Accurate individual identification is essential to monitor rare species. Yet, invasive marking is often unsuitable for critically endangered species. Here, we evaluated state-of-the-art computer-vision methods for photographic re-identification of the Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer), a re-discovered critically endangered amphibian. Using 1232 ventral images from 191 individuals collected during 2013–2020 capture–recapture surveys, we compared deep local-feature matching in a zero-shot setting with deep global-feature embedding models. The local-feature matching pipeline achieved 99.8% top-1 closed-set identification accuracy, outperforming all global-feature models. Fine-tuning improved the best global-feature model to 62.1% top-1 (73.8% top-3) but remained far below local-matching performance. To combine scalability with accuracy, we implemented a two-stage workflow: a fine-tuned global-feature model retrieves a short candidate list that is re-ranked by local-feature matching. This reduced end-to-end runtime on our dataset with a single GPU from 6.3 h to 40 min while maintaining 99.0% top-1 closed-set accuracy. Separation of match scores between same- and different-individual pairs supports thresholding for open-set identification, enabling practical handling of novel individuals. We verified our approach with a prospective forward-in-time open-set evaluation on an unlabeled dataset (2016–2025) in which each query is matched only against earlier-dated references; at the calibrated operating threshold, 92 of 93 seen individuals were correctly matched to their prior identity while reducing expert review workload by 65%. We deploy this pipeline as a web application for routine re-identification of the Hula painted frog in the field, providing rapid, standardized, non-invasive identification to support conservation monitoring and capture–recapture analyses. Overall, zero-shot deep local-feature matching outperformed global-feature embedding and provides a strong default for photo-identification in this species.

Biodiversity monitoring programs and citizen science data remain heavily biased toward the Global North. Especially in megadiverse countries with limited biodiversity records, incorporating social media data can help address existing data gaps. However, whether such data can significantly improve our understanding of range-shifting species is still unknown. We tested whether social media data improved our knowledge of the range dynamics of a rapid range-shifting butterfly, the tawny coster (Acraea terpsicore). We collated locality data from Flickr and Facebook and compared these with occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). We used species distribution models (SDMs) and niche assessments, which we calibrated with data from GBIF alone and both sources combined (GBIF and social media data) to analyze range shift dynamics. Social media data increased occurrence records by 35%, and the proportion of social media data was higher in countries poorly represented in GBIF. In addition, we obtained new distributional information from well-represented countries (e.g., Australia and Malaysia). Over time, the SDMs calibrated with GBIF and social media data showed greater expansion rates than SDMs based solely on GBIF data. The niche assessments revealed that GBIF-only data failed to capture regions with relatively low maximum temperature, relatively low precipitation and high elevation. Our results highlight the potential of harnessing social media data to track rapid biodiversity redistribution in response to climate change.

The alpine biome, located at higher elevations of mountains worldwide, supports unique biodiversity and provides important ecosystem contributions to people. Despite the growing recognition of mountain biodiversity in international policy frameworks, substantial gaps remain in our understanding of how alpine biodiversity varies across mountain systems, undermining estimates of its conservation value and consequently effective conservation strategies. Here, we curate a dataset on alpine biodiversity, incorporating expert-validated data on species' elevational ranges for vascular plants, mammals, birds, and reptiles across 32 mountain ranges worldwide. We show that alpine biodiversity hotspots are concentrated in Neotropical regions, while most temperate regions represent coldspots with lower species richness. These patterns persist whether considering species with broad elevational ranges or only those strictly confined to the alpine zone. Unlike the classical latitudinal gradient of biodiversity, alpine richness patterns show no consistent relationship with latitude, highlighting the importance of regional history, landscape structure, and biogeographical processes.

