Human-carnivore conflict (HCC) has become a major concern for both the management of protected areas and local community development worldwide. The occurrence and intervention of HCCs has been originated in duel context of the environment and social economy. In the Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, human-bear conflict (HBC) has emerged as a severe problem. Damages caused by Tibetan

Karst rocky outcrops divert water into the surrounding soil patches in a phenomenon known as the “funnel” effect. Soil depth is a key limiting factor in vegetation restoration in karst landscapes, yet few studies have examined the influence of the karst rock funnel effect on soil-limited plant community assemblages and productivity. We established artificial herbaceous communities with seeds from a

Ephedra equisetina, the Nitraria species complex (N. sibirica, N. roborowskii and N. sphaerocarpa), and Rheum nanum are the main dietary plants of the Gobi Bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), a subspecies of the brown bear, found in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. Their location and distribution range are closely related to the Gobi Bear survival. Analyzing the impact of climate change on the possible distribution

Chinese coastal wetlands in the Yellow and Bohai Seas provide a network of breeding, stopover, and wintering sites that are critical for the survival of many migratory waterbird species. However, land use change, particularly from coastal reclamation, has caused severe population declines of waterirds. Although 19 sites, covering 1.51 million hectares, were recognized as Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Habitat destruction and deterioration are amongst the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Increasing demand for agricultural products, timber and charcoal has caused the rapid destruction of natural forests, especially in the tropics. The Taita Hills in southern Kenya are part of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot and represent a highly diverse cloud forest ecosystem. However, the cloud forest

Climate changes and human-mediated modifications to ecosystems have threatened the biodiversity and habitats of various species. Dacrydium pectinatum is a constructive and endangered species in the tropical mountain forests of Hainan Island, China. In this study, we established sixty-eight 30 m × 30 m permanent plots of D. pectinatum along an environmental axis of temperature and precipitation in the

Land-use change is currently the main driver of biodiversity loss. Projections of land-use change are often used to estimate potential impacts on biodiversity of future pathways of human development. However, such analyses frequently neglect that species can persist in human-modified habitats. Our aim was to estimate changes in biodiversity, considering affinities for multiple habitats, for three different

Systematic knowledge of the development, trends, and limitations of wetland ecosystem services (WES) is extremely meaningful for the direction of WES studies and wetland management. A systematic literature review was conducted by collecting 1711 peer-reviewed articles through the Web of Science and ScienceDirect by searching the “topic” domain using the combined keywords “ecosystem service” OR “ecosystem

The biosphere integrity planetary boundary was, at least partly, developed to aid policymakers in addressing the dangerous decline of Earth's biodiversity. However, just over a decade since its origination the extent and speed of its adoption as a policy tool remains unclear. Here, we review the uptake of the biosphere integrity boundary into environmental policy at national and international scales

Limulus polyphemus is the sole extant representative of horseshoe crabs distributed along the Atlantic coast, and is threatened by human activities. Conservation priority to safeguard its habitat usually treats L. polyphemus as a whole, without consideration of different intraspecific ecological requirements. We seek to identify intraspecific ecological niche divergence or conservatism in L. polyphemus

The spatial differentiation of plant functional traits reflects the survival strategies of plants to adapt to climate change. However, the mechanisms that guide this phenomenon, especially along latitude gradients, remain unclear. Leaf traits data, namely specific leaf area, leaf nitrogen content, leaf phosphorus content and leaf dry matter content in northeast China along the latitude was used to

Endangered Bornean elephants are severely threatened by ongoing habitat transformation and increasing levels of human-elephant conflict. Understanding how elephants move across intact and transformed landscapes, as well as within them, is therefore of vital importance for the successful implementation of conservation management initiatives. We combined remote sensing and GPS telemetry data to identify

Estimating abundance is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of population biology, with major implications on how the status of a population is perceived and thus on conservation and management efforts. Although typically based on one of two methods (distance sampling or mark-recapture), there are many individual identification methods that can be used for mark-recapture purposes. In

