从理论到实践:新的创新及其在保护生物学中的应用

IF 2.7 3区 生物学 Q2 PLANT SCIENCES
Christopher P. Krieg, Carrie M. Tribble, Randall Long
{"title":"从理论到实践:新的创新及其在保护生物学中的应用","authors":"Christopher P. Krieg,&nbsp;Carrie M. Tribble,&nbsp;Randall Long","doi":"10.1002/aps3.11599","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Evolution has generated an extraordinary diversity of life on Earth that drives the function of natural ecosystems (Xu et al., <span>2020</span>), human cultures (Clark et al., <span>2014</span>), and economies (Hanley and Perrings, <span>2019</span>; Paul et al., <span>2020</span>). Plants are the most dominant life form on Earth (Bar-On et al., <span>2018</span>) and the decline of plant diversity has caused drastic shifts in natural ecosystems (Pugnaire et al., <span>2019</span>), resulting in a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars (USD) per year from the global economy (Austin et al., <span>2020</span>; Diagne et al., <span>2021</span>). Plant species face unprecedented challenges to their survival, growth, and reproduction due to numerous threats, including anthropogenic factors such as land-use change, habitat destruction, climate change, and illegal poaching (IUCN, <span>2023</span>). The most urgent threats vary by region and species; thus, addressing individual threats to species survival worldwide will require broad knowledge of plant organismal function, ecology, and evolution and the creation of innovative, targeted tools and applications. This special issue features new techniques and approaches across multiple disciplines (from molecules to ecosystems) and scales of inquiry (from individual plants to global perspectives), with a central focus on the development and dissemination of new methods and perspectives in conservation biology.</p><p>Conservation biologists and practitioners around the globe are conducting research and enacting policies to conserve and preserve plant diversity at the local and regional scales. One primary obstacle to the conservation of plant diversity at larger scales has been the lack of tools that directly aid the coordination of research efforts and knowledge from around the world. Linsky et al. (<span>2024</span>) present a new collaborative framework called the Global Conservation Consortia (GCC). Under this framework, researchers and practitioners are united by a shared focus on a specific ecological or taxonomic group (e.g., trees, cycads, magnolias, oaks) to develop comprehensive conservation action plans that scaffold efforts across local, regional, and global scales. While gathering and collating data from around the globe has historically been a challenge, a new tool hosted by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), reported here by Quintana et al. (<span>2024</span>), aims to close knowledge gaps on the conservation status of threatened tree species across regions, increase collaboration, and provide information to decision-makers. The Conservation Action Tracker, part of the GlobalTree Portal, gathers information about the current status of threatened species, action/recovery plans, ex situ collections, species protections, and policy and outreach programs. This online database is freely available so that it can be used to guide conservation efforts and monitor their success. It allows for comparisons between different species and regions, and importantly, highlights the areas where conservation efforts are deficient. Large-scale databases and collaborative networks like GCC and BGCI are key developments that can improve the effectiveness of species knowledge dissemination among conservation researchers and practitioners.</p><p>A main goal of conservation networks like the GCC and BGCI is to create and expand metacollections of living plants that are of high conservation value. The preservation of wild diversity in ex situ (meta)collections is one of the most effective tools in conservation biology. Thus, understanding the extent to which current collection practices capture the biological diversity of wild populations is critical to their effectiveness, and strategies to improve the diversity represented in ex situ collections are of extreme interest to conservation biologists and practitioners alike. Linan et al. (<span>2024</span>) describe an effective approach to assess the genetic diversity of ex situ and in situ individuals of the tropical tree <i>Karomia gigas</i>, of which fewer than 100 individuals remain on Earth. Using a genetic approach, the authors were able to determine the relative proportion of individuals that share kinship and thus better inform breeding and outcrossing approaches to preserve the genetic diversity of ex situ collections. Similarly, Rosenberger and Hoban (<span>2024</span>) used computer simulations to understand better the contribution of propagule dispersal and population structure to the distribution of genetic diversity among maternal individuals. These empirical and theoretical data demonstrate the importance of understanding the diversity of ex situ populations relative to in situ populations to improve the effectiveness of ex situ (meta)collections for preserving extant plant species.