Journal Information

Most often read

1217
AMACRO: the newer Amazonia deforestation hotspot and a potential setback for Brazilian agriculture
Michel E.D. Chaves, Guilherme Mataveli, Katyanne V. Conceição, Marcos Adami, Felipe G. Petrone, Ieda D. Sanches
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:93-100
1217
Highlights

  • A deforestation hotspot emerges in a region planned for agricultural development in the - Amazon rainforest.

  • Deforestation grows in all land tenure classes, especially after the project became widespread, in 2018.

  • Forest loss increased in protected areas after 2018, except in Indigenous Lands, which resist as protective shields.

  • Contrary to economic development, it can trigger socioeconomic losses and affect essential edaphoclimatic conditions for agricultural activity.

  • Environmental impact studies need to be concluded before establishing the zone for agricultural development.

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1125
How to enhance Atlantic Forest protection? Dealing with the shortcomings of successional stages classification
Angélica F. Resende, Felipe Rosafa Gavioli, Rafael B. Chaves, Jean Paul Metzger, Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto, Pedro R. Piffer, Pedro M. Krainovic, Matheus S. Fuza, ... Pedro H.S. Brancalion
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:101-11
1125
Highlights

  • Since 1990, the intense threat faced by the Atlantic Forest pushed the enactment of dedicated laws safeguarding its native vegetation.

  • Current successional stages’ parameters are subjective and imprecise, hindering environmental permitting and related offset policies.

  • We highlight the current classification’s main limitations, propose specific improvements, and suggest creating a new inclusive framework.

  • It is urgent to review, clarify, simplify, and increase the scientific reliability of the classification of successional stages.

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1099
Shade coffee plantations favor specialization, decrease robustness and increase foraging in hummingbird-plant networks
Ana I. López-Flores, Claudia I. Rodríguez-Flores, María del Coro Arizmendi, Víctor Rosas-Guerrero, R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:24-34
1099
Highlights

  • Shade coffee plantations favor the presence of some pollinators such as hummingbirds.

  • Late forests and shade coffee plantations had the highest number of species, pairs of interactions and modularity.

  • The cattle pastures network presented the greatest robustness due to a greater presence of generalist hummingbirds.

  • Hummingbird visits are influenced by plant traits such as foliage height but not by the number of flowers.

  • Conversion of natural habitats causes changes in the hummingbird-plant interaction, affecting ecological process such as pollination.

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972
Populations across bird species distribution ranges respond differently to habitat loss and fragmentation: implications for conservation strategies
Érica Hasui, Alexandre Camargo Martensen, Alexandre Uezu, Rafael Guerra Pimentel, Flavio Nunes Ramos, Milton Cezar Ribeiro, Jean Paul Metzger
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:43-54
972
Highlights

  • Bird sensitivity varies across distribution ranges and environmental gradients, shaping distinct population patterns.

  • Four patterns: edge, equal, core, and varying sensitivity to landscape changes.

  • Dispersal ability, habitat specialization, and distribution range do not fully explain sensitivity patterns.

  • Species' intraspecific sensitivity variations call for adaptive conservation strategies.

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951
Environmental DNA and biodiversity patterns: a call for a community phylogenetics approach
José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho, Luis Mauricio Bini, Cintia Pelegrineti Targueta, Mariana Pires de Campos Telles, Lucas Jardim, Karine Borges Machado, João Carlos Nabout, Rhewter Nunes, ... Thannya Nascimento Soares
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:15-23
951
Highlights

  • eDNA metabarcoding allows cost-effective biodiversity analysis and monitoring.

  • eDNA focuses on defining MOTUs/ASVs, but more information is intrinsic to such data.

  • α and β diversity patterns from eDNA are enhanced by explicit phylogenetic analyses.

  • Diversity gradients of microeukaryotes in Araguaia River illustrate these patterns.

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915
Making the most of existing data in conservation research
Allison D. Binley, Jaimie G. Vincent, Trina Rytwinski, Peter Soroye, Joseph R. Bennett
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:122-8
915
Highlights

  • Data collection can deplete conservation resources.

  • This can be circumvented by making better use of readily available data.

  • We provide a roadmap for how researchers can make better use of existing data.

  • Doing so will make conservation research more efficient and effective.