Abstract Road traffic noise is a pervasive environmental pollutant that negatively affects wildlife globally. Despite growing research, quantifying the spatial extent of noise impacts remains underdeveloped. Soundscape mapping from social sciences and engineering literature offers a useful yet rarely implemented tool to depict noise impact distances and quantify effects on wildlife. Here, we addressed this gap by synthesizing data from studies that quantified the effects of road traffic noise on various wildlife behaviours. We then created the first wildlife‐oriented soundscape map focusing on the most studied behaviour—bird breeding habitat selection. We mapped the modelled distances of noise impacts for the state of Israel while incorporating traffic volume data and habitat types. Based on our analysis, 43% of Israeli non‐urban areas are predicted to be negatively affected by road traffic noise, higher than in comparable studies. Worse still, 23% of Israel's protected areas are exposed to hazardous noise. We further highlight differences in impact distances across habitat types and protection levels. Notably, densely vegetated habitats experience higher exposure distances than open habitats in low traffic but not in high traffic. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating behaviour‐based indicators into large‐scale noise impact assessments. We advocate expanding our approach to encompass additional behavioural responses, noise sources, regions and taxa to eventually develop comprehensive, data‐driven impact maps. Our framework provides a scalable tool to quantify the impacts of noise pollution and support both fundamental research and the development of conservation strategies to mitigate its ecological effects. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Understanding how the public engages with biodiversity loss and climate change is critical for designing effective environmental policies and conservation strategies. Here we applied a conservation culturomics approach to compare public interest in biodiversity and climate change across China and the United Kingdom, two major environmental actors with distinct governance models and cultural contexts. Using search volume data from the Baidu Index and Google Trends between 2011 and 2022, we identified peak periods of search interest in both countries. We then analysed associated news content during peak and non-peak periods using grounded theory and thematic coding to uncover the dominant drivers of public attention. Our findings reveal a stark contrast between sources of public engagement. In China, the public interest is predominantly state-driven, with peaks aligned with government-led campaigns and international events. Themes, such as domestic governance and ecological civilisation, were the most significant. In the UK, civil society, scientific discourse, and environmental activism act as the key catalysts in shaping public engagement. These differences reflect greater variations in political structures, media ecosystems, and cultural values. Our results highlight the need for context-sensitive communication strategies. By linking digital behaviour with media discourse we offer new insights into public environmental engagement. Our findings further suggest that enhancing bottom-up participation and diversifying environmental narratives in China could foster greater public ownership of conservation efforts, whereas in the UK maintaining inclusive and coherent narratives is essential. However, limitations such as platform algorithms should be considered when interpreting these cross-country comparisons, as they may affect the comparability of search data between Baidu Index and Google Trends.

Effective fisheries monitoring and management remain challenging in data-poor regions and conflict zones, where access limitations hinder traditional research. Sharks and rays face escalating threats worldwide and are particularly under-reported in such settings, raising concern for their conservation and sustainable management. Here, we demonstrate that daily fish-market live-stream videos on social media can be systematically mined to produce near-daily, structured fisheries monitoring in regions physically inaccessible to researchers. We applied this cost-effective iEcology approach to the Gaza Strip, a conflict-affected coastal enclave in the eastern Mediterranean, analyzing public social-media content spanning January 2020 to October 2025. Data were extracted from vendors' daily live Facebook streams, serving as a remote fish-market survey, and supplemented by targeted screening of fishery-related influencer accounts. During the daily survey phase (2020-2023), sharks and rays appeared on 42.5% of days. Annual species composition varied significantly, and the appearance of deeper-water species during extended offshore access suggests fishing expanded to deeper grounds when maritime access restrictions were eased. 45% of individuals from the dominant shark species were captured below their size at maturity, raising concerns regarding growth overfishing. Continued influencer surveillance through October 2025 expanded the baseline checklist to 25 species, including first records of Rhincodon typus in Gazan waters, underscoring the value of sustained remote monitoring even during active conflict. Overall, this approach can transform scattered online observations into structured biodiversity datasets, serving as a candidate for replication in other access-limited regions and supporting fisheries-management and conservation priorities of the UN Ocean Decade.

Effective conservation of biodiversity, declining at unprecedented rate, requires not only monitoring of threatened species populations but also rapid detection of new incursions of alien species. However, traditional monitoring methods are costly, and citizen-science data is often geographically biased. iEcology, i.e. harnessing online digital data generated for purposes other than science (e.g. social media posts, photos, or online search behaviour), has been proposed as a tool to fill such biodiversity data gaps, especially in underrepresented regions. Despite growing interest, the full potential of iEcology for monitoring species distributions has not been systematically assessed. We systematically reviewed studies that used iEcology methods to obtain georeferenced species observation data, with specific focus on the representation of digital platforms, taxonomic groups, ecological realms (freshwater, marine, terrestrial) and geographic regions, as well as raw data availability. As a substantial proportion of the screened & reviewed studies focused on non-native species, we additionally assessed whether any reported impact information is relevant to Gloim (Global environmental impacts of plant invasions), our new project on global invasion impacts.

