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The impact of multiple disturbances on populations could be synergistic or antagonistic via disturbance interaction and are considered to be provoked by alternation of the impact of an ecosystem disturbance due to the effect of a preceding disturbance. The impact of a focal disturbance can also change when a preceding disturbance alters the proportion of individuals in a population exposed to these disturbances (i.e., interaction exposure effects), although this effect has not been addressed to date. Herein, we propose and test interaction exposure effects by elucidating disturbance interactions between canopy gap formation and ungulate grazing. Based on a vegetation and seed bank survey conducted on an island in Hokkaido, northern Japan, we examined whether canopy openness changes the impact of ungulate grazing on the occurrence probability of palatable plant species through the facilitation of germination. Species occurrence in the seed bank significantly decreased with increasing canopy openness under the presence of grazing; however, it slightly increased under the absence of grazing, suggesting that gap creation, which facilitates germination, exposes the seed bank to ungulate grazing. Because disturbances of various types often modify the habitat structure, these proposed disturbance interactions are expected to operate within various ecosystems and taxa.

Meta‐analysis plays a crucial role in syntheses of quantitative evidence in ecology and biodiversity conservation. The reliability of estimates in meta‐analyses strongly depends on unbiased sampling of primary studies. Although earlier studies have explored potential biases in ecological meta‐analyses, biases in reported statistical results and associated study characteristics published in different languages have never been tested in environmental sciences. We address this knowledge gap by systematically searching published meta‐analyses and comparing effect‐size estimates between English‐ and Japanese‐language studies included in existing meta‐analyses. Of the 40 published ecological meta‐analysis articles authored by those affiliated to Japanese institutions, we find that three meta‐analysis articles searched for studies in the two languages and involved sufficient numbers of English‐ and Japanese‐language studies, resulting in four eligible meta‐analyses (i.e., four meta‐analyses conducted in the three meta‐analysis articles). In two of the four, effect sizes differ significantly between the English‐ and Japanese‐language studies included in the meta‐analyses, causing considerable changes in overall mean effect sizes and even their direction when Japanese‐language studies are excluded. The observed differences in effect sizes are likely attributable to systematic differences in reported statistical results and associated study characteristics, particularly taxa and ecosystems, between English‐ and Japanese‐language studies. Despite being based on a small sample size, our findings suggest that ignoring non‐English‐language studies may bias outcomes of ecological meta‐analyses, due to systematic differences in study characteristics and effect‐size estimates between English‐ and non‐English languages. We provide a list of actions that meta‐analysts could take in the future to reduce the risk of language bias. 摘要 元分析在生态学和生物多样性保护定量证据的合成中起着至关重要的作用。元分析中估计的可靠性在很大程度上取决于对初级研究的公正抽样。虽然早期的研究已经探索了生态元分析的潜在偏差，但以不同语言发表的报告的统计结果和相关研究特征的偏差从未在环境科学中测试过。我们通过系统地搜索已发布的元分析，并比较现有元分析中包含的英语和日语研究之间的效应量估计值，来解决这种知识差距。在由日本研究机构下属机构撰写的40篇已发表的生态元分析文章中，我们发现有三篇元分析文章搜索了这两种语言的研究，涉及足够数量的英语和日语研究，产生了4个合资格的元分析（即三篇元分析文章中进行的四个元分析）。在这四个元分析的两个中，元分析中所包含的英语和日语研究之间的效应量差别很大，在排除日语研究时，导致总体平均效应量甚至其走向发生显著变化。观察到的效应量差异可能归因于英语和日语研究之间报告的统计结果以及相关研究特征，特别是分类和生态系统的系统性差异。