Bottom-up global biodiversity metrics needed for businesses to assess and manage their impact.

Ensuring that companies can assess and manage their impacts on biodiversity will be crucial to solving the current biodiversity crisis, and regulatory and public pressure to disclose these impacts is increasing. Top-down intactness metrics (e.g., Mean Species Abundance) can be valuable for generating high-level or first-tier assessments of impact risk but do not provide sufficient precision or guidance for companies, regulators, or third-party assessors. New metrics based on bottom-up assessments of biodiversity (e.g., the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration metric) can accommodate spatial variation of biodiversity and provide more specific guidance for actions to avoid, reduce, remediate, and compensate for impacts and to identify positive opportunities.

Cuantificación vertical de la biodiversidad mundial necesarias para que las empresas evalúen y gestionen su impacto Resumen Para resolver la actual crisis de biodiversidad, es importante asegurar que las empresas puedan evaluar y gestionar su impacto sobre la biodiversidad. Además, cada vez es mayor la presión pública y legislativa para divulgar este impacto. La cuantificación vertical de la integridad (p. ej.: Abundancia Media de Especies) puede ser valiosa para producir evaluaciones de alto nivel o primera categoría del riesgo de impacto, pero no proporcionan suficiente precisión o guía para las empresas, los reguladores o los asesores de terceros. Las nuevas medidas basadas en evaluaciones verticales (p. ej.: la medida de Abatimiento y Restauración de Amenazas de Especies) pueden acomodar la variación espacial de la biodiversidad y proporcionar una guía más específica para las acciones necesarias para evitar, reducir, remediar y compensar los impactos e identificar las oportunidades positivas.

Designing cities for everyday nature.

The motivations for incorporating nature into the design of cities have never been more compelling. Creating experiences with nature that occur every day (everyday nature) in cities could help reverse the fate of many threatened species and connect people with nature and living cultural traditions. However, this requires more than just urban greening; it involves ensuring daily doses of nature in a way that also supports nonhuman organisms. A major shift in the way nature is conceived of and is made part of the design of cities is required. Principles include reconsidering nature as a development opportunity rather than a constraint and eliminating offsetting of biodiversity site values. Processes include using biodiversity-sensitive design frameworks and establishing meaningful professional engagement among ecologists, planners, and designers. Challenges include design obstacles, conflicts between nature and people (e.g., safety, disease, and noise) that require careful management, and socioeconomic and political considerations (e.g., Global North vs. Global South). Research to interrogate the multiple benefits of nature in cities can complement experimental interventions, ultimately supporting better urban design and creating much more resiliently built environments for people and nature.

Diseño de ciudades para la naturaleza cotidiana Resumen Los motivos para incorporar a la naturaleza dentro del diseño urbano jamás habían sido tan convincentes. La creación en las ciudades de experiencias con la naturaleza que ocurren a diario (naturaleza cotidiana) podría ayudar a cambiar el destino de muchas especies amenazadas y conectar a las personas con la naturaleza y las tradiciones culturales vivientes. Lo anterior requiere más que reverdecimiento urbano ya que involucra dosis diarias de naturaleza de manera que también mantengan a los organismos no humanos. Se necesita de un cambio mayor en la manera en la que se concibe a la naturaleza y cómo se le hace parte del diseño urbano. Los principios incluyen reconsiderar a la naturaleza como una oportunidad de desarrollo en lugar de una limitación y eliminar la compensación del valor de los sitios de biodiversidad. Los procesos incluyen el uso de marcos de diseños sensibles con la biodiversidad y el establecimiento de una participación profesional significativa entre los ecologistas, los planeadores y los diseñadores. Los retos incluyen los obstáculos del diseño, conflictos entre la naturaleza y las personas (seguridad, enfermedades y ruido) que requieren de un manejo cuidadoso y consideraciones políticas (Norte Global versus Sur Global). La investigación para interrogar los múltiples beneficios de la naturaleza en las ciudades puede complementar a las intervenciones, a la larga respaldando un mejor diseño urbano y creando ambientes para las personas y la naturaleza construidos con mayor resiliencia.

[Ecological and biological benefits of the cosmopolitan fungus Trichoderma spp. in agriculture: A perspective in the Mexican countryside]. / Beneficios ecológicos y biológicos del hongo cosmopolita Trichoderma spp. en la agricultura: una perspectiva en el campo mexicano.

There is currently an extensive record of scientific studies on the general characteristics of filamentous fungus Trichoderma spp., which demonstrates its wide range of interrelation in ecosystems and its fungal activity that benefits the agricultural sector and agroindustry, as well as its importance in the preservation and restoration of the soil microbiota. The success of the biological and ecological benefits of Trichoderma is due to its reproductive capacity, as well as its efficiency in the use of soil nutrients; the efficacy of the genus has been reported against a variety of phytopathogenic fungi, as well as the potential to synthesize and release enzymes (cellulases, xylanases, and chitinases) that have been implemented in agroindustrial bioprocesses. It has also been reported that various species of Trichoderma spp. can produce auxins and gibberellin-type growth regulators, reported as growth promoters of some agricultural crops; however, their most relevant fact is their ability to prevail at certain doses of 'agrotoxic' active ingredients and contribute studies regarding processes for obtaining biofuel and bioremediation of the agricultural soil. In this overview, a general description of the current and relevant studies of the different subspecies of Trichoderma and their contribution in agriculture is made, presenting results obtained in vitro, in greenhouses and in the field. This analysis will serve as a starting point for future research in Mexico, specifically on the genus Trichoderma and its benefits for the Mexican countryside.

