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Purpose: The growing awareness of climate change, biodiversity loss and the wider global environmental emergency has led to calls for decisive and immediate action from all sections of society. This paper aims to consider the question of how universities should respond and what role they might best adopt in current circumstances. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a conceptual framework, the paradox model, which places sustainability within the contradictory, messy and uncertain terrain that characterises higher education (HE). This is derived from the own experience of leading sustainability within one UK university, as well as the continued engagement with educational theory and philosophy. Findings: This paper identifies two fundamental contradictions or paradoxes facing those seeking to engage in sustainability in HE, namely, how to develop authentic sustainability responses within the context of existing HE structures and processes and how to reconcile the demand for immediate action with the much more gradual processes of education. This paper represents these two paradoxes as intersecting axes on a diagram, which creates four quadrants in which a diverse range of responses can be located. The point where these two axes intersect is particularly significant and provides a place from which to navigate responses both individually, collectively and institutionally. Originality/value: This paper argues that wisdom provides a guiding principle for discerning which type of response might be appropriate in any given context. It may also indicate a route towards institutional change and underpin the vision of the ecological university of the future based on principles of civic responsibility and social justice.

The United Kingdom Government intends to require land development in England to contribute to improving biodiversity values. The basis for this, the offsetting of impacts on biodiversity, stems from and reinforces a neoliberal economic approach, fits with the privatising of conservation, and at a landscape level may improve biodiversity values. However, challenging decision-makers is the current lack of robust evidence that offsetting works, meaning allowing development despite uncertain future biodiversity benefits. Additionally, financial support for local government is declining, making it unclear whether and how effective independent auditing of biodiversity net gain will be.

This systematic review, part funded by Network Rail Ltd (UK), considers the role of transportation corridors in habitat connectivity within temperate climates, through verge habitat, surrounding matrix, movement along and across the corridor, the wider landscape context and management practices. PICO terms were developed for the bibliographic search on 15/11/22 using Web of Science (all databases), yielding 168 studies for review. The risk of bias was minimised by excluding non-peer reviewed papers. Large and exotic taxa were excluded due to a focus on temperate zones, as were studies on invasive species and climate change where the primary focus was not ecological connectivity. Emergent themes were used to structure the paper. Results indicate that transportation corridors have significant potential for habitat connectivity, especially for generalist and open-specialist species, which favour early to mid-successional habitats. However, physiology is a key determinant in dispersal ability. Vegetation management should consider representative communities rather than individual species. Gaps exist in the range of taxa studied, understanding of seasonal variations and lifecycle stages supported in verges, survival factors such as predation and disease and changes to community structure. Rail environments are under-represented and there is limited knowledge on the relative impacts of vegetation management regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.K. food system exhibits strong unsustainability indicators across multiple dimensions, both in terms of food and nutritional insecurity and in terms of adverse climate change, biodiversity, and physical resource impacts. These indices of an unsustainable and inequitable social metabolism are the result of capitalist agriculture and society in general and, more specifically, of neoliberal and austerity policies adopted with vigour since the global financial crisis. The causal, capitalistic, and, latterly, more neoliberal bases of the U.K. food system are delineated in the first section of the paper. These bases are then detailed in terms of their impacts in exacerbating climate change, biodiversity (and resource) decline and loss, and food and nutritional insecurity. The political narratives and policy frameworks available to dissemble, mitigate, or, more rarely, to address (resolve) these impacts are then delineated. It is argued that the only policy framework available that strongly integrates food security (social equity) with ecological sustainability is political agroecology and an accompanying degrowth strategy. The final section of the paper details what political agroecology and degrowth might entail for the U.K. food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates potential biodiversity valuation tools which actuaries could use in their work. It is an initial research paper into a selection of UK-based biodiversity valuation tools identified by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs in its publication "Enabling a Natural Capital Approach Guidance". The "Enabling a Natural Capital Approach Guidance" publication is seen as a comprehensive practical guide to natural capital and therefore is determined a sensible starting point on which to base this research. This research paper is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of all biodiversity tools available, but rather is intended to identify a selection of tools which may be candidates for further research into their actuarial use case. We conclude that there are tools which merit additional research, and we recommend that these tools be further investigated to understand (i) the specific actuarial use case(s), (ii) whether the tools are applicable to direct infrastructure investments only or a broad range of asset classes, and (iii) whether their scope can be extended beyond the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect declines are being reported worldwide and private, residential gardens could provide refugia for these species under increasing land use change. Interest in wildlife-friendly gardening has increased, but many management recommendations lack a scientific evidence-base. We used a large citizen science scheme, the Garden Butterfly Survey (GBS), with data from over 600 gardens across Great Britain (2016-2021) to determine how the surrounding landscape influences the abundance and species richness of butterflies in gardens and whether wildlife-friendly gardening practices, such as having long grass and providing nectar plants, benefit butterflies. First, we show that GBS provides reliable estimates of species abundances by comparing with results from standardised, long-term monitoring data. Garden size and surrounding land use had significant effects on butterfly abundance and richness in gardens, including positive relationships with garden size, woodland and arable farmland and negative relationships with urbanisation. Both the presence and area of long grass in gardens were positively related to higher butterfly richness and abundance, with the latter being driven by butterflies that use grasses as larval host plants. These effects differed depending on the surrounding landscape, such that long grass resulted in higher garden butterfly abundance in landscapes dominated by arable farming, and higher abundance and richness in highly urbanised areas. The presence of flowering ivy (Hedera spp.) in gardens resulted in higher abundance of Celastrina argiolus holly blue which uses ivy as a larval host, and of Vanessa atalanta red admiral and Polygonia c-album comma, which favour it as a nectar source. Our work provides evidence that undertaking simple wildlife-friendly garden practices can be beneficial for attracting butterflies, particularly in heavily modified areas. With over 728,000 ha of gardens in Great Britain, the cumulative effect of leaving areas of lawn uncut and providing nectar and larval host plants could be key for helping biodiversity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Kelp forests occur on more than a quarter of the world's coastlines, serving as foundation species supporting high levels of biodiversity. They are also a major source of organic matter in coastal ecosystems, with the majority of primary production released and exported as detritus. Kelp detritus also provides food and shelter for macroinvertebrates, which comprise important components of inshore food-webs. Hitherto, research on kelp detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages remains relatively limited. We quantified spatiotemporal variability in the structure of detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages within Laminaria hyperborea forests and evaluated the influence of putative drivers of the observed variability in assemblages across eight study sites within four regions of the United Kingdom in May and September 2015. We documented 5167 individuals from 106 taxa with Malacostraca, Gastropoda, Isopoda and Bivalvia the most abundant groups sampled. Assemblage structure varied across months, sites, and regions, with highest richness in September compared to May. Many taxa were unique to individual regions, with few documented in all regions. Finally, key drivers of assemblage structure included detritus tissue nitrogen content, depth, sea surface temperature, light intensity, as well as L. hyperborea canopy density and canopy biomass. Despite their dynamic composition and transient existence, accumulations of L. hyperborea detritus represent valuable repositories of biodiversity and represent an additional kelp forest component which influences secondary productivity, and potentially kelp forest food-web dynamics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We examined spatiotemporal variability in the structure of faunal assemblages associated with the warm-temperate pseudo-kelp Saccorhiza polyschides towards its range centre (Western English Channel, southwest UK), to better understand its role as a habitat-former in the northeast Atlantic. A total of 180 sporophytes and their associated fauna were sampled across three months, three sites, and two depths. Assemblage abundance and biomass varied markedly between three morpho-functional sporophyte components (i.e., holdfast, stipe, blade). We recorded rich and abundant macroinvertebrate assemblages, comprising nine phyla, 28 coarse taxonomic groups, and 57 species of molluscs, which consistently dominated assemblages. We observed pronounced seasonality in faunal assemblage structure, marked variability between sites and depths, and strong positive relationships between biogenic habitat availability and faunal abundance/biomass. S. polyschides sporophytes are short-lived and offer temporary, less-stable habitat compared with dominant perennial Laminaria species, so shifts in the relative abundances of habitat-formers will likely alter local biodiversity patterns., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

To contribute effectively to academic discourse on urban sustainability, disciplines need to think outside their silos and work together more collaboratively. Although straightforward to posit in theory, the practical realities of bringing together people with different worldviews, languages and skills can be frustrating and lead to loss of motivation. This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study of interdisciplinary team working on an urban sustainability project. Through analysis of archival materials, observations and interviews, a major theme of motivation was uncovered and explored. We conclude with some suggestions for working more effectively interdisciplinary, urban sustainability projects.

