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With Earth's five ocean basins covering 70% of the planet's surface, it is daunting to think about how to protect it all. In late 2022, after years of discussion, scientists [...]

Cities can be surprising havens for animals that are usually thought of as intolerant of urban environments and even endangered species, according to a pair of new studies. The analyses [...]

When changing the ownership structure of his California-based clothing enterprise last summer, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard raised the bar for so-called stakeholder capitalism. 'Instead of going public, you could say [...]

The maximum diversity problem (MDP) aims to select a subset with a predetermined number of elements from a given set, maximizing the diversity among them. This NP-hard problem requires efficient algorithms that can generate high-quality solutions within reasonable computational time. In this study, we propose a novel approach that combines the biased random-key genetic algorithm (BRKGA) with local search to tackle the MDP. Our computational study utilizes a comprehensive set of MDPLib instances, and demonstrates the superior average performance of our proposed algorithm compared to existing literature results. The MDP has a wide range of practical applications, including biology, ecology, and management. We provide future research directions for improving the algorithm's performance and exploring its applicability in real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cuttlefish Sepia phantoms Ehrenberg, 1831, is a widely distributed tropical cephalopod species in the Indo-West Pacific region. This cuttlefish is vulnerable to the influence of coastal trawlers, especially during early stages when they spawn and juveniles prey in coastal waters. The pharaoh cuttlefish is very popular worldwide because of its nutritional, medicinal, and industrial values, but the protection of wild cuttlefish populations is becoming a serious concern because of the overexploitation of wild resources and increasing demand for live cuttlefish. The development of culture techniques for pharaoh cuttlefish will help protect natural populations and biodiversity. To understand its commercial prospects, the distribution, taxonomic, biological resources, and nutritional values are summarized and reviewed. The promising culture of pharaoh cuttlefish flourished recently due to strong market demand and promising profit, and it has been facilitated by technical progress in the production of juvenile cuttlefish and commercial products. Recent advances in artificial breeding, biological resources, and biological characteristics, achievements in culture methods and regulations, the application of biotechnology in its culture and problems, and challenges to further culture are discussed in detail to capture the newest developments in pharaoh cuttlefish aquaculture. KEY WORDS: Dosidicus gigas. Palaemonetes pugio, Poecilia reticulate. Sepia officinalis, Penaeus indcus, Sepia apama, Miamiensis avidus, Sepia esculenta, cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis, artificial breeding, aquaculture, INTRODUCTION The pharaoh cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis Ehrenberg, 1831, is a carnivorous commercially fished cephalopod (Boyle & Rodhouse 2005). Pharaoh cuttlefish arc distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region from 35[degrees] N [...]

We assess the identification accuracy of 'research grade' observations of lichens posted on the online platform iNaturalist. Our results show that these observations are frequently misidentified or lack the necessary chemical and (or) microscopic information for accurate identification. Lichens are a taxonomically difficult group, but they are ubiquitous and eye-catching and are regularly the subject of observations posted on iNaturalist. Therefore, we provide best practice recommendations for posting lichen observations and commenting on observations. Data from iNaturalist are a valuable tool for understanding and managing biodiversity, particularly at this crucial time when large scale biodiversity decline is occurring globally. However, the data must be accurate for them to effectively support biodiversity conservation efforts. Our recommendations are also applicable to other taxonomically difficult taxa. Key words: biodiversity, conservation, citizen science, species at risk, data accuracy. Les auteurs evaluent l'exactitude d'identification des observations de lichens de qualite recherche affichees sur la plate forme en ligne iNaturalist. Leurs resultats revelent que ces observations sont souvent mal identifiees ou ne comportent pas les informations chimiques ou microscopiques necessaires a une identification exacte. Les lichens constituent un groupe taxonomiquement difficile, mais ils sont omnipresents et ne pas sent pas inapercus, et ils font regulierement l'objet d'observations affichees sur iNaturalist. Par consequent, les auteurs formulent des recommandations en matiere de bonnes pratiques pour afficher des observations de lichens et commenter les observations. Les donnees de iNaturalist sont un outil precieux pour la comprehension et la gestion de la biodiversite, en particulier en cette periode cruciale ou le declin de la biodiversite a grande echelle se produit a l'echelle mondiale. Cependant, les donnees doivent etre exactes pour qu'elles puis sent soutenir efficacement les efforts de conservation de la biodiversite. Leurs recommandations sont egalement applicables a d'autres taxons taxonomiquement difficiles. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: biodiversite, conservation, science citoyenne, especes en peril, exactitude des donnees., Introduction iNaturalist is an online platform where species observations worldwide can be shared and mapped by citizen scientists and professionals. The site was created in 2008 by students at the [...]