</p><p>One of the most effective practices for reversing diversity loss is species and/or habitat restoration, which is often performed with source material from ex situ collections. However, many restoration efforts are unsuccessful, and improving the success of restoration efforts could transform conservation practices broadly. Prakash et al. (<span>2024</span>) demonstrate the importance of considering source population genetic diversity when maximizing outplanting diversity and evolvability in <i>Picea rubens</i>, a declining forest tree in eastern North America. By integrating genomic data, field experiments, and boots-on-the-ground conservation, the authors demonstrate a positive association between combined source populations of outplanted individuals, early-life fitness, and evolvability. Despite advances made in conservation research, there is a current gap in sharing the outcomes of restoration efforts of plants due to a disconnect between conservation research and conservation practice. Bellis et al. (<span>2024</span>) introduce a database of reintroductions within the United States, called the Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Database (CPCRD), to enable the sharing of restoration efforts and their progress and outcomes. The CPCRD collaboration offers great promise to facilitate better management decisions by restoration practitioners, as well as encourage scientific engagement by providing a long-term database.</p><p>A primary limitation for restoration practitioners working in seed-plant systems is collecting and identifying seeds of both rare and common species. Currently available methods are expensive and time-consuming, using either expensive machines that can separate size- or shape-specific seeds one at a time, or the time of highly skilled individuals. Multi-year projects also often introduce user error if the same individuals are not responsible for sorting each season. Reek et al. (<span>2024</span>) tested a novel way to sort conifer seeds using image recognition and machine learning. After training their model on a set of conifer seeds, they validated it against manual identification and found it to be similar in accuracy. This new method of seed counting was more efficient and, if it can be applied to other species, will provide time and cost savings in conservation efforts to monitor the seed availability of various species.</p><p>Predicting extinction risk and possible future changes to various aspects of species' biology (e.g., distribution, phenology, reproductive success, physiological performance, gene expression) before they require intensive restoration efforts has become a cornerstone of conservation biology research. For example, the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) and EDGE2 metrics are two recent approaches that integrate extinction risk and the evolutionary distinctiveness of geographic areas to identify conservation priorities. Pizzardo et al. (<span>2024</span>) compared the performance of these metrics with more traditional metrics (e.g., phylogenetic diversity) to determine conservation prioritization using a tropical legume clade (<i>Chamaecrista</i> ser. <i>Coriaceae)</i> found in the Brazilian campo rupestre ecosystem. While EDGE and EDGE2 both incorporate extinction risk, Pizzardo et al. draw attention to their requirement for complete phylogenetic data, which may be unrealistic for data-deficient regions or taxonomic groups.</p><p>In contrast to broad-scale approaches that rely on phylogenetic diversity to identify conservation priorities, species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly used to predict potential changes in species ecology and distribution into the future. Evolving the use of these models by integrating different types of geographic, biological, and historical data is a core aim in conservation biology to improve the predictability of species outcomes in the future. Hansen et al. (<span>2024</span>) tested the performance of correlative SDMs for the invasive aquatic plant European frog-bit using data at different geographic scales and with and without including field observations. The authors found that interpretations of model outputs can be very different based on the data types included, including which factors are driving species distributions. These