Biodiversity loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, threatening ecosystem function, animal health, and public well-being. As advocates for animal and environmental health, veterinary professionals play a critical role in addressing this crisis, yet biodiversity remains largely absent from core veterinary curricula. Aligned with the action-oriented goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this paper proposes a veterinary-specific framework for developing biodiversity education in veterinary training. Developed with input from subject matter experts in veterinary and ecological sciences, the framework includes three primary actions: Prevent, Protect, and Restore, using Stewardship as the mechanism of action. This framework adapts Global Biodiversity Framework targets to veterinary-relevant content and competencies, and provides examples to illustrate relevance. By recognizing biodiversity as a health issue, veterinary educators can help students understand its relevance to clinical practice, public health, and policy. Ultimately, this training could enable students to incorporate actions to sustain and restore biodiversity into their own professional practices, as well as enhance veterinary contributions to addressing this global crisis.

Urbanization has contributed to the decline of many wildlife species through habitat loss. To examine how Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) respond to urbanization we used dynamic Brownian bridge movement models to estimate home range size and core-use areas of 24 territorial Bald Eagles affixed with GPS/GSM transmitters during five different stages of the annual cycle. We then used a mixed-effects linear regression model to identify the land cover characteristics associated with home range size and core-use areas. We found that Bald Eagle home ranges and core-use areas varied in size and were often discontinuous. Home ranges and core-use areas tended to be larger during the pre-nesting and non-nesting stages and smaller during the nestling and post-fledge stages, with these differences being more pronounced in females. Home ranges and core-use areas were smaller in areas containing more water and lower canopy cover. Home ranges, but not core-use areas, were also smaller in areas containing higher amounts of herbaceous wetlands. Home range size was not strongly associated with impervious cover, a metric of human development intensity, but core-use area size increased with impervious cover. Eagle core-use areas did not contain more than an average of 39% impervious cover, defined as low development intensity by the U.S. Geological Survey. In our study, home ranges covered areas with higher levels of impervious surface compared to core-use areas, demonstrating that while eagles will inhabit areas with moderate levels of development, they concentrate their use in areas with lower levels of development. These findings suggest that Bald Eagles can use urbanizing landscapes, but care should be taken to protect key nesting and foraging sites from high density development.

Aldo Leopold's essay The Land Ethic is a cornerstone of North American conservation science. It is celebrated for its emphasis on the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the moral imperative to respect this interdependence. Yet, at its core, Leopold's essay is a call for change, asserting that societal values-on which our relationship with land is predicated-evolve over time. Here, we revisit Leopold's call in light of contemporary conservation challenges and the growing recognition of the importance of equity and social justice in environmental stewardship. We highlight the limitations of a static interpretation of Leopold's Land Ethic, noting its minimal acknowledgment of Indigenous stewardship and its historical context within hegemonic cultural values. We examine how modern environmental issues, such as globalization, urbanization, and climate change, demand an evolving ethical framework. Ultimately, we argue that Leopold's plea to expand our ethical community is consistent with ongoing efforts to incorporate diverse perspectives and rectify historical injustices in conservation. Further, we pose a series of questions with the goal of stimulating conversations on what reimagined land ethics centered on equity, justice, and inclusivity could offer. Together, these questions provide a framework for critical self-reflection and group discussion on how we can continue to answer Leopold's call in the face of modern conservation challenges.

Plenary speakers serve as role models for early-career scholars, and these talks advance the speakers’ careers while celebrating the important scientific contributions of women. Professional conferences are an ideal venue for assessing progress toward equity goals across disciplines. We examined gender disparities among distinguished speakers at North American ecology conferences from 2000 to 2023. We found that women's representation as speakers has increased, especially in the past decade, but they remain underrepresented relative to their proportion among graduate students. Disparities persist across institutions, disciplines, and career stages, particularly for women in later career stages. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic did not notably affect women's representation, and nonbinary genders remain minimally represented, underscoring ongoing challenges in achieving inclusive representation. Although the gender gap has not yet closed, this emerging positive trend for women speakers at professional ecology conferences is encouraging.