Policy makers require high‐level summaries of biodiversity change. However, deriving such summaries from raw biodiversity data is a complex process involving several intermediary stages. In this paper, we describe an operational workflow for generating annual estimates of species occupancy at national scales from raw species occurrence data, which can be used to construct a range of policy‐relevant biodiversity indicators. We describe the workflow in detail: from data acquisition, data assessment and data manipulation, through modelling, model evaluation, application and dissemination. At each stage, we draw on our experience developing and applying the workflow for almost a decade to outline the challenges that analysts might face. These challenges span many areas of ecology, taxonomy, data science, computing and statistics. In our case, the principal output of the workflow is annual estimates of occupancy, with measures of uncertainty, for over 5000 species in each of several defined 'regions' (e.g. countries, protected areas, etc.) of the UK from 1970 to 2019. This data product corresponds closely to the notion of a species distribution Essential Biodiversity Variable (EBV). Throughout the paper, we highlight methodologies that might not be applicable outside of the UK and suggest alternatives. We also highlight areas where the workflow can be improved; in particular, methods are needed to mitigate and communicate the risk of bias arising from the lack of representativeness that is typical of biodiversity data. Finally, we revisit the 'ideal' and 'minimal' criteria for species distribution EBVs laid out in previous contributions and pose some outstanding questions that should be addressed as a matter of priority. Going forward, we hope that this paper acts as a template for research groups around the world seeking to develop similar data products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-distance transfer of non-native, potentially invasive species via floating marine debris is an increasing threat to biodiversity and conservation efforts. To address the lack of understanding around mechanisms and pathways of species transfer via marine debris, a novel modelling approach was applied to recreate the likely trajectory and source of a large piece of debris fouled by non-native species collected from UK marine waters. This approach applied the Oil Spill Contingency and Response (OSCAR) simulation tool, an adapted oil spill modelling programme, which was informed by a combination of biological trait information for the foulant species, marine debris characteristics and hydrodynamic data. The modelling output suggested an origin in the Western Atlantic, a scenario concurrent with the known distribution of the foulant species. This modelling approach represents a valuable tool with which to determine the origin and trajectory of invasive species transferred via marine debris., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Existing landscape features, such as field boundary hedgerows, can contribute to food, fodder, material, and energy production for an EU bio-based circular economy. Recent trials undertaken by the project team in the UK demonstrated that hedgerows can be managed to produce woodfuel of a quality that meets industry standards. However, to be attractive to farmers, woodfuel production from hedgerows must be profitable. This paper uses the FarmSAFE model to undertake a financial assessment with data generated from these trials. The net present value of a standard hedgerow management method (flailing every 2 years) was compared with those from alternative hedgerow management scenarios for woodfuel production over a 60 year time horizon. Using data from the hedgerow trials, the results showed that coppicing hedgerows for woodfuel production could provide a profit to the farmer. The sale of woodchips into an off-farm market was found to be profitable if harvesting with tree shears (medium scale harvesting capacity) or a Bracke felling head (large scale harvesting capacity), but chainsaw harvesting (small scale harvesting capacity) was unprofitable. When considering the use of woodchips on farm to replace purchased woodchip or heating oil, the financial benefit to the farmer increased. Sensitivity analyses showed that the use of medium scale machinery (tree shears) made the hedgerow enterprise most resilient to changes in prices, grants, and costs. This scale of machinery is appropriate for local energy production whilst also being affordable to farmers and local contractors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines expressed hopelessness among environmental activists in Extinction Rebellion. While activists claim that they have lost all hope for a future without global warming and species extinction, through despair emerges a new hope for saving what can still be saved—a hope for what is left. This radical hope, emerging from despair, may make Extinction Rebellion even more effective. Drawing from personal interviews with 25 Extinction Rebellion activists in the United Kingdom and the published work of other Extinction Rebellion activists, this paper identifies signs of radical hope. While activists have cast off false hope and passive hope, a new hope for what is still possible remains. This hope is based on virtue ethics: doing what is right in the moment, rather than being attached to a desired outcome. This drives forward activism despite the results. Through their principle of regenerative culture, Extinction Rebellion activists learn to support each other and be prepared for a more turbulent and challenging future. Through a regenerative culture they can salvage and repair what is left and sustain radical hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban rivers face challenges of increased human activities which also affect river organisms. In order to enhance freshwater biodiversity in urban rivers, it is important to determine how the benthic macroinvertebrate communities are influenced by key abiotic factors. This was investigated in this paper through the study of the spatial and temporal variations of benthic macroinvertebrates and water quality variables at the urban River Medlock in Greater Manchester, UK. Samples were obtained from five sections of the catchment (S1 to S5) over a period of 14 months and the results were compared with the standard requirement of the European Union's Water Framework Directives. Multivariate tests including SIMPER (similarity percentages), PCA (principal component analysis) and BIOENV (biological and environmental) were carried out on the data in order to determine the environmental variables which most influenced the benthic macroinvertebrates. PCA of environmental variables indicated that 34% of the overall variance was heavily weighted on nutrients and catchment area (negatively on altitude and slope), 17% represented river substrate and the 12% represented discharge. The BIOENV analysis also indicated altitude, slope, catchment area, discharge and conductivity as the variables which influenced the biological communities. SIMPER analysis showed a difference between the upper and lower sections of the river with some sensitive taxa at the upper sites and showed that more organisms are present during spring. Apart from the lowest section of the river, the EU Water Framework Directive classification showed that other sites achieved the 'good ecological status'. While 32 taxa groups were identified, abundant Baetidae, Chironomidae and Oligochaeta were recorded at all sites and seasons. The scores for biotic indices Whalley Hawkes Paisley and Trigg (WHPT) and Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) were found to be similar. By the application of surrogate variables such as percentage urban cover, catchment area and total number of organism, the influence of urbanisation could be seen in the abundance of organisms over time and space.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of narratives in biodiversity reports as a mechanism to raise the awareness of biodiversity’s importance. By classifying biodiversity narratives into 14 categories of biodiversity values this paper investigates whether the explanations for biodiversity conservation used by UK local councils are line with shallow, intermediate or deep philosophies.Design/methodology/approach This study used content analysis to examine the disclosures on biodiversity’s importance in the biodiversity action plans published by UK local councils. The narratives were first identified and then allocated into 14 categories of biodiversity value. Then, they were ascribed to either shallow (resource conservation, human welfare ecology and preservationism), intermediate (environmental stewardship and moral extensionism) or deep philosophies.Findings UK local councils explained biodiversity’s importance mainly in terms of its instrumental value, in line with shallow philosophies such as human welfare ecology and resource conservation. UK local councils sought to raise awareness of biodiversity’ importance by highlighting values that are important for the stakeholders that are able to contribute towards biodiversity conservation such as landowners, residents, visitors, business and industries. The authors also found that local councils’ biodiversity strategies were strongly influenced by 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.Originality/value This paper is one of the few accounting studies that engages with the literature on environmental ethics to investigate biodiversity. In line with stakeholder theory, it indicates that explanations on biodiversity’s importance based on anthropocentric philosophies are considered more effective in informing those stakeholders whose behaviour needs to be changed to improve biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With one quarter of Britain's mammals in serious decline and one-third of those most under threat being our more elusive bats, people who own, manage or access a variety of buildings are playing an ever more vital role in helping to conserve wildlife, often without even realising it. Buildings have become important roosting sites for bats, including houses, bridges, barns, mines, and historic buildings and churches. As older