Species introductions are a hallmark of human influence on ecosystems worldwide. In communities where native and introduced fauna coexist, predators may select prey based on availability or vulnerability. Free-roaming feral horses (Equus caballus) are a recent addition to North America and have become widespread, abundant, and in some areas serve as major prey for mountain lions (Puma concolor), a native carnivore. The proliferation of horses as well as potential effects of mountain lion predation on native ungulates create ecological and social management challenges; our goal was to assess mountain lion prey selection in a system composed of native mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and introduced feral horses. Our objectives were to: (1) describe seasonal patterns of prey use within individual mountain lion home ranges; (2) quantify prey use relative to availability; and (3) determine seasonal kill rates on the two primary ungulates in the study area. Fieldwork occurred in southeastern Nevada, 2021–2022. We identified prey use by investigating cache sites from 6 GPS-collared mountain lions. Prey availability and relative abundance were estimated with 49 camera traps distributed across the 3,158-km² study area. During the growing season, weekly kill rates averaged 0.22 deer and 0.55 horses, and in winter, 1.43 deer and 0.33 horses. Thus, lions killed horses at 2.54 times the rate of deer in the growing season but deer at 4.33 times the rate of horses in winter. Model selection indicated mule deer density and prey age class were the strongest predictors of prey species. Lions selected adult deer over fawns, and foals over adult horses, suggesting choices may be driven by optimal prey size rather than species. Mountain lions prey on foals in areas with relatively high mule deer densities, suggesting deer presence may increase foal vulnerability. We hypothesize that lions select foals when available, potentially reducing pressure on mule deer and/or supporting larger lion populations than would occur without this additional prey source. Although individual-level data on mountain lions are challenging to obtain, such information could help managers identify individuals for removal or conservation, improving predator-management outcomes in mixed-prey systems.
Protected-area landscapes across Sub-Saharan Africa face escalating climate-induced disruption of livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, yet how fringe communities perceive and respond to these changes remains poorly documented in Nigeria. Guided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vulnerability framework, conceptualizing vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, this study examined climate change perception, livelihood vulnerability, and perceived wildlife change among 180 households across nine communities surrounding Old Oyo National Park (OONP), using structured questionnaires and Chi-square tests. Climate change awareness was near-universal (96.7%), and respondents overwhelmingly regarded changes as detrimental (97.8%), reporting declining rainfall (73.7%), delayed onset (92.6%), and variability (92.2%). This exposure translated into pronounced sensitivity, reflected in diminishing water sources (90.6%), narrowing crop diversity (87.2%), rising food insecurity (86.7%), and perceived wildlife rarity (94.5%), most pronounced for grasscutter (81.6%), patas monkey (71.7%), and bushbuck (69.3%). Adaptive capacity remained largely reactive, centered on food storage and shelter provision (96.1% each), with limited water conservation uptake (39.4%). Perceptions varied significantly by age, education, and occupation (p < 0.05), but not by gender, marital status, or religion, revealing a disconnect between sensitivity and adaptive capacity that underscores the need for targeted climate information and adaptation support in protected-area fringe communities. The study highlights the potential for interpreting climate-induced sensitivity and vulnerability factors as significant contributors to the emergence of collective human trauma in communities adjacent to OONP.