A dynamic simulation model to support reduction in illegal trade within legal wildlife markets.

Sustainable wildlife trade is critical for biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, and food security. Regulatory frameworks are needed to secure these diverse benefits of sustainable wildlife trade. However, regulations limiting trade can backfire, sparking illegal trade if demand is not met by legal trade alone. Assessing how regulations affect wildlife market participants' incentives is key to controlling illegal trade. Although much research has assessed how incentives at both the harvester and consumer ends of markets are affected by regulations, little has been done to understand the incentives of traders (i.e., intermediaries). We built a dynamic simulation model to support reduction in illegal wildlife trade within legal markets by focusing on incentives traders face to trade legal or illegal products. We used an Approximate Bayesian Computation approach to infer illegal trading dynamics and parameters that might be unknown (e.g., price of illegal products). We showcased the utility of the approach with a small-scale fishery case study in Chile, where we disentangled within-year dynamics of legal and illegal trading and found that the majority (∼77%) of traded fish is illegal. We utilized the model to assess the effect of policy interventions to improve the fishery's sustainability and explore the trade-offs between ecological, economic, and social goals. Scenario simulations showed that even significant increases (over 200%) in parameters proxying for policy interventions enabled only moderate improvements in ecological and social sustainability of the fishery at substantial economic cost. These results expose how unbalanced trader incentives are toward trading illegal over legal products in this fishery. Our model provides a novel tool for promoting sustainable wildlife trade in data-limited settings, which explicitly considers traders as critical players in wildlife markets. Sustainable wildlife trade requires incentivizing legal over illegal wildlife trade and consideration of the social, ecological, and economic impacts of interventions.

Un Modelo Dinámico de Simulación para Asistir en la Reducción del Comercio Ilegal dentro de Mercados Legales de Vida Silvestre Resumen El comercio sustentable de vida silvestre es crítico para la conservación de la biodiversidad, los medios de subsistencia y la seguridad alimentaria. Son necesarios marcos regulatorios para asegurar estos diversos beneficios del comercio sustentable de vida silvestre. Sin embargo, las regulaciones que limitan el comercio pueden ser contraproducentes, generando un mercado ilegal si la demanda no se suple solamente con el comercio legal. El análisis de cómo las regulaciones afectan a los incentivos de los participantes del comercio de vida silvestre es de suma importancia para controlar el comercio ilegal. Mientras que muchas investigaciones se han centrado en analizar cómo las regulaciones afectan tanto a quienes consumen como quieren proveen visa silvestre, , poco se ha hecho para entender los incentivos de los intermediarios. Construimos un modelo dinámico de simulación para asistir en la reducción del comercio ilegal de vida silvestre dentro de los mercados legales, enfocándonos en los incentivos que enfrentan los intermediarios para comercializar productos legales o ilegales. Usamos un enfoque de Computación Bayesiana Aproximada para inferir las dinámicas del comercio ilegal y los parámetros que podrían ser desconocidos (p. ej.: el precio de los productos ilegales). Demostramos la utilidad del modelo mediante el caso de estudio de una pesquería de pequeña escala en Chile, en donde desentrañamos las dinámicas del comercio legal e ilegal y estimamos que la mayor parte del pescado comercializado es ilegal. Utilizamos el modelo para analizar el efecto de intervenciones para mejorar la sustentabilidad de la pesquería y para explorar los trade-offs entre metas ecológicas, económicas y sociales. Las simulaciones de escenarios mostraron que incluso incrementos significativos (más del 200%) de parámetros que recreaban intervenciones permitieron solamente mejoras moderadas en la sustentabilidad ecológica y social de la pesquería a un costo económico sustancial. Estos resultados exponen cuán desequilibrados están los incentivos de los intermediarios hacia el comercio de productos ilegales por encima de los legales en esta pesquería. Nuestro modelo proporciona una herramienta innovadora para la promoción del comercio sustentable de vida silvestre en entornos con datos limitados, y considera explícitamente a los intermediarios como actores críticos dentro del comercio de vida silvestre. El comercio sustentable de vida silvestre requiere incentivar el comercio legal sobre el ilegal y la consideración del impacto social, ecológico y económico de las intervenciones.

Wild meat trade over the last 45 years in the Peruvian Amazon.

