Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

Tropical and subtropical dry woodlands are rich in biodiversity and carbon. Yet, many of these woodlands are under high deforestation pressure and remain weakly protected. Here, we assessed how deforestation dynamics relate to areas of woodland protection and to conservation priorities across the world's tropical dry woodlands. Specifically, we characterized different types of deforestation frontier from 2000 to 2020 and compared them to protected areas (PAs), Indigenous Peoples' lands and conservation areas for biodiversity, carbon and water. We found that global conservation priorities were always overrepresented in tropical dry woodlands compared to the rest of the globe (between 4% and 96% more than expected, depending on the type of conservation priority). Moreover, about 41% of all dry woodlands were characterized as deforestation frontiers, and these frontiers have been falling disproportionately in areas with important regional (i.e. tropical dry woodland) conservation assets. While deforestation frontiers were identified within all tropical dry woodland classes of woodland protection, they were lower than the average within protected areas coinciding with Indigenous Peoples' lands (23%), and within other PAs (28%). However, within PAs, deforestation frontiers have also been disproportionately affecting regional conservation assets. Many emerging deforestation frontiers were identified outside but close to PAs, highlighting a growing threat that the conserved areas of dry woodland will become isolated. Understanding how deforestation frontiers coincide with major types of current woodland protection can help target context-specific conservation policies and interventions to tropical dry woodland conservation assets (e.g. PAs in which deforestation is rampant require stronger enforcement, inactive deforestation frontiers could benefit from restoration). Our analyses also identify recurring patterns that can be used to test the transferability of governance approaches and promote learning across social–ecological contexts

Alien plant species: environmental risks in agricultural and agro-forest landscapes under climate change

Alien plant species have been essential for farming and agro-forestry systems and for their supply of food, fiber, tannins, resins or wood from antiquity to the present. They also contributed to supporting functions and regulating services (water, soil, biodiversity) and to the design of landscapes with high cultural and scenic value. Some of those species were intentionally introduced, others arrived accidentally, and a small proportion escaped, naturalized and became invasive in natural ecosystems—these are known as invasive alien species (IAS). Here, invasive means that these species have some significant negative impact, either by spreading from human-controlled environments (e.g. fields, gardens) to natural ecosystems, where they can cause problems to native species, or to other production systems or urban areas, impacting on agricultural, forestry activities or human health. Socio-environmental impacts associated with plant invasions have been increasingly recognized worldwide and are expected to increase considerably under changing climate or land use. Early detection tools are key to anticipate IAS and to prevent and control their impacts. In this chapter, we focus on crop and non-crop alien plant species for which there is evidence or prediction of invasive behaviour and impacts. We provide insights on their history, patterns, risks, early detection, forecasting and management under climate change. Specifically, we start by providing a general overview on the history of alien plant species in agricultural and agroforestry systems worldwide. Then, we assess patterns, risks and impacts resulting from alien plants originally cultivated and that became invasive outside cultivation areas. Afterwards, we provide several considerations for managing the spread of invasive plant species in the landscape. Finally, we discuss challenges of alien plant invasions for agricultural and agroforest systems, in the light of climate change.Joana R. Vicente was supported by POPH/FSE and FCT (Post-Doc grant SFRH/BPD/84044/2012). Ana Sofia Vaz was supported by FSE/MEC and FCT (Ph.D. grant PD/ BD/52600/2014). Ana Isabel Queiroz supported by FCT—the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/HIS/04209/2013 and IF/00222/2013/CP1166/CT0001]. This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821) and National Funds (FCT/MEC, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação e Ciência) under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 UID/BIA/50027/201

Detecting temporal changes in the extent of High Nature Value farmlands : The case-study of the Entre-Douro-e-Minho Region, Portugal