comparisons show the direct implications of data integration on the perception of species biology and thus inform or misinform aspects of species biology that are of conservation concern. Similarly, Edwards-Calma et al. (<span>2014</span>) integrated historical land-use data with a recently developed statistical model for estimating a hypothetical fundamental niche for naturalized and native species of ferns. The authors make robust comparisons of species niche occupancy in light of historical land-use changes that reveal the portions of native fern niches that are occupied by naturalized species and discuss the implications for biotic interactions to limit species distributions. These studies demonstrate the power of integrating different data types to improve the conservation value of SDMs and to predict changes in aspects of species biology across space and time.</p><p>The new methods and approaches presented in this special issue speak to the diversity of approaches that botanists are employing for their work to preserve threatened species and ecosystems in the face of a biodiversity crisis worldwide. Many of these papers were originally presented at the symposium “From Theory to Practice: New Innovations and Their Application in Conservation Biology,” held at the Botany 2023 meeting; the symposium had two goals: (1) to highlight new technologies and novel uses of data sets to document and promote the conservation of plant species, and (2) the celebration of the 10th anniversary of <i>Applications in Plant Sciences</i> as a publication of the Botanical Society of America. This special issue—which grew out of the 2023 symposium—highlights some of those advances, among others, to aid in regional and worldwide conservation efforts, including more collaborative data repositories, genetic techniques, machine learning, and refined models. As conservation researchers and practitioners continue to innovate and develop new tools to prevent the further loss of biodiversity, it will be important to continue to share and promote these applications to the wider community. We hope that this special issue will be a useful resource for the community as it continues to innovate and solve problems while facing the challenges ahead.</p><p>C.P.K. and R.L. initiated this special issue, and C.M.T. contributed to its development. All authors contributed to editorial duties for the manuscripts included in this special issue. All authors contributed text for the manuscript, and C.P.K. combined those contributions and led the writing and editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.</p>","PeriodicalId":8022,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Plant Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.11599","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"From theory to practice: New innovations and their application in conservation biology\",\"authors\":\"Christopher P. Krieg,&nbsp;Carrie M. Tribble,&nbsp;Randall Long\",\"doi\":\"10.1002/aps3.11599\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p>Evolution has generated an extraordinary diversity of life on Earth that drives the function of natural ecosystems (Xu et al., <span>2020</span>), human cultures (Clark et al., <span>2014</span>), and economies (Hanley and Perrings, <span>2019</span>; Paul et al., <span>2020</span>). Plants are the most dominant life form on Earth (Bar-On et al., <span>2018</span>) and the decline of plant diversity has caused drastic shifts in natural ecosystems (Pugnaire et al., <span>2019</span>), resulting in a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars (USD) per year from the global economy (Austin et al., <span>2020</span>; Diagne et al., <span>2021</span>). Plant species face unprecedented challenges to their survival, growth, and reproduction due to numerous threats, including anthropogenic factors such as land-use change, habitat destruction, climate change, and illegal poaching (IUCN, <span>2023</span>). The most urgent threats vary by region and species; thus, addressing individual threats to species survival worldwide will require broad knowledge of plant organismal function, ecology, and evolution and the creation of innovative, targeted tools and applications. This special issue features new techniques and approaches across multiple disciplines (from molecules to ecosystems) and scales of inquiry (from individual plants to global perspectives), with a central focus on the development and dissemination of new methods and perspectives in conservation biology.