News and Opinion - British Ecological Society

Childhood connection to nature has many benefits but is not universally positive, finds review

Children are happier and more likely to protect the natural world when they have a greater connection to it, but this connection is complex and can also generate negative emotions linked to issues like climate change.

Indigenous leadership gets best results for wildlife translocations

Wildlife translocations will have better results if they are led, or genuinely co-led, by Indigenous peoples. That’s the premise of a recently published paper in People and Nature by researchers at the University of Canterbury and South Island environmental practitioners.

Shark “sea lanes” need protecting

Scientists have found sharks face increased danger when moving between protected reefs, and they’ve recommended shark “sea lanes” be protected as well.

Lemon sharks – live fast, die young

New research published in Journal of Animal Ecology demonstrates that lemon sharks exhibit different personalities and these can determine the course of life.

Indigenous people vital for understanding environmental change

Rutgers-led research shows how local knowledge can help manage ecosystems and wildlife.

Researchers build first AI tool capable of identifying individual birds

New research demonstrates for the first time that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to train computers to recognise individual birds, a task humans are unable to do.

When landscapes change, conservation strategies must change as well

New research published in Journal of Applied Ecology explores the complex ways agriculture impacts biodiversity. Looking at Gran Chaco, a global deforestation hotspot, researchers find that trade-offs between agriculture and biodiversity change when the landscape changes, with species responding differently to the same level of agricultural intensity, depending on how much forest is left.

Debate needed on the potential culling of generalist predators such as crows and foxes to protect Europe's declining ground-nesting birds

Further studies and debate are needed on the potential culling of generalist predators such as crows and foxes as a means of protecting Europe's ever declining number of ground-nesting birds.

Snowshoe hare carcasses feed more then the usual suspects, study shows

Scientists document 24 different species scavenging snowshoe hare carcasses in the Yukon.

Clear strategies needed to reduce bushmeat hunting

Disease prevention and protection of species from the wildlife trade require differentiated strategies

What actions played a crucial role in curbing the rhinoceros poaching in Nepal?

Nepal has almost eliminated rhinoceros poaching by building community trust, inter-agency coordination and cooperation, enhanced law enforcement and better-training of enforcement staff in criminal investigation and prosecutions.

Rhino horn consumers in Vietnam do not trust demand reduction campaigns

New People and Nature research shows that rhino horn consumers in Vietnam do not trust demand reduction campaigns.

“Frequent Fliers’’: Study finds long-distance dispersal trend in American kestrels

Dispersal is ubiquitous in animal species, but tracking animals over large distances can be challenging. A new study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology uses bird banding and recovery data to estimate the frequency of long-distance dispersal in American kestrels, a migratory raptor that breeds throughout the western hemisphere.

Gall fly outmaneuvers host plant in game of “Spy vs. Spy”

Over time goldenrod plants and the gall flies that feed on them have been one-upping each other in an ongoing competition for survival. Now, a team of researchers has discovered that by detecting the plants’ chemical defences, the insects may have taken the lead.

Learning about penguin’s diet may save marine life, study finds

Researchers at Monash University and Phillip Island Nature Parks develop a novel index to determine the prey availability of little penguins which can help inform the sustainable future of their food supply.