We applied 2 methods of phylogenetic regionalization (evoregions and phyloregions) for the distributions of fleas and their rodent hosts across Mongolia. We investigated the congruence between these 2 regionalization schemes and their alignment with physiographic and ecological subdivisions of Mongolia. We identified evoregions and phyloregions for both fleas and hosts. Ancestral regional distributions were reconstructed, and a phylogenetic correspondence analysis identified key contributing lineages. Using the V-measure, we tested for the congruence between (a) evoregions or phyloregions identified for fleas and evoregions or phyloregions, respectively, identified for their hosts and (b) evoregions and phyloregions identified for either fleas or hosts and each of the physiographic/ecological regionalization schemes of Mongolia. Four evoregions and 8 phyloregions were identified for both fleas and hosts, exhibiting distinct spatial patterns. Host-parasite regionalizations demonstrated moderate spatial similarity (V-measure 0.49-0.50), a significantly higher congruence than previously reported at the larger Palearctic scale (0.33). Flea regionalizations exhibited stronger congruence with environmental schemes than did host regionalizations. We concluded that evoregionalization and phyloregionalization capture distinct evolutionary signals, reflecting the role of in situ diversification vs. phylogenetic turnover resulting from dispersal. Host-parasite co-regionalization is scale-dependent, with increased congruence at regional scales. Despite adult fleas' obligate host dependence, their regionalization is not merely a passive reflection of host biogeography but is also profoundly shaped by environmental conditions. These findings emphasize the importance of method choice, scale and eco-evolutionary interactions in shaping complex biogeographic patterns.

Collaborations between biodiversity conservation and the arts can lead to synergies and fresh approaches to intractable problems. These collaborations can yield diverse mutual benefits, such as offering reciprocal sources of inspiration, information, and learning; providing one another with new tools and resources for synthesis and innovation; securing funding; and contributing to increased visibility and influence. The arts may be uniquely poised to raise awareness, influence behavioral change, improve well-being, and assist with developing conservation tools and materials. Likewise, conservation can provide artists with relevant expertise, nature-based art material, samples, and resources, as well as inform sustainability aspects of the arts. Effective synergies between the arts and conservation will necessitate greater funding and institutional support, improved willingness to collaborate, better recognition of the benefits of artists’ involvement in interdisciplinary conservation teams, and sound empirical methods to gauge such collaborations.

Human-induced environmental pressures are expected to intensify worldwide during the 21st century. Consequently, future-focused tools and approaches to anticipate pressures on biodiversity are key to effectively prioritize conservation actions and supplement existing approaches. Here, we develop a continuous conservation prioritization index, the Proactive Conservation Index (PCI), that integrates projected future extrinsic threats and traits that can predispose species' vulnerability. We used the PCI to assess the conservation priority of 33,560 species of land vertebrates worldwide, compared our results to the extinction risk categories of these species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and examined spatial and phylogenetic patterns in these species future conservation needs. We found that median PCI scores broadly followed the order expected under the IUCN Red List classification, but varied substantially within each IUCN Red List category. According to the PCI, reptiles will be the group of land vertebrates with highest conservation priority in the future, despite amphibians currently having the highest proportion of threatened species according to the IUCN Red List. The PCI revealed that species in the Near Threatened category will have future conservation needs more similar to species in threatened categories than to species in the Least Concern category. Arid ecoregions, tropical montane forests, and islands showed the highest differences between conservation priorities set using the PCI and the IUCN Red List, indicating possible unrecognized future conservation needs. The proportion of threatened species according to the IUCN Red List was uncorrelated with the protected area coverage of each ecoregion, while the PCI, by design, highlighted currently unprotected ecoregions with sensitive fauna that will have high exposure to threats in the future. We produced a user-friendly web application to display our results and an R package to enable users to calculate PCI scores for any taxon and region, customizing the index according to the severity of predicted threats and importance of species attributes in other systems. Our novel index can help practitioners prioritize fine-scale species conservation actions in light of future threats and different global change scenarios.

Humanity is urbanizing, with vast implications on natural systems. To date, most research on urban biodiversity has centered on temperate biomes. Conversely, drylands, collectively the largest terrestrial global biome, remain understudied. Here, we synthesize key mechanistic differences of urbanization's impacts on biodiversity across these biomes. Irrigation shapes dryland urban ecology, and can lead to greener, sometimes more biodiverse, landscapes than local wildlands. These green urban patches in drylands often have a different species composition, including many non-native and human-commensal species. Socioeconomic factors - locally and globally - can mediate how biomes shape urban biodiversity patterns through the effects of irrigation, greening, and invasive species. We advocate for more research in low-income dryland cities, and for implementing biome-specific, scientifically grounded management and policies.