</p><p>Conservation biologists and practitioners around the globe are conducting research and enacting policies to conserve and preserve plant diversity at the local and regional scales. One primary obstacle to the conservation of plant diversity at larger scales has been the lack of tools that directly aid the coordination of research efforts and knowledge from around the world. Linsky et al. (<span>2024</span>) present a new collaborative framework called the Global Conservation Consortia (GCC). Under this framework, researchers and practitioners are united by a shared focus on a specific ecological or taxonomic group (e.g., trees, cycads, magnolias, oaks) to develop comprehensive conservation action plans that scaffold efforts across local, regional, and global scales. While gathering and collating data from around the globe has historically been a challenge, a new tool hosted by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), reported here by Quintana et al. (<span>2024</span>), aims to close knowledge gaps on the conservation status of threatened tree species across regions, increase collaboration, and provide information to decision-makers. The Conservation Action Tracker, part of the GlobalTree Portal, gathers information about the current status of threatened species, action/recovery plans, ex situ collections, species protections, and policy and outreach programs. This online database is freely available so that it can be used to guide conservation efforts and monitor their success. It allows for comparisons between different species and regions, and importantly, highlights the areas where conservation efforts are deficient. Large-scale databases and collaborative networks like GCC and BGCI are key developments that can improve the effectiveness of species knowledge dissemination among conservation researchers and practitioners.</p><p>A main goal of conservation networks like the GCC and BGCI is to create and expand metacollections of living plants that are of high conservation value. The preservation of wild diversity in ex situ (meta)collections is one of the most effective tools in conservation biology. Thus, understanding the extent to which current collection practices capture the biological diversity of wild populations is critical to their effectiveness, and strategies to improve the diversity represented in ex situ collections are of extreme interest to conservation biologists and practitioners alike. Linan et al. (<span>2024</span>) describe an effective approach to assess the genetic diversity of ex situ and in situ individuals of the tropical tree <i>Karomia gigas</i>, of which fewer than 100 individuals remain on Earth. Using a genetic approach, the authors were able to determine the relative proportion of individuals that share kinship and thus better inform breeding and outcrossing approaches to preserve the genetic diversity of ex situ collections. Similarly, Rosenberger and Hoban (<span>2024</span>) used computer simulations to understand better the contribution of propagule dispersal and population structure to the distribution of genetic diversity among maternal individuals. These empirical and theoretical data demonstrate the importance of understanding the diversity of ex situ populations relative to in situ populations to improve the effectiveness of ex situ (meta)collections for preserving extant plant species.</p><p>One of the most effective practices for reversing diversity loss is species and/or habitat restoration, which is often performed with source material from ex situ collections. However, many restoration efforts are unsuccessful, and improving the success of restoration efforts could transform conservation practices broadly. Prakash et al. (<span>2024</span>) demonstrate the importance of considering source population genetic diversity when maximizing outplanting diversity and evolvability in <i>Picea rubens</i>, a declining forest tree in eastern North America. By integrating genomic data, field experiments, and boots-on-the-ground conservation, the authors demonstrate a positive association between combined source populations of outplanted individuals, early-life fitness, and evolvability. Despite advances made in conservation research, there is a current gap in sharing the outcomes of restoration efforts of plants due to a disconnect between conservation research and conservation practice. Bellis et al. (<span>2024</span>) introduce a database of reintroductions within the United States, called the Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Database (CPCRD), to enable the sharing of restoration efforts and their progress and outcomes. The CPCRD collaboration offers great promise to facilitate better management decisions by restoration practitioners, as well as encourage scientific engagement by providing a long-term database.