Payment for Environmental “Self-Service”:Exploring the Links Between Farmers' Motivation and Additionality in a Conservation Incentive Programme in the Bolivian Andes

Neoclassical economic interpretations of Payment for Environmental Services (PES), which assume that participants weigh up costs and benefits, are making room for more complex analyses. However, there is still little evidence of how PES programmes interact with existing motivations to conserve, the extent to which funded conservation is additional, and the likely permanence of changes. We categorized the outcome of contracts aiming to reduce cattle grazing in riparian forest (n = 428) and deforestation (n = 912) by Bolivian farmers in terms of whether they were unsuitable, non-compliant, non-additional, or additional (the holy grail of PES programmes) and explored the relationship between farmers' reported motivations and the extent to which the conservation funded was additional. Up to 39% of contracts to exclude cattle, and 14% to prevent deforestation appear to be additional. Where participation is motivated by the instrumental values of nature (such as provision of clean water) contracts to exclude cattle from riparian forest are more likely to represent additional conservation. We suggest that the programme is partly acting as what we term ‘payment for environmental selfservice’; i.e. the external incentives enable changes in behaviour motivated by farmers' perceptions of environmental benefits they receive from the management changes incentivized

Mechanisms and impacts of an incentive-based conservation program with evidence from a randomized control trial.

Conservation science needs more high-quality impact evaluations, especially ones that explore mechanisms of success or failure. Randomized control trials (RCTs) provide particularly robust evidence of the effectiveness of interventions (although they have been criticized as reductionist and unable to provide insights into mechanisms), but there have been few such experiments investigating conservation at the landscape scale. We explored the impact of Watershared, an incentive-based conservation program in the Bolivian Andes, with one of the few RCTs of landscape-scale conservation in existence. There is strong interest in such incentive-based conservation approaches as some argue they can avoid negative social impacts sometimes associated with protected areas. We focused on social and environmental outcomes based on responses from a household survey in 129 communities randomly allocated to control or treatment (conducted both at the baseline in 2010 and repeated in 2015-2016). We controlled for incomplete program uptake by combining standard RCT analysis with matching methods and investigated mechanisms by exploring intermediate and ultimate outcomes according to the underlying theory of change. Previous analyses, focused on single biophysical outcomes, showed that over its first 5 years Watershared did not slow deforestation or improve water quality at the landscape scale. We found that Watershared influenced some outcomes measured using the survey, but the effects were complex, and some were unexpected. We thus demonstrated how RCTs can provide insights into the pathways of impact, as well as whether an intervention has impact. This paper, one of the first registered reports in conservation science, demonstrates how preregistration can help make complex research designs more transparent, avoid cherry picking, and reduce publication bias

Predation research with electronic tagging

Predation is a fundamental aspect of ecology that drives ecosystem structure and function. A better understanding of predation can be facilitated by using electronic tags that log or transmit positions of predator or prey species in natural settings, however, there are special considerations that must be made to avoid biased estimates. We provide an overview of the tools available for studying predation with electronic tags including the tag types and analytical tools that can be used to identify where, when and how prey are killed by predators. We also discuss considerations for experimental design when studying predation using electronic tags, including how to minimize effects of capture and tagging procedures. Ongoing innovation and integration of sensors for tags will provide more detailed data about the performance of tagged predators and the fate of tagged prey. Where analysts can effectively resolve the timing of predation using state-of-the-art tags and analytical tools, we foresee exciting advances in our understanding of animal demographics, evolutionary trajectories and management systems. Prospects to develop new tools and approaches for tracking predation while designing studies to more effectively limit bias are an important frontier for understanding ecosystems and addressing human–wildlife conflicts. Given great uncertainties about environmen-tal change and intensifying conflicts between humans and predators, effective study designs integrating electronic tagging to study predation have a promising future in fundamental and applied ecologypublishedVersio

Chemical and biological responses of marl lakes to eutrophication

Eutrophication remains one of the foremost environmental issues threatening the quality of surface waters yet comparatively little is known of the timing, magnitude and characteristics of nutrient-related changes in highly calcareous (marl) lakes.  This review focuses on marl lake ecology and chemistry, their known responses to eutrophication, and also highlights questions that remain unanswered.                                 In good condition, marl lakes support a diversity of macrophytes, especially Characeae and Potamogetonaceae, which can grow to considerable depth.  High water transparency and low phosphorus and phytoplankton concentrations are facilitated by the coprecipitation of marl and phosphorus.  Although large amounts of phosphorus can be thus removed, buffering against eutrophication, macrophyte communities can undergo significant change under rather low nutrient concentrations.  Maximum colonisation depth declines and tolerant species replace sensitive species, with losses particularly among charophytes.  Marl lakes are therefore ecologically highly sensitive.             The effects of coprecipitation on long-term burial of phosphorus are contested.  Several palaeolimnological studies have identified iron complexes as more important than calcite, as chemical conditions in the sediment may promote either calcite dissolution or calcite-bound phosphorus exchange, or possibly both.  Some marl lakes have been shown to have phosphorus concentrations which, compared with other lake types, are higher than expected in winter and lower in summer.  The phosphorus binding capacity of marl sediment has not to our knowledge been adequately researched.             Marl precipitation may be inhibited by high phosphate or organic matter concentrations in the water, or when biological communities effecting precipitation (picoplankton, charophytes, epiphytes) are disturbed.  Highly impacted marl lakes having low species diversity and lacking precipitation may be misidentified as eutrophic, high-alkalinity lakes.  More studies addressing the interaction between external loading, phosphorus cycling and marl precipitation in relation to biological communities are required to assess to what extent marl lakes can buffer eutrophication, and what factors contribute to disturbed marl precipitation.&nbsp

