning to target resources for nature recovery and show how well-established systematic conservation planning frameworks can be developed appropriately, particularly by integrating models for forecasting ecological, social, and economic conditions with spatial prioritization methods designed to target nature recovery resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 6","pages":"472-489"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12342869/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-23eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf005
Pascal Schaldach, Matthias Wilde
{"title":"The role of mediators in undergraduate field experiences: Suggesting additional perspectives to the UFERN model.","authors":"Pascal Schaldach, Matthias Wilde","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 10","pages":"787-789"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12539340/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145343109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf050
Mekala Sundaram, Nicole L Gottdenker, Patrick R Stephens
{"title":"Where is the elusive primary <i>ebolavirus</i> reservoir and how do we find It?","authors":"Mekala Sundaram, Nicole L Gottdenker, Patrick R Stephens","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf050","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An enduring mystery in <i>Ebolavirus</i> research is what host species maintain the virus in the wild. Despite the efforts of multiple research groups over decades, no primary reservoir has ever been identified. To the contrary, finding any evidence of infections in wild mammal populations is exceedingly rare. This is puzzling, given the wide range of species that ebolaviruses infect in laboratory and natural settings. We describe epidemiological, ecological, and immunological factors that have likely stymied the efforts of previous workers. We synthesize observations about host life history and seasonal variation in a key resource to provide recommendations for the geographic locations, species, and sampling regimes likely to prove most profitable for future sampling efforts. Our work also illustrates how a One Health perspective, which considers the dynamics of both wild animal hosts and the environments in which they are embedded, can lend clarity to otherwise seemingly intractable epidemiological problems.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":" ","pages":"biaf050"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13580389/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148987969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-16eCollection Date: 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf020
Benjamin Swift
{"title":"As water levels recede, Indigenous communities and scientists collaborate to protect Lake Titicaca and its high-altitude endemic species.","authors":"Benjamin Swift","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 10","pages":"791-798"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12539339/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145343100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-12eCollection Date: 2025-06-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf032
Morgan L Piczak, Robert J Lennox, Knut W Vollset, Bálint Preiszner, Tibor Erős, Grégory Bulté, Matt G Keevil, John S Richardson, Steven J Cooke
{"title":"On the underappreciated role of scavengers in freshwater ecosystems.","authors":"Morgan L Piczak, Robert J Lennox, Knut W Vollset, Bálint Preiszner, Tibor Erős, Grégory Bulté, Matt G Keevil, John S Richardson, Steven J Cooke","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf032","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The role of scavengers is well understood in terrestrial and marine systems but less so in freshwater ecosystems. We synthesized existing knowledge of scavenger ecology in freshwater, particularly within the context of the Anthropocene, including the patchy distribution of carrion, consumer responses, competition, and transfer of energy, nutrients, and diseases. We also explored ecosystem services provided by freshwater scavengers, such as direct material benefits and improvements in water quality. In addition, we examined how human activities-such as climate change, disturbance, exploitation, and fragmentation-are affecting scavenger behavior and abundance. To mitigate these anthropogenic impacts, we identified management options for environmental practitioners and decision-makers, emphasizing the importance of integrating freshwater scavenger roles into management plans and providing adequate policy protections. Finally, we highlighted key knowledge gaps, particularly regarding how changes in scavenger populations and their food sources may alter ecosystem structure and function.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 6","pages":"436-447"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12342871/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-10eCollection Date: 2025-08-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf046
Arian D Wallach, Erick J Lundgren
{"title":"Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia's endemic mammals.","authors":"Arian D Wallach, Erick J Lundgren","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf046","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf046","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over half of Australia's threatened and extinct endemic mammal species have been attributed to introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and cats (Felis silvestris catus). But this claim has so far been based on expert opinion. We conducted a timeline analysis, systematic review, and meta-analysis to assess whether the attribution of decline and extinction to these predators is based on evidence. Records for 43.6% and 19.6% of populations did not confirm that extinctions occurred after fox and cat arrival, respectively. Most threatened species have been attributed to these predators without supportive population studies with data (76.1% of species attributed to foxes, and 79.7% to cats). The meta-analysis showed a negative correlation between threatened mammal and fox abundance for spatial but not for temporal correlations, and we found no evidence for a correlation with cats. We conclude that the hypothesis that foxes and cats cause extinctions has come to be accepted with little evidence.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 8","pages":"615-627"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12352315/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144871365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-04-09eCollection Date: 2025-04-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf014
Sean Denny, Lauren Coad, Sorrel Jones, Daniel J Ingram