Since 1969, the Cocha Cashu Biological Station (EBCC) has focused on studying Amazonian landscapes known for their high biodiversity and low levels of human intervention. To bridge the gap between social research and conservation biology, the Social Sciences for Conservation Course was launched in 2018. In 2025, the course included male and female indigenous youth from the communities surrounding Manu National Park as well as its buffer zone. This course brought together eight Matsigenka students and ten non-indigenous students from diverse educational backgrounds and regions. This paper outlines the methodological framework developed over eight-months, which facilitated a genuine process of co-creation of knowledge that addressed the coexistence of both groups for about one month. It fostered an epistemic dialogue where all participants—indigenous and non-indigenous, university students and non-university students—enhanced their skills as researchers and collaboratively rethought conservation strategies. The course structured multiple activities through which participants engaged with each other’s ways of knowing. These included discussions about conservation perspectives, analysis of the Matsigenka communities’ planes de vida (community management documents) and immersive experiences—such as forest walks and fieldwork in two communities. Through these interactions, indigenous students appropriated and adapted social science research tools to analyze their own realities, while the non-indigenous participants re-situated their theoretical frameworks in relation to lived territorial experiences shared by their colleagues. Dialogue was deepened by methodological strategies that translated academic concepts into locally grounded terms, allowing indigenous knowledge systems to function not only as empirical input but as conceptual frameworks. This process enabled a reconfiguration of roles, where all participants -including the instructors- became learners and knowledge producers. Hence, co-creation in this experience did not result in a co-authored output, but emerged as a relational and processual achievement. It was expressed through the transformation of perspectives, the mutual recognition of epistemic validity, and the rethinking of conservation as a field that must integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge on more equitable terms.
Small–scale inland fisheries are critical for food and livelihood security across Africa, yet many freshwater systems now contain native and non–native fish species whose relative contributions to fisheries and the trade-offs for biodiversity and household economies remain poorly quantified. This study assessed the contribution of native and non–native fishes in a subtropical reservoir using a 6–year dataset (2020–2025), complemented by a market and preference survey of 52 fishers and traders. Fish species were classified as native or non–native, and the data were further analysed using multivariate methods. The index of relative importance (IRI) integrated abundance, weight and frequency of occurrence to determine species dominance. Temporal coupling between native and non-native CPUE was tested using Spearman rank correlation to evaluate whether non-native catches compensate for declines in native catches. Twelve species were recorded: 8 native and 4 non–natives (Oreochromis niloticus, Micropterus nigricans, Coptodon rendalli and a crustacean Cherax quadricarinatus). Native species contributed a greater number of individuals (45–207 vs 33 654), but non-native species contributed disproportionately to more harvested biomass and market value. Native species exhibited significantly higher overall CPUE than non–native species, with pronounced differences in the hot–wet and cool–dry seasons. However, the IRI ranked M. nigricans (20.1%) and Coptodon rendalli (20.0%) as the most important species. Non–native species dominated 4–5–inch mesh catches while native species peaked in 3–inch mesh. Market survey results showed that non-native species commanded approximately twice the aggregate market value of native species (USD 45–552 vs USD 22–537 over the study period), with C. rendalli, M. nigricans and O. niloticus preferred by fishers and traders for their larger body size, higher unit price and stronger consumer demand. However, the higher numerical catch of native fish indicates that biodiversity costs of non-native dominance are real and that food-security benefits are mediated primarily through biomass and price, not abundance. Despite comparable annual yields, non–natives functioned as seasonal food–security buffers. The establishment of O. niloticus (16.0% of biomass) raises conservation concerns regarding native cichlid protection and conservation. These findings demonstrate that non–native species generate measurable but uneven food-security benefits while imposing biodiversity costs, necessitating adaptive management strategies that explicitly balance both dimensions.