</p><p>A primary limitation for restoration practitioners working in seed-plant systems is collecting and identifying seeds of both rare and common species. Currently available methods are expensive and time-consuming, using either expensive machines that can separate size- or shape-specific seeds one at a time, or the time of highly skilled individuals. Multi-year projects also often introduce user error if the same individuals are not responsible for sorting each season. Reek et al. (<span>2024</span>) tested a novel way to sort conifer seeds using image recognition and machine learning. After training their model on a set of conifer seeds, they validated it against manual identification and found it to be similar in accuracy. This new method of seed counting was more efficient and, if it can be applied to other species, will provide time and cost savings in conservation efforts to monitor the seed availability of various species.</p><p>Predicting extinction risk and possible future changes to various aspects of species' biology (e.g., distribution, phenology, reproductive success, physiological performance, gene expression) before they require intensive restoration efforts has become a cornerstone of conservation biology research. For example, the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) and EDGE2 metrics are two recent approaches that integrate extinction risk and the evolutionary distinctiveness of geographic areas to identify conservation priorities. Pizzardo et al. (<span>2024</span>) compared the performance of these metrics with more traditional metrics (e.g., phylogenetic diversity) to determine conservation prioritization using a tropical legume clade (<i>Chamaecrista</i> ser. <i>Coriaceae)</i> found in the Brazilian campo rupestre ecosystem. While EDGE and EDGE2 both incorporate extinction risk, Pizzardo et al. draw attention to their requirement for complete phylogenetic data, which may be unrealistic for data-deficient regions or taxonomic groups.</p><p>In contrast to broad-scale approaches that rely on phylogenetic diversity to identify conservation priorities, species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly used to predict potential changes in species ecology and distribution into the future. Evolving the use of these models by integrating different types of geographic, biological, and historical data is a core aim in conservation biology to improve the predictability of species outcomes in the future. Hansen et al. (<span>2024</span>) tested the performance of correlative SDMs for the invasive aquatic plant European frog-bit using data at different geographic scales and with and without including field observations. The authors found that interpretations of model outputs can be very different based on the data types included, including which factors are driving species distributions. These comparisons show the direct implications of data integration on the perception of species biology and thus inform or misinform aspects of species biology that are of conservation concern. Similarly, Edwards-Calma et al. (<span>2014</span>) integrated historical land-use data with a recently developed statistical model for estimating a hypothetical fundamental niche for naturalized and native species of ferns. The authors make robust comparisons of species niche occupancy in light of historical land-use changes that reveal the portions of native fern niches that are occupied by naturalized species and discuss the implications for biotic interactions to limit species distributions. These studies demonstrate the power of integrating different data types to improve the conservation value of SDMs and to predict changes in aspects of species biology across space and time.</p><p>The new methods and approaches presented in this special issue speak to the diversity of approaches that botanists are employing for their work to preserve threatened species and ecosystems in the face of a biodiversity crisis worldwide. Many of these papers were originally presented at the symposium “From Theory to Practice: New Innovations and Their Application in Conservation Biology,” held at the Botany 2023 meeting; the symposium had two goals: (1) to highlight new technologies and novel uses of data sets to document and promote the conservation of plant species, and (2) the celebration of the 10th anniversary of <i>Applications in Plant Sciences</i> as a publication of the Botanical Society of America. This special issue—which grew out of the 2023 symposium—highlights some of those advances, among others, to aid in regional and worldwide conservation efforts, including more collaborative data repositories, genetic techniques, machine learning, and refined models. As conservation researchers and practitioners continue to innovate and develop new tools to prevent the further loss of biodiversity, it will be important to continue to share and promote these applications to the wider community. We hope that this special issue will be a useful resource for the community as it continues to innovate and solve problems while facing the challenges ahead.