Human modifications to the environment are having a dramatic effect on biodiversity, but in desert habitats the high abundance of resources near human villages may be beneficial to breeding birds. By collecting high-throughput tracking data on Argya squamiceps (Arabian Babblers), we examined whether nesting and foraging in a village increased nestling growth and development in this social, desert-dwelling species. We placed tags on 10 individuals representing 8 groups of A. squamiceps and 16 nests with nestlings, collecting 191,087 localizations (average = 1,504.6 +/- 1,067.4 SE localizations per day). Contrary to our predictions, we found that it was more beneficial for A. squamiceps to have nests farther away from villages - groups nesting farther from villages covered less area when foraging and yet had heavier nestlings. The heaviest nestlings were from nests where groups spent the highest proportion of time foraging in orchards. This suggests that some level of human resources (i.e., orchards) was beneficial but only if combined with otherwise low levels of human presence. Detailed movement data of wild birds, particularly in the context of reproductive success as used here, can further uncover the effects of human disturbance on breeding individuals. This is particularly important in dryland areas, where human impact may elicit nontrivial responses from local wildlife, and which are under-represented in such basic and applied research. Humans continue to modify natural landscapes, with potentially detrimental effects on wildlife. Understanding how animals are responding to our changing world is key for our ability to protect them. Deserts are under-researched and present a unique system to look at human disturbance, where human-modified habitat increases the presence of food and water. Here, we examined how living in a mosaic of villages, orchards, and semi-natural desert affected nestling growth in a cooperative-breeding desert bird. We asked whether groups that use the more plentiful resources around human areas had higher quality nestlings. We tracked 10 individuals from 8 groups of Argya squamiceps (Arabian Babbler) with nests that had nestlings, collecting similar to 1,000 locations per individual per day. We found the best place for a nest was where individuals could take advantage of resources while remaining apart from people-the heaviest nestlings and higher nest success were close to orchards and far from villages. Las modificaciones humanas al ambiente est & aacute;n teniendo un efecto dram & aacute;tico sobre la biodiversidad, pero en h & aacute;bitats des & eacute;rticos la alta abundancia de recursos cerca de poblados humanos puede ser beneficiosa para las aves reproductoras. Al recopilar datos de seguimiento de alta resoluci & oacute;n en Argya squamiceps, examinamos si anidar y forrajear en un poblado aumentaba el crecimiento y desarrollo de los polluelos en esta especie social, habitante del desierto. Colocamos dispositivos de seguimiento en 10 individuos que representaban 8 grupos de A. squamiceps y 16 nidos con polluelos, recolectando 191.087 localizaciones (promedio = 1.504,6 +/- 1.067,4 EE localizaciones por d & iacute;a). Contrario a nuestras predicciones, encontramos que era m & aacute;s beneficioso para A. squamiceps tener nidos m & aacute;s alejados de los poblados: los grupos que anidaban m & aacute;s lejos de los poblados cubr & iacute;an menos & aacute;rea al forrajear y, sin embargo, ten & iacute;an polluelos m & aacute;s pesados. Los polluelos m & aacute;s pesados proven & iacute;an de nidos donde los grupos pasaban la mayor proporci & oacute;n del tiempo forrajeando en huertos. Esto sugiere que cierto nivel de recursos humanos (i.e., huertos) fue beneficioso, pero solo si se combinaba con niveles bajos de presencia humana. Los datos detallados de movimiento de las aves silvestres, particularmente en el contexto del & eacute;xito reproductivo como se utiliz & oacute; aqu & iacute;, pueden revelar m & aacute;s informaci & oacute;n sobre los efectos de la perturbaci & oacute;n humana en individuos reproductores. Esto es particularmente importante en & aacute;reas & aacute;ridas, donde el impacto humano puede generar respuestas no triviales en la fauna local, y que est & aacute;n sub-representadas en este tipo de investigaci & oacute;n b & aacute;sica y aplicada.

Variation in life histories influences demographic processes, from adaptive changes to population declines leading to extinction. Among life history traits, generation length offers a critical feature to forecast species' demographic trajectories such as population declines (widely used by the IUCN Red List) and adaptability to environmental change over time. Therefore, estimates of generation length are crucial to monitor demographic stability or predict future changes in highly threatened organisms, particularly amphibians and reptiles, which are particularly threatened among vertebrates and for which uncertainty in future impacts remains high. Despite its importance, generation length for amphibians and reptiles is largely missing. Here, we aim to fill in this gap by modeling generation lengths for amphibians, squamates and testudines as a function of species size, climate, life history and phylogeny using generalized additive models and phylogenetic generalized least squares. We estimated generation lengths for 5059 (57%) amphibians, 8722 (73%) squamates and 117 (32%) testudines. Our models performed well for most families (e.g. Bufonidae among amphibians, Lacertidae and Colubridae among squamates, and Geoemydidae among testudines) while we found high uncertainty around the prediction of a few families, notably Chamaeleonidae. Species' body size and mean temperature were the main predictors of generation length in all groups. Although our estimates are not meant to substitute robust and validated measurements from field studies or natural history museums, they can help reduce existing biases in conservation assessments until field data is comprehensively available.