Anthropogenic underwater noise has become a major environmental and ocean-governance concern affecting marine mammals worldwide, motivating increasing attention within international conservation bodies such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Here, we reconstruct how acoustics and anthropogenic underwater noise emerged, expanded, and diversified within the IWC Scientific Committee through a PRISMA-guided document screening combined with scientometric and qualitative classification analyzes. A total of 7,830 Scientific Committee documents produced between 1951 and 2024 were compiled and screened using an automated keyword strategy, yielding 2,949 records for eligibility assessment. Following screening, 644 documents were retained for analysis, encompassing both acoustic-related studies and documents addressing anthropogenic underwater noise as an environmental or management issue. Among these, 594 documents (7.4%) addressed acoustics, spanning 50 years (1962–2024) with a marked increase from the late 1990s onwards. Explicit underwater-noise content was identified in 180 documents (2.16%), first appearing in 1979 and recurring across 38 years, with contributions concentrated in the Environmental Concerns, Small Cetaceans, and Whale Watching subcommittees. Ten standardized sound-source categories were identified, dominated by shipping, seismic surveys, and sonar, while additional sources emerged progressively over time. Reported impacts were primarily behavioral and spatial, whereas auditory damage and mortality were associated with high-intensity sources. Institutional participation was extensive, involving 559 institutions across 75 countries, but remained highly concentrated among a limited number of recurrent contributors. Together, these findings provide the first long-term synthesis of how underwater noise evolved within the Scientific Committee from a specialized acoustic topic into a policy-relevant environmental issue, revealing how scientific knowledge, institutional priorities, and governance discussions co-evolved within the IWC framework.
Ecological grief is usually analyzed among people and communities whose lands, livelihoods, species relations, safety, cultural continuity, and place attachments are directly altered by environmental change. This Perspective extends that scholarship to scientific communities as research-mediated witnesses of ecological loss while maintaining a strict ethical distinction between direct lived harm and scientific distress. The article advances ecological grief science in five ways. First, it moves analysis beyond individual resilience, burnout, and communication failure by locating grief-like scientific distress within knowledge governance. Second, it connects ecological grief scholarship with Earth-system risk governance, including planetary boundaries, tipping points, cascading risk, resilience governance, and anticipatory governance. Third, it specifies a cross-level mechanism linking repeated ecological observation and actionability appraisal at the micro level, research-organizational and boundary mediation at the meso level, and governance mandates and authority structures at the macro level. Fourth, it converts the concept into propositions, boundary conditions, rival explanations, and observable indicators for empirical research. Fifth, it uses Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya as an illustrative plausibility probe to show how evidence on alpine ecological change, spring decline and repair, hydropower contestation, Indigenous territorial authority, and South Lhonak glacial-lake hazard can accumulate while authority remains sectoral and fragmented.
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) faces an escalating ecological crisis where decades of grassland degradation, amplified by climate change at twice the global average rate, threaten both regional water security for 1.4 billion people and the livelihoods of millions of Tibetan herders. Approximately 58.2% of northern Tibetan grasslands had reached degraded status by 2010, with ‘black soil beach’ (Heihumai) formations, shrub encroachment, and permafrost thaw creating distinct degradation syndromes that resist simple technical solutions. This review synthesizes post-2020 evidence from remote sensing assessments, controlled field experiments, and socio-economic surveys to critically evaluate restoration outcomes across the QTP’s major ecological zones. We examine the context-dependent efficacy of three dominant interventions—fencing, active reseeding, and adaptive grazing management, revealing systematic gaps between policy intent and field implementation. We propose an Adaptive Co-Management (ACM) framework that transcends the fencing-centric paradigm through five iterative steps: Co-Design, Act, Monitor, Evaluate, and Adapt. This approach operationalizes Ostrom’s principles for common-pool resource governance and resilience thinking within China’s specific institutional context, emphasizing herder participation in goal-setting, flexible implementation with learning buffers, and multidimensional outcome assessment spanning ecology, hydrology, and livelihoods.
Climate emotions research is expanding rapidly, yet children under eight remain less visible than adolescents and adults within the field despite evidence that climate concern may emerge early in life. Such an omission is especially consequential in small island states that are more vulnerable to climate change. This Brief Research Report presents a secondary qualitative analysis of empirical studies conducted in Malta with young children, parents and early childhood educators. Re-examining these datasets through the lens of climate emotions, the analysis shows that young children express early forms of climate worry and ecological loss through concrete, place-based concerns about heat, pollution, animals, the sea and damaged environments, even without adult terminology. Parents and educators recognise climate risks but often struggle to communicate them in emotionally safe ways. The findings conceptualise climate emotions in early childhood as an emergent, relational and co-constructed experience shaped by place attachment, intergenerational communication and opportunities for care-based action. The report further suggests that children’s climate emotions are socially mediated through family, educational and peer contexts. Finally, it argues that conservation social science must integrate young children’s emotional responses to ecological loss, particularly in small island contexts where the impacts of climate change are more pronounced and encountered intimately and daily.
