Conservation Science Research Articles

Analysis of the Impact Factor and JCR Rankings in Conservation Science Journals: Why JCR Should Have a Heritage Category

ABSTRACT The scientific research output of individuals and institutions is commonly evaluated by the number of publications in journals with high impact factor and their corresponding citations. However, the interdisciplinary character of journals reporting advances in conservation science favors their spread over different categories of the Journal Citation Report (JCR). Here we report an analysis of the evolution of the impact factor, the percentile, and the citations on the JCR indexed conservation journals over the last ten years. Our analysis shows that of the 57 conservation journals indexed in the JCR, only eight of them have an impact factor. These journals are distributed across different categories in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and these categories are sometimes not suitable and decrease their metric impact. This analysis was complemented by a worldwide survey of conservation professionals on their opinions about publishing in these journals. The survey showed two different perspectives about conservation science journals in relation to the background and work of the responders. Conservators and restorers prefer conservation journals with case studies; while researchers prefer high-impact journals, even if they lie outside of the conservation area, so the overall impact factor of conservation journals remains low (low JIF, low Q values). This dichotomy could be fixed with the creation of a new category for heritage science journals in JCR.

Practical guide to coproduction in conservation science.

We considered a series of conservation-related research projects on the island of Pemba, Tanzania, to reflect on the broad significance of Beier etal.'s recommendations for linking conservation science with practical conservation outcomes. The implementation of just some of their suggestions can advance a successful coproduction of actionable science by small research teams. Key elements include, first, scientists and managers working together in the field to ensure feedback in real time; second, questions jointly identified by managers and researchers to facilitate engaged collaboration; third, conducting research at multiple sites, thereby broadening managers' abilities to reach multiple stakeholders; and fourth, establishing a multidisciplinary team because most of the concerns of local managers require input from multiple disciplines.

Visual and Physical Degradation of the Black and White Mosaic of a Roman Domus under Palazzo Valentini in Rome: A Preliminary Study.

Palazzo Valentini, the institutional head office of Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, stands in in a crucial position in the Roman archaeological and urban contexts, exactly between the Fora valley, Quirinal Hill slopes, and Campus Martius. It stands on a second-century A.D. complex to which belong, between other archeological remains, two richly decorated aristocratic domus. One of these buildings, the domus A, presents an outward porticoed room with a fourth-century AD central impluvium (open air part of the atrium designed to carry away rainwater) with a black/white tiled mosaic pavement, the preservation status of which is compromised by an incoherent degradation product that has caused gradual detachment of the mosaic tiles. To identify the product and determine the causes of degradation, samples of the product were taken and subjected to SEM-EDS, XRF, NMR, FT-IR and GC-MS analyses. The findings reported in this study can help restorers, archaeologists and conservation scientists in order to improve knowledge about the Roman mosaic, its construction phases, conservation problems and proper solutions.

Surveying the scope, success, and challenges of plant conservation community science

First emerging at the end of the 20th century, community science (a.k.a. citizen science), utilizing volunteers and volunteer-contributed data, has become a major component of biological conservation worldwide. Interacting factors including limited funding, technology availability, and public interest present a unique opportunity for conservation scientists and practitioners to benefit from larger datasets with broader spatial and temporal reach than possible from professional researchers alone. In tandem with benefits to science, volunteers gain hands-on research experience, scientific knowledge, outdoor opportunities, and community. However, this approach is far from universally adopted, as some researchers question the accuracy and value of community science data and entrusting volunteers with sensitive data, such as rare plant locations. We assessed community science projects that conduct rare plant monitoring to examine the value of community science in plant conservation. We identified projects through research and targeted outreach. Through digital surveys of project managers and volunteers, we collected qualitative and quantitative data addressing the efficacy of projects in regard to a number of predictor variables (e.g., staffing, funding, program size, data management, volunteer training, and demographics) and metrics of success (e.g., number of volunteers engaged, monitoring assignments, and publications). We reported the qualities of successful plant conservation community science projects to encourage the establishment of new projects, the improvement of existing ones, and the maximum application of volunteer-contributed rare plant monitoring datasets. We propose the establishment of a community science rare plant monitoring network to facilitate sharing ideas, strategies, and tools for project success.

Chromosome-level genome and population genomics reveal evolutionary characteristics and conservation status of Chinese indigenous geese

Geese are herbivorous birds that play an essential role in the agricultural economy. We construct the chromosome-level genome of a Chinese indigenous goose (the Xingguo gray goose, XGG; Anser cygnoides) and analyze the adaptation of fat storage capacity in the goose liver during the evolution of Anatidae. Genomic resequencing of 994 geese is used to investigate the genetic relationships of geese, which supports the dual origin of geese (Anser cygnoides and Anser anser). Chinese indigenous geese show higher genetic diversity than European geese, and a scientific conservation program can be established to preserve genetic variation for each breed. We also find that a 14-bp insertion in endothelin receptor B subtype 2 (EDNRB2) that determines the white plumage of Chinese domestic geese is a natural mutation, and the linkaged alleles rapidly increase in frequency as a result of genetic hitchhiking, leading to the formation of completely different haplotypes of white geese under strong artificial selection. These genomic resources and our findings will facilitate marker-assisted breeding of geese and provide a foundation for further research on geese genetics and evolution.

Swab-based minimally invasive analysis of synthetic organic dyes using flexible paper-based SERS substrates: A case study of Chinese New Year paintings

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has proven to be a powerful diagnostic technique for conservation science. In this work, a novel swab-based detection strategy is proposed for minimally invasive SERS analysis of synthetic organic dyes in the cultural heritage field, employing flexible paper-based SERS probes prepared with a facile, cost-efficient and reproducible recipe. It was demonstrated that Ag nanostructures/paper probes composed of interconnected Ag nanostructures immobilized on unmodified cellulose paper showed excellent SERS enhancement for the investigated synthetic organic dyes. The high flexibility and conformability of paper-based substrate allows to extract minimal amounts of dyes from the work of art by gently swabbing in a dry-state condition, thereby avoiding potential damage to colorants from close contact with solvents such as water. Dyes could be transferred via swab-based extraction method without removing any visible fragments of the paint layer, which facilitates preserving the physical integrity of the artwork. SERS detection was subsequently performed directly on flexible substrate surfaces after micro-extraction of dyes. The minimally invasive nature of this strategy has further been confirmed by the spectrophotometric color measurements and successfully applied to the identification of synthetic organic dyes on real paper artworks---Chinese woodblock New Year paintings from the late Qing Dynasty. These results highlight the great potential of flexible paper-based Ag substrates based on swab-detection method for minimally invasive analysis of organic dyes in cultural heritage.

How Instagram users influence nature conservation: A case study on protected areas in Central Europe

The popularity of social media such as Instagram has substantially increased in the last years. The use of social media for conservation science has also been on the rise because social media postings can provide an important data source for conservationists. However, it has also been shown that Instagram posts have the power to change the popularity of featured locations, which can increase their visitation rates and may thus lead to overcrowding and subsequently to the degradation of protected areas. This study addresses the question of how Instagram users perceive and evaluate these potentially detrimental impacts on protected areas in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland. We conducted an online survey among Instagram users and measured their personal knowledge and perceptions of nature protection issues, their activities on Instagram and their perceptions of environmentally negative behaviours associated with Instagram usage. The results show that the respondents do have personal knowledge about nature protection. However, they do not want social media to teach them about nature-protection-related topics and do not consider Instagram a good source for such information. When participants were presented with a typical example of an environmentally negative behaviour in a protected area (such as off-road motorbiking) that some people perform while presenting themselves on Instagram, respondents' sentiments changed from indifference towards favouring nature protection. The results of this study provide useful information for better communication on conservation issues in protected areas and the improved incorporation of nature protection content into Instagram users' feeds (e.g. via conservation marketing approaches).

Increased exposure of Colombian birds to rapidly expanding human footprint

Understanding and mapping anthropogenic threats on species distributions is a crucial task in conservation science to identify priority areas and propose appropriate conservation strategies. Yet, there is a big challenge to quantify how these threats are associated with species distribution patterns at multiple temporal scales. For birds, existing national and global analyses have mostly focused on forest specialists and they tend to consider only one time period. Here, we evaluated spatial and temporal changes in human footprint within the distributions of Colombian birds from 1970 to 2018, and projected them into 2030. We show that widespread increases in human footprint were common within the distribution of terrestrial birds. Endemic and threatened birds have been disproportionately affected by past increases in human footprint within their distribution, and this trend will continue into the future. Several areas harboring high diversity of forest-specialists remained relatively intact up to 2018. However, our predictions show significantly higher and faster (>2% annual change) levels of transformation within these areas by 2030. Importantly, our results suggest that non-forest birds could be experiencing habitat quality declines that are just as significant as those shown for forest birds. Our results show that mitigating negative anthropogenic effects on bird habitats in Colombia requires an array of conservation strategies that range from strict habitat protection to mixed management. These analyses can serve as inputs in conservation decision tools that consider spatiotemporal variation of anthropic threats under multiple scenarios of change.

Dodo dilemmas: Conflicting ethical loyalties in conservation social science research

AbstractIn a time of deepening social and ecological crises, the question of research ethics is more pertinent than ever. Our intervention grapples with the specific personal, ethical, and methodological challenges that arise at the interface of conservation and social science. We expose these challenges through the figure of Chris, a fictional anonymised composite of our fraught diverse fieldwork experiences in Australia, Burma, Indonesian Borneo, Namibia, and Vanuatu. Fundamentally, we explore fieldwork as a series of contested loyalties: loyalties to our different human and non‐human research participants, to our commitments to academic rigour, and to the project of wildlife conservation itself, while reckoning with conservation's spotted (neo)colonial past. Our struggles and reflections illustrate, first, that practical research ethics do not predetermine forms of reciprocity. Second, while we need to choose our concealments carefully and follow the principle of not doing harm, we also have the responsibility to reveal social and environmental injustices. Third, we must acknowledge that as researchers we are complicit in the practices of human and non‐human violence and exclusion that suffuse conservation. Finally, given how these responsibilities move the researcher beyond a position of innocence or neutrality, academic institutions should adjust their ethics support. This intervention highlights the need for greater openness about research challenges emerging from conflicting personal, ethical, and disciplinary loyalties, in order to facilitate greater cross‐disciplinary understanding. Active engagement with these ethical questions through collaborative dialogue‐based fora, both before and after fieldwork, would enable learning and consequently transform research practices.

Conservation through connection: Approaches to engaging communities in applied grizzly bear research

Human-wildlife dynamics is a growing field and one of considerable importance to conservation. Wild spaces are in short supply, and consequently wildlife and people increasingly share the landscape, though not necessarily by choice. As a result, peoples’ needs might not be prioritized over those of wildlife, even in cases of human-wildlife conflict. For wildlife conservation to be effective and human-wildlife coexistence possible, the needs of both wildlife and people must be simultaneously addressed. Rather than an afterthought or a sentence in the conservation/management implications section of a paper, community engagement should be addressed before, during, and after a research project. However, this can be a difficult and often complicated task, for multiple reasons. Building relationships founded on trust, respect and reciprocity with community members takes commitment, time, skill, and a willingness by researchers to be open-minded in terms of methodologies and new ideas. Different cultural norms, beliefs, perspectives and biases can further exacerbate these challenges. Here, we share three short case studies reflecting our own research experiences engaging with communities in the field of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) ecology and conservation science. We conclude with guidelines for advancing effective community engagement and suggestions for tackling some common barriers. Overall, we offer considerations for a practical and more holistic approach to large carnivore conservation, established on a foundation of strong community support.

Foresight science in conservation: Tools, barriers, and mainstreaming opportunities.

Foresight science is a systematic approach to generate future predictions for planning and management by drawing upon analytical and predictive tools to understand the past and present, while providing insights about the future. To illustrate the application of foresight science in conservation, we present three case studies: identification of emerging risks to conservation, conservation of at-risk species, and aid in the development of management strategies for multiple stressors. We highlight barriers to mainstreaming foresight science in conservation including knowledge accessibility/organization, communication across diverse stakeholders/decision makers, and organizational capacity. Finally, we investigate opportunities for mainstreaming foresight science including continued advocacy to showcase its application, incorporating emerging technologies (i.e., artificial intelligence) to increase capacity/decrease costs, and increasing education/training in foresight science via specialized courses and curricula for trainees and practicing professionals. We argue that failure to mainstream foresight science will hinder the ability to achieve future conservation objectives in the Anthropocene.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-022-01786-0.

Misunderstanding the free‐ranging cat issue: Response to Debrot et al. 2022

Misunderstanding the free‐ranging cat issue: Response to Debrot et al. 2022

The Gender Gap in Land Sciences: A Review of Women’s Presence on the Editorial Boards of Peer-Reviewed Journals

Women are disadvantaged across all stages of academic publishing. In science, contribution to editorial boards of journals is evidence of a high reputation within a specialty or field. Therefore, the low presence of women on editorial boards can be considered a disadvantage indicator for women in academia. This study aims to highlight the gap in women’s contributions in land science journals. We assessed the gender composition of editorial boards in 60 peer-reviewed journals using systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and we obtained data on current and past editorial boards of these journals. The result shows that the current number of editorial board members is 5197 of which only 25.47 percent are women. Gender inequality is very evident in this group of journals to the extent that journals with a high impact factor indicate inequality that is even more than 75 percent. The results of the time series analysis have also shown that the presence of women on editorial boards has increased over the last decade, although this increase has been more in the Nordic countries. The geographical distribution of editorial board members is also quite unequal in the North and South, 83 percent of female editorial board members are from northern countries, while only 12 percent are from the global South. According to the results, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality, especially in the field of land science. Our results also support previous findings of a considerable gender difference in urban land science, geoscience community, biodiversity conservation, and veterinary sciences. Thus, the academic community, editors, and journals must take proactive measures to achieve gender balance.