尽管基于较小的样本量，我们的发现表明，由于英语和非英语语言之间在研究特征和效应量估计方面存在着系统性差异，因而忽视非英语研究可能会使生态元分析的结果有偏差。我们提供了一份元分析人员将来可能采取的一些行动的列表，以降低语言偏差的风险。 Résumé La méta‐analyse joue un rôle essentiel dans les synthèses de preuves quantitatives en écologie et en conservation de la biodiversité. La fiabilité des estimations dans les méta‐analyses dépend fortement d’un échantillonnage non biaisé des études primaires. Bien que des études antérieures aient examiné les biais potentiels dans les méta‐analyses écologiques, les biais n’ont jamais été mis à l’épreuve dans les sciences de l’environnement lors de publications dans différentes langues de résultats statistiques enregistrés et de caractéristiques des études associées. Nous abordons cette lacune dans les connaissances en recherchant de manière systématique des méta‐analyses publiées et en comparant les estimations d’ampleur de l’effet entre des études en anglais et en japonais figurant dans les méta‐analyses existantes. Sur 40 articles publiés de méta‐analyse écologique dont les auteurs sont affiliés à des institutions japonaises, nous trouvons que trois articles de méta‐analyse ont recherché des études dans les deux langues et ont mis en jeu des nombres suffisants d’études en anglais et en japonais, avec pour résultat quatre méta‐analyses admissibles (c.‐à‐d. quatre méta‐analyses effectuées dans les trois articles de méta‐analyse). Dans deux de ces quatre cas, les ampleurs de l’effet diffèrent de façon significative entre les études en japonais et en anglais comprises dans les méta‐analyses, ce qui provoque des changements considérables dans les ampleurs moyennes globales de l’effet et même dans leur direction lorsque les études en japonais sont exclues. On peut probablement attribuer les différences observées dans les ampleurs de l’effet entre les études en japonais et en anglais, en particulier en ce qui concerne les taxons et les écosystèmes, aux différences systématiques dans les résultats statistiques enregistrés, de même que dans les caractéristiques des études associées. Bien que basés sur un échantillon de petite taille, nos résultats suggèrent que le fait d’ignorer les études non anglophones peut biaiser les résultats de méta‐analyses écologiques en raison des différences systématiques dans les caractéristiques d’étude et les estimations d’ampleur de l’effet entre langue anglaise et langues non anglophones. Nous proposons une liste de mesures qui pourraient être adoptées à l’avenir dans les méta‐analyses pour réduire le risque de biais linguistique. 要旨 メタ分析は、生態学や生物多様性保全における定量的エビデンスの統合において重要な役割を果たしている。メタ分析における推定値の信頼性は、偏りのない一次研究の収集に大きく依存する。生態学におけるメタ分析で生じる様々なバイアスの可能性はこれまでの研究でも検討されてきたが、異なる言語で発表される統計結果や研究の特性にバイアスが存在するかどうかは、環境科学の分野では検証されたことがなかった。そこで本研究では、既存のメタ分析を系統的に検索し、そこで利用されている英語で発表された研究と日本語で発表された研究の間で効果サイズの推定値を比較した。日本の研究機関に所属する研究者が執筆した40の生態学におけるメタ分析論文のうち、3つのメタ分析論文のみが一次研究を2言語で検索し、その結果十分な数の英語研究と日本語研究を解析の対象としていた。そこで本研究では、この3つのメタ分析論文に含まれた4つのメタ分析を対象として用いた。4つのうち2つのメタ分析では、利用された英語研究と日本語研究で効果サイズが大きく異なり、日本語研究を除外した場合には、全体の平均効果サイズやその方向性までもが大きく変化することが明らかになった。このような効果サイズの違いは、英語研究と日本語研究で報告された統計結果や研究の特性（特に分類や生態系）が系統的に異なることに起因している可能性が高い。本研究では多くのメタ分析を対象にすることはできなかったものの、ここで得られた知見は、異なる言語で発表された研究間でその特性や効果サイズの推定値に系統的な違いがあるため、英語以外の研究を除外すると生態学におけるメタ分析の結果にバイアスが生じる可能性があることを示唆している。最後に、このようなメタ分析における言語バイアスのリスクを軽減するために有効であると考えられる対策についても提案を行う。 