The Amazon rainforest hosts a remarkable level of biodiversity which, in turn, generates diverse and significant ecosystem services for humanity. Conserving the vast territories of the Amazon requires the active participation of the many traditional indigenous and non-indigenous communities that inhabit the region. For example, the conservation of the giant pirarucu fish through co-management with local Amazonian communities has objectively delivered successful conservation and social outcomes. Here, we identify the material and non-material benefits derived from sustainable community-based activities by interviewing fishers from communities both inside and outside of this flagship conservation program. Specifically, we conducted interviews with 186 expert fishers from 39 communities along the Juruá River, western Brazilian Amazon, focusing on their perceptions of historical trends in the direct and indirect benefits that they derive from ecologically and economically important species and conserved ecosystems. Our results show significant differences in perceptions between communities that either do or do not practice pirarucu co-management. Pirarucu-managing communities perceive higher catch per unit effort in fisheries and increases in commercially valuable species like Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum). Participating communities also perceived an increase in the abundance of high-value hardwoods. Additionally, these communities report more intangible benefits such as cultural strengthening and revival. This study clearly highlights how pirarucu co-management has significantly increased the flow of material and non-material benefits from nature to participating communities. The fact that these benefits are clearly perceived and acknowledged by participating communities is also an important finding, incentivizing the continuity of practices that sustain these benefits.
The rehabilitation of orphaned grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) cubs of the year is often driven by public and animal welfare considerations, yet its efficacy as a functional conservation tool remains poorly understood. This study evaluates a five-year (2019–2023) captive-rear and release initiative in British Columbia (BC), Canada, representing the only systematically monitored program of its kind in North America. I monitored 14 orphaned cubs to examine how age of entry, captive-rearing duration, social environment (number reared together), and body mass at release influenced post-release survival. Of these, 13 bears were subsequently monitored post-release. These releases also provided a unique opportunity to examine whether greater release mass confers a survival advantage, a relationship previously suggested to reduce predation risk in captive-reared ursids. Results were benchmarked against morphometric data for wild yearlings in western North America. Captive-reared yearlings (n = 14) exhibited significant physiological divergence; mean spring release mass (127.4 kg) was 3.5-fold greater than wild-reared counterparts (36.1 kg; p < 0.0001). Despite this size advantage, the confirmed mortality rate was 83% among bears with known outcomes (n = 10/12). Mortality was heavily concentrated in the short-term, with 75% of the bears failing to survive from release to first denning. Contrary to rehabilitation best practices, minimizing handlers did not prevent habituation; several bears quickly generalized human presence with food security post-release. Survival was inversely related to captivity duration; increased time in captivity, driven by earlier age of intake, was associated with reduced survival, likely reflecting the combined loss of maternal learning and prolonged habituation. Furthermore, the relationship between release mass and survival was non-linear; individuals exceeding 135 kg consistently failed to recruit, suggesting a ‘metabolic trap’ where oversized frames create energetic demands difficult to meet for naïve yearlings foraging without maternal guidance in resource-limited spring landscapes. If rearing protocols diverge too far from natural conditions, facilitating habituation through routine husbandry and producing developmental outliers, rehabilitation remains a form of sympathetic management rather than a conservation tool. I advocate for species-tailored, “hands-off” protocols that prioritize natural growth trajectories and behavioural wariness during captive-rearing.