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889
Chronic human disturbance and environmental forces drive the regeneration mechanisms of a Caatinga dry tropical forest
Ronald Noutcheu, Fernanda M.P. Oliveira, Rainer Wirth, Marcelo Tabarelli, Inara R. Leal
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:79-92
889
Highlights

  • Dry-forest regeneration mechanisms respond to both natural and human drivers.

  • Caatinga regeneration relies on low-density and taxonomically impoverished regenerating assemblages.

  • Resprouts rather than seedlings and saplings support Caatinga regeneration.

  • Chronic human disturbances pose negative effect on regeneration mechanisms such as seed rain and seedling abundance.

  • Agricultural better practices are required to improve Caatinga resilience.

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883
The Protected Areas network may be insufficient to protect bird diversity in a fragmented tropical hotspot under different climate scenarios
Vinicius Tonetti, Fernanda Bocalini, Fabio Schunck, Maurício Humberto Vancine, Mariella Butti, Milton Ribeiro, Marco Pizo
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:63-71
883
Highlights

  • Overlap of priority areas for bird conservation based on three diversity components is low.

  • The current Protected Areas network does not cover the most important areas.

  • Climate change can have a low impact on priority areas for conservation.

  • We show priority areas where the current Protected Areas network could be expanded.

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878
Brazilian public funding for biodiversity research in the Amazon
Lis F. Stegmann, Filipe M. França, Raquel L. Carvalho, Jos Barlow, Erika Berenguer, Leandro Castello, Leandro Juen, Fabrício B. Baccaro, ... Joice Ferreira
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:1-7
878
Highlights

  • The federal grants and scholarships are uneven distributed between Brazilian regions.

  • The North region receives the least number of scholarships and grants per km² in Brazil.

  • The current federal budget is insufficient to cover large-scale research in the Amazon.

  • New national and international funds need to be created to improve Amazon biodiversity research.

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848
Human density, development, and roads are the main drivers of carnivore presence in urban areas
Alan D. Pereira, Nicole C. Iliuk, Karine L. Kuryluk, Juliano A. Bogoni
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:55-62
848
Highlights

  • We recorded 605 mammalian carnivorans (10 spp.) across 368 Brazilian urban areas.

  • Hotspots of carnivorans in urban areas were in Atlantic Forest and Cerrado.

  • Key predictions include human development index and human population density.

  • Road extension, municipality size and elevation also are crucial factors.

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826
Integrating connectivity in marine protected area design: A case study between the Philippines and Taiwan
Monique Mercado-Vicentillo, Pierre-Alexandre Château, Yang-Chi Chang, Nien-Tsu Alfred Hu
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:146-55
826
Highlights

  • We design a multi-objective Integer Linear Programming model for MPA selection.

  • The model maximizes ecological habitat and connectivity along the Kuroshio current.

  • We simulate larval drift from Batanes, Philippines to settlement areas in Taiwan.

  • We feed estimated travel time to the optimization model.

  • Our framework can inform a potential transboundary MPA network.

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807
Habitat loss and distribution of the Ornate Horned Frog (Ceratophrys ornata): implications for its conservation in South American temperate grasslands
Camila Deutsch, David Norberto Bilenca, Juan Pablo Zurano, Luis Fernando Marin da Fonte, Natália Dallagnol Vargas, Andreas Kindel, Renan Pittella, Marcelo Duarte Freire, ... María Gabriela Agostini
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:35-42
807
Highlights

  • Ceratophrys ornata is not recorded in Uruguay since 1982.

  • We report the last documented record for Brazil, made in 1992.

  • Distance to grasslands and afforestation negatively affect the C. ornata occurrence.

  • Water body cover and sandy soils positively influence the occurrence of C. ornata.

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807
Connectivity and policy confluences: a multi-scalar conservation approach for protecting Amazon riverine ecosystems
Stephannie Fernandes, Simone Athayde, Ian Harrison, Denielle Perry
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:129-36
807
Highlights

  • The Amazon basin is approaching a tipping point, and is therefore of paramount concern for biodiversity conservation.

  • While attention is paid to the protection of terrestrial ecosystems, freshwater efforts lag behind, despite rising threats.

  • Basin-wide conservation policy development, implementation, and enforcement requires commitments across all scales.

  • Stakeholder's participation in the system could be facilitated by supporting cross-border and cross-scalar capacity-building.

