Search Results (5,794)

The Colombian Amazon faces persistent tensions between biodiversity conservation and rural livelihoods, while territorially grounded productive alternatives remain limited. This study assesses the feasibility of a cacao-based agroforestry system as a sustainable value-chain strategy in Puerto Nariño (Amazonas) and Puerto Caicedo (Putumayo), Colombia. Using participatory action research and mixed methods (100 semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, techno-economic scenario modeling, and MICMAC structural analysis), the study integrates local knowledge, productivity projections, and territorial governance assessment. The analysis indicates that cacao can be integrated into Amazonian chagra systems without introducing external species, preserving sociocultural compatibility and ecological continuity. Under empirically calibrated productivity assumptions and nine cost–price scenarios, projected annual revenues range from USD 1200 to 2550 per hectare, with an average net present value of USD 3596 over 30 years. MICMAC results identify community governance and institutional articulation as key enabling conditions shaping value-chain feasibility in both territories. Rather than proposing a universal model, the findings suggest that cacao-based agroforestry may strengthen food security and income diversification when embedded in locally legitimate institutions. These results are prospective and should be further assessed through pilot implementations and participatory monitoring. Full article

In recent years, the homogenization and fragmentation of agricultural landscapes have intensified, leading to a decline in epigaeic arthropods. Landscape heterogeneity is a core factor regulating biodiversity, encompassing two key dimensions: composition heterogeneity and spatial configuration heterogeneity. Both landscape composition and spatial configuration heterogeneity influence the distribution of epigaeic arthropods through independent and joint effects. However, quantitative evidence addressing their relative and combined influences remains limited. This study was conducted across 30 independent landscape units (1 km × 1 km) in Changtu County. Pitfall traps were deployed across different habitat types, with three traps per habitat. The proportion of semi-natural habitats was used as an indicator of landscape compositional heterogeneity, while multiple landscape metrics were used to characterize spatial configuration heterogeneity. The effects of landscape heterogeneity on epigaeic arthropods were evaluated using two response variables: activity density (mean number of individuals captured per trap) and diversity (effective number of species). Variance partitioning analysis (VPA) and Bioenv analysis were applied to explore their individual and joint effects on epigaeic arthropods. The results showed that higher landscape composition heterogeneity was associated with greater activity density of epigaeic arthropods, but no significant correlation was found with arthropod diversity. In terms of landscape spatial configuration, patch density (PD) and landscape division index (DIVISION) constituted the optimal model explaining the activity density of epigaeic arthropods, highlighting the importance of patch structure within landscapes. Furthermore, spatial configurational heterogeneity showed a stronger independent contribution than compositional heterogeneity, although their joint effect accounted for the largest proportion of explained variation. These findings provide a theoretical basis for landscape optimization and biodiversity conservation in intensive agricultural regions of Northeast China. Full article

Pinyon–juniper (PJ) woodlands, one of the most extensive mature and old-growth woodland types in the Western United States, provide critical ecological, cultural, and economic benefits but face increasing threats from climate change, altered disturbance regimes, invasive species, and pests. We developed the PJ Woodland Climate Adaptation Management Menu, a decision support tool designed to guide adaptive, climate-informed management of PJ ecosystems, particularly within the Colorado Plateau ecoregion. The menu was created through an iterative, collaborative process involving literature review, integration of strategies from existing adaptation frameworks, and extensive input from scientists, land managers, and community partners during workshops and focus groups. The menu links specific, evidence-based approaches to each of six broad strategies, including soliciting community input, mitigating disturbance, enhancing and maintaining biodiversity, conserving ecotones, timing actions for optimal outcomes, and accepting climate-driven changes when appropriate. It is intended for use with the Adaptation Workbook to help managers connect local goals and climate vulnerabilities to tailored management tactics. Hypothetical scenarios demonstrate the menu’s application to contrasting PJ woodland conditions, from die-off events to old-growth maintenance. Lessons learned during development underscore the value of early stakeholder engagement, cross-sector collaboration, and balancing diverse ecological objectives. This menu offers a flexible, transferable framework to strengthen climate resilience in PJ woodlands and serves as a model that could improve adaptation planning in other dryland forest ecosystems. Full article

Wild edible fruits play an important role in supporting food security, nutrition, and traditional knowledge systems in rural communities, yet their diversity and uses remain insufficiently documented in many parts of Thailand. This study aimed to investigate the diversity, utilization, and ethnobotanical significance of wild edible fruit species in Kut Chum District, Yasothon Province. Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews and field surveys with local informants, and quantitative indices, including the Cultural Importance Index (CI), Fidelity Level (%FL), and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), were applied to evaluate species significance and medicinal agreement. A total of 71 species belonging to 33 families were recorded, with most species consumed as fresh fruits and a subset used for medicinal purposes. Several species, such as Irvingia malayana Oliv. ex A.W.Benn., Phyllanthus emblica L., and Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels exhibited high cultural importance, reflecting their key roles in local diets. High ICF values across therapeutic categories indicated strong consensus in ethnomedicinal knowledge. Additionally, 44 species not used medicinally in the study area were reported as medicinal in other regions, highlighting spatial variation in knowledge systems. These findings emphasize the importance of wild edible fruits as multifunctional resources contributing to food and nutritional security. Integrating culturally important species into conservation and sustainable use strategies may support biodiversity preservation and the continuity of traditional ecological knowledge. Full article

Property development, roads, vehicles, and suburban sprawl cause biodiversity habitat fragmentation. Some herpetofauna are at risk from a conservation perspective. This phenomenon is simultaneously a road ecology and a public health problem. The article analyzes the impact of “campus-based growth machine” development on herpetofauna habitat fragmentation around various wetlands in uptown Albany, New York, U.S. This study fills an unresearched gap on the impact of the campus-based growth machine, roads, vehicles, and suburban sprawl on biodiversity habitat fragmentation. The research methods comprised both qualitative and quantitative assessments of property development inventories, wildlife observations, student engagements and biodiversity monitoring at the University at Albany, the cataloging of test-design and conservation measures, and the review of institutional planning regulations and roadway design features. The key finding is the need for more biodiversity conservation innovations to increase the continuity of habitats, uniform underground crossings, and the elimination of biodiversity road crossing deaths. The article presents research and management practice recommendations. The study shows a plausible association between university expansion and biodiversity reductions on campus grounds. It also identifies potential mitigation measures and opportunities for community service collaborations. Full article

Brazil holds 13% of the global biodiversity; however, agricultural expansion threatens its biomes. Farmers are pivotal for conservation, as 71% of the country’s territory is rural property. A ‘citizen science’ project, which engaged students and farmers to monitor wildlife in forest remnants using camera traps was carried out in a rural municipality located in the Atlantic Forest biome. The endangered species Puma concolor and the invasive species Sus scrofa, alongside other native fauna, were documented in the area. In addition to securing these new records, the project aimed to open dialogs, fight misinformation, and strengthen local partnerships. It highlighted how community-based science can bridge the gap between biodiversity conservation and agricultural production. Full article

Landslides are a critical environmental hazard in mountainous regions like eastern Uganda, posing serious threats to lives, infrastructure, and ecosystems. While recent advances in geospatial technology have improved hazard assessment, existing research often lacks high-resolution, cloud-based analysis for dynamic landscapes such as the Mount Elgon region. This study addresses that gap by developing a landslide susceptibility map (LSM) using Google Earth Engine (GEE), which integrates remote sensing and geospatial data for scalable analysis. The main objective is to identify landslide-prone zones by analyzing eight conditioning factors, namely slope, elevation, vegetation cover, rainfall, land use land cover, soil type, soil moisture, and groundwater levels using the weighted overlay method (WOM). The methodology produced a classified LSM with zones of high (37.7%), moderate (58%), low (2%), and very low (2.3%) susceptibility, with validation via historical landslide data and ROC analysis yielding an AUC of 0.76, confirming strong predictive performance. The study underscores the value of GEE in hazard modeling and provides actionable insights for targeted risk mitigation, sustainable land use planning, and early warning system development in landslide-prone areas. Full article