Expanding road networks increasingly encroach on wildlife home ranges, intensifying human-animal interactions. While ecological consequences like habitat fragmentation or wildlife mortality from vehicle collisions are well-studied, immediate behavioral responses of human road users during wildlife encounters remain underexplored despite their critical impact on safety and conservation. This study investigates behavioral responses of vulnerable (pedestrians, cyclists) and non-vulnerable (motorists) road users during wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) crossings in a human-dominated landscape in Bulindi, Uganda. We analyzed 376 opportunistically recorded interactions over 38 months to identify factors influencing road users’ caution (stopping or slowing down without interfering with the chimpanzees, or retreating) and interest (stopping or slowing down to watch, including approaching chimpanzees). Local pedestrians and cyclists displayed significantly higher caution than motorists. Caution and interest did not differ significantly by age or sex among pedestrians. Road users were generally more cautious and curious when chimpanzees actively crossed the road compared to waiting at the roadside. Conversely, encounters with larger chimpanzee groups correlated with reduced caution. Interactions with local field assistants, employed to monitor the chimpanzees, increased both caution and interest among road users. Although no collisions occurred, seven near-miss incidents were documented, primarily linked to poor visibility and reckless motorcyclist behavior. These results show that road user behavior is influenced by physical vulnerability, chimpanzee visibility, and contextual cues, highlighting potential risk factors for both humans and chimpanzees. Despite chimpanzee adaptability to anthropogenic environmental change, roads and traffic remain significant threats to this endangered species. Our findings emphasize the need for measures to limit vehicle speed (e.g., speed humps, signs, traffic controls) and improve visibility on roads traversing chimpanzee habitats, coupled with targeted awareness campaigns for local communities, tourists, and non-resident workers, as well as the integration of locally based and trusted personnel into road safety strategies.
Rapid socio-cultural transformation and increasing human disconnection from nature have contributed to biodiversity decline, particularly in Indigenous communities where traditional ecological systems are weakening. Guided by the Biocultural Conservation Theory, this study examined the influence of Indigenous cultural values, traditional ecological knowledge, and human–nature relationships on biodiversity conservation among Egba communities in Southwestern Nigeria. A cross-sectional explanatory survey design was adopted, and data were collected from 395 respondents selected through a multistage sampling technique across eight Egba communities in Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South Local Government Areas, Ogun State. Data were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation, Kruskal–Wallis H test, and multiple linear regression. The findings revealed strong recognition of Indigenous cultural mechanisms as important drivers of biodiversity conservation. Traditional festivals promoting harmony between humans and nature (4.15 ± 1.02), sacred groves protected from exploitation (4.10 ± 0.96), rituals associated with land and wildlife stewardship (4.09 ± 0.95), and totemic protection of species (4.05 ± 0.99) emerged as major conservation practices. Traditional institutions, including councils of chiefs, hunters’ guilds, and traditional rulers, were also perceived as influential in enforcing biodiversity-related norms. However, urbanization, modernization, poverty, declining intergenerational knowledge transfer, and weak institutional recognition were identified as major threats to Indigenous conservation systems. Significant age-related differences in perceptions of traditional conservation practices (p < 0.05) highlighted generational variations in Indigenous ecological values. The study concludes that Indigenous cultural systems remain essential for biodiversity conservation. Policy interventions should strengthen collaboration between formal conservation institutions and Indigenous governance systems through legal recognition of sacred sites, support for traditional ecological knowledge transmission, and inclusion of Indigenous authorities in biodiversity decision-making processes.
Mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate change – including increased PTSD, depression, and anxiety – are increasingly recognized as a critical impact of the climate crisis. Although the climate crisis is a global phenomenon affecting millions, existing literature predominantly captures individual psychopathological impacts. To date, here is limited understanding of the collective nature of climate change and its individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level impacts. Further, limited literature has discussed both the “collective” nature of these impacts, while also examining their inequitable nature from an intersectional lens. This perspective piece introduces a conceptualization of the climate crisis as a multi-level, collective traumatic phenomenon, with implications that include individual mental health but extend far beyond to communities, cultures, and society. We integrate Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems, collective trauma, and intersectionality theory to briefly illustrate the psychosocial impacts of and interventions for climate change at the individual (micro), family (meso), community (exo), society (macro) and chronological (chrono) levels. This overarching framework is then used to discuss possible clinical and community interventions, and recommendations for future research on the climate crisis.