structures that have escaped modernisation, churches can provide ideal habitats for bats. In small numbers, bats in churches often go unnoticed, but where they roost in large numbers, or where multiple species use the same church, a conflict can arise between the wildlife and the community using the building and caring for the artefacts inside. In contrast to residential and commercial buildings, where bats and people are separated by a ceiling, churches often have open-roof architecture. This means that bat droppings and urine can damage historic items, the fabric and interior of the church, and create an unmanageable cleaning burden for the church community. This is why the Bats in Churches project is so important. This partnership between the Church of England, Historic England, Natural England, Bat Conservation Trust and Churches Conservation Trust was granted funding by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2018 and runs through 2023. The project brings together ecologists, church architects and heritage experts to trial and implement systems to manage the issues created by bats in churches, through a specially designed licence. The UK has 17 breeding bat species. Sadly, the loss of natural roosting sites coupled with factors such as intensive agriculture and urbanisation, including increasing levels of light pollution, have all had a dramatic impact on bat populations, which have seen serious declines in the last century. As well as making up a significant proportion of Britain's mammal biodiversity, bats are indicator species. This means changes to our bat populations can reveal wider changes to local wildlife populations signalling the health of the environment upon which we all ultimately depend. This is why all species of bat in the UK and their roosts are protected by law. This means it is illegal to damage, destroy or disturb any bats or their roosts without having taken the necessary precautions and sought the correct advice from the Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation (SNCO) for your country. In England, this is Natural England, via the Bat Conservation Trust. This does not mean, however, that building work, roof repairs and other maintenance works cannot take place. It is entirely possible to carry out works alongside resident bats, but it requires careful planning and consideration of timings. This paper will discuss the law relating to bats and building works. It will cover how bats use churches and other buildings, and the impact they can have on church interiors and communities. It will consider the practicalities of surveys and licensing and will describe some interventions and mitigation solutions created by the Bats in Churches project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity indicators summarise extensive, complex ecological data sets and are important in influencing government policy. Component data consist of time-varying indices for each of a number of different species. However, current biodiversity indicators suffer from multiple statistical shortcomings. We describe a state-space formulation for new multispecies biodiversity indicators, based on rates of change in the abundance or occupancy probability of the contributing individual species. The formulation is flexible and applicable to different taxa. It possesses several advantages, including the ability to accommodate the sporadic unavailability of data, incorporate variation in the estimation precision of the individual species' indices when appropriate, and allow the direct incorporation of smoothing over time. Furthermore, model fitting is straightforward in Bayesian and classical implementations, the latter adopting either efficient Hidden Markov modelling or the Kalman filter. Conveniently, the same algorithms can be adopted for cases based on abundance or occupancy data—only the subsequent interpretation differs. The procedure removes the need for bootstrapping which can be prohibitive. We recommend which of two alternatives to use when taxa are fully or partially sampled. The performance of the new approach is demonstrated on simulated data, and through application to three diverse national UK data sets on butterflies, bats and dragonflies. We see that uncritical incorporation of index standard errors should be avoided. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive poultry units give rise to air emissions of ammonia which have the potential to negatively impact biodiversity. This paper provides a brief overview of the UK regulatory framework surrounding the assessment of ammonia emissions on sensitive habitats, it looks at the drivers behind the regulation and discusses how the assessment of impacts of ammonia emissions on sensitive habitat designations is undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk and beef derived from pasture-based systems have been characterized by higher nutritional values and a lower environmental footprint than their equivalents obtained via indoor systems. However, intensification of pasture-based production can have adverse impacts on biodiversity and the environment. To date, studies on pro-environmental diversification options leading to improvement of environmental performance of pasture-based dairy and beef production have rarely been synthesized. The present study sought to review current on-farm pro-environmental measures with the potential for enhancing biodiversity status and/or reducing the environmental impacts of pasture-based agriculture. Literature on farmer attitudes toward these measures was also reviewed to identify potential obstacles and opportunities for transitioning to pro-environmental agriculture. A systematic search of published research from high-income island countries characterized by oceanic temperate climate with a high dependence on pasture-based agriculture--the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, was conducted. Thirty studies that assessed the impact of pro-environmental measures, eight 'attitudinal' studies of dairy and beef farmers and one study covering both aspects were identified. Inductive thematical analysis was subsequently undertaken. Environmentally sensitive management practices such as hedgerows and field margins management, mixed grazing (where two or more herbivorous animals graze the same land), rare livestock breeds, multispecies swards, organic farming and agroforestry were identified as primary themes studied under the auspices of pro-environmental diversification, while forestry, bioenergy crops and organic farming were the main themes identified within attitudinal research studies. Findings suggest that environmentally sensitive practices have varied effects on biodiversity. Mixed grazing was found to improve livestock production, while studies of organic farming reported multiple positive impacts on biodiversity and animal welfare. Effect of multispecies swards on methane emissions and urinary nitrogen extraction were found to be inconsistent. Attitudinal research suggests that the main barrier to implementing afforestation is its lack of attractiveness compared to 'traditional' farming and that organic farmer decisions regarding agricultural management practices might be less profit-oriented and influenced by ecological beliefs to a greater extent than decisions of conventional farmers. The results of this study confirm that pro-environmental diversification inherently encompasses multiple scientific disciplines; however, previous study designs and outcomes were found to be fragmented and narrowly focused. Considering the urgency and importance of climate and biodiversity crises, pro-environmental diversification of pasture-based dairy and beef production has rarely been holistically approached and remains understudied. The development of practical, sustainable solutions for farming based on circular economy and respect to nature and additional strategies to increase farmer and consumer environmental awareness should be prioritized by policymakers, advisory and scientific bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Biopiracy has usually been discussed mostly in the context of the life sciences, sometimes in dialogue with legal debates or political implications. This paper provides a humanities perspective on contemporary discussions of biopiracy and biopatenting., Hypothesis: It proceeds from the hypothesis that contemporary debates and practices of biopiracy can be understood as harking back to colonial legacies, which systematically disregard "native" knowledge or seek to appropriate it for their own purposes., Results: Drawing on the work of Vandana Shiva, the present article seeks to redefine the notion of ownership of knowledge from a cultural studies perspective. Exploring the 2016 documentary film Seed: The Untold Story, it analyses counter-discourses to practices of biopiracy., Conclusion: The paper concludes that given the roots of biopiracy in colonial legacies, forms of resistance may need to appropriate colonialist epistemologies. One example of such appropriation is Vandana Shiva's own campaign, which casts seed ownership in the imagery and rhetoric of Mahatma Gandhi's fight against British colonialism in India. Finally, the article ends by suggesting that issues of biopiracy need to be seen in larger context. Drawing on the work of cultural philosopher Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht, it argues that the problem of the twenty-first century may be a scramble for natural resources such as the right for clean water. Biopiracy is hence far from a debate linked only to specific cases in particular locales, but is part of a global epistemological and political framework, which has systematically disenfranchised communities of color and countries of the global South., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Despite a relatively long history of scientific interest fuelled by exploratory research cruises, the UK deep sea has only recently emerged as the subject of targeted and proactive conservation. Enabling legislation over the past 10 years has resulted in the designation of marine protected areas and the implementation of fisheries management areas as spatial conservation tools. This paper reflects on progress and lessons learned, recommending