Resumo A metanálise desempenha um papel crucial na síntese de evidências quantitativas na ecologia e conservação da biodiversidade. A confiabilidade das estimativas nas metanálises depende fortemente da amostragem imparcial de estudos primários. Embora estudos anteriores tenham explorado possíveis vieses em metanálises ecológicas, os vieses nos resultados estatísticos relatados e características de estudos associados publicados em diferentes idiomas nunca foram testados em ciências ambientais. Abordamos essa lacuna de conhecimento pesquisando sistematicamente metanálises publicadas e comparando estimativas de tamanho de efeito entre os estudos em inglês e japonês incluídos nas metanálises existentes. Dos 40 artigos de metanálise ecológica publicados por autores filiados a instituições japonesas, descobrimos que três artigos de metanálise pesquisaram estudos nos dois idiomas e envolveram um número suficiente de estudos em inglês e japonês, resultando em quatro metanálises elegíveis (ou seja, quatro metanálises realizadas nos três artigos de metanálise). Em duas das quatro metanálises, os tamanhos de efeito diferem significativamente entre os estudos em inglês e japonês incluídos nas metanálises, causando mudanças consideráveis nos tamanhos de efeito médios em geral e até mesmo na sua direção quando os estudos em japonês são excluídos. As diferenças observadas nos tamanhos de efeito provavelmente são atribuíveis a diferenças sistemáticas nos resultados estatísticos relatados, bem como às características de estudos associados, particularmente táxons e ecossistemas, entre estudos em inglês e japonês. Embora baseados em um pequeno tamanho amostral, nossos resultados sugerem que ignorar estudos que não sejam em inglês pode influenciar os resultados de metanálises ecológicas, devido a diferenças sistemáticas nas características dos estudos e estimativas de tamanho de efeito entre o idioma inglês e o não‐inglês. Fornecemos uma lista de medidas que metanalistas podem adotar no futuro para reduzir o risco de viés de idioma. Resumen El meta‐análisis juega un papel crucial en la síntesis de evidencia cuantitativa en ecología y conservación de la biodiversidad. La fiabilidad de las estimaciones en los meta‐análisis depende en gran medida del muestreo imparcial de los estudios primarios. A pesar de que estudios previos han explorado posibles sesgos en meta‐análisis ecológicos, sesgos en resultados estadísticos y características asociadas al estudio publicados en diferentes idiomas nunca han sido comprobados en ciencias ambientales. Abordamos esta brecha de conocimiento buscando sistemáticamente los meta‐análisis publicados y comparando las estimaciones del tamaño del efecto entre los estudios en inglés y japonés incluidos en los meta‐análisis existentes. De los 40 artículos de meta‐análisis ecológicos publicados por aquellos afiliados a instituciones japonesas, encontramos que tres artículos de meta‐análisis buscaron estudios en dos idiomas e involucraron un número suficiente de estudios en inglés y japonés, lo que resultó en cuatro meta‐análisis elegibles (i.e., cuatro meta‐análisis realizados en tres artículos de meta‐análisis). En dos de los cuatro, los tamaños de los efectos difieren significativamente entre los estudios en inglés y japonés incluidos en los meta‐análisis, lo que provoca cambios considerables en los tamaños de efectos medios generales e incluso su dirección cuando se excluyen los estudios en japonés. Las diferencias observadas en los tamaños de los efectos son probablemente atribuibles a las diferencias sistemáticas en los resultados estadísticos informados, así como a las características de los estudios asociados, particularmente los taxones y los ecosistemas, entre los estudios en inglés y japonés. A pesar de estar basados ​​en un tamaño de muestra pequeño, nuestros hallazgos sugieren que ignorar los estudios que no están en inglés puede sesgar los resultados de los meta‐análisis ecológicos, debido a las diferencias sistemáticas en las características del estudio y a las estimaciones del tamaño del efecto entre el idioma inglés y el no inglés. Proporcionamos una lista de acciones que los meta‐analistas podrían tomar en el futuro para reducir el riesgo de sesgo lingüístico. Ignoring non‐English‐language literature may bias outcomes of ecological meta‐analyses, due t