Introduction This study examined the socio-ecological setting of the Magombera Nature Reserve, a key wildlife conservation area in Tanzania, by evaluating the endemic Magombera single-horned chameleon ( Kinyongia magomberae ). Methods A mixed-methods design was employed, with data gathered from 198 community members in the villages of Katurukila, Magombera and Kanyenja using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, thematic analysis and thematic mapping. Results The results revealed a significant level of awareness within the communities regarding chameleons (p<0.05). Anthropogenic factors such as deforestation, logging and charcoal burning were observed to lead to increased reliance on subsistence farming and habitat destruction. Other environmental stresses, including changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate variability, increased the vulnerability of biodiversity. Despite these challenges, many respondents reported being satisfied with existing conservation activities, particularly in Kanyenja village (80.0%). Discussion The discussion highlights the importance of integrating conservation policies and recommends collaborative management, climate-smart agriculture, alternative energy use and livelihood diversification to ensure conservation success.
To prevent species extinctions, targeted action must focus on areas of threatened biodiversity facing intense human pressures. This objective is even more important in the run-up to 2030, the target date to conserve 30% of lands and waters globally. Conservation Imperatives (unprotected terrestrial sites that harbor rare, range-restricted, and threatened species) are critical to preventing imminent species losses. To prioritize among the 16,825 Conservation Imperatives Sites spanning 1.64 million km², we ranked each site using a prioritization framework based on four criteria: number of threatened species per site; irreplaceability of the site; the proportion of an ecoregion’s remaining habitat contained in the site; and conversion pressure. Our approach prioritizes 1,667 sites representing 501,426 km², or 0.4% of Earth’s terrestrial surface, that we suggest are most in need of urgent protection, with 87% of these sites occurring in 20 countries and in 250 ecoregions. This prioritization directly addresses the concern that protected areas must be targeted to protect endangered species, habitats and populations: 33% of the prioritized Conservation Imperatives Sites scored higher in irreplaceability than 90% of existing protected and conserved areas. Additionally, 52% are within 2.5 km of an existing protected area, making extending protection or restoring connectivity more feasible. Targeting conservation actions, especially in this small set of countries and ecoregions identified here, would contribute “high quality” areas for biodiversity as part of reaching the 30% coverage target by 2030.
Poaching remains a primary threat to wildlife across Southeast Asia’s protected forests; however conventional ranger patrols face significant challenges detecting and intercepting poaching activity in dense tropical terrain. Tracking dogs offer a potential force multiplier for counter-poaching units, but deployment decisions have until now been made without empirical performance data from operational tropical conditions. We evaluated a tracking dog in the tropical forests of Peninsular Malaysia across three complementary study components: controlled covert-fixing of fresh signs trials (n = 100), environmental tracking trials across five track-age categories (30 minutes to 7 days; n = 23), and assessment of live counter-poaching and reconnaissance deployments (n = 9). The dog successfully fixed the target in 97 per cent of fresh scent exercises, maintaining covertness in 85 per cent of successful fixes. Success rates declined with increasing track age: 100% at 30 minutes, 75% at 8 hours, 67% at 24 hours, and 33% at 7 days. Increasing heat index was negatively associated with tracking success, with success rates declining from 78 per cent under moderate conditions to 50 per cent under high heat (>34 °C), though this trend was not statistically significant at the sample sizes available (Fisher’s Exact Test, p = 0.53). Live deployments demonstrated the dog’s capacity to detect aged campsites, rest areas and active snares under operational conditions, while also revealing practical constraints around logistics, ranger integration and handler–team coordination. This study provides the first field-based performance benchmark for an operational counter-poaching dog unit in a tropical South-East Asian forest, offering protected area managers an evidence base to guide investment and deployment decisions, and a replicable three-component evaluation framework applicable to other canine programmes.
