Narrowly distributed taxa are disproportionately informative for conservation planning.

Biological atlas data can be used as inputs into conservation decision-making, yet atlases are sometimes infrequently updated, which can be problematic when the distribution of species is changing rapidly. Despite this, we have a poor understanding of strategies for efficiently updating biological atlas data. Using atlases of the distributions of 1630 threatened plant taxa, we quantitatively compared the informativeness of narrowly distributed and widespread taxa in identifying areas that meet taxon-specific conservation targets, and also measured the cost-efficiency of meeting those targets. We also explored the underlying mechanisms of the informativeness of narrowly distributed taxa. Overall, narrowly distributed taxa are far more informative than widespread taxa for identifying areas that efficiently meet conservation targets, while their informativeness for identifying cost-efficient areas varied depending on the type of conservation target. Narrowly distributed taxa are informative mainly because their distributions disproportionately capture areas that are either relatively taxon rich or taxon poor, and because of larger number of taxa captured with given number of records. Where resources for updating biological data are limited, a focus on areas supporting many narrowly distributed taxa could benefit conservation planning.

Tapping into non-English-language science for the conservation of global biodiversity.

The widely held assumption that any important scientific information would be available in English underlies the underuse of non-English-language science across disciplines. However, non-English-language science is expected to bring unique and valuable scientific information, especially in disciplines where the evidence is patchy, and for emergent issues where synthesising available evidence is an urgent challenge. Yet such contribution of non-English-language science to scientific communities and the application of science is rarely quantified. Here, we show that non-English-language studies provide crucial evidence for informing global biodiversity conservation. By screening 419,679 peer-reviewed papers in 16 languages, we identified 1,234 non-English-language studies providing evidence on the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation interventions, compared to 4,412 English-language studies identified with the same criteria. Relevant non-English-language studies are being published at an increasing rate in 6 out of the 12 languages where there were a sufficient number of relevant studies. Incorporating non-English-language studies can expand the geographical coverage (i.e., the number of 2° × 2° grid cells with relevant studies) of English-language evidence by 12% to 25%, especially in biodiverse regions, and taxonomic coverage (i.e., the number of species covered by the relevant studies) by 5% to 32%, although they do tend to be based on less robust study designs. Our results show that synthesising non-English-language studies is key to overcoming the widespread lack of local, context-dependent evidence and facilitating evidence-based conservation globally. We urge wider disciplines to rigorously reassess the untapped potential of non-English-language science in informing decisions to address other global challenges. Please see the Supporting information files for Alternative Language Abstracts.

Disconnection between conservation awareness and outcome: Identifying a bottleneck on non-native species introduction via footwear.

Unintentional seed introduction mediated by visitor's clothing and footwear is a major source of biological invasion into natural areas. To effectively avert these unintentional introductions, we must understand the links that connect relevant knowledge and desired outcome (i.e., seeds not carried on visitor's belongings); however, until now, these links have not been examined. Here, we investigated the links among a visitor's knowledge about biological invasion, awareness of biological invasion, behavior to prevent introduction (cleaning footwear), and being a seed carrier to identify a potential bottleneck between visitor knowledge and ecological outcome. In order to achieve this, we conducted a questionnaire survey and soil sampling from the footwear of visitors to an alpine national park. Soil samples (n = 344) were subjected to a germination experiment, and the number of emerged seedlings was recorded for each sample. We observed seedlings emerging from 27 soil samples (7.8 % of visitors; 44 seedlings in total), comprising non-native species. The degree of a visitor's knowledge about biological invasion increased with the increase in the degree of awareness. However, the high degree of awareness was not linked with the actual behavior of cleaning their footwear before the visit, although footwear cleaning effectively reduced the number of emerged seedlings. We found the lack of a clear association between awareness and behavior (cleaning the footwear) to be the bottleneck. We also investigated the major sources of knowledge about human-mediated seed introduction from footwear and found that television was the most important information source. The key to effectively preventing negative impacts on ecosystems caused by the introduction of non-native species could be to revise methods for informing the community, which will help overcome the bottleneck between awareness and behavior.

Influence of rainfall on sleeping site choice by a group of anubis baboons (Papio anubis).