</p><p>C.P.K. and R.L. initiated this special issue, and C.M.T. contributed to its development. All authors contributed to editorial duties for the manuscripts included in this special issue. All authors contributed text for the manuscript, and C.P.K. combined those contributions and led the writing and editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":8022,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Applications in Plant Sciences\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-05-31\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aps3.11599\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Applications in Plant Sciences\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"99\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aps3.11599\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"生物学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"PLANT SCIENCES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applications in Plant Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aps3.11599","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PLANT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

摘要

然而,许多恢复工作并不成功,提高恢复工作的成功率可以广泛改变保护实践。Prakash 等人(2024 年)证明了在最大限度地提高北美东部衰退林木红豆杉(Picea rubens)的外植多样性和可进化性时考虑源种群遗传多样性的重要性。通过整合基因组数据、现场实验和实地保护,作者证明了外植个体的综合源种群、生命早期适应性和进化性之间的正相关。尽管保护研究取得了进展,但由于保护研究与保护实践脱节,目前在分享植物恢复工作成果方面还存在差距。Bellis 等人(2024 年)介绍了一个名为 "植物保护再引入数据库中心"(CPCRD)的美国再引入数据库,以共享恢复工作及其进展和成果。CPCRD 的合作为促进恢复工作者做出更好的管理决策以及通过提供长期数据库鼓励科学参与提供了巨大希望。目前可用的方法既昂贵又耗时,要么需要使用昂贵的机器来逐一分离种子的大小或形状,要么需要高技能人员花费大量时间。如果不是由同一个人负责每个季节的分类工作,多年期项目也往往会带来用户误差。Reek 等人(2024 年)测试了一种利用图像识别和机器学习对针叶树种子进行分类的新方法。在对一组针叶树种子进行训练后,他们将模型与人工识别进行了验证,发现两者在准确性上相差无几。这种新的种子计数方法效率更高,如果能应用于其他物种,将为保护工作监测各种物种的种子可用性节省时间和成本。在物种需要大力恢复之前预测其灭绝风险和未来可能发生的各方面生物学变化(如分布、物候、繁殖成功率、生理表现、基因表达)已成为保护生物学研究的基石。例如,"进化独特性和全球濒危性(EDGE)"和 "EDGE2 "指标是最近的两种方法,它们综合了物种灭绝风险和地理区域的进化独特性,以确定保护的优先次序。Pizzardo 等人(2024 年)比较了这些指标与更传统的指标(如系统发育多样性)的性能,并利用在巴西坎波鲁佩斯特雷生态系统中发现的一个热带豆科支系(Chamaecrista ser. Coriaceae)来确定保护的优先次序。虽然 EDGE 和 EDGE2 都考虑了物种灭绝的风险,但 Pizzardo 等人提请注意它们对完整系统发育数据的要求,这对于数据缺乏的地区或分类群来说可能是不现实的。与依赖系统发育多样性确定保护优先次序的大尺度方法不同,物种分布模型(SDM)通常用于预测物种生态学和分布在未来的潜在变化。通过整合不同类型的地理、生物和历史数据来改进这些模型的使用是保护生物学的一个核心目标,以提高未来物种结果的可预测性。Hansen 等人(2024 年)使用不同地理尺度的数据,在包含或不包含实地观测数据的情况下,测试了针对入侵水生植物欧洲蛙咬的相关 SDM 的性能。作者发现,根据所包含的数据类型,包括驱动物种分布的因素,对模型输出的解释可能会大不相同。这些比较显示了数据整合对物种生物学认知的直接影响,从而为物种生物学中与保护有关的方面提供信息或错误信息。同样,Edwards-Calma 等人(2014 年)将历史土地利用数据与最近开发的统计模型相结合,用于估算归化蕨类植物和本地蕨类植物的假定基本生态位。作者根据历史上土地利用的变化,对物种的生态位占有率进行了有力的比较,揭示了本土蕨类植物生态位中被归化物种占有的部分,并讨论了生物相互作用对限制物种分布的影响。这些研究表明,整合不同类型的数据可以提高可持续发展机制的保护价值,并预测跨时空的物种生物学方面的变化。 本特刊介绍的新方法和新途径说明,面对全球生物多样性危机,植物学家在保护濒危物种和生态系统的工作中采用了多种方法。其中许多论文最初是在 "从理论到实践 "研讨会上发表的:该研讨会有两个目标:研讨会有两个目的:(1) 强调记录和促进植物物种保护的新技术和数据集的新用途;(2) 庆祝《植物科学应用》成为美国植物学会出版物十周年。本特刊由 2023 年研讨会发展而来,重点介绍了其中的一些进展,以及其他有助于地区和全球保护工作的进展,包括更多合作数据存储库、遗传技术、机器学习和精细模型。随着保护研究人员和从业人员不断创新和开发新工具,以防止生物多样性的进一步丧失,继续向更广泛的社区分享和推广这些应用将非常重要。我们希望本特刊能成为社区的有用资源,帮助他们在面对未来挑战的同时继续创新和解决问题。所有作者都参与了本特刊稿件的编辑工作。所有作者都参与了稿件的文字撰写,C.P.K.综合了他们的贡献并领导了撰写和编辑工作。所有作者都批准了稿件的最终版本。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
From theory to practice: New innovations and their application in conservation biology

Evolution has generated an extraordinary diversity of life on Earth that drives the function of natural ecosystems (Xu et al., 2020), human cultures (Clark et al., 2014), and economies (Hanley and Perrings, 2019; Paul et al., 2020). Plants are the most dominant life form on Earth (Bar-On et al., 2018) and the decline of plant diversity has caused drastic shifts in natural ecosystems (Pugnaire et al., 2019), resulting in a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars (USD) per year from the global economy (Austin et al., 2020; Diagne et al., 2021). Plant species face unprecedented challenges to their survival, growth, and reproduction due to numerous threats, including anthropogenic factors such as land-use change, habitat destruction, climate change, and illegal poaching (IUCN, 2023). The most urgent threats vary by region and species; thus, addressing individual threats to species survival worldwide will require broad knowledge of plant organismal function, ecology, and evolution and the creation of innovative, targeted tools and applications. This special issue features new techniques and approaches across multiple disciplines (from molecules to ecosystems) and scales of inquiry (from individual plants to global perspectives), with a central focus on the development and dissemination of new methods and perspectives in conservation biology.