actions for the future.Increased investment has been made to improve the evidence base for deep‐sea conservation, including collaborative research surveys and use of emerging technologies. New open data portals and developments in marine habitat classification systems have been two notable steps to furthering understanding of deep‐sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in support of conservation action.There are still extensive gaps in fundamental knowledge of deep‐sea ecosystems and of cause and effect. Costs of new technologies and a limited ability to share data in a timely and efficient manner across sectors are barriers to furthering understanding. In addition, whilst the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services are considered a useful tool to support the achievement of conservation goals, practical application is challenging.Continued collaborative research efforts and engagement with industry to share knowledge and resources could offer cost‐effective solutions to some of these barriers. Further elaboration of the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services will aid understanding of the costs and benefits associated with human–environment interactions and support informed decision‐making in conserving the deep sea.Whilst multiple challenges arise for deep‐sea conservation, it is critical to continue ongoing conservation efforts, including exploration and collaboration, and to adopt new conservation strategies that are implemented in a systematic and holistic way and to ensure that these are adaptive to growing economic interest in this marine area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reedbed in the UK has been classified as priority habitat for most regional Biodiversity Partnerships. However, critical information pertaining to the quality and spatial coverage of reedbed is currently lacking. This paper presents the results of a project conducted in collaboration with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency aimed at monitoring and understanding variations in the spectral reflectance and biophysical properties of reedbed canopies across Leighton Moss Nature Reserve in Lancashire, northwest England. Throughout the seasonal phenological cycle of the reedbed habitats in the study area, optimal spectral indices required for quantifying its biophysical properties were determined using field spectroscopy and ground-based measurements. Results of the experiment showed that the narrow-band-derived Difference Vegetation Index (DVI) and Renormalised Difference Vegetation Index (RDVI), with the correlation coefficientR2of 0.77 and 0.72, respectively, provided the most accurate estimates of the leaf area index for the reedbed canopies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected Areas (PAs) have been a cornerstone of conservation policy in the past but are generally static and thus might be less useful under climate change as species move away from reserves designated for them. In addition, shifting phenology and habitat alteration due to extreme events could make conditions unviable within PAs for species unable to move. However, several recent papers documented their utility in retaining contracting species, acting as stepping-stones for expanding species of conservation concern and resisting invasion by vagrants. Theoretical studies have suggested a role for both protected area design and management to enable biodiversity to adapt to climate change and implementation of these actions has begun. Here we synthesise case studies of climate change adaptation actions in protected areas from the globally available literature. We found 91 case studies of 114 different actions from 30 countries, mostly within Europe, specifically the UK. Half reported an outcome of actions, however, these were generally either the area restored or protected, or incidental reports of colonisation by desired species, without a description of monitoring before and after action. In addition, 72 % of actions would have been beneficial to biodiversity without the presence of climate change, so transformative action is lacking. Better monitoring and reporting of outcomes are urgently needed to develop the evidence base on which actions are most effective, to enable more reserve managers to take action. Managers also need encouragement to identify transformative actions, perhaps by the use of scenario planning to aid understanding of future uncertainties. • Most recorded climate change adaptation actions for biodiversity on Protected Areas are existing good practise • Reporting of outcomes was reasonably common but did not capture the effectiveness of actions for aiding adaptation • Conservation may be falling behind other sectors in implementing and assessing climate change adaptation actions • Protected Area managers urgently need resources to assess and report meaningful indicators of success [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digitization of natural history specimens and the popularization of citizen science are creating an unprecedented availability of large amounts of biodiversity data. These biodiversity inventories can be severely affected by species misidentification, a source of taxonomic uncertainty that is rarely acknowledged in biodiversity data management. For these reasons, taxonomists debate the use of online repositories to address biological questions at the species level. Hedera L. (ivies) provides an excellent case study as it is well represented in both herbaria and online repositories with thousands of records likely to be affected by high taxonomic uncertainty. We analyze the sources and extent of taxonomic errors in the identification of the European ivy species by reviewing herbarium specimens and find a high misidentification rate (18% on average), which varies between species (maximized in H. hibernica: 55%; H. azorica: 48%; H. iberica: 36%) and regions (maximized in the UK: 38% and Spain: 27%). We find a systematic misidentification of all European ivies with H. helix behind the high misidentification rates in herbaria and warn of even higher rates in online records. We compile a spatial database to overcome the large discrepancies we observed in species distributions between online and morphologically reviewed records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Biodiversity underpins resilient ecosystems that sustain life. Despite international conservation efforts, biodiversity is still declining due to ongoing anthropogenic threats. Protected areas have been widely adopted as a strategy for conserving biodiversity. The use of spatial conservation planning, which prioritizes areas for protection based on geo-referenced biodiversity and ecological information as well as cost of action and their feasibility, has gained popularity in the conservation discipline in the last few decades. However, there remain gaps between plans and implementation, and negative social impacts on local communities can occur, such as tension and conflict between differing priorities, perspectives, and views. Methods: To better understand the state of the spatial conservation field and support translating research into practice, a mixed-method approach of bibliometric (n=4133 documents) and content analysis (n=2456 documents) was used to analyze and identify key research priorities, collaborative networks, and geographic and thematic patterns. Results: We identified that research conducted by westernized nations dominated the field, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia being responsible for almost two-thirds of the research globally, with research interest exponentially growing since 2010. Additionally, while there has been some refinement over time of algorithms and models, Zonation and Marxan methods developed in the 2000s remain the predominant choices of software, with a majority focus on marine ecosystems, birds, and mammals. We found a major gap in the use of social dimensions in spatial conservation case studies (only n=146; 6%). Discussion: This gap highlights a lack of collaboration in conservation science between researchers and local communities who are affected by management decisions. We recommend including spatially explicit social dimensions from the onset of projects through participatory approaches, along with the acknowledgement by researchers of the importance of including diverse views in conservation planning to enhance implementation and outcomes that are relevant in local contexts. We suggest an increased reflection on types of data used for conservation but also on researchers' personal values, biases, and positionality to encourage more ethical, applicable, and collaborative conservation science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel articulations between the state, markets and civil society arising from the shift to networked environmental governance highlight the importance of creating equal participation opportunities. Relevant questions from an environmental justice perspective are not only who participates, but also with whom, in what, why and how. In this paper, we explore public participation in biodiversity governance that has emerged after the initial designation of a Natura 2000 network in Finland, Greece, Poland and the UK by focusing on distributive and procedural justice. Our analysis, based on focus groups and document analysis, shows that new participatory arrangements have taken the modes of project-based, market, interest group and e-governance. These arrangements have been marked by problems in power and knowledge sharing, and in the distribution of conservation costs and benefits, reflecting serious deficits regarding environmental justice. Calls for public participation and wider stakeholder engagement in conservation across Europe should be followed by an acknowledgment of the diversity of perspectives, conflicting interests and social positions and their integration into biodiversity governance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research seeks to explain how a national government becomes capable of constructing an account of its biodiversity performance that is aimed at enabling formulation of policy in pursuit of SDG 15: Life on Land. Design/methodology/approach: The