Introduced rats can have detrimental impacts on forest regeneration, with consequences for other trophic levels. Rats frequently consume or damage fruit, seeds, and seedlings, disrupting ecosystem processes that provide food and habitat for bird populations. These impacts are exacerbated on oceanic islands where plants and animals have evolved without mammalian herbivores and seed predators, leaving many native species at risk of extinction due to invasive species and other stressors. The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between rodent management in the Alaka`i Wilderness Preserve on Kaua`i Island, Hawai`i (USA), and three variables: fruiting density, seed rain, and seedling emergence that influence forest regeneration processes. This area is one of the last remaining refuges for Kaua`i's native forest birds, most of which are threatened or endangered. Seed traps and seedling emergence plots were set in areas with and without rodent control, and seed rain, fruiting density, and seedling emergence were monitored within these plots from February to June 2023. We found no difference in seed rain, seedling emergence, or fruiting density inside and outside of areas of rodent control for common plant species in the subcanopy. These findings potentially suggest that in the Alaka`i Wilderness Preserve, either current levels of rodent management actions have not significantly influenced forest regeneration processes for these plant species, or alternatively, current levels of predation of plants by rodents are not substantial enough to impact forest regeneration processes.

The habitat needs of common species can be understudied due to a focus on rarity and the prevention of extinction within traditional conservation policy and practice. Yet even common species are not immune to anthropogenic pressures on the environment, and understanding habitat needs for common species is critical information for management. This is the case for Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio), a common species that is poorly studied in the west/northwest portion of its broad range across the central and eastern United States. Our objective was to explore environmental factors associated with Eastern Screech-Owl (M. a. maxwelliae subspecies) breeding season occupancy dynamics in this understudied region and to inform local land management efforts. To address this objective, we used 9 years of occupancy data (2013-2021) from a participatory science monitoring program in Fort Collins, CO, a mid-sized suburban city. We found that Eastern Screech-Owl persistence probability decreased while colonization probability increased with aggregation of tree cover and average breeding season temperature. We also found colonization probability increased with cumulative winter precipitation, and persistence probability decreased with average winter minimum temperature. Overall, our results suggest that this population of Eastern Screech-Owls responds to climate before and during the breeding season in complex ways, and that the species appears to experience high turnover in this study area along the western edge of its continental range. Our study highlights the importance of investigating how common species respond to their environment across the full extent of their distributions. En las pol & iacute;ticas tradicionales y la pr & aacute;ctica de la conservaci & oacute;n, las necesidades de h & aacute;bitat de las especies comunes pueden ser subestudiadas por el enfoque centrado en especies raras o para prevenir su extinci & oacute;n. Sin embargo, las especies comunes no son inmunes a las presiones antropog & eacute;nicas en el medio ambiente y entender las necesidades de h & aacute;bitat de & eacute;stas es informaci & oacute;n cr & iacute;tica para su manejo. & Eacute;ste es el caso del b & uacute;ho Megascops asio, una especie com & uacute;n que ha sido escasamente estudiada en la porci & oacute;n oeste/noroeste de su amplio rango que cubre el centro y este de los Estados Unidos. Nuestro objetivo fue explorar los factores ambientales asociados con la din & aacute;mica de ocupaci & oacute;n de la subespecie del este (M. a. maxwelliae) en esta regi & oacute;n subestudiada e informar esfuerzos locales de manejo de la tierra. Para atender este objetivo, usamos 9 a & ntilde;os de datos de ocupaci & oacute;n (2013-2021) de un programa cient & iacute;fico participativo de monitoreo en Fort Collins, Colorado, una ciudad suburbana de tama & ntilde;o mediano. Encontramos que la probabilidad de persistencia de este b & uacute;ho decreci & oacute; mientras la probabilidad aument & oacute; con la agregaci & oacute;n de cobertura arb & oacute;rea y la temperatura media de la temporada reproductiva. Tambi & eacute;n encontramos que la probabilidad de colonizaci & oacute;n se increment & oacute; con la precipitaci & oacute;n invernal cumulativa y la probabilidad de persistencia disminuy & oacute; con la temperatura media m & iacute;nima invernal. En general, nuestros resultados sugieren que esta poblaci & oacute;n de Megascops asio responde al clima antes y durante la estaci & oacute;n reproductiva en formas complejas y que esta especie parece experimental un alto recambio en nuestra & aacute;rea de estudio en el margen oeste de su distribuci & oacute;n continental. Nuestro estudio destaca la importancia de investigar c & oacute;mo las especies comunes responden a su ambiente en todo su rango de distribuci & oacute;n.

