Explore the vast range of titles available.

Two of the major limitations to effective management of coral reef ecosystems are a lack of information on the spatial distribution of marine species and a paucity of data on the interacting environmental variables that drive distributional patterns. Advances in marine remote sensing, together with the novel integration of landscape ecology and advanced niche modelling techniques provide an unprecedented opportunity to reliably model and map marine species distributions across many kilometres of coral reef ecosystems. We developed a multi-scale approach using three-dimensional seafloor morphology and across-shelf location to predict spatial distributions for five common Caribbean fish species. Seascape topography was quantified from high resolution bathymetry at five spatial scales (5-300 m radii) surrounding fish survey sites. Model performance and map accuracy was assessed for two high performing machine-learning algorithms: Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) and Maximum Entropy Species Distribution Modelling (MaxEnt). The three most important predictors were geographical location across the shelf, followed by a measure of topographic complexity. Predictor contribution differed among species, yet rarely changed across spatial scales. BRT provided 'outstanding' model predictions (AUC = >0.9) for three of five fish species. MaxEnt provided 'outstanding' model predictions for two of five species, with the remaining three models considered 'excellent' (AUC = 0.8-0.9). In contrast, MaxEnt spatial predictions were markedly more accurate (92% map accuracy) than BRT (68% map accuracy). We demonstrate that reliable spatial predictions for a range of key fish species can be achieved by modelling the interaction between the geographical location across the shelf and the topographic heterogeneity of seafloor structure. This multi-scale, analytic approach is an important new cost-effective tool to accurately delineate essential fish habitat and support conservation prioritization in marine protected area design, zoning in marine spatial planning, and ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Methods of reconstructing changes in plant traits over long time scales are needed to understand the impact of changing environmental conditions on ecosystem processes and services. Although Holocene pollen have been extensively used to provide records of vegetation history, few studies have adopted a functional trait approach that is pertinent to changes in ecosystem processes. Here, for woody and herbaceous fen peatland communities, we use modern pollen and vegetation data combined with pollen records from Holocene deposits to reconstruct vegetation functional dynamics. The six traits chosen (measures of leaf area-to-mass ratio and leaf nutrient content) are known to modulate species' fitness and to vary with changes in ecosystem processes. We fitted linear mixed effects models between community weighted mean (CWM) trait values of the modern pollen and vegetation to determine whether traits assigned to pollen types could be used to reconstruct traits found in the vegetation from pollen assemblages. We used relative pollen productivity (RPP) correction factors in an attempt to improve this relationship. For traits showing the best fit between modern pollen and vegetation, we applied the model to dated Holocene pollen sequences from Fenland and Romney Marsh in eastern and southern England and reconstructed temporal changes in trait composition. RPP adjustment did not improve the linear relationship between modern pollen and vegetation. Leaf nutrient traits (leaf C and N) were generally more predictable from pollen data than mass-area traits. We show that inferences about biomass accumulation and decomposition rates can be made using Holocene trait reconstructions. While it is possible to reconstruct community-level trends for some leaf traits from pollen assemblages preserved in sedimentary archives in wetlands, we show the importance of testing methods in modern systems first and encourage further development of this approach to address issues concerning the pollen-plant abundance relationship and pollen source area.

Background Digital health apps have been shown to influence healthy eating, but whether they can promote environmentally friendly diets remains unclear. In countries where diets typically contain a high proportion of carbon-intensive foods (e.g., meat), transitioning to healthier alternatives (e.g., fruit, vegetables, and legumes) can substantially reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions while also improving public health. Our systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mobile apps in facilitating more sustainable and healthier diets among adults from high-income countries. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Global Health, GreenFILE, Web of Science, Cochrane Trials, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception until Jan 20, 2025. We included studies that reported the effects of app-based behavioural interventions on the consumption of fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish, dairy, and/or meat, compared to a control, baseline period, or different intervention. For outcomes measured in at least two studies, we conducted random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression to understand population differences and the role of specific intervention components. Results Of the 7356 records screened, 21 were included. Nine studies scored ‘high’, 10 scored ‘fair’, and two scored ‘low’ for reporting transparency. Combined, the studies analysed 12,898 participants, interventions lasted from three days to six months, and outcomes were assessed up to 12 months post-intervention. Forty percent of studies targeted populations with at least one health risk factor and 81% of study populations did not meet dietary guidelines at baseline for their primary outcome. Meta-analyses indicated that app use led to increased fruit and vegetable consumption (0.48 portions/day, 95% CI 0.18, 0.78, p  = 0.002) and a small decrease in meat consumption (-0.10 portions/day, 95% CI -0.16, -0.03, p  = 0.004), with meat-focussed apps showing as more effective than general apps for meat reduction. Meta-regression also revealed that message-based content was particularly effective in promoting meat reduction. There were no pronounced effects on legume or dairy consumption, or differences across populations. Conclusion Our results indicate that apps could be a valuable addition to the multiple interventions required to promote sustainable diets. However, to strengthen the evidence for outcomes beyond fruit and vegetables, we need standardised reporting of populations and intervention components.