research examines a case study of the construction of the UK government's annual biodiversity report. The case is analysed to explain the process of framing a space in which the SDG-15 challenge of halting biodiversity loss is rendered calculable, such that the government can see and understand its own performance in relation to this challenge. Findings: The construction of UK government's annual biodiversity report relies upon data collected through non-governmental conservation efforts, statistical expertise of a small project group within the government and a governmental structure that drives ongoing evolution of the indicators as actors strive to make these useful for policy formulation. Originality/value: The analysis problematises the SDG approach to accounting for sustainable development, whereby performance indicators have been centrally agreed and universally imposed upon all signatory governments. The analysis suggests that capacity-building efforts for national governments may need to be broader than that envisaged by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK natural science collections hold over 137 million items, an unrivalled source of data about 4.56 billion years of planetary development and hundreds of years of biological change, including the differences made by humans -- but the scientific, commercial, and societal benefits of these collections are constrained by the limits of physical access, and by highly fragmented digitisation efforts with less than 10% digitally available. Following work with Frontier Economics in 2021, which showed potential for £2 billion in benefits to the UK economy from digitising all UK natural science collections, in 2022-23 the Natural History Museum London worked, with analytical support from McKinsey and Company, to understand the impact of what has already been digitised and shared by UK natural science collections -- what is the demand for these data, what are they used for, and how does this deliver efficient, effective and impactful research? This study focuses on usage via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the largest source of relevant usage data, examining 7.6 million records from twelve UK institutions. While these UK collections data are just 0.3% of total GBIF occurrences, they are cited in 12% of peer reviewed publications citing GBIF data, showing the disproportionate impact of UK collections data and the historical, geographical, and taxonomic richness that they bring. Researchers have already benefited from more than £18 million of efficiency savings from digital UK specimen data. Data from natural science collections held in the UK are uniquely impactful resources, vital to a future in which people and planet thrive, and a step change in the pace of digitisation is needed to unlock their potential for researchers, policymakers, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric nitrogen pollution has severe impacts on biodiversity, but approaches to value them are limited. This paper develops a spatially explicit methodology to value the benefits from improvements in biodiversity resulting from current policy initiatives to reduce nitrogen emissions. Using the UK as a case study, we quantify nitrogen impacts on plant diversity in four habitats: heathland, acid grassland, dunes and bogs, at fine spatial resolution. Focusing on non-use values for biodiversity we apply value-transfer based on household's willingness to pay to avoid changes in plant species richness, and calculate the benefit of projected emission declines of 37% for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and 6% for ammonia (NH 3 ) over the scenario period 2007–2020. The annualised benefit resulting from these pollutant declines is £32.7 m (£4.4 m to £109.7 m, 95% Confidence Interval), with the greatest benefit accruing from heathland and acid grassland due to their large area. We also calculate damage costs per unit of NO 2 and NH 3 emitted, to quantify some of the environmental impacts of air pollution for use alongside damage costs for human health in policy appraisal. The benefit is £103 (£33 to £237) per tonne of NO 2 saved, and £414 (£139 to £1022) per tonne of NH 3 saved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting biodiversity change and identifying its causes is challenging because biodiversity is multifaceted and temporal data often contain bias. Here, we model temporal change in species' abundance and biomass by using extensive data describing the population sizes and trends of native breeding birds in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). In addition, we explore how species' population trends vary with species' traits. We demonstrate significant change in the bird assemblages of the UK and EU, with substantial reductions in overall bird abundance and losses concentrated in a relatively small number of abundant and smaller sized species. By contrast, rarer and larger birds had generally fared better. Simultaneously, overall avian biomass had increased very slightly in the UK and was stable in the EU, indicating a change in community structure. Abundance trends across species were positively correlated with species' body mass and with trends in climate suitability, and varied with species' abundance, migration strategy and niche associations linked to diet. Our work highlights how changes in biodiversity cannot be captured easily by a single number; care is required when measuring and interpreting biodiversity change given that different metrics can provide very different insights. This article is part of the theme issue 'Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological restoration, which encompasses habitat restoration and creation is essential to "bend the curve of biodiversity loss." However, well‐intentioned actions could alter plant pest/pathogen distributions resulting in unanticipated detrimental impacts on both host plants and associated biodiversity. Awareness among practitioners of this risk is unknown but likely to be limited. Using an online survey, with responses from 224 participants involved in ecological restoration in the United Kingdom, we assessed: (1) their awareness of plant health biosecurity risks; (2) whether they had risk assessments and biosecurity guidance/best practices for plant pests/pathogens; and (3) what, if any, new guidance was required. Participants perceived that their neighbors' activities, rather than their own, were the most likely source of pests/pathogens establishing. Their perceptions of the activities most likely to be a source of pests/pathogens did not match the literature, with the introduction of both mature plants and seeds viewed as the same level of risk. Over half the participants did not have a risk assessment for plant pests/pathogens. More of the participants (70%) had biosecurity guidance. However, of those participants that had biosecurity guidance 22% failed to check whether this guidance was followed, while 40% did not have anyone in their organization responsible for biosecurity. The most frequent requests from participants for guidance were: (1) what biosecurity to put in place for staff/contractors?; (2) the current legislation on plant pests/pathogens and movement of plants/soil/equipment. We conclude that risk assessments for plant pests/pathogens must become standard practice in ecological restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a rich history of biodiversity data collection in the United Kingdom (UK) from the earliest record of a Peregrine falcon in 1605 to the 1.5 million records from the last two years, all of which contribute to the 222 million occurence records covering 45,500 species available on the NBN Atlas. Today, there are over 90 national schemes, usually covering specific taxa, approximately 60 Local Environmental Record Centres, a similar number of regional recording groups and a growing number of citizen science projects all collecting data about wildlife in the UK through different mechanisms from paper records to remote recording (e.g., using acoustics to monitor the presence of bat species), and using differing data standards. Bringing these data together and making them available in the Darwin Core format makes the National Biodiversity Network's (NBN) Atlas (www.nbnatlas.org) an unparalleled resource for understanding the UK's natural world and contributes to the picture of global biodiversity. However, this is not a simple job, adapting the record data and metadata to fit the Darwin Core format while making it simple for data providers to understand, the complexity of data flows and verification of species ID can cause all cause delay in making data of a known quality available for use. In this presentation we will describe how we are dealing with these issues now and plans for how to improve things in the future. We will also talk about the the strengths of the data shared by amateur experts, how they can be used for more than just species trends and why the push for Open Data may actually be reducing the amount of accessible wildlife data in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media has created new opportunities to map cultural ecosystem services (CES) related to biodiversity at large scales. However, using these novel data to understand people's preferences in relation to these CES remains a challenge.To address this, we trained a deep learning model to capture people's interactions with selected flora and fauna on Flickr as a cultural service related to biodiversity and compared this with citizen science data on iNaturalist, with photos of individual species considered as human–species interactions.After mapping the distribution of people's interactions in Great Britain on Flickr and iNaturalist, we find significant spatial differences in people's preferences on the two platforms.Using a second, pretrained deep learning model, we were also able to identify different preferences for species groups such as birds on social media versus citizen science.To better understand people's preferences, we also compared people's interactions with species richness and abundance for a group of 36 bird species, sometimes finding large differences between people's interactions and these ecological measures.Our findings demonstrate