The trade in wild meat is an important economic component of rural people's livelihoods, but it has been perceived to be among the main causes of the decline of wildlife species. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light an additional concern of wildlife markets as a major human-health challenge. We analyzed data from the largest longitudinal monitoring (1973-2018) of the most important urban wild-meat markets in Iquitos, Peru, to examine the trends in and impacts of these markets on people's livelihoods. Over the last 45 years, wild meat sales increased at a rate of 6.4 t/year (SD 2.17), paralleling urban population growth. Wild meat sales were highest in 2018 (442 t), contributing US$2.6 million (0.76%) to the regional gross domestic product. Five species of ungulates and rodents accounted for 88.5% of the amount of biomass traded. Vulnerable and Endangered species represented 7.0% and 0.4% of individuals sold, respectively. Despite growth in sales, the contribution of wild meat to overall urban diet was constant: 1-2%/year of total meat consumed. This result was due to greater availability and higher consumption of cheaper meats (e.g., in 2018, poultry was 45.8% cheaper and was the most consumed meat) coupled with the lack of economic incentives to harvest wild meat species in rural areas. Most wild meat was sold salted or smoked, reducing the likelihood of foodborne diseases. Community-based wildlife management plans and the continued trade bans on primates and threatened taxa may avoid biodiversity loss. Considering the recent COVID-19 pandemic, future management plans should include potential viral hosts and regulation and enforcement of hygiene practices in wild-meat markets.

Comercio de Carne de Monte en los Últimos 45 Años en la Amazonia Peruana Resumen El comercio de carne de monte es un componente económico importante del sustento de habitantes de zonas rurales, pero se ha percibido como una de las principales causas de la declinación de especies de vida silvestre. Recientemente, la pandemia de COVID-19 ha traído a la luz una preocupación adicional de los mercados de vida silvestre como un reto importante para la salud humana. Analizamos datos del monitoreo longitudinal más extenso (1973-2018) de los mercados urbanos de carne de monte más importantes en Iquitos, Perú, para examinar las tendencias y los impactos de estos mercados sobre el sustento de los habitantes. Las ventas de carne de monte incrementaron en los últimos 45 años a una tasa de 6.4 t/año (DS 2.17), en paralelo con el crecimiento de la población. Las ventas de carne de monte fueron más altas en 2018 (442 t), aportando U.S. $2.6 millones (0.76%) al producto interno bruto de la región. Cinco especies de ungulados y roedores comprendieron el 88.5% de la biomasa comercializada. Especies vulnerables y en peligro representaron 7.0% y 0.4% de los individuos vendidos, respectivamente. A pesar del incremento de las ventas, la contribución de la carne de monte al total de la dieta urbana fue constante: 1-2%/año del total de carne consumida. Este resultado se debió a una mayor disponibilidad y consumo de carnes más baratas (e. g., en 2018 la carne de pollo fue 45.8% más barata y fue la más consumida) aparejado con la falta de incentivos económicos para cosechar carne de especies silvestres en áreas rurales. La mayor parte de la carne de monte se vendía salada o ahumada, reduciendo con ello la probabilidad de enfermedades transmitidas por alimentos. Los planes de manejo de vida silvestre basados en comunidades y la prohibición continua del comercio de primates y taxa amenazados pueden evitar la pérdida de biodiversidad. Considerando la reciente pandemia de COVID-19, los planes de manejo futuros deben incluir potenciales huéspedes virales y la regulación y aplicación de prácticas de higiene en los mercados de carne de especies silvestres.

Campesino hunting and conservation in Latin America.

Hunting presents a paradox for biodiversity conservation. It is both a problem and a solution to species declines and poverty. Yet, conservation scientists hold different assumptions about the significance and sustainability of hunting based on the cultures and identities of hunters. In Latin America, conservationists largely sort hunters as either indigenous or campesino. Indigenous hunters are often characterized as culturally driven stewards of wildlife sustainability. Campesino hunters, by contrast, are described as peasants-cultureless, uneducated, and uncaring toward wildlife sustainability. Although such ethnically fueled hunting discourse promotes hunting research, campesino hunters remain underrepresented in most comparative hunting reviews. Moreover, there are no targeted syntheses on the current state of knowledge about campesino hunting, nothing to guide conservation research and practice with and for the largest group of hunters in Latin America. We reviewed 334 articles published from 1937 to 2018 in English (55%) and Spanish (45%)-mostly published in 145 peer-reviewed journals-on the meanings, motivations, and sustainability of campesino hunting in Latin America. Although studies spanned 17 countries, 7 ecosystems, and >75 indigenous and nonindigenous demographics in 30 research contexts, they predominantly focused on nonindigenous campesinos for species-specific conservation and protected area management in tropical broadleaf forests of Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. Authors used 12 methods to collect campesino hunting data, primarily interviews, surveys, and questionnaires, and drew from 10 local and traditional knowledge themes about wildlife trends and uses. Eighteen drivers, 14 constraints, and 10 conflicts-mainly subsistence, income, ethics, regulations, and crop or livestock protection-shaped whether campesino hunters pursued 799 species, 70% of which were least concern species. Yet, only 25 studies (8%) empirically assessed sustainability. Our results show the need for increased interdisciplinary and geographic engagement with campesino hunting across Latin America.

Cacería Campesina y Conservación en América Latina Resumen La cacería representa una paradoja para la conservación de la biodiversidad ya que es tanto un problema como una solución para la declinación de especies y la pobreza. Aun así, los científicos de la conservación mantienen suposiciones diferentes sobre la relevancia y la sustentabilidad de la cacería basada en la cultura e identidad de los cazadores. En América Latina, los conservacionistas generalmente clasifican a los cazadores como indígenas o campesinos. Los cazadores indígenas casi siempre están caracterizados como administradores de la sustentabilidad de fauna influenciados culturalmente. Como contraste, los cazadores campesinos están descritos como personas rurales - sin cultura ni educación y sin preocupación por la sustentabilidad de la fauna. Aunque tal discurso de cacería avivado étnicamente promueve la investigación sobre la cacería, los cazadores campesinos permanecen con una baja representación en las revisiones comparativas de la cacería. Además, para el grupo más grande de cazadores en América Latina, no existen síntesis enfocadas en el estado actual del conocimiento sobre la cacería campesina, nada que guíe la investigación de la conservación y nada con qué practicarla. Revisamos 334 artículos publicados entre 1937 y 2018 en inglés (55%) y español (45%) - la mayoría publicados en 145 revistas revisadas por pares - que tratan sobre el significado, la motivación y la sustentabilidad de la cacería campesina en América Latina. Aunque los estudios abarcaron 17 países, siete ecosistemas y >75 demografías indígenas y no indígenas en 30 contextos de investigación, los artículos se enfocaron predominantemente en campesinos no indígenas para la conservación específica por especie y el manejo de las áreas protegidas en los bosques tropicales de México, Perú y Colombia. Los autores usaron doce métodos para recolectar datos de cacería campesina, principalmente entrevistas, encuestas y cuestionarios, y partieron de diez temas de conocimiento local y tradicional (CLT) sobre las tendencias y usos de la fauna. Dieciocho conductores, 14 restricciones, y diez conflictos - principalmente subsistencia, ingresos, ética, regulaciones y protección de cultivos o ganado - dieron forma a las decisiones de los cazadores sobre si perseguían a 799 especies, 70% de las cuales son especies de menor preocupación. Sin embargo, sólo 25 estudios (8%) evaluaron empíricamente la sustentabilidad. Nuestros resultados resaltan la necesidad de un mayor compromiso geográfico e interdisciplinario con la cacería campesina en toda América Latina.

Using conservation science to advance corporate biodiversity accountability.

Biodiversity declines threaten the sustainability of global economies and societies. Acknowledging this, businesses are beginning to make commitments to account for and mitigate their influence on biodiversity and report this in sustainability reports. We assessed the top 100 of the 2016 Fortune 500 Global companies' (the Fortune 100) sustainability reports to gauge the current state of corporate biodiversity accountability. Almost half (49) of the Fortune 100 mentioned biodiversity in reports, and 31 made clear biodiversity commitments, of which only 5 were specific, measureable, and time bound. A variety of biodiversity-related activities were disclosed (e.g., managing impacts, restoring biodiversity, and investing in biodiversity), but only 9 companies provided quantitative indicators to verify the magnitude of their activities (e.g., area of habitat restored). No companies reported quantitative biodiversity outcomes, making it difficult to determine whether business actions were of sufficient magnitude to address impacts and were achieving positive outcomes for nature. Conservation science can advance approaches to corporate biodiversity accountability by helping businesses make science-based biodiversity commitments, develop meaningful indicators, and select more targeted activities to address business impacts. With the biodiversity policy super year of 2020 rapidly approaching, now is the time for conservation scientists to engage with and support businesses in playing a critical role in setting the new agenda for a sustainable future for the planet with biodiversity at its heart.

Uso de la Ciencia de la Conservación para Potenciar la Responsabilidad Corporativa hacia la Biodiversidad Resumen Las declinaciones de la biodiversidad amenazan a la sustentabilidad de las sociedades y economías globales. Los negocios han reconocido esto y han comenzado a comprometerse a mitigar y a responsabilizarse por su influencia sobre la biodiversidad y a reportar esto en informes sobre sustentabilidad. Evaluamos los informes sobre sustentabilidad de las 100 mejores compañías del reporte Fortune 500 Global del 2016 (el Fortune 100) para estimar el estado actual de la responsabilidad corporativa hacia la biodiversidad. Casi la mitad (49) del Fortune 100 mencionó a la biodiversidad en sus informes, y 31 dejaron claro sus compromisos con la biodiversidad, de los cuales sólo cinco fueron específicos, medibles y limitados por tiempo. Se divulgó una variedad de actividades relacionadas con la biodiversidad (p. ej.: manejo de impactos, restauración de la biodiversidad e inversión en la biodiversidad). Pero sólo nueve compañías proporcionaron indicadores cuantitativos para verificar la magnitud de sus actividades (p. ej.: área del hábitat restaurado). Ninguna compañía reportó resultados cuantitativos con respecto a la biodiversidad, lo que complica la determinación de si las acciones de las empresas fueron de una magnitud suficiente para tratar los impactos y si se están logrando resultados positivos para la naturaleza. La ciencia de la conservación puede potenciar los métodos para la responsabilidad corporativa hacia la biodiversidad ayudando a las empresas a realizar compromisos con la biodiversidad basados en la ciencia, desarrollar indicadores significativos y seleccionar actividades más enfocadas para tratar los impactos de las empresas. Con la rápida aproximación del súper año para la biodiversidad, el 2020, ahora es el momento para que los científicos de la conservación apoyen y se comprometan con las empresas para tener un papel significativo en el establecimiento de una nueva agenda con la biodiversidad como núcleo para el futuro sustentable del planeta.

Aquaculture and the displacement of fisheries captures.

In modern aquaculture, animal-production technology is used to increase aquatic food sources. Such controlled rearing of seafood can, in principle, shift the pressure off wild stocks and aquatic ecosystems by reducing fishing activities, which may advance marine conservation goals. We examined resource displacement-the reduced consumption of a resource due to its replacement with a more environmentally benign substitute-in fisheries. We employed panel regression techniques in an analysis of time-series data from 1970 through 2014 to assess the extent to which aquaculture production displaced fisheries captures for all nations for which data were available. We estimated 9 models to assess whether aquaculture production suppresses captures once other factors related to demand have been controlled for. Only 1 model predicted significant suppression of fisheries captures associated with aquaculture systems within nations over time. These results suggest that global aquaculture production does not substantially displace fisheries capture; instead, aquaculture production largely supplements fisheries capture.

La Acuacultura y el Desplazamiento de Capturas de las Pesquerías Resumen En la acuacultura moderna, la tecnología de producción animal se usa para incrementar las fuentes acuáticas de alimento. Tal crianza controlada de peces puede, en principio, modificar la presión que afecta los stocks silvestres y los ecosistemas acuáticos al reducir las actividades de pesca, lo que podría acercarnos a la obtención de las metas de conservación. Examinamos el desplazamiento de recursos - el consumo reducido de un recurso debido a su reemplazo con un sustituto más benigno con el ambiente - en las pesquerías. Empleamos técnicas de regresión de paneles en un análisis de datos de series de tiempo de 1970 a 2014 para evaluar hasta dónde ha llegado el desplazamiento de las capturas de las pesquerías en todos los países que tenían datos disponibles. Estimamos nueve modelos para evaluar si la producción de la acuacultura suprime las capturas una vez que otros factores relacionados con la demanda han sido controlados. Solamente un modelo pronosticó la supresión de las capturas de las pesquerías asociadas con los sistemas de acuacultura en los países a lo largo del tiempo. Estos resultados sugieren que la producción acuícola no desplaza sustancialmente la captura de las pesquerías; en su lugar, la producción acuícola complementa en gran parte a estas capturas.

Mainstreaming human and large carnivore coexistence through institutional collaboration.

Achieving coexistence between large carnivores and humans in human-dominated landscapes (HDLs) is a key challenge for societies globally. This challenge cannot be adequately met with the current sectoral approaches to HDL governance and an academic community largely dominated by disciplinary sectors. Academia (universities and other research institutions and organizations) should take a more active role in embracing societal challenges around conservation of large carnivores in HDLs by facilitating cross-sectoral cooperation to mainstream coexistence of humans and large carnivores. Drawing on lessons from populated regions of Europe, Asia, and South America with substantial densities of large carnivores, we suggest academia should better embrace the principles and methods of sustainability sciences and create institutional spaces for the implementation of transdisciplinary curricula and projects; reflect on research approaches (i.e., disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary) they apply and how their outcomes could aid leveraging institutional transformations for mainstreaming; and engage with various institutions and stakeholder groups to create novel institutional structures that can respond to multiple challenges of HDL management and human-large carnivore coexistence. Success in mainstreaming this coexistence in HDL will rest on the ability to think and act cooperatively. Such a conservation achievement, if realized, stands to have far-reaching benefits for people and biodiversity.

Incorporación de la Coexistencia entre Humanos y Carnívoros Mayores por Medio de la Colaboración Institucional Resumen Un reto importante para las sociedades mundiales es lograr la coexistencia entre los carnívoros mayores y los humanos en los paisajes dominados por el hombre (HDL, en inglés). Este reto no puede enfrentarse adecuadamente con las actuales estrategias sectoriales que se usan en la gobernanza de los HDL y con una comunidad académica dominada principalmente por sectores disciplinarios. La academia (las universidades y demás instituciones y organizaciones de investigación) debería realizar un papel más activo en la aceptación de los retos sociales que rodean a la conservación de los carnívoros mayores en los HDL al facilitar la cooperación intersectorial para incorporar la coexistencia entre humanos y dichos carnívoros. A partir de las lecciones aprendidas en las regiones pobladas por densidades abundantes de carnívoros mayores en América del Sur, Asia y Europa, sugerimos que la academia debería aceptar de mejor manera los principios y métodos de las ciencia de la sustentabilidad y crear espacios institucionales para la implementación de currículos y proyectos; reflexionar sobre las estrategias de investigación (es decir, disciplinaria, interdisciplinaria o transdisciplinaria) que aplican y cómo sus resultados podrían ayudar en fomentar las transformaciones institucionales para la incorporación; y participar junto a varias instituciones y grupos de accionistas para crear estructuras institucionales novedosas que puedan responder a los múltiples retos del manejo de los HDL y de la coexistencia entre humanos y carnívoros mayores. El éxito en la incorporación de esta coexistencia en los HDL dependerá de la habilidad para pensar y actuar cooperativamente. Tal logro de conservación, si se alcanza, promete tener beneficios de largo alcance para las personas y para la biodiversidad.