The Baniwa Indigenous people of the upper Rio Negro refer to otters as “Shamans of the Water,” recognizing them as guardians of fish populations. During the mid-20th century, however, intensive hunting for the global fur trade drove otters to near local extinction. Since international wildlife trade bans in the 1970s, otter populations have rebounded, prompting renewed Baniwa reflections on their relationships with these species. In this study, we integrate Indigenous knowledge with ecological data (e.g., spatial-use patterns of otters and humans and diet analyses from fecal samples) to examine human–otter coexistence within an Amazonian Indigenous socioecological system. We analyze spatial overlap and dietary patterns among Baniwa fishers and two other species: Giant Otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) and Neotropical Otters (Lontra longicaudis). Baniwa fishing is concentrated in blackwater lakes, which are also preferred foraging habitats for Neotropical Otters, whereas Giant Otters show limited spatial overlap with human activities. Dietary analyses reveal clear trophic segregation, with Baniwa targeting mid to large-sized fish species and otters feeding primarily on smaller fish. Coexistence is further maintained through mutual avoidance practices, behavioral adjustments, historical memory, and relational understandings that frame otters as guardians of aquatic environments. Our findings suggest that coexistence is both dynamic and emerges from the interaction of ecological differentiation, Indigenous socioecological practices, and historical processes; also highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge for understanding and supporting human-wildlife coexistence in Amazonia.
IntroductionThe establishment of strict conservation areas often creates friction between management objectives and the traditional livelihoods of local communities. This study evaluates how restrictions on the traditional use of natural resources have shaped the perceptions and involvement of local communities in the participatory management of Limpopo National Park (LNP) in Mozambique.MethodsThrough the application of questionnaires to 345 households and interviews with key informants, we analysed the sociopolitical dynamics of biodiversity conservation and benefit-sharing. ResultsThe results demonstrate a significant paradox: while residents recognise the ecological value of forests and wildlife, participation in management and decision-making remains critically low. Specifically, we identified that the limited community influence on tourism revenue sharing and stakeholder engagement strategies correlates with negative perceptions of park governance. DiscussionThis study contributes to the literature by providing an integrated socio-ecological analysis of how top-down conservation policies can undermine social agency, even when conservation values are shared. We conclude that the transition to a genuine co-management model that prioritises procedural justice and capacity building is essential for reconciling conservation goals with the rights of communities in African protected areas.
The accelerating decline of coral reefs has stimulated restoration strategies that extend beyonzd the coral host to its symbiotic partners. Reef-building corals are holobionts whose resilience depends on interactions among the host, photosynthetic algae of the Symbiodiniaceae family, and diverse microbial communities. Experimental studies show that thermotolerant algal strains and beneficial microbes can improve coral performance under heat stress in controlled settings, yet these advances have not translated into routine restoration practice. We argue that the main barriers are not biological feasibility but gaps in knowledge and design. Three linked challenges constrain translation: (1) disconnected treatment of algal and bacterial symbionts, (2) insufficient functional validation relative to profiling, and (3) the absence of a clear pathway from discovery to carefully governed deployment under context-dependent conditions, especially in data-limited reef regions. To address these constraints, we propose a staged framework that begins with context-specific profiling, applies mechanistic and ecological criteria to candidate selection, embeds functional validation before mesocosm and nursery trials, and integrates delivery, monitoring, risk assessment, and governance into pilot deployment. A profiling-driven, evidence-based strategy is essential if microbial and algal symbionts are to become prospective restoration tools for coral reef restoration, particularly where resources, baseline data, and regulatory capacity remain limited.