The relationships between human footprint and measurable impacts to biodiversity and ecosystems are complex. Also problematic is the hesitancy to derive threshold-based management tools from the scientific literature. Road ecology points to road densities as a useful surrogate for human footprint, and the research is replete with links between cumulative effects and various density thresholds. Yet

Small-sized protected areas face increasing pressures from developmental activities and are often rendered inadequate and isolated to conserve wide-ranging species. However, in situations where wildlife persists outside protected areas, conservation goals may be met by aligning the ecological needs of wildlife with the socio-economic needs of local communities and offsetting losses arising due to shared

This study combined qualitative and quantitative research to identify and describe the key indigenous practices used to conserve/protect the sacred or “Holy” forest in Thathe Vondo, South Africa, and to examine the attitudes held by rural households regarding the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in forest conservation. Key informant interviews with sacred forest custodians (n = 6), household

Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a well-known relict conifer species that was widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere from the Mesozoic (Cretaceous) to early Cenozoic, after which its distributional range was contracted significantly. To explore the possible reasons for the disappearance of Metasequoia in southwest China, controlled experiments were conducted on seed germination and seedling growth

Environmental quality strongly depends on the human behavior patterns. University students as a part of the young people of the community endure the burden of the past and current carelessness towards the environment. At the same time, they are the significant people who gain technical knowledge essential for advancing suitable solutions to change environmental behavior. Therefore, developing scientific

Sichuan province is one of the 13 major grain-producing provinces in China and also an obvious region of climate change. In this study we investigated the response of maize yield to climate variables under climate change based on yield observations and climate data at 92 counties in Sichuan province of China from 1981 to 2012. The results indicated that change of climate variables, i.e. increase of

Perceptions provide an important means of assessing the performance of conservation projects so that better policies may be developed for effective biodiversity protection and the wellbeing of people living near protected areas. Exploring perceptions in different facets of conservation initiatives can help identify aspects of the initiatives that are succeeding and those that are failing. In this study

Understanding factors limiting rare species is a major concern in conservation ecology. Little is known about how large mammalian bovid species from West Africa partition diet resources, and to what extent the rare topi antelope and other sympatric bulk grazers can cope with this co-existing system. Using tooth collagen stable isotope data, we studied an assemblage of three sympatric grazers (topi

Scenario-based modelling is a powerful tool to describe relationships between plausible trajectories of drivers, possible policy interventions, and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Model inter-comparisons are key in quantifying uncertainties and identifying avenues for model improvement but have been missing among the global biodiversity and ecosystem services modelling communities.

Climate change is causing the ranges of many species to shift poleward and to higher elevations. Trailing-edge populations near the low-latitude edge of a shifting range are predicted to be at high risk of climate-induced extinction, but conservation efforts are hindered by a lack of information about the global distribution of trailing-edge populations. We used a large spatial dataset on the ranges

Outdoor recreation is a known source of disturbance to many wildlife populations. We systematically reviewed 126 relevant papers that study the impact of outdoor recreation on wildlife, focusing on terrestrial wildlife (birds excluded) to assess the different methodological approaches adopted by researchers. We characterised the research methods into seven categories (direct observation, indirect observation

Humpback whales have a cosmopolitan distribution and undertake annual migrations between low and high latitudes where breeding and feeding takes place, respectively. In Brazil, the main breeding area encompasses the Abrolhos Bank at the Eastern Brazilian Coast and the feeding area of this population is located in South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Here, two recent records of humpback whales

This research provides an analysis of existing scientific production on agricultural waste from 1931 to 2018. The database was obtained from Scopus and includes a total of 3148 articles, which were analysed using the bibliometric method. This method focuses on the identification, evolution, approaches and trends referred to in the use and transformation of agricultural waste. The results of the analysis

Northern regions of Pakistan support a relatively large population of wild ungulates, the preferred prey of sympatric carnivores. The Asiatic ibex (Capra Ibex Sibirica) is one such an ungulate species which also serves as an important trophy animal. The maintenance of trophy hunting programs rely on estimates of harvestable population sizes derived from rigorous methods. The present study successfully