Land-use trade-offs between tree biodiversity and crop production in the Atlantic Forest.

Trade-offs in ecosystem services (ES) have received increasing attention because provisioning services often come at the expense of biodiversity loss. When land-use patterns are not maximally efficient relative to productivity, provisioning services, such as crop production, can often be increased without losing biodiversity. The Atlantic Forest (AF) encompasses dense, mixed, and seasonal forests and has high levels of endemism and anthropogenic threat. We examined trade-offs between biodiversity and crop production in the AF to provide insights into land-use management decisions. We developed a biodiversity metric that combines information on tree species richness, evolutionary distinctiveness, and rarity at the local level. We examined the extent to which the nature of ES trade-offs differ among the 3 forest types. We assessed how annual deforestation rates and land management practices affect biodiversity and agricultural revenues. Finally, we tested whether it is possible to achieve the same total regional revenue without reducing biodiversity by improving local management practices. The 3 forest types had similar patterns in ES trade-offs, although within mixed forest patterns differed. Biodiversity appeared to be more sensitive to land-use change than crop revenues. Certain crops yielded up to 10 times higher values in some sites. Enhanced crop productivity may increase revenues without reducing biodiversity. Our results showed that to enhance human well-being without further conversion of AF, maximizing crop productivity is needed . Increasing efficiency of management outcomes by maintaining higher biodiversity and increasing provisioning services depends on knowledge of forest type, the comparative advantage of planting crops in the best places, and preserving species in a balanced manner across forests.

Assessment of mammal reproduction for hunting sustainability through community-based sampling of species in the wild.

Wildlife subsistence hunting is a major source of protein for tropical rural populations and a prominent conservation issue. The intrinsic rate of natural increase. (rmax ) of populations is a key reproductive parameter in the most used assessments of hunting sustainability. However, researchers face severe difficulties in obtaining reproductive data in the wild, so these assessments often rely on classic reproductive rates calculated mostly from studies of captive animals conducted 30 years ago. The result is a flaw in almost 50% of studies, which hampers management decision making. We conducted a 15-year study in the Amazon in which we used reproductive data from the genitalia of 950 hunted female mammals. Genitalia were collected by local hunters. We examined tissue from these samples to estimate birthrates for wild populations of the 10 most hunted mammals. We compared our estimates with classic measures and considered the utility of the use of rmax in sustainability assessments. For woolly monkey (Lagothrix poeppigii) and tapir (Tapirus terrestris), wild birthrates were similar to those from captive populations, whereas birthrates for other ungulates and lowland-paca (Cuniculus paca) were significantly lower than previous estimates. Conversely, for capuchin monkeys (Sapajus macrocephalus), agoutis (Dasyprocta sp.), and coatis (Nasua nasua), our calculated reproductive rates greatly exceeded often-used values. Researchers could keep applying classic measures compatible with our estimates, but for other species previous estimates of rmax may not be appropriate. We suggest that data from local studies be used to set hunting quotas. Our maximum rates of population growth in the wild correlated with body weight, which suggests that our method is consistent and reliable. Integration of this method into community-based wildlife management and the training of local hunters to record pregnancies in hunted animals could efficiently generate useful information of life histories of wild species and thus improve management of natural resources.

The city as a refuge for insect pollinators.

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high-priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators' relatively small functional requirements-habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior-relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high-priority and high-impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization.

Improving credibility and transparency of conservation impact evaluations through the partial identification approach.

The fundamental challenge of evaluating the impact of conservation interventions is that researchers must estimate the difference between the outcome after an intervention occurred and what the outcome would have been without it (counterfactual). Because the counterfactual is unobservable, researchers must make an untestable assumption that some units (e.g., organisms or sites) that were not exposed to the intervention can be used as a surrogate for the counterfactual (control). The conventional approach is to make a point estimate (i.e., single number along with a confidence interval) of impact, using, for example, regression. Point estimates provide powerful conclusions, but in nonexperimental contexts they depend on strong assumptions about the counterfactual that often lack transparency and credibility. An alternative approach, called partial identification (PI), is to first estimate what the counterfactual bounds would be if the weakest possible assumptions were made. Then, one narrows the bounds by using stronger but credible assumptions based on an understanding of why units were selected for the intervention and how they might respond to it. We applied this approach and compared it with conventional approaches by estimating the impact of a conservation program that removed invasive trees in part of the Cape Floristic Region. Even when we used our largest PI impact estimate, the program's control costs were 1.4 times higher than previously estimated. PI holds promise for applications in conservation science because it encourages researchers to better understand and account for treatment selection biases; can offer insights into the plausibility of conventional point-estimate approaches; could reduce the problem of advocacy in science; might be easier for stakeholders to agree on a bounded estimate than a point estimate where impacts are contentious; and requires only basic arithmetic skills.

Integration of ecological-biological thresholds in conservation decision making.