All cities are home to birds, which, through their activities, can either enhance or detract from human well-being. To identify such interactions, we synthesize current understanding of bird-mediated ecosystem services and disservices in cities. We find widespread evidence that birds provide cultural services, but the link between urban bird diversity and these benefits is surprisingly tenuous. Birds also have potential to provide regulating services; however, rather than being measured, these services are usually assumed from non-urban research, and may be overestimated (eg pollination, seed dispersal) or undervalued (decomposition, nutrient cycling). People's perceptions of birds are not uniform, and services are not always delivered equitably among residents. We call for moving beyond using species richness and traits as proxies, and instead explicitly measuring services and disservices across the heterogeneous urban landscape. Such information is critical to designing cities that sustain biodiversity and result in net positive, and equitable, benefits to people.

Conservationists are increasingly leveraging systematic conservation planning (SCP) to inform restoration actions that enhance biodiversity. However, restoration frequently drives ecological transformations at local scales, potentially resulting in trade-offs among wildlife species and communities. The Conservation Interactions Principle (CIP), coined more than 15 years ago, cautions SCP practitioners regarding the importance of jointly and fully evaluating conservation outcomes across the landscape over long timeframes. However, SCP efforts that guide landscape restoration have inadequately addressed the CIP by failing to tabulate the full value of the current ecological state. The increased application of SCP to inform restoration, reliance on increasingly small areas to sustain at-risk species and ecological communities, ineffective considerations for the changing climate, and increasing numbers of at-risk species, are collectively intensifying the need to consider unintended consequences when prioritizing sites for restoration. Improper incorporation of the CIP in SCP may result in inefficient use of conservation resources through opportunity costs and/or conservation actions that counteract one another. We suggest SCP practitioners can avoid these consequences through a more detailed accounting of the current ecological benefits to better address the CIP when conducting restoration planning. Specifically, forming interdisciplinary teams with expertise in the current and desired ecosystem states at candidate conservation sites; improving data availability; modeling and computational advancements; and applying structured decision-making approaches can all improve the integration of the CIP in SCP efforts. Improved trade-off assessment, spanning multiple ecosystems or states, can facilitate efficient, proactive, and coordinated SCP applications across space and time. In doing so, SCP can effectively guide the siting of restoration actions capable of promoting the full suite of biodiversity in a region.

Aim: The degree to which species' niches remain stable over space and time-the niche conservatism hypothesis-is critical for predicting species' responses to environmental change. Tests of this hypothesis typically focus on changes in niche centroids and boundaries. An outstanding question is whether species' environmental associations differ within the interior of their niche space-that is, across the full range of occupied conditions-in original versus novel geographic space. Location: Europe and North America. Time Period: 1997-2018. Major Taxa Studied: Birds. Methods: We used over 400,000 observations collected over 22 years and across 28 countries to explore whether two common songbird species-European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus) - exhibit niche conservatism between their native European and non-native North American ranges. We tested for niche conservatism via (1) an ordination approach that quantified change in niche shape and boundaries, and (2) generalised linear mixed effects models to quantify how abundance varied with the interaction between continent and climate or land cover variables. Results: The ordination analysis indicated that both European starling and house sparrow exhibited niche conservatism between Europe and North America. However, abundance models revealed continental differences in how the species responded to temperature and land cover. The abundance models also revealed that areas with wetter conditions that were occupied by both species in their native European ranges were available but unoccupied in their non-native North American ranges (i.e., niche unfilling). Main Conclusions: Our work demonstrates that species can exhibit apparent consistency in niche boundaries but varied abundance responses to the environment within niche boundaries. Expanding the study of niche conservatism to explore changes both at the edge of and within niche boundaries would improve the ability to assess and predict species' invasion risk or sensitivity to ongoing global change.

The debate over the best agricultural practices for biological conservation often focuses on the degree to which agricultural lands should be interspersed with desirable habitat versus protecting lands entirely from production. It is important to understand the benefits agriculture provides for wildlife because it is consuming an increasing proportion of the landscape. We evaluated the nesting ecology of breeding ducks within a mosaic of flood-irrigated conservation areas and agricultural lands in hay production. We assessed how habitat features at two spatial scales across these lands were related to nest site selection, nest density, and nest survival of multiple duck species. Birds selected nest sites with higher visual obstruction, a higher proportion of shrubs around the nest, and less bare ground, but we did not detect evidence of selection per se at larger spatial scales. Nest density was marginally higher along linear features, including irrigation ditches and riparian stretches, but nest survival remained similar across land-use types and habitats features. This system is representative of many agricultural landscapes around the globe and highlights the ways agroecosystems can be managed to maintain habitat suitability for wildlife on working lands.