Conservation biologists and practitioners around the globe are conducting research and enacting policies to conserve and preserve plant diversity at the local and regional scales. One primary obstacle to the conservation of plant diversity at larger scales has been the lack of tools that directly aid the coordination of research efforts and knowledge from around the world. Linsky et al. (2024) present a new collaborative framework called the Global Conservation Consortia (GCC). Under this framework, researchers and practitioners are united by a shared focus on a specific ecological or taxonomic group (e.g., trees, cycads, magnolias, oaks) to develop comprehensive conservation action plans that scaffold efforts across local, regional, and global scales. While gathering and collating data from around the globe has historically been a challenge, a new tool hosted by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), reported here by Quintana et al. (2024), aims to close knowledge gaps on the conservation status of threatened tree species across regions, increase collaboration, and provide information to decision-makers. The Conservation Action Tracker, part of the GlobalTree Portal, gathers information about the current status of threatened species, action/recovery plans, ex situ collections, species protections, and policy and outreach programs. This online database is freely available so that it can be used to guide conservation efforts and monitor their success. It allows for comparisons between different species and regions, and importantly, highlights the areas where conservation efforts are deficient. Large-scale databases and collaborative networks like GCC and BGCI are key developments that can improve the effectiveness of species knowledge dissemination among conservation researchers and practitioners.

A main goal of conservation networks like the GCC and BGCI is to create and expand metacollections of living plants that are of high conservation value. The preservation of wild diversity in ex situ (meta)collections is one of the most effective tools in conservation biology. Thus, understanding the extent to which current collection practices capture the biological diversity of wild populations is critical to their effectiveness, and strategies to improve the diversity represented in ex situ collections are of extreme interest to conservation biologists and practitioners alike. Linan et al. (2024) describe an effective approach to assess the genetic diversity of ex situ and in situ individuals of the tropical tree Karomia gigas, of which fewer than 100 individuals remain on Earth. Using a genetic approach, the authors were able to determine the relative proportion of individuals that share kinship and thus better inform breeding and outcrossing approaches to preserve the genetic diversity of ex situ collections. Similarly, Rosenberger and Hoban (2024) used computer simulations to understand better the contribution of propagule dispersal and population structure to the distribution of genetic diversity among maternal individuals. These empirical and theoretical data demonstrate the importance of understanding the diversity of ex situ populations relative to in situ populations to improve the effectiveness of ex situ (meta)collections for preserving extant plant species.

One of the most effective practices for reversing diversity loss is species and/or habitat restoration, which is often performed with source material from ex situ collections. However, many restoration efforts are unsuccessful, and improving the success of restoration efforts could transform conservation practices broadly. Prakash et al. (2024) demonstrate the importance of considering source population genetic diversity when maximizing outplanting diversity and evolvability in Picea rubens, a declining forest tree in eastern North America. By integrating genomic data, field experiments, and boots-on-the-ground conservation, the authors demonstrate a positive association between combined source populations of outplanted individuals, early-life fitness, and evolvability. Despite advances made in conservation research, there is a current gap in sharing the outcomes of restoration efforts of plants due to a disconnect between conservation research and conservation practice. Bellis et al. (2024) introduce a database of reintroductions within the United States, called the Center for Plant Conservation Reintroduction Database (CPCRD), to enable the sharing of restoration efforts and their progress and outcomes. The CPCRD collaboration offers great promise to facilitate better management decisions by restoration practitioners, as well as encourage scientific engagement by providing a long-term database.

A primary limitation for restoration practitioners working in seed-plant systems is collecting and identifying seeds of both rare and common species. Currently available methods are expensive and time-consuming, using either expensive machines that can separate size- or shape-specific seeds one at a time, or the time of highly skilled individuals. Multi-year projects also often introduce user error if the same individuals are not responsible for sorting each season. Reek et al. (2024) tested a novel way to sort conifer seeds using image recognition and machine learning. After training their model on a set of conifer seeds, they validated it against manual identification and found it to be similar in accuracy. This new method of seed counting was more efficient and, if it can be applied to other species, will provide time and cost savings in conservation efforts to monitor the seed availability of various species.