For diurnal nonhuman primates, shifting among different sleeping sites may provide multiple benefits such as better protection from predators, reduced risk of parasitic infection, and closer proximity to spatially and temporally heterogeneous food and water. This last benefit may be particularly important in sleeping site selection by primates living in savanna-woodlands where rainfall is more limited and more seasonally pronounced than in rainforests. Here, we examined the influence of rainfall, a factor that affects food and water availability, on the use of sleeping sites by anubis baboons (Papio anubis) over two 13-month study periods that differed in rainfall patterns. We predicted that during wet periods, when food and water availability should be higher, the study group would limit the number of sleeping sites and would stay at each one for more consecutive nights than during dry periods. Conversely, we predicted that during dry periods the group would increase the number of sleeping sites and stay at each one for fewer consecutive nights as they searched more widely for food and water. We also predicted that the group would more often choose sleeping sites closer to the center of the area used during daytime (between 07:00 and 19:00) during wet months than during dry months. Using Global Positioning System data from collared individuals, we found that our first prediction was not supported on either monthly or yearly timescales, although past monthly rainfall predicted the use of the main sleeping site in the second study period. Our second prediction was supported only on a yearly timescale. This study suggests that baboons' choice of sleeping sites is fluid over time while being sensitive to local environmental conditions, one of which may be rainfall.

Ignoring non-English-language studies may bias ecological meta-analyses.

Meta-analysis plays a crucial role in syntheses of quantitative evidence in ecology and biodiversity conservation. The reliability of estimates in meta-analyses strongly depends on unbiased sampling of primary studies. Although earlier studies have explored potential biases in ecological meta-analyses, biases in reported statistical results and associated study characteristics published in different languages have never been tested in environmental sciences. We address this knowledge gap by systematically searching published meta-analyses and comparing effect-size estimates between English- and Japanese-language studies included in existing meta-analyses. Of the 40 published ecological meta-analysis articles authored by those affiliated to Japanese institutions, we find that three meta-analysis articles searched for studies in the two languages and involved sufficient numbers of English- and Japanese-language studies, resulting in four eligible meta-analyses (i.e., four meta-analyses conducted in the three meta-analysis articles). In two of the four, effect sizes differ significantly between the English- and Japanese-language studies included in the meta-analyses, causing considerable changes in overall mean effect sizes and even their direction when Japanese-language studies are excluded. The observed differences in effect sizes are likely attributable to systematic differences in reported statistical results and associated study characteristics, particularly taxa and ecosystems, between English- and Japanese-language studies. Despite being based on a small sample size, our findings suggest that ignoring non-English-language studies may bias outcomes of ecological meta-analyses, due to systematic differences in study characteristics and effect-size estimates between English- and non-English languages. We provide a list of actions that meta-analysts could take in the future to reduce the risk of language bias.

La méta­analyse joue un rôle essentiel dans les synthèses de preuves quantitatives en écologie et en conservation de la biodiversité. La fiabilité des estimations dans les méta­analyses dépend fortement d'un échantillonnage non biaisé des études primaires. Bien que des études antérieures aient examiné les biais potentiels dans les méta­analyses écologiques, les biais n'ont jamais été mis à l'épreuve dans les sciences de l'environnement lors de publications dans différentes langues de résultats statistiques enregistrés et de caractéristiques des études associées. Nous abordons cette lacune dans les connaissances en recherchant de manière systématique des méta­analyses publiées et en comparant les estimations d'ampleur de l'effet entre des études en anglais et en japonais figurant dans les méta­analyses existantes. Sur 40 articles publiés de méta­analyse écologique dont les auteurs sont affiliés à des institutions japonaises, nous trouvons que trois articles de méta­analyse ont recherché des études dans les deux langues et ont mis en jeu des nombres suffisants d'études en anglais et en japonais, avec pour résultat quatre méta­analyses admissibles (c.­à­d. quatre méta­analyses effectuées dans les trois articles de méta­analyse). Dans deux de ces quatre cas, les ampleurs de l'effet diffèrent de façon significative entre les études en japonais et en anglais comprises dans les méta­analyses, ce qui provoque des changements considérables dans les ampleurs moyennes globales de l'effet et même dans leur direction lorsque les études en japonais sont exclues. On peut probablement attribuer les différences observées dans les ampleurs de l'effet entre les études en japonais et en anglais, en particulier en ce qui concerne les taxons et les écosystèmes, aux différences systématiques dans les résultats statistiques enregistrés, de même que dans les caractéristiques des études associées. Bien que basés sur un échantillon de petite taille, nos résultats suggèrent que le fait d'ignorer les études non anglophones peut biaiser les résultats de méta­analyses écologiques en raison des différences systématiques dans les caractéristiques d'étude et les estimations d'ampleur de l'effet entre langue anglaise et langues non anglophones. Nous proposons une liste de mesures qui pourraient être adoptées à l'avenir dans les méta­analyses pour réduire le risque de biais linguistique.