{"title":"Snaring and wildlife wastage in Africa: drivers, scale, impacts, and paths to sustainability.","authors":"Sean Denny, Lauren Coad, Sorrel Jones, Daniel J Ingram","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf014","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Snaring is considered to be the most common form of hunting in Africa. Although snaring can provide hunters with valuable food and income, it can also devastate wildlife populations when practiced unsustainably and has significant animal welfare implications. Snaring can also be wasteful, both when animals escape with fatal injuries and when catch is discarded. In the present article, we argue that snaring is a regional-scale threat to wildlife and to the sustainable use of biodiversity in Africa. We show that snaring in Africa is geographically widespread and locally intense, that tens of millions of snares are likely set across the continent annually, and that at least 100 million kilograms of wild meat is probably wasted in Africa every year because of snaring. We discuss opportunities to address these impacts through changes to governance and enforcement and by reducing demand for wild meat in cities.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 4","pages":"284-297"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12016803/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143963048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-03-28eCollection Date: 2025-06-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf021
Alan Stenhouse, Nicole Fisher, Brendan Lepschi, Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn, Juanita Rodriguez, Federica Turco, Andrew Reeson, Cécile Paris, Peter H Thrall
{"title":"A vision of human-AI collaboration for enhanced biological collection curation and research.","authors":"Alan Stenhouse, Nicole Fisher, Brendan Lepschi, Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn, Juanita Rodriguez, Federica Turco, Andrew Reeson, Cécile Paris, Peter H Thrall","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf021","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Natural history collections play a crucial role in our understanding of biodiversity, informing research, management, and policy in areas such as biosecurity, conservation, climate change, and food security. However, the growing volume of specimens and associated data presents significant challenges for curation and management. By leveraging human-AI collaborations, we aim to transform the way biological collections are curated and managed, realizing their full potential in addressing global challenges. In this article, we discuss our vision for improving biological collections curation and management using human-AI collaboration. We explore the rationale behind this approach, the challenges faced in data management, general curation problems, and the potential benefits that could be derived from incorporating AI-based assistants in collection teams. Finally, we examine future possibilities for collaborations between human and digital curators and collection-based research.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 6","pages":"457-471"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12342914/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-02-19eCollection Date: 2025-04-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biae132
Genuar Nunez-Vega, Lorenz Christian Reimer, Jörg Overmann, Amber Hartman Scholz
{"title":"A new indicator for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: Capturing non-monetary benefit data from access and benefit-sharing agreements.","authors":"Genuar Nunez-Vega, Lorenz Christian Reimer, Jörg Overmann, Amber Hartman Scholz","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biae132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae132","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) moves international efforts to conserve biodiversity into a quantitative era. Fair and equitable benefit-sharing is one of the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which means that to achieve the KMGBF, its parties will need to begin quantifying the benefits received from access and benefit-sharing (ABS). This mandate represents a big challenge as countries will need to begin to measure both monetary and non-monetary benefits from ABS agreements. Non-monetary benefits, in particular, can be more difficult to measure than monetary benefits, resulting in lower scientific understanding and integration of scientific results into national policy choices. In the present article, we propose a new methodology to deliver data to the KMGBF on non-monetary benefit-sharing indicators using scientific publications that cite ABS permits and put forth recommendations for improving the visibility of non-monetary benefits.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 4","pages":"298-306"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12016788/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143962941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BioSciencePub Date : 2025-02-19eCollection Date: 2025-05-01DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf017
Marco Malavasi
{"title":"Beyond crisis and grief: Rethinking conservation narratives.","authors":"Marco Malavasi","doi":"10.1093/biosci/biaf017","DOIUrl":"10.1093/biosci/biaf017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Since 1985, conservation science has been unquestioningly described as a crisis discipline. This narrative entails prioritizing immediate responses to threats despite limited knowledge. Although crisis interventions have grown significantly, biodiversity loss has continued unabated, and those working or living alongside declining ecosystems report increasing levels of emotional distress. Ecological grief is particularly on the rise and is claimed by some as a necessary process to fuel the urgent lifesaving changes. However, I argue that both narratives-the emerging ecological grief and the established crisis approach-can synergically reinforce a loop of resignation, where ecological decline is either passively accepted or inadvertently perpetuated. Such resignation ultimately leads to harmful adaptation to ongoing ecological degradation. Finally, I propose a shift toward a transformative conservation narrative, moving away from the primary focus on crisis thinking to embrace proactive futures. Reframing the underlying narratives is essential, because they can influence the broader conservation agenda.</p>","PeriodicalId":9003,"journal":{"name":"BioScience","volume":"75 5","pages":"388-395"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12559850/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145399789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}