Predicting extinction risk and possible future changes to various aspects of species' biology (e.g., distribution, phenology, reproductive success, physiological performance, gene expression) before they require intensive restoration efforts has become a cornerstone of conservation biology research. For example, the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) and EDGE2 metrics are two recent approaches that integrate extinction risk and the evolutionary distinctiveness of geographic areas to identify conservation priorities. Pizzardo et al. (2024) compared the performance of these metrics with more traditional metrics (e.g., phylogenetic diversity) to determine conservation prioritization using a tropical legume clade (Chamaecrista ser. Coriaceae) found in the Brazilian campo rupestre ecosystem. While EDGE and EDGE2 both incorporate extinction risk, Pizzardo et al. draw attention to their requirement for complete phylogenetic data, which may be unrealistic for data-deficient regions or taxonomic groups.

In contrast to broad-scale approaches that rely on phylogenetic diversity to identify conservation priorities, species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly used to predict potential changes in species ecology and distribution into the future. Evolving the use of these models by integrating different types of geographic, biological, and historical data is a core aim in conservation biology to improve the predictability of species outcomes in the future. Hansen et al. (2024) tested the performance of correlative SDMs for the invasive aquatic plant European frog-bit using data at different geographic scales and with and without including field observations. The authors found that interpretations of model outputs can be very different based on the data types included, including which factors are driving species distributions. These comparisons show the direct implications of data integration on the perception of species biology and thus inform or misinform aspects of species biology that are of conservation concern. Similarly, Edwards-Calma et al. (2014) integrated historical land-use data with a recently developed statistical model for estimating a hypothetical fundamental niche for naturalized and native species of ferns. The authors make robust comparisons of species niche occupancy in light of historical land-use changes that reveal the portions of native fern niches that are occupied by naturalized species and discuss the implications for biotic interactions to limit species distributions. These studies demonstrate the power of integrating different data types to improve the conservation value of SDMs and to predict changes in aspects of species biology across space and time.

The new methods and approaches presented in this special issue speak to the diversity of approaches that botanists are employing for their work to preserve threatened species and ecosystems in the face of a biodiversity crisis worldwide. Many of these papers were originally presented at the symposium “From Theory to Practice: New Innovations and Their Application in Conservation Biology,” held at the Botany 2023 meeting; the symposium had two goals: (1) to highlight new technologies and novel uses of data sets to document and promote the conservation of plant species, and (2) the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Applications in Plant Sciences as a publication of the Botanical Society of America. This special issue—which grew out of the 2023 symposium—highlights some of those advances, among others, to aid in regional and worldwide conservation efforts, including more collaborative data repositories, genetic techniques, machine learning, and refined models. As conservation researchers and practitioners continue to innovate and develop new tools to prevent the further loss of biodiversity, it will be important to continue to share and promote these applications to the wider community. We hope that this special issue will be a useful resource for the community as it continues to innovate and solve problems while facing the challenges ahead.

C.P.K. and R.L. initiated this special issue, and C.M.T. contributed to its development. All authors contributed to editorial duties for the manuscripts included in this special issue. All authors contributed text for the manuscript, and C.P.K. combined those contributions and led the writing and editing. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

求助全文
通过发布文献求助,成功后即可免费获取论文全文。 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
7.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
50
审稿时长
12 weeks
期刊介绍: Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) is a monthly, peer-reviewed, open access journal promoting the rapid dissemination of newly developed, innovative tools and protocols in all areas of the plant sciences, including genetics, structure, function, development, evolution, systematics, and ecology. Given the rapid progress today in technology and its application in the plant sciences, the goal of APPS is to foster communication within the plant science community to advance scientific research. APPS is a publication of the Botanical Society of America, originating in 2009 as the American Journal of Botany''s online-only section, AJB Primer Notes & Protocols in the Plant Sciences. APPS publishes the following types of articles: (1) Protocol Notes describe new methods and technological advancements; (2) Genomic Resources Articles characterize the development and demonstrate the usefulness of newly developed genomic resources, including transcriptomes; (3) Software Notes detail new software applications; (4) Application Articles illustrate the application of a new protocol, method, or software application within the context of a larger study; (5) Review Articles evaluate available techniques, methods, or protocols; (6) Primer Notes report novel genetic markers with evidence of wide applicability.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信