The maximum diversity problem (MDP) aims to select a subset with a predetermined number of elements from a given set, maximizing the diversity among them. This NP-hard problem requires efficient algorithms that can generate high-quality solutions within reasonable computational time. In this study, we propose a novel approach that combines the biased random-key genetic algorithm (BRKGA) with local search to tackle the MDP. Our computational study utilizes a comprehensive set of MDPLib instances, and demonstrates the superior average performance of our proposed algorithm compared to existing literature results. The MDP has a wide range of practical applications, including biology, ecology, and management. We provide future research directions for improving the algorithm’s performance and exploring its applicability in real-world scenarios.

Horizon scanning is a systematic approach increasingly used to explore emerging trends, issues, opportunities, and threats in conservation. We present the results from one such exercise aimed at identifying emerging issues that could have important scientific, social, technological, and managerial implications for the conservation of inland waters in Canada in the proximate future. We recognized six opportunities and nine challenges, for which we provide research implications and policy options, such that scientists, policy makers, and the Canadian society as a whole can prepare for a potential growth in each of the topic areas we identified. The issues spanned a broad range of topics, from recognizing the opportunities and challenges of community-enabled science and the need to consider the legal rights of nature, to the likely increase of pharmaceuticals in wastewater due to an aging population. These issues represent a first baseline that could help decision makers identify and prioritize efforts while simultaneously stimulate new research avenues. We hope our horizon scan will pave the way for similar exercises related to the conservation of biodiversity in Canada. L'analyse prospective est une approche systematique de plus en plus utilisee pour explorer les nouvelles tendances, questions, occasions et menaces dans le domaine de la conservation. Nous presentons les resultats d'un de ces exercices visant a cerner les questions emergentes qui pourraient etre importantes des points de vue scientifique, social, technologique et de la gestion relativement a la conservation des eaux interieures au Canada, pour l'avenir rapproche. Nous relevons six occasions a saisir et neuf defis, dont nous abordons les repercussions sur la recherche et les possibilites d'action qu'ils presentent, afin que les scientifiques, les decideurs et l'ensemble de la societe canadienne puissent se preparer en vue d'une croissance potentielle dans chacun des domaines cernes. Ces questions couvrent un vaste eventail de sujets allant de la reconnaissance des occasions et defis de la science facilitee par la collectivite et la necessite de prendre en compte les droits de la nature en vertu de la loi, a l'augmentation probable des produits pharmaceutiques dans les eaux usees en raison du vieillissement de la population. Ces questions representent un premier etat de reference qui pourrait aider les decideurs a cerner et prioriser les efforts tout en stimulant de nouvelles avenues de recherche. Nous esperons que cette analyse prospective ouvrira la voie a des exercices semblables concernant la conservation de la biodiversite au Canada. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Rivers, lakes, springs, and other inland waters (i.e., all surface waters contained within lands; FAO 2008) are often classified among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet (Dudgeon et [...]

When 2020 was declared a 'super year' for biodiversity conservation, no one suspected that a particular form of this biodiversity would proliferate to such an extent as to bring all [...]

The United Nations General Assembly in September 2021 will bring countries together at a critical time for organizing collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis. Countries will meet again [...]