Climate and land cover change are driving a major reorganization of terrestrial biotic communities in tropical ecosystems. In an effort to understand how biodiversity patterns in the tropics will respond to individual and combined effects of these two drivers of environmental change, we use species distribution models (SDMs) calibrated for recent climate and land cover variables and projected to future scenarios to predict changes in diversity patterns in Madagascar. We collected occurrence records for 828 plant genera and 2186 plant species. We developed three scenarios, (i.e., climate only, land cover only and combined climate-land cover) based on recent and future climate and land cover variables. We used this modelling framework to investigate how the impacts of changes to climate and land cover influenced biodiversity across ecoregions and elevation bands. There were large-scale climate- and land cover-driven changes in plant biodiversity across Madagascar, including both losses and gains in diversity. The sharpest declines in biodiversity were projected for the eastern escarpment and high elevation ecosystems. Sharp declines in diversity were driven by the combined climate-land cover scenarios; however, there were subtle, region-specific differences in model outputs for each scenario, where certain regions experienced relatively higher species loss under climate or land cover only models. We strongly caution that predicted future gains in plant diversity will depend on the development and maintenance of dispersal pathways that connect current and future suitable habitats. The forecast for Madagascar's plant diversity in the face of future environmental change is worrying: regional diversity will continue to decrease in response to the combined effects of climate and land cover change, with habitats such as ericoid thickets and eastern lowland and sub-humid forests particularly vulnerable into the future.

Ecological perturbations can either be necessary for maintaining tropical forest diversity or responsible for its decline, depending on the scale, nature, and frequency of the disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbances such as logging and subsistence agriculture may promote the establishment of nonnative, invasive plant species, potentially affecting forest structure and diversity even long after the perturbation has ceased. We investigated the impacts of logging 50 and 150 years ago on tropical forest vegetation in Madagascar, a \"hotspot\" of biodiversity. Logging was the overriding factor influencing establishment of nonnative plants. Sites once logged never recovered native species diversity because of the dominance and persistence of invasive species.

Deforestation and forest degradation are major drivers of global environmental change and tropical forests are subjected to unprecedented pressures from both. For most tropical zones, deforestation rates are averaged across entire countries, often without highlighting regional differentiation. There are also very few estimates of forest degradation, either averaged or localized for the tropics. We quantified regional and country‐wide changes in deforestation and forest degradation rates for Madagascar from Landsat temporal data (in two intervals, 1994–2002 and 2002–2014). To our knowledge, this is the first country‐wide estimate of forest degradation for Madagascar. We also performed an intensity analysis to categorize the magnitude and speed of transitions between forest, vegetation matrix, cultivated land and exposed surface. We found significant regional heterogeneity in deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation rates decreased annually in lowland evergreen moist forest by −0.24% and in all other vegetation zones. Forest degradation rates had annual increases in the same period in lowland evergreen moist forest (0.09%), littoral forest (0.06%) but decreased in medium altitude moist evergreen forest (−0.25%), dry deciduous forest (−0.23%) and scelrophyllous woodland (−0.61%) in the same period. Despite these regional differences, higher rates of deforestation and forest degradation were consistently driven by rapid and large‐sized conversions of largely intact forest to cultivated lands and exposed surfaces, most of which occurred between 1994 and 2002. These results suggest that while targeted conservation projects may have reduced forest degradation rates in some areas (e.g. medium altitude moist evergreen forest), the drivers of land cover change remain intense in relatively neglected regions. We advocate a more balanced approach to future conservation initiatives, one recognizing that deforestation and forest degradation, particularly in tropical Africa, are often driven by region‐specific conditions and therefore require conservation policies tailored for local conditions. Deforestation and forest degradation are major drivers of land cover change in tropical regions. Yet, regional differences exist. To address these nuances, sub‐pixel analysis was applied to discriminate forest loss at regional scales, especially those caused by forest degradation in a biodiversity hotspot. The results obtained can serve as a guide towards meaningful conservation interventions.

