1. Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment.
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Bates AE, Primack RB, Biggar BS, Bird TJ, Clinton ME, Command RJ, Richards C, Shellard M, Geraldi NR, Vergara V, Acevedo-Charry O, Colón-Piñeiro Z, Ocampo D, Ocampo-Peñuela N, Sánchez-Clavijo LM, Adamescu CM, Cheval S, Racoviceanu T, Adams MD, Kalisa E, Kuuire VZ, Aditya V, Anderwald P, Wiesmann S, Wipf S, Badihi G, Henderson MG, Loetscher H, Baerenfaller K, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Bulleri F, Bertocci I, Maggi E, Rindi L, Ravaglioli C, Boerder K, Bonnel J, Mathias D, Archambault P, Chauvaud L, Braun CD, Thorrold SR, Brownscombe JW, Midwood JD, Boston CM, Brooks JL, Cooke SJ, China V, Roll U, Belmaker J, Zvuloni A, Coll M, Ortega M, Connors B, Lacko L, Jayathilake DRM, Costello MJ, Crimmins TM, Barnett L, Denny EG, Gerst KL, Marsh RL, Posthumus EE, Rodriguez R, Rosemartin A, Schaffer SN, Switzer JR, Wong K, Cunningham SJ, Sumasgutner P, Amar A, Thomson RL, Stofberg M, Hofmeyr S, Suri J, Stuart-Smith RD, Day PB, Edgar GJ, Cooper AT, De Leo FC, Garner G, Des Brisay PG, Schrimpf MB, Koper N, Diamond MS, Dwyer RG, Baker CJ, Franklin CE, Efrat R, Berger-Tal O, Hatzofe O, Eguíluz VM, Rodríguez JP, Fernández-Gracia J, Elustondo D, Calatayud V, English PA, Archer SK, Dudas SE, Haggarty DR, Gallagher AJ, Shea BD, Shipley ON, Gilby BL, Ballantyne J, Olds AD, Henderson CJ, Schlacher TA, Halliday WD, Brown NAW, Woods MB, Balshine S, Juanes F, Rider MJ, Albano PS, Hammerschlag N, Hays GC, Esteban N, Pan Y, He G, Tanaka T, Hensel MJS, Orth RJ, Patrick CJ, Hentati-Sundberg J, Olsson O, Hessing-Lewis ML, Higgs ND, Hindell MA, McMahon CR, Harcourt R, Guinet C, Hirsch SE, Perrault JR, Hoover SR, Reilly JD, Hobaiter C, Gruber T, Huveneers C, Udyawer V, Clarke TM, Kroesen LP, Hik DS, Cherry SG, Del Bel Belluz JA, Jackson JM, Lai S, Lamb CT, LeClair GD, Parmelee JR, Chatfield MWH, Frederick CA, Lee S, Park H, Choi J, LeTourneux F, Grandmont T, de-Broin FD, Bêty J, Gauthier G, Legagneux P, Lewis JS, Haight J, Liu Z, Lyon JP, Hale R, D'Silva D, MacGregor-Fors I, Arbeláez-Cortés E, Estela FA, Sánchez-Sarria CE, García-Arroyo M, Aguirre-Samboní GK, Franco Morales JC, Malamud S, Gavriel T, Buba Y, Salingré S, Lazarus M, Yahel R, Ari YB, Miller E, Sade R, Lavian G, Birman Z, Gury M, Baz H, Baskin I, Penn A, Dolev A, Licht O, Karkom T, Davidzon S, Berkovitch A, Yaakov O, Manenti R, Mori E, Ficetola GF, Lunghi E, March D, Godley BJ, Martin C, Mihaly SF, Barclay DR, Thomson DJM, Dewey R, Bedard J, Miller A, Dearden A, Chapman J, Dares L, Borden L, Gibbs D, Schultz J, Sergeenko N, Francis F, Weltman A, Moity N, Ramírez-González J, Mucientes G, Alonso-Fernández A, Namir I, Bar-Massada A, Chen R, Yedvab S, Okey TA, Oppel S, Arkumarev V, Bakari S, Dobrev V, Saravia-Mullin V, Bounas A, Dobrev D, Kret E, Mengistu S, Pourchier C, Ruffo A, Tesfaye M, Wondafrash M, Nikolov SC, Palmer C, Sileci L, Rex PT, Lowe CG, Peters F, Pine MK, Radford CA, Wilson L, McWhinnie L, Scuderi A, Jeffs AG, Prudic KL, Larrivée M, McFarland KP, Solis R, Hutchinson RA, Queiroz N, Furtado MA, Sims DW, Southall E, Quesada-Rodriguez CA, Diaz-Orozco JP, Rodgers KS, Severino SJL, Graham AT, Stefanak MP, Madin EMP, Ryan PG, Maclean K, Weideman EA, Şekercioğlu ÇH, Kittelberger KD, Kusak J, Seminoff JA, Hanna ME, Shimada T, Meekan MG, Smith MKS, Mokhatla MM, Soh MCK, Pang RYT, Ng BXK, Lee BPY, Loo AHB, Er KBH, Souza GBG, Stallings CD, Curtis JS, Faletti ME, Peake JA, Schram MJ, Wall KR, Terry C, Rothendler M, Zipf L, Ulloa JS, Hernández-Palma A, Gómez-Valencia B, Cruz-Rodríguez C, Herrera-Varón Y, Roa M, Rodríguez-Buriticá S, Ochoa-Quintero JM, Vardi R, Vázquez V, Requena-Mesa C, Warrington MH, Taylor ME, Woodall LC, Stefanoudis PV, Zhang X, Yang Q, Zukerman Y, Sigal Z, Ayali A, Clua EEG, Carzon P, Seguine C, Corradini A, Pedrotti L, Foley CM, Gagnon CA, Panipakoochoo E, Milanes CB, Botero CM, Velázquez YR, Milchakova NA, Morley SA, Martin SM, Nanni V, Otero T, Wakeling J, Abarro S, Piou C, Sobral AFL, Soto EH, Weigel EG, Bernal-Ibáñez A, Gestoso I, Cacabelos E, Cagnacci F, Devassy RP, Loretto MC, Moraga P, Rutz C, and Duarte CM
- Abstract
The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness., Competing Interests: Authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
- Published
- 2021
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