In the European Union, the socio-ecological systems underlying the maintenance of low-intensity farming systems supporting the occurrence of several species and habitats are known as High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf). Detecting trends of change in the extent and location of HNVf is essential to monitor the impact of policies on biodiversity. However, assessing changes in HNVf extent is challenging, due to the lack of tested approaches and lack of data with adequate spatial and temporal resolutions. We address such challenge by evaluating the usefulness of an existing methodological framework to analyse changes in the extent of HNVf in the agrarian region of Entre-Douro-e-Minho, Northwestern Portugal between 1989 and 2009. Changes in the extent of HNVf between 1989 and 2009 were analysed for whole study area, and within and outside areas designated for conservation. Results depicted a trend of decreasing extent of HNVf between 1989 and 2009, irrespective of being inside or outside a nature conservation designation. This provides an early warning that nature conservation designation does not ensure HNVf persistence. We consider that this research represents an advance in the field of HNVf assessment and monitoring. In particular, by providing an approach to analyze the location and changes over time of HNVf types in relation to areas under distinct legal protection (such as the Natura 2000 network), it can help assess the role that such nature conservation designations have in protecting HNVf and indicate where additional agricultural or nature conservation policy and support mechanisms may need to be targeted.</p

Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

This data repository contains the data results used to analyse how deforestation dynamics relate to areas of woodland protection and to conservation priorities across the world's tropical dry woodlands. We do this for the period of 2000 to 2020, at 10-km spatial resolution (Coordinate System: WGS_1984_Mollweide, float format) following Buchadas et al. (2022) methods available in https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00886-9. Datasets used for this analysis are generally publicly available, forest cover and loss data are available at: https://data.globalforestwatch.org/. The data on protected areas is available at https://www.protectedplanet.net/. The global conservation priority layers have been made openly available as part of Jung et al. (2021) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5006332. The map of Indigenous Peoples' Lands can be obtained from the authors on reasonable request (Garnett et al. 2018). The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions. Thus we refrain from sharing the primary data that includes it, here. Further details of the datasets can be found in Buchadas et. al. (2023

Dynamic modelling in research and management of biological invasions

Invasive species are increasing in number, extent and impact worldwide. Effective invasion management has thus become a core socio-ecological challenge. To tackle this challenge, integrating spatial-temporal dynamics of invasion processes with modelling approaches is a promising approach. The inclusion of dynamic processes in such modelling frameworks (i.e. dynamic or hybrid models, here defined as models that integrate both dynamic and static approaches) adds an explicit temporal dimension to the study and management of invasions, enabling the prediction of invasions and optimisation of multi-scale management and governance. However, the extent to which dynamic approaches have been used for that purpose is under-investigated. Based on a literature review, we examined the extent to which dynamic modelling has been used to address invasions worldwide. We then evaluated how the use of dynamic modelling has evolved through time in the scope of invasive species management. The results suggest that modelling, in particular dynamic modelling, has been increasingly applied to biological invasions, especially to support management decisions at local scales. Also, the combination of dynamic and static modelling approaches (hybrid models with a spatially explicit output) can be especially effective, not only to support management at early invasion stages (from prevention to early detection), but also to improve the monitoring of invasion processes and impact assessment. Further development and testing of such hybrid models may well be regarded as a priority for future research aiming to improve the management of invasions across scales

Validity and validation in archetype analysis: practical assessment framework and guidelines

Archetype analysis is a promising approach in sustainability science to identify patterns and explain mechanisms shaping the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Although considerable efforts have been devoted to developing quality standards and methodological advances for archetype analysis, archetype validation remains a major challenge. Drawing on the insights from two international workshops on archetype analysis and on broader literature on validity, we propose a framework that identifies and describes six dimensions of validity: conceptual; construct; internal; external; empirical; and application validity. We first discuss the six dimensions in relation to different methodological approaches and purposes of archetype analysis. We then present an operational use of the framework for researchers to assess the validity of archetype analysis and to support sound archetype identification and policy-relevant applications. Finally, we apply our assessment to 18 published archetype analyses, which we use to describe the challenges and insights in validating the different dimensions and suggest ways to holistically improve the validity of identified archetypes. With this, we contribute to more rigorous archetype analyses, helping to develop the potential of the approach for guiding sustainability solutions