Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Studies
High-resolution range mapping of mycorrhizal fungal species reveals systematic biases in their protection
Published: 2025-08-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies
Mycorrhizal fungi are essential to ecosystem functioning but have been overlooked in conservation agendas due to data limitations and a historical focus on plants and animals. We present the first global, species-level assessment of the area-based conservation of mycorrhizal fungi. Using 16.5 million site-by-taxon presence–absence records, we created high-resolution range maps for 189 arbuscular [...]
Modelling complex habitat use for threatened bat species decision-making in landscapes with competing priorities
Published: 2025-08-26
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Zoology
Species distribution models (SDMs) provide valuable information to aid conservation decisions, particularly in landscapes where economic and biodiversity priorities compete. Generating SDMs for species that rely on discrete habitat types for different activities (e.g. roosting or foraging) can be challenging, and result in outputs that are not appropriately tailored for end use. We collated [...]
From Shorelines to Social Media: Mixed-Methods Insights into Urban Fishing Practices, Policy Gaps and Culture in the Digital Age
Published: 2025-08-15
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recreational and subsistence fishing are globally significant forms of marine resource use, contributing to food security, cultural identity, and social well-being across diverse coastal communities. Yet these non-commercial sectors are often overlooked in formal fisheries monitoring and governance. In California’s San Francisco Bay Area, non-commercial fishers represent a wide range of [...]
Opportunities for Cities to Cultivate Biodiversity
Published: 2025-08-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Policy, Environmental Studies, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Plant Sciences, Public Policy, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration, Systems Biology, Urban Studies and Planning
Cities pose a major threat to global biodiversity in every sense of the word. Municipal leaders have opportunities to promote biodiversity efforts in their cities. Several studies have shown that managing resources with biodiversity in mind within cities is effective and benefits both human and non-human residents and visitors. Two major opportunities for biodiversity investment in urban areas [...]
Social-ecological networks in urban ecology research
Published: 2025-07-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning
Urban ecosystems are complex and dynamic, shaped by feedback loops between social and ecological components. However, urban ecology requires tools to unravel this complexity. Social-ecological networks (SENs) offer a conceptual and analytical framework by integrating network theory to understand the relationships between and within social-ecological systems. Here, we integrate perspectives from [...]
Colorful birds face heightened extinction risk around the world
Published: 2025-06-10
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Ornithology
Many of the functional traits that mediate extinction risk across the tree life relate indirectly to a species’ ability to persist in a changing world. Yet, there are certain traits such as coloration that directly affect human interactions with wildlife. Here, we use an existing dataset of color metrics for 4334 passerine bird species combined with global functional trait data to determine [...]
A Critical Evaluation of Ecological, Environmental, and Legal Consequences of Cedrus libani Afforestation and Monoculture Plantations in Lebanon: The Case of Mount Sannine
Published: 2025-05-28
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Cedrus libani (Cedar of Lebanon) is ecologically and culturally significant, but vulnerable due to historical decline and ongoing threats. This has driven extensive afforestation and reforestation efforts in Lebanon. Initiatives like the Sannine Project, however, often utilize large-scale monoculture plantations, frequently as afforestation on land without confirmed historical dense forest cover. [...]
Facing the heat: behavioral and molecular underpinnings of heat stress in bumblebees
Published: 2025-04-25
Subjects: Animal Studies, Behavioral Neurobiology, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Climate change heralds an era of increased heat waves. Insects, due to their short generation times and their sensitive ecological requirements, offer a powerful model for studying rapid physiological and behavioral responses to high temperatures. Solitary insects primarily respond to temperature extremes by moving in space or time to remain in a constant environment, or by exploiting phenotypic [...]
Language, economic, and gender disparities widen the scientific productivity gap
Published: 2024-11-01
Subjects: Environmental Studies
Scientific communities need to understand and eliminate barriers that prevent scientists from reaching their full potential. However, the combined impact of individuals’ linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds on their scientific productivity is poorly understood. Using a survey of 908 environmental scientists, we show that being a woman is associated with up to a 45% reduction in the number [...]
Understanding deforestation dynamics in Amazonian protected areas through land-use change models informed by conservation discourses
Published: 2024-10-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies
The Amazon Basin’s agricultural frontiers – many of which overlap with protected areas (PAs) – experience deforestation for agriculture and pasture. Responses to PA deforestation require understanding the region-wide and PA-specific socio-environmental factors that increase forest conversion. Standard, quantitative approaches to land-use change (LUC) modeling may omit some factors, constraining [...]
Local knowledge enhances the sustainability of interconnected fisheries
Published: 2024-10-08
Subjects: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Local knowledge (LK) refers to the ancestral understanding that Indigenous Peoples and local communities have developed over centuries through trial-and-error and hands-on management of natural resources. LK may provide valuable insights for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. However, its effectiveness remains under-explored at large scales, especially where multiple communities [...]
The ecosystem-climate-human nexus in the Arctic
Published: 2024-09-11
Subjects: Environmental Studies
The Arctic has warmed at nearly four times the global average since 1979, which has intensified the disruption of its biotic and local human communities under ongoing environmental change. Here, we explore the ecosystem-climate-human nexus in the Arctic region. We summarize current knowledge of regional climate change and its impact on ecosystems and their functions, highlight gaps and [...]
Cultural integration of invasive species
Published: 2024-09-02
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sustainability
Many invasive non-native species gradually become embedded within local cultures. Such species can increasingly be perceived by society as familiar or even native elements of the social-ecological system and become an integral part of local cultures. Here, we explore this phenomenon and refer to it as the cultural integration of invasive species. Although culturally integrated species can [...]
Untangling the impact of live baitfish restrictions on recreational fishing participation in the United States
Published: 2024-08-29
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
In recent decades, many jurisdictions have established regulations governing the use of live baitfish in recreational fishing. These regulations are usually motivated by environmental concerns, such as the role that live baitfish play in the spread of invasive species and aquatic diseases. One question that might be posed by policymakers is whether limiting the use of live baitfish could impact [...]
Seasonal Migrants and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in a Region of Risk: The Pulse Seine Fisheries in Limfjorden, Denmark, c. 1740-1860
Published: 2024-07-31
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Biodiversity, Economic History, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology, Other Arts and Humanities, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
This article presents the commercial scale and organization of the Danish pulse seine eel fishery in the Limfjord before the advent of modern offshore fisheries. Partly, for environmental concerns, the pulse seine fishery was tightly regulated, with every seine having to be checked and certified by the local district bailiffs. Here, we present the first in-depth analysis of all preserved [...]