In the Anthropocene, coupled human and natural systems dominate and only a few natural systems remain relatively unaffected by human influence. On the one hand, conservation criteria based on areas of minimal human impact are not relevant to much of the biosphere. On the other hand, conservation criteria based on economic factors are problematic with respect to their ability to arrive at operational indicators of well-being that can be applied in practice over multiple generations. Coupled human and natural systems are subject to economic development which, under current management structures, tends to affect natural systems and cross planetary boundaries. Hence, designing and applying conservation criteria applicable in real-world systems where human and natural systems need to interact and sustainably coexist is essential. By recognizing the criticality of satisfying basic needs as well as the great uncertainty over the needs and preferences of future generations, we sought to incorporate conservation criteria based on minimal human impact into economic evaluation. These criteria require the conservation of environmental conditions such that the opportunity for intergenerational welfare optimization is maintained. Toward this end, we propose the integration of ecological-biological thresholds into decision making and use as an example the planetary-boundaries approach. Both conservation scientists and economists must be involved in defining operational ecological-biological thresholds that can be incorporated into economic thinking and reflect the objectives of conservation, sustainability, and intergenerational welfare optimization.

Portrayal of sustainability principles in the mission statements and on home pages of the world's largest organizations.

Conservation can be achieved only if sustainability is embraced as core to organizational cultures. To test the extent to which the related concepts of sustainability, conservation, response to climate change, poverty alleviation, and gender equity have been incorporated into organizational culture, we compared mission statements published from 1990 to 2000 with those published in 2014 for 150 organizations, including conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), aid NGOs, government development agencies, resource extraction companies, and retailers (30 in each category). We also analyzed the 2014 home web pages of each organization. Relative to the earlier period, the frequency with which mission statements mentioned poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and a range of sustainable practices increased only slightly by 2014, particularly among resource extractors and retail companies. Few organizations in any sector had embedded either climate change or gender equity into their mission statements. In addition, the proportional intensity with which any of the aspirations were expressed did not change between periods. For current home pages, conservation NGOs, resource extractors, and government agencies were significantly more likely to acknowledge the importance of matters that were not part of their core business, but few aid agencies or retail companies promoted goals beyond alleviation of crises and profit maximization, respectively. Overall, there has been some progress in recognizing poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable practices, but gender equity and a determination to reduce impacts on climate change are still rarely promoted as central institutional concerns. Sustainability in general, and biodiversity conservation in particular, will not be achieved unless their importance is more widely apparent in core communication products of organizations.

Foundations of resilience thinking.

Through 3 broad and interconnected streams of thought, resilience thinking has influenced the science of ecology and natural resource management by generating new multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problem solving. Resilience science, adaptive management (AM), and ecological policy design (EPD) contributed to an internationally unified paradigm built around the realization that change is inevitable and that science and management must approach the world with this assumption, rather than one of stability. Resilience thinking treats actions as experiments to be learned from, rather than intellectual propositions to be defended or mistakes to be ignored. It asks what is novel and innovative and strives to capture the overall behavior of a system, rather than seeking static, precise outcomes from discrete action steps. Understanding the foundations of resilience thinking is an important building block for developing more holistic and adaptive approaches to conservation. We conducted a comprehensive review of the history of resilience thinking because resilience thinking provides a working context upon which more effective, synergistic, and systems-based conservation action can be taken in light of rapid and unpredictable change. Together, resilience science, AM, and EPD bridge the gaps between systems analysis, ecology, and resource management to provide an interdisciplinary approach to solving wicked problems.

Development of a natural practice to adapt conservation goals to global change.

Conservation goals at the start of the 21st century reflect a combination of contrasting ideas. Ideal nature is something that is historically intact but also futuristically flexible. Ideal nature is independent from humans, but also, because of the pervasiveness of human impacts, only able to reach expression through human management. These tensions emerge in current management rationales because scientists and managers are struggling to accommodate old and new scientific and cultural thinking, while also maintaining legal mandates from the past and commitments to preservation of individual species in particular places under the stresses of global change. Common management goals (such as integrity, wilderness, resilience), whether they are forward looking and focused on sustainability and change, or backward looking and focused on the persistence and restoration of historic states, tend to create essentialisms about how ecosystems should be. These essentialisms limit the options of managers to accommodate the dynamic, and often novel, response of ecosystems to global change. Essentialisms emerge because there is a tight conceptual coupling of place and historical species composition as an indicator of naturalness (e.g., normal, healthy, independent from humans). Given that change is increasingly the norm and ecosystems evolve in response, the focus on idealized ecosystem states is increasingly unwise and unattainable. To provide more open-ended goals, we propose greater attention be paid to the characteristics of management intervention. We suggest that the way we interact with other species in management and the extent to which those interactions reflect the interactions among other biotic organisms, and also reflect our conservation virtues (e.g., humility, respect), influences our ability to cultivate naturalness on the landscape. We call this goal a natural practice (NP) and propose it as a framework for prioritizing and formulating how, when, and where to intervene in this period of rapid change.

Planetary health diet versus usual diet in adolescents. How do food and physical activity influence academic performance?