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has emerged as a powerful tool for biodiversity monitoring, yet its accuracy is fundamentally constrained by the completeness and taxonomic reliability of reference sequence databases. For the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), no integrated multi-marker eDNA reference library exists, hampering standardized fish conservation monitoring under the Yangtze River Ten-Year Fishing Ban. Here, we constructed a comprehensive, multi-marker eDNA reference database for the fish fauna of the TGR, encompassing mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences from 173 specimens (120 species) collected between 2021 and 2024. After integrating publicly available sequences, the final database comprised 161 species. Then, we quantitatively compared species annotation performance between this local database and public repositories. Results showed that while public databases achieved higher nominal species coverage (94.67%), they exhibited critical deficiencies in annotation accuracy, correctly annotating only 77.97% (12S rRNA), 75.00% (16S rRNA), and 38.14% (COI) of sequences from shared species under controlled conditions. In contrast, the local database exhibited 92.37%, 93.10% and 100% annotation accuracy for the respective markers. Optimal interspecific Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) thresholds for species delimitation were 0.00448 (12S rRNA), 0.00531 (16S rRNA), and 0.00734 (COI). In addition, 15, 0, and 4 species pairs exhibited zero interspecific distance for 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and COI, respectively. These limitations reinforce the need for cautious interpretation of eDNA metabarcoding results and the integration of multiple markers or complementary nuclear loci. This study provides preliminary evidence that regionally curated, multi-marker reference libraries could improve taxonomic assignment reliability in eDNA metabarcoding compared to uncurated public repositories, providing a foundational resource for biodiversity conservation. Full article

Ochetobibus elongatus (Kner) is a migratory fish found in the Yangtze River basin and areas south of it, and listed as a critically endangered (CR) fish on the China Red List of Vertebrates. To achieve group recovery and artificial breeding, this study investigated the dietary characteristics of O. elongatus based on high-throughput sequencing of its intestinal contents, and its digestive system morphology, and its histology. Results showed that the digestive system of O. elongatus lacked a stomach and mainly consisted of the oropharynx, pharyngeal teeth, esophagus, intestine, and anus. The gut index was 0.88, with clear segmentation of the foregut, midgut, and hindgut, and the visceral mass index was 7.35%. Histological analysis of the digestive system revealed the presence of keratinized dental plates or pharyngeal teeth in the pharynx, as well as a high density of taste bud cells in the soft palate of the oral cavity. The surface layer of the intestinal villi contained numerous mucous cells, with the average number of mucous cells per villus gradually increasing from the esophagus to the hindgut, and the foregut having the longest and most abundant mucosal folds. The esophagus exhibited well-developed circular and longitudinal muscle layers, while in the hindgut, both the circular and longitudinal muscle layers were slightly thicker than those in the midgut. High-throughput sequencing of the intestinal contents of O. elongatus revealed the following phyla based on 18S V4 meta-barcoding: Chlorophyta, Diatoms, Arthropoda, Basidiomycetes, and Ascomycetes, with the genus Hypophthalmichthys and algae being the main classifications. In contrast, based on COI meta-barcoding, the study newly identified the phyla Cnidaria and Mollusca, with the genera Chlorophyta, Scenedesmus, Pectinodesmus, and zooplankton such as Pseudodiaptomus. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that the gut microbiota at the phylum level was predominantly composed of Pseudomonadota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Bacillota, with key genera including Cetobacter, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, and Clostridium. This study indicates that O. elongatus is an omnivore with carnivorous tendencies. Basic biological research on O. elongatus is of great significance for the restoration of the population, artificial breeding, and the development of its artificially formulated feed. It also provides important data for the formulation of biodiversity conservation measures. Full article

