Priorities for synthesis research in ecology and environmental science

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the National Science Foundation grant #1940692 for financial support for this workshop, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and its staff for logistical support.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Priorities for synthesis research in ecology and environmental science

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the National Science Foundation grant #1940692 for financial support for this workshop, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and its staff for logistical support.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Sustainability Agenda for the Pantanal Wetland: Perspectives on a Collaborative Interface for Science, Policy, and Decision-Making.

Building bridges between environmental and political agendas is essential nowadays in face of the increasing human pressure on natural environments, including wetlands. Wetlands provide critical ecosystem services for humanity and can generate a considerable direct or indirect income to the local communities. To meet many of the sustainable development goals, we need to move our trajectory from the current environmental destructive development to a wiser wetland use. The current article contain a proposed agenda for the Pantanal aiming the improvement of public policy for conservation in the Pantanal, one of the largest, most diverse, and continuous inland wetland in the world. We suggest and discuss a list of 11 essential interfaces between science, policy, and development in region linked to the proposed agenda. We believe that a functional science network can booster the collaborative capability to generate creative ideas and solutions to address the big challenges faced by the Pantanal wetland

Priorities for synthesis research in ecology and environmental science

Synthesis research in ecology and environmental science improves understanding, advances theory, identifies research priorities, and supports management strategies by linking data, ideas, and tools. Accelerating environmental challenges increases the need to focus synthesis science on the most pressing questions. To leverage input from the broader research community, we convened a virtual workshop with participants from many countries and disciplines to examine how and where synthesis can address key questions and themes in ecology and environmental science in the coming decade. Seven priority research topics emerged: (1) diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), (2) human and natural systems, (3) actionable and use-inspired science, (4) scale, (5) generality, (6) complexity and resilience, and (7) predictability. Additionally, two issues regarding the general practice of synthesis emerged: the need for increased participant diversity and inclusive research practices; and increased and improved data flow, access, and skill-building. These topics and practices provide a strategic vision for future synthesis in ecology and environmental science

Combined effects of landscape composition and agrochemicals on frog communities amid sugarcane-dominated agroecosystems

Global demand for crops will continue increasing over the next few decades to cover both food and biofuel needs. This demand will put further pressure to expand arable land and replace natural habitats. However, we are only beginning to understand the combined effects of agrochemicals and land use change on tropical freshwater biodiversity. Here, we analyzed how pond-dwelling anuran larvae respond to pond characteristics, landscape composition, and agrochemical contamination in a sugarcane-dominated agroecosystem in Brazil. Then, we used an information theoretical approach with generalized linear models to relate species richness and abundance to predictor variables. The variation in tadpole abundance was associated with both agrochemical concentration (e.g., Ametryn, Diuron, and Malathion) and landscape variables (e.g., percentage of forest, percentage of agriculture, and distance to the closest forest). The relationship between species abundance and agrochemicals was species-specific. For example, the abundance of Scinax fuscovarius and Physalaemus nattereri were negatively associated with Ametryn, and Dendropsophus nanus was negatively associated with Tebuthiuron, while that of Leptodactylus fuscus was positively associated with Malathion. Conversely, species richness was associated with distance to forest fragments and aquatic vegetation heterogeneity, but not agrochemicals. Although we were unable to assign a specific mechanism to the variation in tadpole abundance based on field observations, the lower abundance of three species in ponds with high concentrations of agrochemicals suggest they negatively impact some frog species inhabiting agroecosystems. We recommend conserving ponds near forest fragments, with abundant stratified vegetation, and far from agrochemical runoffs to safeguard more sensitive pond-breeding species.D.S.D was supported with a doctoral fellowship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES, Finance Code 001, #1518162), in association with the Integrated Ph.D. Program in Bioenergy (PIPG-Bioen) and the Bioenergy Research Institute (IPBEN). A.N.L. was supported by Asociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Postgrado. DCRF has been continuously supported by a CNPq fellowship (#302328/2017-3). F.R.S. and C.C.M were supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (#2013/50714-0; 2014/24740-6). DBP was supported by a grant from CNPq (#407318/2021-6)