that social media can be used to include a wider range of preferences in CES assessments along‐side citizen science data. However, these preferences reflect only a limited first‐hand experience of biodiversity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to determine how patterns of functional and taxonomic dissimilarities and their components differ between disturbed and undisturbed plant communities. Taxonomic (species) and functional (trait) diversity are key aspects of biodiversity, and their respective dissimilarities are important in diversity scaling and for informing conservation. We utilized a pseudo-experimental setting, the Basingstoke Canal, UK, where sections of canal bank have been repaired over a four-year period and are interspersed with sections left undisturbed. We collected plant community data, computed functional beta diversity and taxonomic beta diversity and partitioned them into species loss and replacement components. We compared disturbed and undisturbed plots with respect to these dissimilarity measures, the time since disturbance, invasive species, plant life-forms and environmental dissimilarity. We found high levels of taxonomic (85–90%) and functional (70–76%) dissimilarities between disturbed and undisturbed sites, primarily driven by turnover. The total dissimilarity was lower for functional dissimilarity than taxonomic dissimilarity. Disturbed sites had greater between-site taxonomic and functional dissimilarities and lower plant abundances than undisturbed sites, driven by both turnover and nestedness components. The disturbed site functional diversity diverged strongly from null expectations. We found no significant effects of time since disturbance, environmental variables or invasive species, possibly indicating the dominance of stochastic, local-scale processes. However, disturbed sites had lower levels of phanerophyte richness and higher levels of therophyte richness. Our results indicate that small-scale disturbances may increase taxonomic and functional between-community dissimilarities in anthropogenic habitats without increasing invasive species, lending support to local-scale conservation that enhances habitat heterogeneity to promote taxonomic diversity and its corresponding biotic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The duration, intensity and frequency of hydrological droughts are predicted to increase significantly over the 21st century globally, threatening the long-term stability of lotic communities. In this paper we examine the recovery and recolonization of macroinvertebrate taxa in ephemeral and near perennial reaches of the River Lathkill (UK) after a supra-seasonal drought event. Following flow resumption, species accumulation (recolonization) occurred rapidly over a 4-month period, with a steady increase observed thereafter. Taxonomic richness was significantly higher in the section with near perennial flow after the first month of the study than the naturally ephemeral reach. Serial correlation was observed in the near perennial section but not in the upstream ephemeral reach. Serial correlation in the near perennial section may reflect: (1) the ongoing process of recovery or (2) the macroinvertebrate community following a new ecological trajectory. Our results suggest that supra-seasonal droughts may cause initial reductions in lotic diversity during stream desiccation events but may re-set ecological succession and/or temporarily provide new ecological niches, thereby supporting increased taxonomic diversity when the full range of hydrological conditions are considered. Quantifying the recovery of ecological communities following supra-seasonal drought can provide information to help develop ecologically effective conservation and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, the UK government set in motion a process to establish a formal biodiversity offsetting programme in England, as an attempt to tackle biodiversity loss as a result of development. Drawing on critical approaches to the commodification of nature, this article traces the dilemmas encountered by the UK government in its endeavours to roll out a biodiversity offsetting programme in the English planning system. Based on 34 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, documentary analysis and participant observation at policy-focused events, the paper aims to show how the promise of reconciling development and conservation proved difficult to deliver. In government attempts to enrol sympathetic actors, disputes emerged over the purpose and fine detail of the proposals. Deeper tensions were revealed in clashes between governmental emphasis on deregulation and advocates’ calls for strong mandatory rules and well-resourced oversight, while efforts to balance complex ecology with market demands for simplicity and certainty undermined the promise of objective biodiversity metrics delivering uncontroversial hard numbers. Though the English case is in many ways context-specific, the problems experienced raise wider political questions around establishing meaningful offsetting schemes in any part of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Population estimates provide a baseline to inform conservation and management decisions. In this paper, we present a novel method to derive non-breeding population estimates of waterbirds in Great Britain. We combined Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) data with a detailed environmental stratification to calculate population estimates for widely dispersed waterbird species, populations of which tend to be relatively poorly monitored by WeBS and other established schemes. These stratification-based estimates were then compared with published estimates, most of which were derived using extrapolations based on WeBS information and a small number of intensive surveys. We discuss the limitations and merits of the stratification method, and conclude by suggesting the species for which future use of the approach would be most appropriate for derivation of population estimates. We also outline potential ways to improve the baseline information on abundance of widely dispersed non-breeding waterbirds in Great Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding has decreased for sustainable fisheries projects worldwide. However, the UK Government has committed to ringfencing 0.7% GDP to international development assistance to support a large range of programmes worldwide including, where appropriate, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture capacity building in Overseas Territories and the Commonwealth. This is with the aim of reducing poverty, increasing resilience in the fisheries sector to climate change impacts and increasing food security. The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate the significant support by UK Government to the Commonwealth Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and UK Overseas Territories (OT) and the impacts of such interventions. This support is illustrated through an introduction to the Commonwealth Marine Economies programme and the Blue Belt programme. In this paper the emerging trends for ODA support are set out, then the importance of fisheries to a selection of ODA-eligible states is highlighted. Finally, illustrative examples of projects from two key UK Government programmes in Commonwealth states and UK Overseas Territories that demonstrate a wide range of potential capacity building support activities and derived benefits to the states are summarised. We explain how activities to sustainably develop the fisheries sector in Commonwealth Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and UK Overseas Territories (OT) enhance biodiversity protection and create opportunities to support 'Blue Growth' (the long-term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine sectors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a key tool to help ensure sustainable built development in more than 200 countries worldwide. Ecology is frequently a component of EIA and early reviews of Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) chapters identified scope for improvement at almost every stage of the EcIA process, regardless of country. However, there have been no reviews of UK EcIA chapters since 2000, despite important changes in biodiversity and planning legislation, policy and guidance. In addition, no UK EcIA chapter reviews have attempted to assign a grade or score to EcIA chapters (as has been done for reviews of US, Finnish and Indian EcIA chapters). Furthermore, no EcIA chapter reviews have attempted to use a scoring system to identify which variables determine EcIA chapter information content, beyond straightforward comparisons of EcIA chapters before and after the introduction of guidelines. A variant of the Biodiversity Assessment Index (BAI) was used to assign scores between zero and one to EcIA chapters based on a series of 47 questions drawn from EU legislation and professional guidance. 