Human–elephant conflict (HEC) has emerged as a major conservation and socio-economic challenge across Asia, largely driven by habitat degradation and increasing human pressure within elephant ranges. In India, expanding agriculture, mining activities, and infrastructure development have progressively altered forest landscapes, restricting elephant movement and intensifying interactions with human settlements. This study examines the relationship between landscape dynamics and HEC in the West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, India. A three-year field investigation (2018–2020) across four forest divisions—Porahat, Chaibasa, Kolhan, and Saranda—was integrated with multi-temporal land-use and land-cover (LULC) analysis from 2000 to 2020 to evaluate habitat changes and their influence on conflict patterns. During the study period, 157 human casualties and extensive crop and property losses were recorded, indicating the severity of the conflict in the region. Landscape analysis revealed a substantial decline in dense forest cover and a reduction of large core forest areas (>500 acres), accompanied by increasing agricultural expansion and forest perforation. NDVI trends further indicated widespread deterioration in vegetation condition, reflecting declining habitat quality. These structural landscape changes have fragmented elephant habitats and displaced movement routes toward human-dominated landscapes and are thus associated with a spatial clustering of conflict events, particularly in the Chaibasa Forest Division. In contrast, the Saranda Forest Division retains relatively intact forest cores and supports more stable elephant habitat conditions. The findings demonstrate that HEC in the region is strongly linked to habitat fragmentation and declining vegetation quality rather than random elephant behaviour. Maintaining large contiguous forest blocks, restoring landscape connectivity, and implementing targeted mitigation strategies are therefore essential for sustaining elephant populations while reducing conflict with local communities. Full article

This review provides insights on livestock farming in the Mediterranean regions, highlighting strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Biodiversity conservation and production of high-value, certified products are the main strengths of Mediterranean livestock systems. On the contrary, depopulation, low productivity and poor infrastructure and dependence on public subsides represent the main weaknesses of these systems. Climate change, market volatility and competition with intensive animal rearing systems are threats for Mediterranean livestock farming. A significant opportunity for Mediterranean livestock farming is represented by the presence of drought-tolerant native breeds and ecosystem services that contribute both to agricultural productivity and to ecosystem resilience and socio-cultural activities. Strategies that can promote local animal production in the Mediterranean region are provided with a focus on the Gentile di Puglia breed. Full article

Understanding the spatial distribution patterns and environmental drivers of plant communities is fundamental for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Bombax ceiba is a widely distributed tree species that occurs in both humid tropical rainforests and drought-prone dry-hot valleys, representing two strongly contrasting ecological environments. However, the spatial patterns and environmental drivers of plant communities associated with B. ceiba across these habitats remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated B. ceiba-associated plant communities in two representative habitats in Yunnan Province, Southwest China: a tropical rainforest in Mengla and a dry-hot valley in Yuanjiang. The species composition, community structure, and spatial coordinates of associated plants were recorded in replicated 20 m × 20 m plots. Spatial distribution patterns were analyzed using the pair-correlation function g(r), while environmental drivers were examined using Pearson correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA). Species richness was substantially higher in the tropical rainforest (41 species from 33 families) than in the dry-hot valley (19 species from 14 families). Both communities contained a substantial proportion of tropical Asian floristic elements. Most dominant species exhibited aggregated spatial distributions at small spatial scales (0–7 m), indicating strong dispersal limitation and microhabitat heterogeneity. Spatial associations varied across scales: in the dry-hot valley, species associations alternated between positive and negative correlations at small scales (0–5 m) and shifted toward positive correlations at larger distances, whereas in the tropical rainforest negative associations were more common at small scales and positive associations increased at larger spatial scales. Environmental drivers differed markedly between habitats. In the dry-hot valley, community attributes were positively associated with slope, precipitation, and soil ammonium nitrogen, suggesting that community assembly is influenced by interactions between topography and water availability. In contrast, tropical rainforest communities were more strongly associated with soil phosphorus availability and temperature-related variables. These findings highlight distinct community assembly mechanisms in contrasting habitats and provide ecological insights for vegetation restoration in dry-hot valleys and biodiversity conservation in tropical rainforests. Full article

