Latest Articles from Rethinking Ecology Latest 3 Articles from Rethinking Ecology https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/ Fri, 29 Mar 2024 01:56:54 +0200 Pensoft FeedCreator https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/i/logo.jpg Latest Articles from Rethinking Ecology https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/ Ecologist engagement in translational science is imperative for building resilience to global change threats https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/article/64103/ Rethinking Ecology 6: 65-92

DOI: 10.3897/rethinkingecology.6.64103

Authors: Kennedy Rubert-Nason, AM Aramati Casper, Matt Jurjonas, Caitlin Mandeville, Rebecca Potter, Kirsten Schwarz

Abstract: The causes and consequences of global change are well-documented, as are mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, human actions continue to fail in building adequate socio-ecological resilience to the accelerating threats of global change. Translational science, which focuses on connecting scientific research to human benefits, is imperative to building resilience to a confluence of global change threats because it brings the implications of theory and empirical research into practice. Translational ecology, an approach to knowledge co-creation that is grounded in equitable, inclusive, empathetic, and just partnerships among administrators, policy makers, scholars, practitioners, and the public, has immense potential to bring about the rapid and expansive social, ecological and political changes necessary to build resilience to global change threats. Here, we articulate a need for greater engagement of ecologists and other professionals in translational initiatives addressing seven major resilience building challenges, and propose a framework that lowers barriers to participation and promotes stronger relationships among stakeholders. We recommend specific actions that ecologists can take based on their situation, as well as evidence and demonstrated need, to foster resilience building through their contributions to communication, policy, education, knowledge creation, leadership, and service as role models. We conclude with an urgent call for expansive engagement of ecologists and other professionals in initiatives that combat misinformation, partner equitably with communities in knowledge creation, cultivate empathy and compassion, bolster public trust in science, and ultimately build decentralized communities of practice that enable rapid and high-impact responses to global change.

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Perspectives Fri, 23 Apr 2021 15:59:22 +0300
Long term environmental stability drives reduced stress tolerance in salt lake invertebrates https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/article/58899/ Rethinking Ecology 6: 49-64

DOI: 10.3897/rethinkingecology.6.58899

Authors: James E. O'Dwyer, Nicholas P. Murphy

Abstract: The capacity of species to tolerate physical stressors is critical in a world of increasing environmental instability, however, past selective environments should dramatically impact on future stress tolerance, particularly in isolated populations. Through stabilising selection, long-term environmental stasis may reduce physiological tolerance, creating an evolutionary legacy where populations are less fit if environments change. Few empirical studies have investigated this evolutionary legacy of past selection, and of particular interest whether stabilising selection in a benign environment reduces stress tolerance in natural systems. Here we use multiple populations of salt-lake invertebrates (Coxiella striata, Austrochiltonia subtenuis) with either stable or fluctuating environmental histories to investigate the relationship between stabilising selection and environmental stress resistance. Tolerance to both salinity and temperature stress were examined in invertebrate populations from lakes with long-term (decadal) stable environments and compared with populations from lakes with extreme salinity variations. Individuals from stable environments demonstrated significantly lower survival under both increasing salinity and temperature stresses when compared with environmentally unstable populations. Our results support the hypothesis that the evolutionary legacy from stabilising selection in constant environments leads to reduced stress tolerance. This finding demonstrates that under an increasingly variable climate, the evolutionary legacies of populations will be critical for future survival and adaptation.

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Research paper Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:32:59 +0200
Opportunities to improve the future of South Australia’s terrestrial biodiversity https://rethinkingecology.pensoft.net/article/32570/ Rethinking Ecology 4: 45-77

DOI: 10.3897/rethinkingecology.4.32570

Authors: Corey J. A. Bradshaw

Abstract: It is unequivocal that the poor condition of South Australia’s terrestrial biodiversity is continuing to decline overall – much like elsewhere in Australia. This decline is mainly due to the legacy of vegetation clearing and habitat modification since European colonisation, the destructive influence of invasive species (especially predators like cats and foxes) on its native fauna and flora, and impotent or broken legislation to prevent further damage. The struggle to maintain our remaining biodiversity, and our intentions to restore once-healthy ecosystems, are rendered even more difficult by the added influence of rapid climate disruption. Despite the pessimistic outlook, South Australians have successfully employed several effective conservation mechanisms, including increasing the coverage of our network of protected areas, doing ecological restoration projects, reducing the densities of feral animals across landscapes, encouraging private landholders to protect their biodiversity assets, releasing environmental water flows to rivers and wetlands, and bringing more people in touch with nature. While these strategies are certainly stepping in the right direction, our policies and conservation targets have been hampered by arbitrary baselines, a lack of cohesion among projects and associated legislation, unrepresentative protected areas, and inappropriate spatial and time scales of intervention. While the challenges are many, there are several tractable and affordable actions that can be taken immediately to improve the prospect of the State’s biodiversity into the near future. These include coordinating existing and promoting broader-scale ecological restoration projects, establishing strategic and evidence-based control of invasive species, planning more representative protected-area networks that are managed effectively for conservation outcomes, fixing broken environmental legislation, avoiding or severely limiting biodiversity-offset incentives, expanding conservation covenants on private land, coordinating a state-wide monitoring network and protocol that tells the South Australian community how effective we are with our policies and actions, expanding existing conservation investment and tapping into different funding schemes, and coordinating better communication and interaction among government and non-governmental environment agencies. Having a more transparent and defensible link between specific conservation actions and targeted outcomes will also likely improve confidence that conservation investments are well-spent. With just a little more effort, coordination, funding, and foresight, South Australia has the opportunity to become a pillar of biodiversity conservation.

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Perspectives Tue, 9 Apr 2019 08:56:02 +0300