Behavioral plasticity is a key factor facilitating the coexistence of humans and other species in a rapidly urbanizing world. An animal’s anti-predation ability is usually estimated by measuring its flight initiation distance (FID). FIDs in birds are affected by multiple factors including the color of the observer’s clothing. The species confidence hypothesis argues that birds are attracted to colors

Gut microbiota plays an important role in health and metabolism and is affected by diet. This means that the gut microbiota of sympatric species is different due to niche separation. In this study, high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing was used to study the gut microbiota of sympatric François’ langurs and rhesus macaques using 57 fecal samples collected from the limestone forests of the Guangxi Chongzuo

The group of langur species in the Himalayan range, comprising Semnopithecus ajax, Semnopithecus hector and Semnopithecus schistaceus, now proved to be one single species, were earlier thought to be different species. Their taxonomic confusion has led to deficiency in the understanding of their geographic range and their vulnerability to future climate has not been studied. This study attempts to map

Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) are increasingly looked to for meeting the deficit left by state-owned protected areas in reaching global conservation targets. However, despite the increasing extent and recognition of PLCAs as a complementary conservation strategy, little research has been done to quantify their effectiveness; a critical consideration if they are to be counted towards international

Habitat loss, fragmentation and alteration are frequently identified as important threats to biodiversity, inducing major changes in the structure and composition of species communities and the resulting interspecific interactions. North American woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations suffer from habitat modifications and most are currently in decline. It has been suggested that the

Expansion of human activities into large carnivore habitats and of large carnivore ranges into anthropogenic settings increase the potential for human-wildlife conflicts. Future carnivore survival and recovery depend on both their ability to adapt to human-modified landscapes and the application of adequate conservation strategies. We review human-related factors that negatively affect brown bears

The suitability of overwintering habitat in response to temporal fluctuations in winter temperatures and water table position, and variability in timing and intensity of snowfall and rainfall is critical to informing management strategies for climate-sensitive species such as the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus). Important subterranean conditions contributing to the suitability

Moso bamboo is widespread in natural forests and is cultivated over large areas in China. This study investigated how climate controls its distribution, about which little is known. We collected moso bamboo presence-absence data from 674 sites with long-term climate data in Mainland China. Generalized additive models that included location and climate variables were used to test the effects of these

We investigated the impacts of 14-year continuous N addition on activities of arylsulfatase (AS) and phosphodiesterase (PDE), which catalyze soil organic sulfur (S) and phosphorus (P), respectively. The response of AS to N addition was compared with that of C- and N-acquiring enzymes, i.e., β-1,4-glucosidase (BG), β-D-cellobiohydrolase (CBH), β-1,4-Xylosidase (BX), β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminnidase (NAG)

Human infrastructure development has increased particularly rapidly in the past 20 years in China. Some of these areas have coincided with the distribution areas of some endangered species in China, such as Reeves’s pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii). As a nationally protected animal and as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is a flagship species in some of the mountainous massifs

The increasing rate of land use intensification and the rising evidence of climate change impacts raise concerns about the viability of valued non-timber forest product (NTFP)-providing trees. This calls for the assessment of the current status and future trajectories of their populations. Using population data collected from three land-use types (e.g., grazing lands, riverine areas and natural forest)

Interactions between wildlife and people lie at the core of conservation planning in heterogeneous landscapes. Understanding stakeholder perspectives towards wildlife is a key endeavour in this regard. In particular, it can be useful to separate notional or generic attitudes towards wildlife, from those that pertain to more practical considerations at localised scales. We assessed nuances in stakeholder

Climate change has dramatic impacts on the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of grassland ecosystems. Understanding the impacts of interannual climate change on grassland ecosystems allows strategies to be developed for their sustainable management and protection. However, climate change coupled with overgrazing contribute to the degradation of grassland ecosystems worldwide, affecting the