Hiking trails, as anthropogenic linear habitats in highly protected mountain areas, allow the spread of alien plant species. Here, we focused on hiking trails extending away from high-elevation ropeway termini in Japan and assessed whether alien plant species that invaded the termini (i.e., trail heads) have spread along the trails. We recorded alien plant species along hiking trails leading from ropeway termini on seven mountains and analyzed the plant characteristics that influence their occurrence. The number of alien plant species along the trails and the number of records of their occurrence were positively affected by the number of species around the trail heads, and were negatively affected by the elevation of the trail head. A species-level analysis indicated that the number of records of each species’ occurrence on trails was higher with the presence of each species around the trail head, with perennial life-span, and with a smaller seed mass. Our results show that hiking trails leading away from high-elevation ropeway termini can spread alien plant species up to a distance of ca. 700 m into alpine communities. This study provides evidence of the role of hiking trails in the spread of alien plant species into subalpine and alpine zones.

Biological atlas data can be used as inputs into conservation decision-making, yet atlases are sometimes infrequently updated, which can be problematic when the distribution of species is changing rapidly. Despite this, we have a poor understanding of strategies for efficiently updating biological atlas data. Using atlases of the distributions of 1630 threatened plant taxa, we quantitatively compared the informativeness of narrowly distributed and widespread taxa in identifying areas that meet taxon-specific conservation targets, and also measured the cost-efficiency of meeting those targets. We also explored the underlying mechanisms of the informativeness of narrowly distributed taxa. Overall, narrowly distributed taxa are far more informative than widespread taxa for identifying areas that efficiently meet conservation targets, while their informativeness for identifying cost-efficient areas varied depending on the type of conservation target. Narrowly distributed taxa are informative mainly because their distributions disproportionately capture areas that are either relatively taxon rich or taxon poor, and because of larger number of taxa captured with given number of records. Where resources for updating biological data are limited, a focus on areas supporting many narrowly distributed taxa could benefit conservation planning.

An understanding of relationships between species diversity and disturbance gradient is important to comprehend the role of disturbances in the structure of plant communities. Although some studies have demonstrated incongruence in diversity–disturbance relationships (hereafter DDRs) between aboveground vegetation and soil seedbank, the process that causes the difference remains unclear. This incongruence between the two DDRs could result in the decrease in the source of recovery of aboveground vegetation following disturbances being overlooked when only aboveground vegetation is surveyed. Here, we verified a process that species turnover across the disturbance gradient causes the incongruence. Based on a vegetation and seedbank survey, we examined DDRs and species turnover of aboveground vegetation and seedbank along disturbance duration (i.e., excluding years of ungulate grazing). The degree of species turnover was considerably greater in aboveground vegetation than in seedbank; thus, the degree of species turnover along a disturbance gradient caused the difference in DDR between aboveground vegetation and seedbank.

Conservation biologists have a daunting task of understanding the causes of species decline associated with anthropogenic factors and predicting the extinction risk of a growing number of endangered species. By reducing variances of estimates with information on closely related species, phylogenetic information among species can bridge gaps in information on species with small range sizes when modelling large numbers of endangered species. However, modelling many species with the Gaussian process (GP), which underlies the evolutionary process of phylogenetic random effects, remains a challenge owing to the computational burden in estimating the large variance–covariance matrix. Here, we applied a phylogenetic generalised mixed model with random slopes and random intercepts to 1010 endangered vascular plant taxa in Japan following phylogenetic GPs implemented by nearest neighbour GP (NNGP) approximation. NNGP enables flexibility in changing the proximity on the phylogenetic tree of species from which information is borrowed to reduce the variances of estimates with a realistic computational burden. We evaluated the effectiveness of phylogenetic models by comparing the predictive performance and descriptive power of phylogenetic and non‐phylogenetic models and identified the anthropogenic factors contributing to the decline of each of the studied endangered species. We found that the model with phylogenetic information had better prediction performance than the model without phylogenetic information. The results showed that across all explanatory variables, the phylogenetic model could detect interspecific differences in response to environmental factors in a number of species more clearly. Combined with the phylogenetic signal results, we could also detect a phylogenetic bias in the species that could benefit from the positive effects of protected areas but reduce the local extinctions of 95% of all studied taxa. In conclusion, our model, considering phylogenetic information with NNGP , allows the elucidation of factors causing the decline of many endangered species. In future analyses, the estimation of extinction probability linked to environmental change might be applied to future climate–land use scenarios, advancing the comprehensive assessment of biodiversity degradation and threats to species at multiple scales.