Long-term perspectives on terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycling from palaeolimnology

Lakes are active processors and collectors of carbon (C) and thus recognized as quantitatively important within the terrestrial C cycle. Better integration of palaeolimnology (lake sediment core analyses) with limnological or modelling approaches has the potential to enhance understanding of lacustrine C processing and sequestration. Palaeolimnology simultaneously assimilates materials from across lake habitats, terrestrial watersheds and airsheds to provide a uniquely broad overview of the terrestrial-atmospheric-aquatic linkages across spatial scales. The examination of past changes over decadal-millenial timescales via palaeolimnology can inform understanding and prediction of future changes in C cycling. With a particular, but not exclusive, focus on northern latitudes we examine the methodological approaches of palaeolimnology, focusing on how relatively standard and well tested techniques might be applied to address questions of relevance to the C cycle. We consider how palaeolimnology, limnology and sedimentation studies might be linked to provide more quantitative and holistic estimates lake C cycling. Finally, we use palaeolimnological examples to consider how changes such as terrestrial vegetation cover, permafrost thaw, the formation of new lakes and reservoirs, hydrological modification of inorganic C processing, land use change, soil erosion and disruption to global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles might influence lake C cycling

The Second ICES/NASCO Workshop on Salmon Mortality at Sea (WKSalmon2; outputs from 2022 meeting) The Second ICES/NASCO Workshop on Salmon Mortality at Sea (WKSalmon2; outputs from 2022 meeting)

ICES, in consultation with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), convened a series of workshops to explore how to use biological and environmental data in models to advance the conservation of wild Atlantic salmon (<em>Salmo salar</em> L.) at sea. This workshop set out to consider multiple candidate hypotheses contributing to changes in the temporal patterns of abundance, and agree the priority research questions. No agreement on the development of a set of priority marine mortality hypotheses was reached. This resulted from the recognition of the hierarchical nature of ecosystem controls, and important complexities introduced by evolutionary diversity. An integrated ecological-evolutionary framework was proposed for the evaluation of hypotheses, and to identify key points in space and time. There was an agreed need for the continuation of cooperative initiatives to examine drivers of marine growth change using standardised approaches, and in the evolutionary delineation of stock units. These were seen as productive pathways to significantly enhance understanding of the marine factors impacting species abundance. The workshop recognised that options for developing and testing hypotheses remain constrained by the availability and quality of data, and identified ways to mobilise existing knowledge resources on key aspects of salmon ocean ecology. These focused on the synthesis of physical ocean data and model outputs, involving ocean basin-wide evaluations of available energy from surveys of lower trophic levels, and updating of population-specific biological information. The workshop agreed on the need for a specific call for data from pelagic commercial fisheries, given the broad scale of this activity and potential overlap with salmon migrations. There was also the recognition that Atlantic salmon should be included in the ICES Working Group on Bycatch of Protected Species (WGBYC) Protected, Endangered and Threatened Species list. Much of the work required to mobilise useful data sources was recognised as being outside the scope of existing ICES data calls, or the constituted core work of ICES Working Group on North Atlantic Salmon (WGNAS). Recommendations for the third workshop are for 1. More detailed consideration of how to access the work needed for data mobilisation, and 2. The identification of well-defined, achievable outcomes

Sedimentary macrofossil records reveal ecological change in English lakes: implications for conservation

Aquatic macrophytes play a key role in providing habitat, refuge and food for a range of biota in shallow lakes. However, many shallow lakes have experienced declines in macrophyte vegetation in recent decades, principally due to eutrophication. As changes in macrophyte composition and abundance can affect overall ecological structure and function of a lake, an assessment of the timing and nature of such changes is crucial to our understanding of the wider lake ecosystem. In the typical absence of historical plant records, the macro-remains of macrophytes preserved in lake sediments can be used to assess long-term changes in aquatic vegetation. We generated recent (150–200 years) plant macrofossil records for six English lakes subject to conservation protection to define past macrophyte communities, assess trajectories of ecological change and consider the implications of our findings for conservation targets and strategies. The data for all six lakes reveal a diverse submerged macrophyte community, with charophytes as a key component, in the early part of the sedimentary records. The stratigraphies indicate considerable change to the aquatic vegetation over the last two centuries with a general shift towards species more typically associated with eutrophic conditions. A common feature is the decline in abundance of low-growing charophytes and an increase in tall canopy-forming angiosperms such as fine-leaved Potamogeton species, Zannichellia palustris and Callitriche species. We hypothesise, based on findings from long-term datasets and palaeoecological records from enriched shallow lakes where plants are now absent, that the observed shifts provide a warning to managers that the lakes are on a pathway to complete macrophyte loss such that nutrient load reduction is urgently needed. It is the sound understanding of present-day plant ecology that affords such reliable interpretation of the fossil data which, in turn, provide valuable context for current conservation decisions