Pine needle blight (Pestalotiopsis funerea (Desm.) Steyaert) has caused major damage to the Japanese red pine (JRP, Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) forests in the Kunyushan Mountains region (121°41′34″–121°48′04″ E, 37°11′50″–37°17′22″ N) of Shandong, China. Site factors play an important role in the occurrence of JRP needle blight. Here, the regression equations of the disease incidence (DI) site

Afghan redbud (Cercis griffithii Boiss.) woodlands near Kabul, Afghanistan face continued impacts from multiple drivers of change, including urban expansion, grazing, illegal cutting, and the implementation of forest policies. In this study, we collected ecological and social data from three sites to assess stand characteristics, as well as community perceptions on the drivers of change impacting them

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is considered as an ecological conservation technology for crop pests’ management; however, the technology adoption is intensely affected by surrounding socio-psychological environment, which is poorly studied, particularly in developing nations. The present study therefore aimed at addressing this gap through application of an extended form of Technology Acceptance

Chicken genetic resources are gradually decreasing in genetic diversity; thus, a theoretical basis for conservation is needed. The genetic diversity and phylogeography of domestic chickens from 10 countries in Asia and red jungle fowl were investigated by analyzing the mitochondrial DNA D-loop hypervariable segment (HVS). The order of domestic chickens distributed in 31 management units in Asia in

The hanging velamen roots in epiphytic orchids are unique kind of aerial roots in the plant world. The diverse kinds of microbial associates in it suggest its ecological and functional complexities. In this context, diversity and population characteristics of the entire algal flora in the velamen roots of four tropical epiphytic orchids Acampe praemorsa, Rhynchostylis retusa, Epidendrum radicans and

Global climate change could pose an additional threat to the already vulnerable Gentiana macrophylla. To reduce this emerging climate-related threat, we applied ArcGIS and the maximum entropy method (MaxEnt) to analyse the consequences of climate change on the distribution of G. macrophylla and the vulnerability of this species in China. The modelling results indicate the following: (1) the suitable

The Chinese government recently finalized a plan to establish a Giant Panda National Park in 2020, one of the first national parks in the country. The plan will extend protection status to a significant amount of areas that were previously unprotected; it will also bring many of the existing giant panda protected areas under one authority in order to improve effectiveness and reduce inconsistencies

A longstanding goal of ecology and conservation biology is to understand the climatic and biological controls of forest succession. However, the patterns and mechanisms that guide forest succession, especially within broad-leaved forests, remain unclear. We collected leaf traits and abiotic data across a 200-year chronosequence within a broad-leaved Korean pine forest in northeastern China. We focused

Cirsium pitcheri is a federally threatened, monocarpic perennial thistle species endemic to the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. Human habitat disturbances, lake level fluctuations and climate change have resulted in extensive declines of C. pitcheri populations. Seed predation by non-native weevil, Larinus planus, has also further exacerbated C. pitcheri population declines and

Understanding how climatic factors, soil properties, and vegetation characteristics influence the inter-site and inter-annual variations in Q10 of soil respiration across biomes may help in understanding the mechanisms of soil carbon (C) cycle and its feedback to global warming. We compiled in-situ measured temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil respiration and analyzed its relationship with potential

Understanding the influences of grazing exclusion (GE) on soil properties and vegetation characteristics is essential for the assessment of grassland restoration. The objectives of this study are exploring the efficiency of short-term GE in restoring alpine meadow in the Zoige region, eastern Tibetan Plateau, with high rainfall amount. We conducted sampling surveys before and after one-year GE in alpine

Life cycle assessments (LCA) of staple food (rice, wheat and corn) production and assessments of the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) and reactive nitrogen (Nr) releases from environmental and ecological perspectives help to develop effective mitigation options. Therefore, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) footprint reductions in agroecosystems have become an increasingly popular topic related to global climate

This study collected past sampling data on total concentrations of 12 heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Hg, Zn, Cu, Ni, Al, Fe, Mn, As, and Co) in surface water bodies, i.e., 168 rivers and 71 lakes, from 1972 to 2017. The intent was to investigate the levels and sources of heavy metal pollution across five decades and five continents. Mean heavy metal concentrations in global river and lake water, and the