A metanálise desempenha um papel crucial na síntese de evidências quantitativas na ecologia e conservação da biodiversidade. A confiabilidade das estimativas nas metanálises depende fortemente da amostragem imparcial de estudos primários. Embora estudos anteriores tenham explorado possíveis vieses em metanálises ecológicas, os vieses nos resultados estatísticos relatados e características de estudos associados publicados em diferentes idiomas nunca foram testados em ciências ambientais. Abordamos essa lacuna de conhecimento pesquisando sistematicamente metanálises publicadas e comparando estimativas de tamanho de efeito entre os estudos em inglês e japonês incluídos nas metanálises existentes. Dos 40 artigos de metanálise ecológica publicados por autores filiados a instituições japonesas, descobrimos que três artigos de metanálise pesquisaram estudos nos dois idiomas e envolveram um número suficiente de estudos em inglês e japonês, resultando em quatro metanálises elegíveis (ou seja, quatro metanálises realizadas nos três artigos de metanálise). Em duas das quatro metanálises, os tamanhos de efeito diferem significativamente entre os estudos em inglês e japonês incluídos nas metanálises, causando mudanças consideráveis nos tamanhos de efeito médios em geral e até mesmo na sua direção quando os estudos em japonês são excluídos. As diferenças observadas nos tamanhos de efeito provavelmente são atribuíveis a diferenças sistemáticas nos resultados estatísticos relatados, bem como às características de estudos associados, particularmente táxons e ecossistemas, entre estudos em inglês e japonês. Embora baseados em um pequeno tamanho amostral, nossos resultados sugerem que ignorar estudos que não sejam em inglês pode influenciar os resultados de metanálises ecológicas, devido a diferenças sistemáticas nas características dos estudos e estimativas de tamanho de efeito entre o idioma inglês e o não­inglês. Fornecemos uma lista de medidas que metanalistas podem adotar no futuro para reduzir o risco de viés de idioma.

El meta­análisis juega un papel crucial en la síntesis de evidencia cuantitativa en ecología y conservación de la biodiversidad. La fiabilidad de las estimaciones en los meta­análisis depende en gran medida del muestreo imparcial de los estudios primarios. A pesar de que estudios previos han explorado posibles sesgos en meta­análisis ecológicos, sesgos en resultados estadísticos y características asociadas al estudio publicados en diferentes idiomas nunca han sido comprobados en ciencias ambientales. Abordamos esta brecha de conocimiento buscando sistemáticamente los meta­análisis publicados y comparando las estimaciones del tamaño del efecto entre los estudios en inglés y japonés incluidos en los meta­análisis existentes. De los 40 artículos de meta­análisis ecológicos publicados por aquellos afiliados a instituciones japonesas, encontramos que tres artículos de meta­análisis buscaron estudios en dos idiomas e involucraron un número suficiente de estudios en inglés y japonés, lo que resultó en cuatro meta­análisis elegibles (i.e., cuatro meta­análisis realizados en tres artículos de meta­análisis). En dos de los cuatro, los tamaños de los efectos difieren significativamente entre los estudios en inglés y japonés incluidos en los meta­análisis, lo que provoca cambios considerables en los tamaños de efectos medios generales e incluso su dirección cuando se excluyen los estudios en japonés. Las diferencias observadas en los tamaños de los efectos son probablemente atribuibles a las diferencias sistemáticas en los resultados estadísticos informados, así como a las características de los estudios asociados, particularmente los taxones y los ecosistemas, entre los estudios en inglés y japonés. A pesar de estar basados ​​en un tamaño de muestra pequeño, nuestros hallazgos sugieren que ignorar los estudios que no están en inglés puede sesgar los resultados de los meta­análisis ecológicos, debido a las diferencias sistemáticas en las características del estudio y a las estimaciones del tamaño del efecto entre el idioma inglés y el no inglés. Proporcionamos una lista de acciones que los meta­analistas podrían tomar en el futuro para reducir el riesgo de sesgo lingüístico.