For desert species, human development may buffer against resource scarcity by providing reliable resources in an otherwise stark environment. We used high-throughput tracking technology to explore the movement patterns of a social desert passerine bird (the Arabian babbler—Argya quadriceps, Leiothrichidae) in a mosaic of human-modified and semi-natural habitats. From late summer to early winter, as natural food and water resources increase, we tracked 21 individuals representing 10 groups. Toward winter, groups spent less time within villages, had smaller home ranges, and were less territorial. In general, birds showed a preference for spending time in the vegetated semi-natural habitat. We further found that even a small section of uncultivated agricultural land (~2 km stretch of mostly bare dirt) can act as a movement barrier for babblers. Altogether, we highlight how the complex interaction between resource availability and anthropogenic changes to habitats, can shape animals’ responses to our changing planet.

Conservation campaigns via digital media are becoming increasingly popular amongst conservationists. However, effectively measuring their impacts remains a challenge, and campaign effectiveness often goes unmeasured. Conservation culturomics, which explores the intricate relationship between people and nature in the digital sphere, can help fill this gap. Here, we used culturomics data to evaluate impacts of two digital conservation campaigns: one regional campaign promoting the importance of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India and one global campaign using humorous skits to address broader conservation themes. Specifically, we used a synthetic control approach to analyze Wikipedia pageviews of topics featured in the two campaigns and compared these to Wikipedia pageviews of related topics that were not featured in the campaigns. We found that across 21 topics in multiple languages, the regional campaign showed limited success in boosting engagement for specific topics in local languages, whereas the global campaign had no measurable impact on Wikipedia page views. We also found evidence on negative impact for one topic in the regional campaign. Overall, we found a limited effect of the campaigns in increasing online traffic to Wikipedia, with the impact detected being associated with localized topics as opposed to global ones. The study highlights the utility of combining digital data with counterfactual-based methods for rapid, cost-effective evaluations while acknowledging the need for deeper investigation into how digital engagement translates to real-world behavior change. Future research should explore integrating digital and traditional evaluation methods to enhance the evidence base for conservation communication strategies.

Taxonomy is a highly dynamic science upon which most biodiversity studies rely. Constant revisions of species delimitation hypotheses, using ever-growing amounts of data and tools cause species numbers and identities to continuously and rapidly change. Reptiles are the most species rich terrestrial vertebrate group and are amongst the most threatened and least known vertebrate taxa, representing nearly half of all datadeficient terrestrial vertebrate species. Every year hundreds of new species are described and dozens are revised, resulting in synonymizations, splittings, generic reassignments, or elevation from synonymy or from subspecies into species status. The nomenclature of this group is therefore highly dynamic and consequently, to integrate available reptile datasets generally requires extensive nomenclature review, especially for broad scale analyses. letsRept is a new R package that integrates the Reptile Database - the best curated and reliable global taxonomic reference for reptiles - into the R programming environment. Its main functions allow users to retrieve the most up-to-date taxonomic information in real time, to compare lists of species names to current nomenclature, and to detect names that have been changed by either lumping or splitting, all through web scraping techniques. Additional functions allow to produce quick taxonomic summaries, access species accounts, retrieve full reference lists and more. By permitting to embed the Reptile Database directly into R workflows, the letsRept package improves the integration of datasets from different sources, with authoritative taxonomy, reducing data loss due to nomenclature mismatch and improving the consistency in biodiversity analyses.

Understanding disparities between scientific priorities and public discourse is critical for improving climate change communication, fostering public engagement, and supporting evidence-based policymaking. Here we investigated thematic and spatial dynamics of climate change-related content in scientific literature and social media. We focused on the Iberian Peninsula over the 2012-2022 decade, as a test case. We compared the frequency and geographical distribution of scientific research and Twitter posts that addressed the general topic of climate change and climate-related natural hazards (e.g., drought, wildfires, floods). We found a contrasting focus: while droughts (39%) were the most frequently mentioned hazard in scientific literature, wildfires (31%) dominated public discourse on social media. Spatially, scientific information was more concentrated in regions such as Andalusia, Catalonia, and northern Portugal, whereas Twitter activity showed broader engagement in central and northeastern Iberia. These thematic and spatial discrepancies suggest possible misalignments in the prioritization and perception of climate risks, which may undermine public understanding and engagement. Our findings underscore the need for communication strategies that are regionally adapted and aligned with public concerns and research priorities. Bridging these gaps is essential for fostering trust in climate science, enhancing collective action, and supporting the development of effective climate mitigation strategies.