Multi-scenario based urban growth modeling and prediction using earth observation datasets towards urban policy improvement

Urbanization is a growing challenge for city planners and policymakers who are continuously focusing on computer-based statistical models, and machine learning for a sustainable and livable city. The main objectives of this article were to develop a robust artificial intelligence-based hybrid geo-simulation model to support multi-scenario urban growth modeling for urban policy improvement. In this study, earth observation datasets, Artificial Neural Network-Multilayer Perceptron coupled with Markov Chain (MLP-Markov) and Cellular Automata and Markov Chain (CA-Markov) were applied and the best performance was measured for urban growth modeling. The result shows that the urban land use was 25.79, 31.40, 45.19, 89.22 and 147.96 square km in 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 which has been predicted for 2021, 2031, 2041 and 2051 based on the planned and unplanned development scenarios. The predicted urban land use of the planned development scenario is 242.10, 312.69, 363.80 and 400.72 square km while 242.91, 314.31, 366.23 and 403.98 square km of the unplanned development scenario during 2021, 2031, 2041 and 2051. The uncertainty result shows that overall agreement (84.99%) and other indices are higher, and disagreement is lower (15.01%) for MLP-Markov than the CA-Markov for the urban land use prediction. The hybrid geo-simulation models were tested over multiple urban planning indicators to understand urban growth patterns and related scenarios. The result shows that the geo-simulation model is extremely sensitive to the complex pattern of urban growth and disperse indicators over space and time. This study provides a promising guideline for urban planners and conservation scientists to implement a robust artificial intelligence-based hybrid geo-simulation model for compact, organized, and integrated land use-transportation development. HIGHLIGHTS Raipur city passing through sprawling and unplanned development due to uncontrol population growth and unmanaged development practices by local government and planning authority. Master plan of the development authority of the city failed to restrict unplanned development. Proposed urban growth model promote a compact, organized, integrated land use-transportation development and sustainable urban planning. Study, highlighted complexity in the modeling and suggested simplified Machine-based hybrid geo-simulation model for future urban growth for urban policy improvement.

Perspectives from the Global South inform and affirm the contemporary river conservation paradigm: A commentary on Feio et al.

Perspectives from the Global South inform and affirm the contemporary river conservation paradigm: A commentary on Feio et al.

Legacy of co-existence between rhino and people in a protected area in India

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in the Indian state of Assam has the highest density of the globally threatened greater one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) in the world. The sanctuary constitutes an area of 38.81 km.., which is relatively small for the rhino habitation. The contest for space and resources as a consequence, often triggers the megaherbivore...s movement in the fringe areas of human settlements. Interestingly, the episodes of the human-rhino conflict are less contrary to the existing situation, which this paper aims to explore by understanding the community...s perception towards wildlife, particularly the rhino. The five study villages and respondents were selected based on purposive sampling. The study highlights the role of attitudes, environmental ethics and, religious belief systems of the community while providing a space for co-existence for wildlife, which is a central issue today in conservation science and policy.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of an Arctic Tertiary Relict Tree Endemic to China (Sassafras tzumu) Revealed by Novel Nuclear Microsatellite (nSSR) Markers.