Interaction exposure effects of multiple disturbances: plant population resilience to ungulate grazing is reduced by creation of canopy gaps.

The impact of multiple disturbances on populations could be synergistic or antagonistic via disturbance interaction and are considered to be provoked by alternation of the impact of an ecosystem disturbance due to the effect of a preceding disturbance. The impact of a focal disturbance can also change when a preceding disturbance alters the proportion of individuals in a population exposed to these disturbances (i.e., interaction exposure effects), although this effect has not been addressed to date. Herein, we propose and test interaction exposure effects by elucidating disturbance interactions between canopy gap formation and ungulate grazing. Based on a vegetation and seed bank survey conducted on an island in Hokkaido, northern Japan, we examined whether canopy openness changes the impact of ungulate grazing on the occurrence probability of palatable plant species through the facilitation of germination. Species occurrence in the seed bank significantly decreased with increasing canopy openness under the presence of grazing; however, it slightly increased under the absence of grazing, suggesting that gap creation, which facilitates germination, exposes the seed bank to ungulate grazing. Because disturbances of various types often modify the habitat structure, these proposed disturbance interactions are expected to operate within various ecosystems and taxa.

Landscape- and Local-Scale Actions Are Essential to Conserve Regional Macrophyte Biodiversity.

Regional-scale pond diversity is supported by high variation in community composition. To effectively and efficiently conserve pond regional diversity, it is essential to recognize the community types in a focal region and the scales of the factors influencing the occurrence of respective community types. Based on a flora survey and GIS analysis of 367 ponds in western Japan, we developed a multinomial regression model that describes the relationship between aquatic macrophyte community type (based on cluster analysis) and five environmental factors that differ in the spatial scale at which they operate (i.e., landscape or local scale) and origin (i.e., natural or anthropogenic). A change in topographic configuration resulted in a transition of the community types with high species richness. Increasing urban and agricultural area around ponds resulted in a decrease in species-rich community occurrence; an increase in urban area increased the probability of a pond having no macrophytes, whereas that of paddy field increased the probability of a pond having only a few macrophytes. Pond surface area and proportion of artificial embankment significantly defined the pond community: greater embankment proportions increased the probability of ponds having few or no macrophytes. Our results suggest that conserving regional pond biodiversity will require actions not only at a local scale but also at a sufficiently large spatial scale to cover the full gradient of topographic configurations that influence the macrophyte species composition in ponds.

Ecosystem changes following the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes in Japan: Future perspectives.

Major earthquakes cause widespread environmental and socioeconomic disruptions that persist for decades. Extensive ground disturbances that occurred during the shallow-focus Kumamoto earthquakes will affect future sustainability of ecosystem services west of Aso volcano. Numbers of earthquake-initiated landslides per unit area were higher in grasslands than forests, likely owing to greater root reinforcement of trees, and mostly initiated on ridgelines and/or convex/planar hillslopes. Most landslides traveled short distances and did not initially evolve into debris flows; resultant sediments and wood accumulating in headwater channels can be mobilized into debris flows during future storms. Fissures along ridgelines may promote water ingress and induce future landslides and debris flows that affect residents downstream. Native grasses are at risk because of habitat fragmentation caused by ground disturbances, extensive damage to rural roads, and abandonment of traditional pasture management practices. Sustainable management of affected areas needs to consider future risk of cascading hazards and long-term socioeconomic impacts.

Visibility from roads predict the distribution of invasive fishes in agricultural ponds.