Biodiversity plays an integral role in the livelihoods of subsistence-based forest-dwelling communities and as a consequence it is increasingly important to develop quantitative approaches that capture not only changes in taxonomic diversity, but also variation in natural resources and provisioning services. We apply a functional diversity metric originally developed for addressing questions in community ecology to assess utilitarian diversity of 56 forest plots in Madagascar. The use categories for utilitarian plants were determined using expert knowledge and household questionnaires. We used a null model approach to examine the utilitarian (functional) diversity and utilitarian redundancy present within ecological communities. Additionally, variables that might influence fluctuations in utilitarian diversity and redundancy--specifically number of felled trees, number of trails, basal area, canopy height, elevation, distance from village--were analyzed using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Eighteen of the 56 plots showed utilitarian diversity values significantly higher than expected. This result indicates that these habitats exhibited a low degree of utilitarian redundancy and were therefore comprised of plants with relatively distinct utilitarian properties. One implication of this finding is that minor losses in species richness may result in reductions in utilitarian diversity and redundancy, which may limit local residents' ability to switch between alternative choices. The GLM analysis showed that the most predictive model included basal area, canopy height and distance from village, which suggests that variation in utilitarian redundancy may be a result of local residents harvesting resources from the protected area. Our approach permits an assessment of the diversity of provisioning services available to local communities, offering unique insights that would not be possible using traditional taxonomic diversity measures. These analyses introduce another tool available to conservation biologists for assessing how future losses in biodiversity will lead to a reduction in natural resources and provisioning services from forests.

Global food systems are currently challenged by unsustainable and unhealthy consumption and production practices. Food labelling provides information on key characteristics of food items, thereby potentially driving more sustainable food choices or demands. This review explores how consumers value three different elements of sustainable diets: Comparing consumer response to nutrition information on food labels against environmental and/or social responsibility information. Six databases were systematically searched for studies examining consumer choice/preference/evaluation of nutrition against environmental and/or social responsibility attributes on food labels. Studies were quality assessed against domain-based criteria and reported using PRISMA guidelines. Thirty articles with 19,040 participants met inclusion criteria. Study quality was mixed, with samples biased towards highly-educated females. Environmental and social responsibility attributes were preferred to nutrition attributes in 17 studies (11 environmental and six social), compared to nine where nutrition attributes were valued more highly. Three studies found a combination of attributes were valued more highly than either attribute in isolation. One study found no significant preference. The most preferred attribute was organic labelling, with a health inference likely. Consumers generally have a positive view of environmental and social responsibility food labelling schemes. Combination labelling has potential, with a mix of sustainable diet attributes appearing well-received.

This study is part of the research undertaken in the EU funded project CLYMBOL (“Role of health-related CLaims and sYMBOLs in consumer behaviour”). The first phase of this project consisted of mapping the prevalence of symbolic and non-symbolic nutrition and health-related claims (NHC) on foods and non-alcoholic beverages in five European countries. Pre-packaged foods and drinks were sampled based on a standardized sampling protocol, using store lists or a store floor plan. Data collection took place across five countries, in three types of stores. A total of 2034 foods and drinks were sampled and packaging information was analyzed. At least one claim was identified for 26% (95% CI (24.0%–27.9%)) of all foods and drinks sampled. Six percent of these claims were symbolic. The majority of the claims were nutrition claims (64%), followed by health claims (29%) and health-related ingredient claims (6%). The most common health claims were nutrient and other function claims (47% of all claims), followed by disease risk reduction claims (5%). Eight percent of the health claims were children’s development and health claims but these were only observed on less than 1% (0.4%–1.1%) of the foods. The category of foods for specific dietary use had the highest proportion of NHC (70% of foods carried a claim). The prevalence of symbolic and non-symbolic NHC varies across European countries and between different food categories. This study provides baseline data for policy makers and the food industry to monitor and evaluate the use of claims on food packaging.

Aims Trade-offs between slow and fast nutrient turnover rates among plants may affect soil properties and biomass production. We examined how plant traits interact with abiotic variables to modulate ecosystem properties (soil C, soil C/N ratio, aboveground biomass) in peatlands. Methods We determined the interacting effects of abiotic variables (vegetation management, water table height) and leaf traits (specific leaf area, leaf dry-matter content, leaf C/N ratio) on ecosystem properties in two lowland fens in East Anglia, UK using structural equation modelling. Results Our models explained between 21% and 95% of the variability in ecosystem properties. Leaf traits directly influenced soil nutrient content and plant biomass and mediated the effects of abiotic variables on ecosystem properties. Abiotic variables exerted larger effects on ecosystem properties among herbaceous communities, but leaf traits were equally important when modelling all communities in combination. Conclusions The expected trade-offs between exploitative and conservative life strategies among species scaled-up to changes in soil properties and biomass production, even in fen habitats where abiotic variables play an important role through marked seasonal variations. Our findings suggest an important role of leaf economics in the functioning of fens, but their effects on ecosystems may be highly dependent on local conditions.