Management of natural resources at the regional level is a compromise between a variety of objectives and interests. At the local level, management of the forests depends upon the ownership structure, with forest owners using their forests as they see fit. A potential conflict occurs if the forest owners' management decisions are counter to the interests of society in general or the industry that relies on the forest resource as their raw material. We explore the intensity of this conflict at the regional level in several large boreal forest production landscapes. To explore the conflict, we investigate three main interest groups: (i) economically oriented forest owners; (ii) industry groups (focusing on maintaining an even timber supply); and (iii) a group representing general public interests (focusing on enhancing ecosystem services and biodiversity protection). The severity of conflicts differs between interest groups; we found a minor conflict between the economically oriented forest owners and industry and a severe conflict among general public interests and the other groups. By quantifying the conflicts, visualizing the impacts shared among interest groups, we anticipate that through shared discovery and understanding, forests can be managed to lessen the conflicts between interest groups. Key words: biodiversity, boreal forest, conflict management, ecosystem services, efficiency, Finland, forestry, forest planning, multifunctionality, optimization. A l'echelle regionale, l'amenagement des ressources naturelles est un compromis entre une variete d'objectifs et d'interets. Localement, l'amenagement des forets depend de la structure de propriete et les proprietaires forestiers utilisent leurs forets comme bon leur semble. Un conflit potentiel survient lorsque des decisions d'amenagement des proprietaires forestiers vont a l'encontre des interets de la societe en general ou de l'industrie qui depend des ressources forestieres pour leur matiere premiere. Nous explorons l'intensite de ce conflit a l'echelle regionale dans plusieurs vastes paysages de foret boreale en production. Afin d'explorer le conflit nous avons etudie trois principaux groupes d'interet : (i) les proprietaires forestiers economiquement orientes; (ii) les groupes industriels (axes sur le maintien d'un approvisionnement regulier de matiere ligneuse); et (iii) un groupe representant les interets du grand public (axe sur l'amelioration des services de l'ecosysteme et la protection de la biodiversite). La severite des conflits differe selon les interets de chaque groupe; le conflit entre les proprietaires forestiers economiquement orientes et l'industrie est mineur; il y a un conflit important entre les interets du grand public et les autres groupes. En quantifiant le conflit et en visualisant les impacts communs entre les groupes d'interet, nous prevoyons qu'a travers la decouverte partagee et la comprehension mutuelle, les forets peuvent etre amenagees de maniere a attenuer les conflits entre les groupes d'interet. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: biodiversite, foret boreale, conflit d'amenagement, services de l'ecosysteme, efficacite, Finlande, foresterie, planification forestiere, multifonctionnalite, optimisation., Introduction Managing forests to maintain a balance among the multiple and interrelated social, economic, and environmental functions of forests is a crucial challenge for societies. Earlier work has shown that [...]

The objective of this research was to analyze the willingness to pay for biological diversity conservation of the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB) in Thailand. Questionnaires were collected from 763 households in 8 provinces located alongside the river including Chiang Rai, Nong Khai, Loei, Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Ubon Ratchathani, and Amnart Charoen. The data were analyzed from the responses to the single-bounded closed-ended contingent valuation method questions and analyzed further using the non-parametric and logistic regression models. The results showed that the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation by means of the non-parametric model was Baht 143.39 per year per household (US$ 3.99) and the total benefits were Baht 5,515,684.68 per year (US$ 153,471.38). This finding also revealed that the positive correlation of a household’s willingness to pay include age (Beta = 0.08, sig = 0.001) and level of education (Beta = 1.130, sig = 0.009).

ABSTRACT Conservation paleobiology aims to apply data from geohistorical records, such as fossils and their associated sediments, to the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Integrating geohistorical data into conservation/restoration [...]

Marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) comprise most of Earth's interconnected ocean, hosting complex ecosystems that play key roles in sustaining life and providing important goods and services., Although ABNJ encompass nearly half the planet's surface, biological diversity found in these areas remains largely unprotected. Mounting pressures generated by the escalation of human activities in ABNJ threaten vital ecosystem services and the fragile web of life that supports them., Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely acknowledged as an important tool for the conservation of biological diversity. Currently less than 1% of ABNJ are protected, with the vast majority of MPAs located in waters within national jurisdiction., The existing legal framework for protection and sustainable use of ABNJ lacks common goals, principles or standards, multi-sectoral coordination and comprehensive geographic coverage to ensure conservation or good governance grounded in science-based decision-making, transparency, accountability and effective enforcement., This paper highlights the urgency and importance of protecting the last conservation frontier on Earth. Key lessons for conservation in ABNJ can be learned from regional, cross-boundary and national experiences shared during the high seas governance workshop at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia in November 2014., The intent of this paper is to inform the deliberations now underway in the United Nations General Assembly to develop a new legally binding international instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in ABNJ. It also aims to encourage further initiatives to protect and preserve our last conservation frontier using currently available mechanisms and powers consistent with international law., Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses a number of outcomes that the increase in the social demand for a higher environmental quality may have on the patterns of spatial specialization, irrespective of the scale of analysis. This paper aims at exploring how, together with new possibilities for backward regions, some sub-optimal solutions can also be found from a social viewpoint. On the other hand, we reflect on how an efficient allocation of resources (internalising environmental considerations), could well be incompatible with the dismantling of protectionism within the agricultural sectors of developed countries. The impact on biological diversity is specifically studied.

The government has published the final version of a national policy statement (NPS) that will guide the planning decision on Heathrow's third runway, with a parliamentary vote on the document [...]

Society and regulatory regimes require that biodiversity conservation, and especially the protection of threatened species, be integrated into land-use planning and management. Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli (Ridgway, 1882)) is an at-risk species breeding in montane balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) dominated areas of northeastern North America. We monitored 34 individual Bicknell's Thrushes by radio telemetry in southern Quebec to examine the size, location, and habitat composition of their home ranges in areas where clear-cutting and precommercial thinning occurred. Home ranges of Bicknell's Thrush comprised more dense balsam fir stands and fewer thinned stands than available. Within home ranges, thrushes were found more frequently in unthinned balsam fir stands than in thinned stands, and they did not avoid edges. In fact, they were found disproportionately near edges of recently thinned stands. We conclude that Bicknell's Thrushes may coexist with forest management practices that maintain a landscape mosaic dominated by dense balsam fir patches interspersed with thinned stands. Les objectifs societaux et la loi exigent que la conservation de la biodiversite, particulierement la protection des especes menacees, soit integree dans la planification et la gestion du territoire. La grive de Bicknell (Catharus bicknelli (Ridgway, 1882)) est une espece menacee nichant dans les forets montagnardes dominees par le sapin baumier (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) du nord-est de l'Amerique du Nord. Nous avons suivi 34 grives de Bicknell munies de radio-emetteurs dans le sud du Quebec, dans le but d' examiner la taille, l' emplacement et la composition en habitat des domaines vitaux dans des secteurs ayant subi differents traitements sylvicoles. Les domaines vitaux des grives de Bicknell contenaient une proportion significativement plus importante de forets denses que de secteurs soumis a des eclaircies precommerciales. A l' interieur de leurs domaines vitaux, les grives se retrouvaient aussi davantage dans les peuplements denses que dans les peuplements eclaircis, et n' evitaient pas les lisieres de peuplements. En fait, elles se retrouvaient de maniere disproportionnee en bordure des peuplements recemment eclaircis. Nous concluons que la grive de Bicknell peut coexister avec des pratiques sylvicoles suivant lesquelles une mosaique de paysages est dominee par des peuplements denses de sapins baumiers entremeles de peuplements eclaircis., Introduction Natural stand dynamics shape balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) forests (Desponts et al. 2002) through fire, windthrow, 'fir waves' (sensu Sprugel 1976), damage by winter weather conditions, [...]