While rare species are vulnerable to global change, large declines in common species (i.e., those with large population sizes, large geographic distributions, and/or that are habitat generalists) also are of conservation concern. Understanding if and how commonness mediates species' responses to global change, including land cover change, can help guide conservation strategies. We explored avian population responses to land cover change along a gradient from common to rare species using avian data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and land cover data from the National Land Cover Database for the conterminous United States. Specifically, we used generalized linear mixed effects models to ask if species' commonness affected the relationship between land cover and counts, using the initial amount of and change in land cover surrounding each North American BBS route from 2001 to 2016. We quantified species' commonness as a continuous metric at the national scale using the logarithm (base 10) of each species' total count across all routes in the conterminous United States in 2001. For our focal 15-year period, we found that higher proportions of initial natural land cover favored (i.e., were correlated with higher) counts of rare but not common species. We also found that commonness mediated how change in human land cover, but not natural land cover, was associated with species' counts at the end of the study period. Increases in developed lands did not favor counts of any species. Increases in agriculture and declines in pasture favored counts of common but not rare species. Our findings show a signal of commonness in how species respond to a major dimension of global change. Evaluating how and why commonness mediates species' responses to land cover change can help managers design conservation portfolios that sustain the spectrum of common to rare species.

Abstract Suburbs are some of the most land-intensive and fastest-growing forms of urbanization. They are also increasingly socially diverse and are ripe targets for biodiversity conservation. This work synthesizes the policies, tools, and strategies for conserving and managing biodiversity in suburbs and exurbs. It reviews suburban history and policy contexts, including how suburbs have expanded around cities over time to become a dominant land-use type in the US and around the world. It also describes the policies and practices that have shaped the current distribution of open space and biodiversity, human settlement and segregation, and which people have access to environmental benefits. This work synthesizes the science on the relationship between residential development patterns, land management practices, and distributions and persistence of biodiversity. In doing so, it introduces and examines a portfolio of policy tools and strategies for conserving and restoring suburban and exurban biodiversity and reviews the scientific evidence on the implementation of these tools, examines how they have achieved success in sustaining biodiversity, and considers their potential to either alleviate or exacerbate environmental injustices. Finally, it reflects on the ways in which conservation and equity goals (e.g., habitat conservation versus affordable housing construction) are often presented as mutually exclusive or conflicting goals for suburban and exurban communities. It moves beyond these perceived dichotomies to show how housing and open space can both sustain nature and engage people, to the benefit of biodiversity and human communities.

Our goal is to support and encourage land-use planners, decision makers and conservation scientists and practitioners to participate in local land-use policy by providing them with guidelines that translate their scientific knowledge into a planning and development decision-making context.

Climate change and land-use legacies have caused a shift in wildfires and post-fire growing conditions. These changes have strong potential to diminish the resilience of many ecosystems, with cascading effects and feedbacks across taxa. Pinon-juniper (PJ) woodlands are a diverse and widespread forest type in the western US and are home to many obligate and semi-obligate bird species. As such, this system is ideal for understanding wildfire resilience, or lack thereof, in terms of both vegetation and wildlife associations. This study evaluated post-fire vegetation structure and associated avian communities following three wildfires; one that burned one year prior to sampling (recent fire), and two that burned approximately 25 years previously (old fires). Vegetation characteristics and the habitat use of PJ-associated bird species were compared across severely burned patches, unburned refugia, and unburned sites outside of the burn perimeter. We expected wildfire to alter vegetation and bird usage for the first few years post-fire, which we observed in our recent burns. However, even 25-years postfire, little recovery to PJ woodland had occurred and the associated bird communities had not returned, compared to unburned areas. No pinon regeneration was observed in any burned areas and no juniper regeneration in the recent fire. Pinon seedling densities in unburned sites and refugia averaged 80 ha(-1) and 151 ha(-1), respectively, while juniper seedling densities were 220 ha(-1) in both habitat types. Habitat use for thirteen PJassociated species were modeled, three of which (Woodhouse's Scrub Jay, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and Virginia's Warbler) used all habitats. Four species (American Robin, Gray Vireo, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Gray Flycatcher) were essentially absent from the old burn habitat, reflecting species-specific need for mature pinon or juniper trees and/or greater canopy cover. Conversely, birds that were present in the old burn habitat (including Virginia's Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Woodhouse's Scrub-jay, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and Spotted Towhee) are typically associated with habitat edges, high shrub cover, or cavity nests. Altered vegetation structure and bird habitat use in burned areas 25 years post-fire are evidence for enduring conversion to nonforest vegetation types. However, unburned refugia embedded in burned areas maintain forest attributes and support obligate bird communities, supporting ecological function and biological diversity.