Understanding the factors that determine the success of lichen translocations is critical for effective conservation of lichen biodiversity. Both physiological acclimation and the genetic structure of source populations can influence conservation outcomes. This study examined seasonal variation in physiological parameters (specific thallus mass—STM, chlorophyll a fluorescence—F_V/F_M, and chlorophyll content) of Lobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm. across one year, selecting three source populations along a latitudinal gradient in Mediterranean forests in Italy. Genetic structure of their mycobiont and photobiont were also characterized. STM differed significantly among populations and seasons, with consistent increases from March to September. In contrast, F_V/F_M remained relatively stable, while chlorophyll content showed the highest values in December. Genetic analyses revealed clear differentiation among populations for both symbionts. These results suggest that L. pulmonaria can acclimate physiologically to seasonal environmental changes and highlight the importance of considering local genetic structure when selecting source populations for translocation. Integrating physiological and genetic information provides a robust framework for improving conservation strategies for this species. Full article

Zoological parks increasingly operate as sustainability-oriented institutions that integrate biodiversity conservation, environmental education, animal welfare, and community engagement. In parallel with these evolving roles, digital and interactive technologies have emerged as key instruments for supporting sustainable visitor engagement and conservation communication. This study provides a systematic review and conceptual mapping of the literature by combining a PRISMA-based systematic literature review with bibliometric co-word analysis. The bibliometric results reveal four thematic clusters: (1) mobile and visitor-oriented digital technologies, (2) immersive augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) based solutions, (3) animal–computer interaction and welfare-focused technologies, and (4) traditional conservation and education research. While digital technologies demonstrate measurable short-term effects on engagement, empathy, and knowledge retention, their long-term sustainability impact and systemic integration remain limited. To address this gap, the study introduces three theoretical contributions: the concept of the zoo-based digital learning ecology, the identification of the digital fragmentation problem, and the Integrated Digital Zoo Ecosystem (IDZE) model. The proposed framework conceptualizes digital visitor experience, animal welfare technologies, and conservation communication as interdependent subsystems within a unified sustainability-oriented ecosystem. This study provides a conceptual foundation for future sustainability-driven digital innovation in zoological parks. Full article

Misiones, Argentina, holds one of the largest remnants of the Atlantic Forest, with almost 1.4 million hectares of native forest, representing a critical landscape for sustainable biodiversity conservation. However, connectivity across this ecoregion is increasingly threatened by habitat conversion, landscape fragmentation, and poaching pressures that extend beyond protected area boundaries, undermining long-term sustainability of wildlife populations. Using conservation detection dogs, we located, collected, and genetically confirmed 198 scats belonging to four game species: 20 lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), 72 white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), 55 collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), and 51 Azara’s agouti (Dasyprocta azarae). Analyses examining species-specific habitat associations emphasized the importance of extending inference beyond point locations to encompass species’ home ranges, with native forest consistently identified as a key component of habitat use. The high prevalence of scats in mosaics of human-modified habitats outside protected areas, especially along their borders, underscores the importance of managing these areas as part of a broader sustainable landscape matrix. While native forest fragments outside of protected areas may serve as important refugia supporting species persistence, their contribution to sustainable management depends on reducing poaching pressure across these landscapes. There is an urgent need to expand antipoaching efforts beyond protected areas and across the Atlantic Forest in the Green Corridor of Misiones while preventing ongoing deforestation and the expansion of monoculture plantations. Achieving sustainable wildlife management in this region will require integrated strategies that promote sustainable land use, conservation planning, and rural development. Full article