112 EcIA chapters for proposed developments that were subsequently granted planning permission in England were assessed. The mean BAI score was less than 0.5, indicating the presence of considerable information gaps in the majority of EcIA chapters. Of 13 predictor variables identified as having the potential to affect EcIA chapter quality, 10 were identified as significantly related to the BAI scores. A backward stepwise Generalized Linear Model identified the use of professional guidance, the ecological consultancy type and the length of the EcIA chapter as having the greatest combined explanatory power. As a result, several recommendations are made to help improve future EcIA chapter content, including formal EcIA chapter review, publicising the professional guidance to consultants, the provision of training and the introduction of an accreditation scheme for consultants involved in EcIA This approach could be replicated in other countries that conduct EIA. Context-dependent EcIA chapter review criteria (as in this paper) would help to identify targeted recommendations for improvement. Alternatively, a global set of review criteria could highlight areas of best practice that could then be exported to other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of the Earth Biogenome Project--to sequence the genomes of all eukaryotic life on earth--are as daunting as they are ambitious. The Darwin Tree of Life Project was founded to demonstrate the credibility of these goals and to deliver at-scale genome sequences of unprecedented quality for a biogeographic region: the archipelago of islands that constitute Britain and Ireland. The Darwin Tree of Life Project is a collaboration between biodiversity organizations (museums, botanical gardens, and biodiversity institutes) and genomics institutes. Together, we have built a workflow that collects specimens from the field, robustly identifies them, performs sequencing, generates high-quality, curated assemblies, and releases these openly for the global community to use to build future science and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lowland multiple-channel rivers are characterised by floodplain-corridor heterogeneity, high ecological and heritage value, and can be in quasi-stable states. This holistic study of a surviving temperate zone example (Culm, UK) uses geomorphological mapping, 14C, direct sediment dating (OSL, fallout radionuclides), and palaeoecology. This reveals the evolution of a channel-floodplain system from an initial braided state in the Late Pleistocene to its late Holocene anastomosing state. After the Pleistocene-Holocene transition the reduced channel system incised into its braid-plain, only able to rework gravels locally due to reduced competence in relation to inherited bounding sediment calibre. This resulted in the creation of terrace islands, palaeochannels, and a stable anastomosing pattern dominated by channel junctions, bifurcations and palaeochannel intersections. Survey, coring and excavation reveal a persistence of mid-channel bars and riffles at channel junctions, and where channels crossed palaeochannel fills. In common with most other European lowland rivers this system evolves in the later Holocene due to both climate and catchment changes with a major hydrological critical transition in the mid-Holocene (c. 5300 BP). However, in the case of the Culm, the increase in fine sediment supply often seen in lowland catchments in the Middle-Late Holocene, occurred later, and was insufficient to convert the system to a single medium-low sinuosity channel-floodplain. This allowed the persistence of high heterogeneity and biodiversity (including the persistence of riffle beetles) as part of multiple-scales of non-uniformity. Indeed the pool-riffle persistence is an example of this system's non-uniformity, being due, at least in part, to the effects of previous channel history. This paper reveals why this river survived in a multichannel state, and by implication, why others did not. These results are being used in the bespoke eco-heritage management of the Culm, but could also inform the restoration of other former multi-channel lowland temperate river systems worldwide. • Anastomosing channel system in SW England in quasi-equilibrium due to co-occurrence of inherited boundary conditions with dynamic fluvial processes. • Temporal pattern of channel abandonments reflects climate late-Holocene climate change and late rise in fine-sediment supply. • Simple catchment model suggests that mid Holocene low discharge promoted lack of channel change and sedimentation. • Some riffles/mid channel bars formed by fluvial response to inherited floodplain features. • Persistence of complex channel pattern promoted high biodiversity including persistence of riffle beetle species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant and animal community composition changes at higher elevations on mountains. Plant and animal species richness generally declines with elevation, but the shape of the relationship differs between taxa. There are several proposed mechanisms, including the productivity hypotheses; that declines in available plant biomass confers fewer resources to consumers, thus supporting fewer species. We investigated resource availability as we ascended three aspects of Helvellyn mountain, UK, measuring several plant nutritive metrics, plant species richness and biomass. We observed a linear decline in plant species richness as we ascended the mountain but there was a unimodal relationship between plant biomass and elevation. Generally, the highest biomass values at mid-elevations were associated with the lowest nutritive values, except mineral contents which declined with elevation. Intra-specific and inter-specific increases in nutritive values nearer the top and bottom of the mountain indicated that physiological, phenological and compositional mechanisms may have played a role. The shape of the relationship between resource availability and elevation was different depending on the metric. Many consumers actively select or avoid plants based on their nutritive values and the abundances of consumer taxa vary in their relationships with elevation. Consideration of multiple nutritive metrics and of the nutritional requirements of the consumer may provide a greater understanding of changes to plant and animal communities at higher elevations. We propose a novel hypothesis for explaining elevational diversity gradients, which warrants further study; the 'nutritional complexity hypothesis', where consumer species coexist due to greater variation in the nutritional chemistry of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane‐derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC) is a biogenic rocky substrate formed by microbial assemblages below the seabed. It performs important ecosystem functions, including the provision of reef‐like habitats on soft sediments and the sequestration of carbon.The protection of MDAC is limited at the global scale; however, 27 marine protected areas (MPAs) have been designated in European waters for 'cold seep' MDAC, mainly in shallow waters (<200 m). Few studies have been conducted on these habitats from a conservation perspective.The effective management of MDAC structures requires an understanding of their ecology and physical characteristics in a healthy condition. This is best achieved using a multidisciplinary approach to provide evidence on predefined aspects of MDAC structures, termed feature attributes, which can be assessed to determine habitat condition over time.This article presents the first UK effort to develop a multidisciplinary approach to monitoring shallow MDAC feature attributes, using the Croker Carbonate Slabs Special Area of Conservation (SAC) as a case study. A range of remote and physical survey methods were used to characterize the MDAC and associated relatively unimpacted and healthy biological communities.The data confirm that the SAC contains the largest known area of shallow MDAC in European waters, that methane release is ongoing, and that MDAC is still likely to be forming. Specialized chemoautotrophic fauna were not recorded, possibly due to the dominance of fauna that derive carbon (ultimately) from photosynthesis. Five epifaunal taxa were found to be associated with MDAC, but not with the surrounding sediments.The broad multidisciplinary survey allowed a detailed characterization of shallow MDAC but was resource intensive. We recommend a low‐resource monitoring strategy to deliver cost‐effective and robust evidence for condition assessment and suggest further studies to contextualize future interpretations of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is it possible to profit from protecting the environment, rather than through deepening its terminal crisis? In recent years, a growing group of investors, economists and governments have answered this question with a range of market-based instruments designed to facilitate the commodification and trade of everything from carbon to wetlands. A popular approach has been to establish ecological credit schemes that allow businesses to destroy a discrete ecosystem in return for the restoration of an ecological site elsewhere. Numerous scholars have already emphasised the questionable spatial politics inherent to such initiatives. Focusing on the UK's emergent biodiversity credit policy regime, this article, by contrast, considers what effect credit schemes have on the temporal dynamics of the ecosystems they capture. Drawing on discussions of financialisation in the social sciences, we show how biodiversity credits rearticulate ecosystems as units of 'derivative ecology', which makes the future of these ecosystems actionable in the present, at the same time as it restricts their capacity to adapt to anthropogenic climate change. When discussed alongside recent currents in ecological theory that emphasise novelty, futurity and resilience through change, the gap widens between ecological and financial approaches to restoration. Consequently, we argue that market-based instruments such as biodiversity credits are constitutively unable to embrace the futurity of ecology on its own terms, because they have their own temporal logic that cannot help but petrify their bearers of value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major environmental changes in the history of life on Earth have given rise to novel habitats, which gradually accumulate species. Human‐induced change is no exception, yet the rules governing species accumulation in anthropogenic habitats are not fully developed. Here we propose that nonnative plants introduced to Great Britain may function as analogues of novel anthropogenic habitats for insects and mites, analysing a combination of local‐scale experimental plot data and geographic‐scale data contained within the Great Britain Database of Insects and their Food Plants. We find that novel plant habitats accumulate the greatest diversity of insect taxa when they are widespread and show some resemblance to plant habitats which have been present historically (based on the relatedness between native and nonnative plant species), with insect generalists colonizing from a wider range of sources. Despite reduced per‐plant diversity, nonnative plants can support distinctive insect communities, sometimes including insect taxa that are otherwise rare or absent. Thus, novel plant habitats may contribute to, and potentially maintain, broader‐scale (assemblage) diversity in