Introduction: Objective: to analyze the relationship of the similarity of planetary health diet and habitual diet with the practice of physical activity on the academic performance of adolescent high school students by gender. Method: 877 adolescents were evaluated. The diet is reviewed through the 24-hour reminder. Physical activity was classified according to type of activity, frequency, duration, and intensity using the APALQ questionnaire. The caloric intake of adolescents was compared with the proposal of the EAT-LANCET commission, and the relationship between physical activity and diet with academic performance was again established. Results: Mexican adolescents do not comply with the proposal of a planetary health diet. No relationship was found between physical activity and academic performance. On the other hand, animal proteins rich in fats are consumed doubly according to the recommendation; these and whole grains, both are inversely related to better academic performance. Conclusions: Mexican adolescents are far from consuming a planetary health diet. Physical activity was not related to academic performance, but there is an inverse relationship between fat-rich animal proteins and whole grains in relation to subjects that contribute to academic performance, which suggests that a healthy diet such as the planetary diet proposal could have an impact on environmental sustainability and favorably impact the academic performance of adolescents.

Introducción: Objetivo: analizar la relación de la similitud entre la dieta de salud planetaria y la dieta habitual con la práctica de actividad física sobre el rendimiento académico en adolescentes estudiantes de secundaria por género. Método: se evaluaron 877 adolescentes. La dieta se revisó a través del recordatorio de 24 horas. Se clasificó la actividad física según el tipo de actividad, frecuencia, duración e intensidad con el cuestionario APALQ. Se comparó la ingesta calórica de los adolescentes con la propuesta por la comisión EAT-LANCET y se establecieron relaciones entre la actividad física y la dieta con el rendimiento académico. Resultados: los adolescentes mexicanos no cumplen con la propuesta de una dieta de salud planetaria. No se encontró relación entre la actividad física y el rendimiento académico. Por otro lado, las proteínas animales ricas en grasas se consumen doblemente de acuerdo con la recomendación; estas y los cereales integrales, ambos se relacionan inversamente con un mejor rendimiento académico. Conclusiones: los adolescentes mexicanos están lejos de consumir una dieta planetaria saludable. La actividad física no se relacionó con el rendimiento académico, pero sí existe una relación inversa entre las proteínas animales ricas en grasas y los cereales integrales con relación a materias que contribuyen con el rendimiento académico, lo que sugiere que una alimentación saludable como la propuesta de la dieta planetaria podría tener impacto sobre la sostenibilidad ambiental e impactar favorablemente en el rendimiento académico de los adolescentes.

Ecological sustainability as the fourth landmark in the development of conservation ethics.

Aldo Leopold, in "The Land Ethic," made 2 important contributions to conservation ethics: he emphasized the community and ecosystem levels of organization and he explicitly included people as members of the biotic community. Leopold's writings remain eloquent, inspirational, and influential, but the ideas he describes are inherently complex, and ecological science has continued to evolve since "The Land Ethic" was published in 1949. We used 4 sets of quotations from Leopold's essays to develop our commentary on the meaning of and challenges in interpreting his work and to explore the ongoing development of conservation ethics: the "A-B cleavage" (Leopold's description of the contrast between utilitarian value versus a broader definition of value in nature), "land health" and the rightness of human action, the right of all species to continued existence in natural populations "at least in spots," and humans as "plain member[s] and citizen[s]" of the "land-community." We define the broader function of land and land health in "The Land Ethic" as including completeness, dynamic stability, and self-renewal in a way that incorporates the needs of humans and all other species. We argue that the consequences of implementing Leopold's land ethic include multiple conservation goals nested within an overall systems approach and that conservation science must clarify the implications of Leopold's ethic by quantitatively investigating and defining large-scale, system-level ecological sustainability. At this scale, land use will encompass areas ranging from large expanses of wilderness to areas dominated by humans.

Incentivizing monitoring and compliance in trophy hunting.

Conservation scientists are increasingly focusing on the drivers of human behavior and on the implications of various sources of uncertainty for management decision making. Trophy hunting has been suggested as a conservation tool because it gives economic value to wildlife, but recent examples show that overharvesting is a substantial problem and that data limitations are rife. We use a case study of trophy hunting of an endangered antelope, the mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni), to explore how uncertainties generated by population monitoring and poaching interact with decision making by 2 key stakeholders: the safari companies and the government. We built a management strategy evaluation model that encompasses the population dynamics of mountain nyala, a monitoring model, and a company decision making model. We investigated scenarios of investment into antipoaching and monitoring by governments and safari companies. Harvest strategy was robust to the uncertainty in the population estimates obtained from monitoring, but poaching had a much stronger effect on quota and sustainability. Hence, reducing poaching is in the interests of companies wishing to increase the profitability of their enterprises, for example by engaging community members as game scouts. There is a threshold level of uncertainty in the population estimates beyond which the year-to-year variation in the trophy quota prevented planning by the safari companies. This suggests a role for government in ensuring that a baseline level of population monitoring is carried out such that this level is not exceeded. Our results illustrate the importance of considering the incentives of multiple stakeholders when designing frameworks for resource use and when designing management frameworks to address the particular sources of uncertainty that affect system sustainability most heavily. Incentivando el Monitoreo y el Cumplimiento en la Caza de Trofeos.