Hiring diverse candidates and creating an inclusive and equitable climate has emerged as a top priority for the scientific community. Diversity statements are a common but unexamined tool for recruiting a more diverse workforce. We surveyed more than 200 experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from US academic institutions to synthesize strengths and limitations of diversity statements and to develop guidelines for using such statements in faculty hiring. We found overwhelming agreement that diversity statements are a valuable tool for the advantages they offer the institution and applicant, but the experts indicated that diversity statements should be supported by other evidence. We further found that few institutions provide guidance on how to effectively use diversity statements in the hiring process. We address this need by providing an expert-derived evaluation framework for recognizing and rewarding DEI in the recruitment process that can be flexibly adapted to fit the unique requirements of diverse institutions and positions.

Urban development drives habitat loss and degradation, which often leads to species extirpation. Urban habitat enhancement programs encourage the public to protect or improve the quality of habitat for native or human -sensitive species within the urban matrix. These programs are increasingly common, yet their effectiveness is rarely evaluated. Here, we assessed an urban habitat enhancement program in Fort Collins, Colorado by comparing plant, bird, and butterfly communities in certified residential open spaces to those in uncertified residential open spaces and public natural areas. Our objectives were to evaluate: 1) the degree to which the enhancement program increased native vegetation cover and structural heterogeneity in enhanced residential open spaces relative to other site types, 2) whether sites enrolled in the program had greater occurrence of native and human-sensitive bird and butterfly species, and 3) the relative influence of site-and landscape-level factors on these outcomes. Although native vegetation cover did not differ across site types, certified residential open spaces and public natural areas had consistently less mowed vegetation cover than uncertified residential open spaces sites. Additionally, we detected more human-sensitive bird species in certified residential open spaces than uncertified residential open space and found that native vegetation cover across all sites was positively associated with butterfly richness. Although residential sites are not a substitute for public natural areas, even simple stewardship practices, such as reduced mowing of vegetation, can positively influence wildlife commu-nities in cities. Additionally, these programs can help connect urban residents to native ecosystems and play a role in garnering support for conservation efforts.

Conservation across jurisdictional boundaries can help achieve recovery goals for species at risk, provide funding for conservation actions by private landowners, and reduce regulatory burdens. Habitat crediting programs, a type of offsite mitigation, are a relatively new form of cross-boundary conservation. To better understand the current status of these programs and their perceived strengths and shortcomings for species conservation, credit providers (e.g., private landowners), and credit purchasers (e.g., federal agencies), we surveyed the literature and online resources, and engaged with a small group of professionals who have been closely involved with habitat crediting programs. From these resources and interactions, we identified nine habitat crediting programs in the United States. Those engaged in these programs suggest that the programs may provide regulatory relief, a positive return on investment for participants, and benefits to species conservation in some contexts. However, economic and institutional challenges include up-front costs of participation and divergent preferences for short-term or permanent contracts. Furthermore, programs tend to measure ecological success by monitoring habitat amount and condition rather than species' abundance, survival, and reproduction. As such, monitoring is not always sufficiently rigorous to assess ecological outcomes and account for environmental change. We suggest that habitat crediting programs hold promise for meeting multiple objectives for at-risk species, landowners, and developers, but their potential often is hampered by high transaction costs and a lack of the ecological information needed to evaluate success.

With growing evidence of widespread health and environmental impacts from oil and gas activity, localities and states are beginning to develop protective measures. Interdisciplinary approaches that integrate across human, wildlife, domesticated animal, and land health are likely to provide more just and comprehensive solutions than would be possible with siloed approaches. However, this is not common practice, and there is little guidance on how to apply such a strategy. In the present article, we summarize the state of knowledge on the impacts of terrestrial unconventional oil and gas development from the fields of ecology and public health. We then discuss synergies and trade-offs regarding impacts and mitigation strategies emerging from these two literatures. Finally, we provide recommendations for research and practice to fill knowledge gaps and better inform integrated decision-making to achieve multiple benefits and minimize impacts on human, wildlife, domesticated animals, and land health from energy development.