regions that contain mixtures of long‐standing and novel plant habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redistribution of species in response to climate change is expected to significantly challenge environmental management and conservation efforts around the globe. To date, we have had restricted understanding of the benefits and risks that species redistribution may pose to individual countries, and a limited appreciation of the variability in current opportunities for developing effective monitoring approaches that build on existing national frameworks.To assess the present level of ecological, economic and societal risks and opportunities associated with new arrivals of species driven by changes in climatic conditions, we conducted a review of the available information on changes in animal species (both terrestrial and marine) distribution suspected to be linked to climate change in the United Kingdom over the past 10 years (2008–2018).We found evidence that at least 55 species have arrived in new locations in the country due to climate change in the past decade, with 22 of them suspected to impact positively or negatively the recipient ecosystems, or nearby human communities. Ten of these 55 species were identified using keywords and hashtags on social media.Synthesis and applications. Our work identifies pressing monitoring gaps relevant to the management of species on the move and discusses the potential for social media to help address current information needs. It also calls for more theoretical work to enable the quick identification of species likely to be problematic (or beneficial) and locations likely to experience significant ecological and societal impacts from biodiversity's redistribution under a changing climate. Our work identifies pressing monitoring gaps relevant to the management of species on the move and discusses the potential for social media to help address current information needs. It also calls for more theoretical work to enable the quick identification of species likely to be problematic (or beneficial) and locations likely to experience significant ecological and societal impacts from biodiversity's redistribution under a changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current international agreements call for protecting 10% of marine and coastal waters by 2020, with the intention of increasing that target to 30% by 2030. With 24% of its territorial waters protected, the UK falls short of the new expected target.As well as quantitative targets, qualitative criteria have been internationally agreed for protected area designation, including minimum coverage values and characteristics that encompass effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well‐connected systems of protected areas and other effective area‐based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.The legal framework supporting protected area designations at sea is summarized and explained for UK territorial waters. Efforts to date to achieve current marine protected area (MPA) targets are reviewed, with emphasis on how well the existing protected area portfolio captures the qualitative criteria. Examples are given of other effective conservation measures complementary to formalized MPAs, especially with regard to achieving and promoting qualitative criteria for biodiversity conservation, including appropriate recognition of and support for areas conserved by indigenous people, local communities and private entities.A precis on the governance of MPAs and other effective conservation measures in the UK and its overseas territories is presented. Whilst the UK has made exceptional progress with quantitative MPA coverage, it is still not clear whether designated areas offer effective protection. A UK‐level strategy is in place to address this; and at site level, Lyme Bay MPA illustrates the benefits of addressing qualitative criteria. Illustrated by the UK example, an urgent call is made for ongoing and future marine in situ area‐based conservation efforts to substantiate quantitative and qualitative considerations, and to ensure that MPA networks are ultimately fit for purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land sparing has been proposed as a strategy to reconcile biodiversity conservation with agricultural production, with empirical studies on five continents indicating that most species would benefit if food demand was met through high‐yield farming combined with the protection or restoration of natural habitat.Most such studies come from landscapes covered by large areas of natural habitat and without a long history of intense human modification. However, much of Europe consists of human‐dominated landscapes, where biodiversity responses to land sparing may differ. To test this, we use estimates of bird population density in different (semi‐)natural habitats, and forecasts of population density in farmland habitat, to assess the future consequences for birds of land‐sparing scenarios in the United Kingdom.Our scenarios predict that whilst up to 18 of the 156 species assessed (predominantly farmland associated species) might decline in UK conservation status under land sparing, up to 35 UK bird species (mainly woodland and wetland species) might improve in status. This contrasts with a maximum of eight species likely to improve in conservation status without land sparing, with up to seven species deteriorating.Combining land sparing with demand management measures (reducing food waste and the consumption of animal products) led to more positive population changes under all scenarios.Synthesis and applications. Land sparing has the potential to benefit UK bird populations in aggregate but would likely have negative impacts on farmland bird species. These findings are likely to be applicable across human‐dominated landscapes beyond the UK, though effects on other taxa, implementation mechanisms and the sustainability of higher yields all require careful consideration. Land sparing has the potential to benefit UK bird populations in aggregate but would likely have negative impacts on farmland bird species. These findings are likely to be applicable across human‐dominated landscapes beyond the UK, though effects on other taxa, implementation mechanisms and the sustainability of higher yields all require careful consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we conducted a unique survey of marine ornamental fishes appearing in UK retail stores, as well as a review of government trade statistics, with the aim to significantly strengthen the evidence‐base in support of future management initiatives. Fifty marine aquarium retailers were visited. A total of 380 marine aquarium fish species (4926 individuals), from 48 families were recorded with the largest proportion of individuals belonging to the families Pomacentridae, Acanthuridae, Apogonidae, Labridae, Pomacanthidae, Gobiidae and Labridae. The majority of fishes for sale (91% of species) originated from the Indo‐Pacific Ocean, with only a small number (9% of species) derived from the Atlantic Ocean. However, exact sources of individual species were unclear and poorly documented. Government trade statistics revealed that the ornamental reef‐fish trade in the UK grew markedly between 1996 and 2008 with a rapid acceleration in 2003–2004. However, imports have declined since 2008 and amounted to less than 305,000 kg in 2017 with an economic value of UK £3 million (c. US $3.8). Recent trade data (2017) identify Indonesia, USA, Philippines and the Maldives as the most important countries in terms of imports to the UK. The UK is an important exporter of wild‐caught fishes via trans‐shipment, but also production of tank‐reared animals. Several species observed for sale in the UK have been designated by the IUCN and CITES as being of conservation concern, although all these animals are thought to have been captive‐reared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The challenge of biodiversity upscaling, estimating the species richness of a large area from scattered local surveys within it, has attracted increasing interest in recent years, producing a wide range of competing approaches. Such methods, if successful, could have important applications to multi‐scale biodiversity estimation and monitoring. Here we test 19 techniques using a high quality plant data set: the GB Countryside Survey 1999, detailed surveys of a stratified random sample of British landscapes. In addition to the full data set, a set of geographical and statistical subsets was created, allowing each method to be tested on multiple data sets with different characteristics. The predictions of the models were tested against the “true” species–area relationship for British plants, derived from contemporaneously surveyed national atlas data. This represents a far more ambitious test than is usually employed, requiring 5–10 orders of magnitude in upscaling. The methods differed greatly in their performance; while there are 2,326 focal plant taxa recorded in the focal region, up‐scaled species richness estimates ranged from 62 to 11,593. Several models provided reasonably reliable results across the 16 test data sets: the Shen and He and the Ulrich and Ollik models provided the most robust estimates of total species richness, with the former generally providing estimates within 10% of the true value. The methods tested proved less accurate at estimating the shape of the species–area relationship (SAR) as a whole; the best single method was Hui's Occupancy Rank Curve approach, which erred on average by <20%. A hybrid method combining a total species richness estimate (from the Shen and He model) with a downscaling approach (the Šizling model) proved more accurate in predicting the SAR (mean relative error 15.5%) than any of the pure upscaling approaches tested. There remains substantial room for improvement in upscaling methods, but our results suggest that several existing methods have a high potential for practical application to estimating species richness at coarse spatial scales. The methods should greatly facilitate biodiversity estimation in poorly studied taxa and regions, and the monitoring of biodiversity change at multiple spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]