Propagule pressure and habitat characteristics are important factors used to predict the distribution of invasive alien species. For species exhibiting strong propagule pressure because of human-mediated introduction of species, indicators of introduction potential must represent the behavioral characteristics of humans. This study examined 64 agricultural ponds to assess the visibility of ponds from surrounding roads and its value as a surrogate of propagule pressure to explain the presence and absence of two invasive fish species. A three-dimensional viewshed analysis using a geographic information system quantified the visual exposure of respective ponds to humans. Binary classification trees were developed as a function of their visibility from roads, as well as five environmental factors: river density, connectivity with upstream dam reservoirs, pond area, chlorophyll a concentration, and pond drainage. Traditional indicators of human-mediated introduction (road density and proportion of urban land-use area) were alternatively included for comparison instead of visual exposure. The presence of Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) was predicted by the ponds' higher visibility from roads and pond connection with upstream dam reservoirs. Results suggest that fish stocking into ponds and their dispersal from upstream sources facilitated species establishment. Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) distribution was constrained by chlorophyll a concentration, suggesting their lower adaptability to various environments than that of Bluegill. Based on misclassifications from classification trees for Bluegill, pond visual exposure to roads showed greater predictive capability than traditional indicators of human-mediated introduction. Pond visibility is an effective predictor of invasive species distribution. Its wider use might improve management and mitigate further invasion. The visual exposure of recipient ecosystems to humans is important for many invasive species that spread with frequent instances of human-mediated introduction.

Effects of pond draining on biodiversity and water quality of farm ponds.

Farm ponds have high conservation value because they contribute significantly to regional biodiversity and ecosystem services. In Japan pond draining is a traditional management method that is widely believed to improve water quality and eradicate invasive fish. In addition, fishing by means of pond draining has significant cultural value for local people, serving as a social event. However, there is a widespread belief that pond draining reduces freshwater biodiversity through the extirpation of aquatic animals, but scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of pond draining is lacking. We conducted a large-scale field study to evaluate the effects of pond draining on invasive animal control, water quality, and aquatic biodiversity relative to different pond-management practices, pond physicochemistry, and surrounding land use. The results of boosted regression-tree models and analyses of similarity showed that pond draining had little effect on invasive fish control, water quality, or aquatic biodiversity. Draining even facilitated the colonization of farm ponds by invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), which in turn may have detrimental effects on the biodiversity and water quality of farm ponds. Our results highlight the need for reconsidering current pond management and developing management plans with respect to multifunctionality of such ponds. Efectos del Drenado de Estanques sobre la Biodiversidad y la Calidad del Agua en Estanques de Cultivo.

Hydrologic connection between ponds positively affects macrophyte alpha and gamma diversity but negatively affects beta diversity.

Connections between habitat patches can positively influence the number of species in respective patches, providing a basis for preferentially conserving interconnected patches. However, from a regional perspective, it is not known whether conserving multiple sets of interconnected habitat patches would include more species (i.e., show higher gamma diversity) than conserving multiple, unconnected, solitary patches. We studied aquatic macrophytes in 15 sets of unidirectionally interconnected ponds and 19 unconnected ponds and also tested whether alpha and beta diversity, expressed as the number of species and dissimilarity in species composition, respectively, differed between connected and unconnected ponds. We found that gamma diversity was higher in connected ponds than in unconnected ponds, even after controlling for surface area. This resulted from a higher alpha diversity in connected ponds, despite lower beta diversity. These results suggest that connections between habitat patches positively influence diversity at both local and regional scales. When the total surface area available for conservation is limited, interconnected habitat patches should be preferentially conserved.

Annual growth of invasive Larix kaempferi seedlings with reference to microhabitat and ectomycorrhizal colonization on a volcano.

To investigate the seedling growth of a biologically invasive larch Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carr. on Mount Koma, Japan, seedlings were excavated from three microhabitats (bareground = BA, Salix reinii patch = SP, and Larix understory = LU) in three elevational zones. Seedlings showed the highest ectomycorrhizal (ECM) colonization percentage in the most shaded microhabitat, LU. ECM colonization percentages in BA and SP were found to decrease with decreasing elevation. These results inferred that the ECM colonization percentages were related to seedling growth, particularly in BA and SP. However, the annual seedling growth was not synchronized with the increases in either elevational gradients. Although ECM colonization was most evident in LU, the seedling growth was the lowest. We concluded that the effects of ECM colonization on seedling growth were reduced mostly by microhabitat characteristics.