Sassafras tzumu (Hemsl.) Hemsl., as an Arctic Tertiary relict woody species, is an ecologically and economically important deciduous tree endemic to southern China. Nonetheless, the genetic resources and backgrounds of S. tzumu are still lacking and remain largely unclear. Here, we predicted 16,215 candidate polymorphic nuclear microsatellite (nSSR) loci from the assembled nucleus databases of six geographic-distant individuals of S. tzumu via CandiSSR. Among these nSSRs, the di- (75.53%) and tri-nucleotide (19.75%) repeats were the most abundant, and 27 new polymorphic SSRs were developed and characterized in 136 individuals from six natural populations of S. tzumu. The majority of the above 27 SSRs (24 loci, 88.89%) presented moderate polymorphism (mean PIC = 0.356), and the transferability of these markers in other Sassafras species was high (85.19%). A moderately low level of genetic diversity and a high variation (FST = 0.286) of six wild populations of S. tzumu were illuminated by 16 selected polymorphic nSSRs, with the average expected heterozygosity (HE) of 0.430 at the species level and HE ranging from 0.195 to 0.387 at the population level. Meanwhile, a bottleneck effect was shown in two populations. Consistent with the results of the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and phylogenetic trees, structure analysis optimally divided these six S. tzumu populations into two clusters, and the further strong population subdivision appeared from K = 2 to K = 5, which corresponded to two evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). Moreover, the significant correlation between genetic and geographic distance was tested by the Mantel test (r = 0.742, p = 0.006), clarifying the effect about isolation by distance (IBD), which could be possibly explained by the low gene flow (Nm = 0.625), a relatively high degree of inbreeding (FIS = 0.166), a relatively large distribution, and mountainous barriers. Above all, our research not only enlarged the useful genetic resources for future studies of population genetics, molecular breeding, and germplasm management of S. tzumu and its siblings but also contributed to proposing scientific conservation strategies and schemes for the better preservation of S. tzumu and other Sassafras (Lauraceae) species.

BetaBayes—A Bayesian Approach for Comparing Ecological Communities

Ecological communities change because of both natural and human factors. Distinguishing between the two is critical to ecology and conservation science. One of the most common approaches for modelling species composition changes is calculating beta diversity indices and then relating index changes to environmental changes. The main difficulty with these analyses is that beta diversity indices are paired comparisons, which means indices calculated with the same community are not independent. Mantel tests and generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM) are two of the most commonly used statistical procedures for analysing such data, employing randomisation tests to consider the data’s dependence. Here, we introduce a Bayesian model-based approach called BetaBayes that explicitly incorporates the data dependence. This approach is based on the Bradley–Terry model, which is a widely used approach for modelling paired comparisons that involves building a standard regression model containing two varying intercepts, one for each community involved in the beta diversity index, that capture their respective contributions. We used BetaBayes to analyse a famous dataset collected in Panama that contains information on multiple 1 ha plots from the rain forests of Panama. We calculated the Bray–Curtis index between all pairs of plots, analysed the relationship between the index and two covariates (geographic distance and elevation), and compared the results of BetaBayes with those from the Mantel test and GDM. BetaBayes has two distinctive features. The first is its flexibility, which allows the user to quickly change it to fit the data structure; namely, by adding varying effects, incorporating spatial autocorrelation, and modelling complex nonlinear relationships. The second is that it provides a clear path for performing model validation and model improvement. BetaBayes avoids hypothesis testing, instead focusing on recreating the data generating process and quantifying all the model configurations that are consistent with the observed data.

Corrigendum: Introducing the Australian Journal of Taxonomy, a new, fully-online, fully open-access journal for the rapid publication of new Australian species and other taxa

The following address for author Kevin Thiele was deleted: Western Australian Herbarium, Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, Western Australia 6983.

Bending the curve: Simple but massive conservation action leads to landscape-scale recovery of amphibians

Success stories are rare in conservation science, hindered also by the research-implementation gap, where scientific insights rarely inform practice and practical implementation is rarely evaluated scientifically. Amphibian population declines, driven by multiple stressors, are emblematic of the freshwater biodiversity crisis. Habitat creation is a straightforward conservation action that has been shown to locally benefit amphibians, as well as other taxa, but does it benefit entire amphibian communities at large spatial scales? Here, we evaluate a landscape-scale pond-construction program by fitting dynamic occupancy models to 20 y of monitoring data for 12 pond-breeding amphibian species in the Swiss state Aargau, a densely populated area of the Swiss lowlands with intensive land use. After decades of population declines, the number of occupied ponds increased statewide for 10 out of 12 species, while one species remained stable and one species further declined between 1999 and 2019. Despite regional differences, in 77% of all 43 regional metapopulations, the colonization and subsequent occupation of new ponds stabilized (14%) or increased (63%) metapopulation size. Likely mechanisms include increased habitat availability, restoration of habitat dynamics, and increased connectivity between ponds. Colonization probabilities reflected species-specific preferences for characteristics of ponds and their surroundings, which provides evidence-based information for future pond construction targeting specific species. The relatively simple but landscape-scale and persistent conservation action of constructing hundreds of new ponds halted declines and stabilized or increased the state-wide population size of all but one species, despite ongoing pressures from other stressors in a human-dominated landscape.