Aim: Abandoned lands are expanding globally due to depopulation in rural areas; biodiversity is declining due to the cessation of traditional management practices. However, the awareness of abandonment as a serious threat is still limited. Knowledge of the influence of the responsible factors on the assessment of regional extinction risk of species due to abandonment is sparse although it is indispensable for conservation decision-making. This study aimed to clarify the influence of the heterogeneity in abandonment risk and interspecies differences in sensitivity to abandonment on regional species extinction risk and to identify the attributes of the species whose extinction risk is prone to be assessed inaccurately by ignoring the abandonment risk. Location: Awaji Island, Hyogo, Western Japan. Methods: We assessed the extinction risk of 64 species of macrophytes under four scenarios: 2 × 2 combinations whether to incorporate interspecies differences in sensitivity to abandonment and the abandonment risk, respectively. Results: Ignoring the abandonment risk overestimated the extinction risk of most species by 10%, whereas ignoring interspecies differences in sensitivity did not significantly affect the extinction risk. Ignoring the abandonment risk overestimated the extinction risk of emergent plants by 12%, whereas it underestimated that of free-floating plants or threatened plants by 5%. Spatial bias in abandonment risk markedly reduced the correlation between the extinction risk and the frequency of species occurrence. Main conclusions: The abandonment risk was more effective in accurately assessing the extinction risk due to abandonment than interspecies differences in sensitivity. Extinction risk of emergent, free-floating or threatened species were assessed inaccurately by ignoring the abandonment risk. Focusing only on the area of occurrence or the extent of occurrence of a species as a surrogate for its extinction risk is likely to produce inaccurate assessments, and thus should be avoided.

Aim We studied global variation in beta diversity patterns of lake macrophytes using regional data from across the world. Specifically, we examined (1) how beta diversity of aquatic macrophytes is partitioned between species turnover and nestedness within each study region, and (2) which environmental characteristics structure variation in these beta diversity components. Location Global. Methods We used presence–absence data for aquatic macrophytes from 21 regions distributed around the world. We calculated pairwise-site and multiple-site beta diversity among lakes within each region using Sørensen dissimilarity index and partitioned it into turnover and nestedness coefficients. Beta regression was used to correlate the diversity coefficients with regional environmental characteristics. Results Aquatic macrophytes showed different levels of beta diversity within each of the 21 study regions, with species turnover typically accounting for the majority of beta diversity, especially in high-diversity regions. However, nestedness contributed 30–50% of total variation in macrophyte beta diversity in low-diversity regions. The most important environmental factor explaining the three beta diversity coefficients (total, species turnover and nestedness) was elevation range, followed by relative areal extent of freshwater, latitude and water alkalinity range. Main conclusions Our findings show that global patterns in beta diversity of lake macrophytes are caused by species turnover rather than by nestedness. These patterns in beta diversity were driven by natural environmental heterogeneity, notably variability in elevation range (also related to temperature variation) among regions. In addition, a greater range in alkalinity within a region, likely amplified by human activities, was also correlated with increased macrophyte beta diversity. These findings suggest that efforts to conserve aquatic macrophyte diversity should primarily focus on regions with large numbers of lakes that exhibit broad environmental gradients.

This study examined sampling limitations when tourists' own mobile phones are used for visitor monitoring in a protected area. In Nikko National Park, Japan, we collected GPS tracking information from respondents' mobile phones and investigated sociodemographic attributes of participants and nonparticipants in the survey. The participation rate for GPS data collection was low (15%). A major reason not to participate was technical unfamiliarity in using their own mobile phones as a tracking tool. Meanwhile, participants were biased toward visitors who were younger, more technology friendly, staying longer, coming from a greater distance, and being first-time or group visitors. A practical challenge for GPS data collection was the diversity of mobile phones. We conclude that further development of user-friendly tracking applications compatible with a wide variety of mobile phones could ease visitors' technical concerns, make it easier to use GPS tracking, increase participation rates, and reduce data bias.

Propagule supply and habitat suitability strongly influence the success of invasive alien plants. Thus, an invaded area is likely to have an adequate propagule supply, a suitable habitat, or both for species persistence. Based on this idea, we classified invaded areas into four categories as follows but with establishment still occurring in some cases: Class 1, adequate propagule supply and habitat suitability; Class 2, adequate propagule supply but limited habitat suitability; Class 3, limited propagule supply and adequate habitat suitability; and Class 4, mid- to low-level propagule supply and habitat suitability. We propose a framework for the classification of invaded areas into these four classes and present a case study in which this framework was applied. Classifying target areas in this manner could facilitate more efficient and practical management planning, thereby saving time and resources. We selected the alien shrub Leucaena leucocephala L. (Fabaceae) as a model species, which has invaded the Nakodo-jima Island in the Ogasawara Archipelago of Japan. We developed a species distribution model by incorporating proxy variables for propagule supply and habitat suitability as well as submodels for propagule supply or habitat suitability. Using these submodels, we estimated the levels of propagule supply and habitat suitability in each, and classified the current distribution range appropriately. Using these classifications, land managers could set priorities to concentrate their efforts to efficiently control target species.