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798
The underestimated global importance of plant belowground coarse organs in open biomes for ecosystem functioning and conservation
Gianluigi Ottaviani, Jitka Klimešová, Tristan Charles-Dominique, Mathieu Millan, Timothy Harris, Fernando A.O. Silveira
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:118-21
798
Highlights

  • Open biomes cover ∼60% of land worldwide, and are associated with many biodiversity hotspots.

  • There, plants typically allocate most biomass belowground, yet functional roles of belowground coarse organs are overlooked.

  • Perenniality and decomposability of belowground coarse organs can differ greatly from that of fine roots.

  • We call for the inclusion of belowground coarse organs and their functions, especially in carbon cycling research.

  • Such inclusive approach can refine mitigation policies and our view on the functioning and conservation of open biomes.

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768
Reducing negative economic and equity implications associated with conserving 30% of the planet by 2030
Sophie Jago
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:8-11
768
Highlights

  • Expanding protected areas is likely to have high economic costs and exacerbate inequalities.

  • OECMs can provide a cheaper more equitable alternative to meeting area-based conservation targets.

  • Effort and funds should focus on improving existing protected areas and designating new OECMs.

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751
Thermal mismatch explains fungal disease dynamics in Brazilian frogs
Tamilie Carvalho, Daniel Medina, Raoni Rebouças, C. Guilherme Becker, Luís Felipe Toledo
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:72-8
751
Highlights

  • Thermal mismatch can increase susceptibility of tropical amphibians to chytridiomycosis.

  • Cold- and warm-adapted amphibian hosts had a higher risk of infection under abnormally warm and cool conditions, respectively.

  • Overall, cool-adapted frogs displayed a greater risk of disease regardless of temperature.

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743
Drivers of phytoplankton diversity in tropical artificial ponds
Fernanda Melo Carneiro, Ana M.C. Santos, Nagore Garcia Medina, Paulo De Marco Júnior, Joaquín Hortal
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:167-76
743
Highlights

  • Multiple facets of biodiversity should be considered to understand phytoplankton dynamics.

  • Anthropogenic effects operate through the regulation of phytoplankton abundance, which in turn mediates species richness, and through it, functional evenness.

  • Connectivity to water, resource availability, pond size and design are key factors in understanding phytoplankton dynamics in livestock farm ponds.

  • Pond design should be considered for the construction and management of livestock farm ponds in the tropics.

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733
Beyond fear: a new paradigm to manage shark recovery in Brazilian marine protected areas
Hudson T. Pinheiro, Osmar J. Luiz, Luiz A. Rocha, Kirsten Wohak, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:12-4
733
Highlights

  • Shark recovery in Brazilian Marine Protected Areas has concerned managers.

  • Shark culling has been proposed and scientific-diving banned after incidents.

  • Decisions should not be based on fear but grounded in scientific research.

  • Both conservation goals and economic benefits can be achieved with shark recovery.

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719
Indigenous lands and conservation units slow down non-GHG climate change in the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone
Hellen Kezia Almada, Marcia Nunes Macedo, Eddie Lenza, Leandro Maracahipes, Divino Vicente Silvério
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:177-85
719
Highlights

  • CUs and ILs help regulate energy balance components, with lower LST and albedo and higher ET than multiple-use areas.

  • External pressures (deforestation, burned areas) have led to significant changes in LST and albedo over the past two decades, particularly in MUs.

  • The main predictors of changes in LST, ET, and albedo were the CUs and ILs, burned area, % native vegetation, NDVI, water deficit , and precipitation.

  • Results showed significant differences between biomes, with higher daytime LST and lower ET in the Cerrado compared with the Amazon.

  • The conversion rates of native vegetation were higher in MUs than in protected areas, , particularly in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso state.

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684
Microevolutionary Perspectives for Conserving Plant Diversity in South Brazilian Grasslands (Campos Sulinos)
Ana Lúcia A. Segatto, Isadora V. Quintana, Marcelo Reginato, Mabel R. Baez-Lizarazo, Gerhard Ernst Overbeck, Caroline Turchetto
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. 2024;22:137-45
684
Highlights

  • Campos Sulinos are neglected in terms of conservation and biodiversity studies.

  • We recovered 58 works about population genetics and phylogeography in Campos Sulinos.

  • High genetic variability and population structure were found in plants from Campos Sulinos.

  • There is a gap in genetics and genomics data availability in Campos Sulinos to apply in biodiversity conservation.

  • Genetics and genomics data are critical to address goals for CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework in Campos Sulinos.

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Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation