Repository logo
 
Publication

Towards evidence‐based conservation of subterranean ecosystems

2022Journal article Open access
Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMammola, Stefano
dc.contributor.authorMeierhofer, Melissa B.
dc.contributor.authorBorges, Paulo A. V.
dc.contributor.authorColado, Raquel
dc.contributor.authorCulver, David C.
dc.contributor.authorDeharveng, Louis
dc.contributor.authorDelić, Teo
dc.contributor.authorDi Lorenzo, Tiziana
dc.contributor.authorDražina, Tvrtko
dc.contributor.authorFerreira, Rodrigo Lopes
dc.contributor.authorFiasca, Barbara
dc.contributor.authorFišer, Cene
dc.contributor.authorGalassi, Diana M. P.
dc.contributor.authorGarzoli, Laura
dc.contributor.authorGerovasileiou, Vasilis
dc.contributor.authorGriebler, Christian
dc.contributor.authorHalse, Stuart
dc.contributor.authorHowarth, Francis G.
dc.contributor.authorIsaia, Marco
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, Joseph S.
dc.contributor.authorKomerički, Ana
dc.contributor.authorMartínez, Alejandro
dc.contributor.authorMilano, Filippo
dc.contributor.authorMoldovan, Oana T.
dc.contributor.authorNanni, Veronica
dc.contributor.authorNicolosi, Giuseppe
dc.contributor.authorNiemiller, Matthew L.
dc.contributor.authorPallarés, Susana
dc.contributor.authorPavlek, Martina
dc.contributor.authorPiano, Elena
dc.contributor.authorPipan, Tanja
dc.contributor.authorSanchez‐Fernandez, David
dc.contributor.authorSantangeli, Andrea
dc.contributor.authorSchmidt, Susanne I.
dc.contributor.authorWynne, J. Judson
dc.contributor.authorZagmajster, Maja
dc.contributor.authorZakšek, Valerija
dc.contributor.authorCardoso, Pedro
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-29T13:45:07Z
dc.date.available2022-11-29T13:45:07Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractSubterranean ecosystems are among the most widespread environments on Earth, yet we still have poor knowledge of their biodiversity. To raise awareness of subterranean ecosystems, the essential services they provide, and their unique conservation challenges, 2021 and 2022 were designated International Years of Caves and Karst. As these ecosystems have traditionally been overlooked in global conservation agendas and multilateral agreements, a quantitative assessment of solution-based approaches to safeguard subterranean biota and associated habitats is timely. This assessment allows researchers and practitioners to understand the progress made and research needs in subterranean ecology and management. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature focused on subterranean ecosystems globally (terrestrial, freshwater, and saltwater systems), to quantify the available evidence-base for the effectiveness of conservation interventions. We selected 708 publications from the years 1964 to 2021 that discussed, recommended, or implemented 1,954 conservation interventions in subterranean ecosystems. We noted a steep increase in the number of studies from the 2000s while, surprisingly, the proportion of studies quantifying the impact of conservation interventions has steadily and significantly decreased in recent years. The effectiveness of 31% of conservation interventions has been tested statistically. We further highlight that 64% of the reported research occurred in the Palearctic and Nearctic biogeographic regions. Assessments of the effectiveness of conservation interventions were heavily biased towards indirect measures (monitoring and risk assessment), a limited sample of organisms (mostly arthropods and bats), and more accessible systems (terrestrial caves). Our results indicate that most conservation science in the field of subterranean biology does not apply a rigorous quantitative approach, resulting in sparse evidence for the effectiveness of interventions. This raises the important question of how to make conservation efforts more feasible to implement, cost-effective, and long-lasting. Although there is no single remedy, we propose a suite of potential solutions to focus our efforts better towards increasing statistical testing and stress the importance of standardising study reporting to facilitate meta-analytical exercises. We also provide a database summarising the available literature, which will help to build quantitative knowledge about interventions likely to yield the greatest impacts depending upon the subterranean species and habitats of interest. We view this as a starting point to shift away from the widespread tendency of recommending conservation interventions based on anecdotal and expert-based information rather than scientific evidence, without quantitatively testing their effectiveness.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study is funded by the European Commission via the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships program (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019; project number 882221), awarded to S.M. Additional support is provided by the PRIN SHOWCAVE "A multidisciplinary research project to study, classify and mitigate the environmental impact in tourist caves" (project number 2017HTXT2R; funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research). M.B.M. acknowledges support from the Kone Foundation (project number 202007611). T.D., C.F., V.Z., and M.Z. were supported by the Slovenian Research Agency, through core programme P1-0184 and P6-0119. O.T.M. was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI-UEFISCDI, project number 2/2019 (DARKFOOD), within PNCDI III. S.I.S. acknowledges funding by MEMOBIC (EU Operational Programme Research, Development and Education No. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/ 0.0/16_027/0008357), and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 025/0007417). E.P. is supported by the PON "Research and Innovation" Programme (Axis IV "Education and Research for recovery" - Action IV.6 "Research contracts on Green themes").en
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationMammola, S., Meierhofer, M.B., Borges, P.A.V., ..., Cardoso, P., et al. (2022). Towards evidence-based conservation of subterranean ecosystems. "Biological Reviews", 97(4), 1476-1510. DOI:10.1111/brv.12851pt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/brv.12851pt_PT
dc.identifier.eissn1469-185X
dc.identifier.issn1464-7931
dc.identifier.pmcPMC9545027
dc.identifier.pmid35315207
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6460
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/267719
dc.identifier.wos000771341700001
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.publisherWileypt_PT
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12851pt_PT
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectBiospeleologyen
dc.subjectCaveen
dc.subjectClimate Changeen
dc.subjectConservation Biologyen
dc.subjectEcosystem Managementen
dc.subjectExtinction Risken
dc.subjectGroundwateren
dc.subjectLegislationen
dc.subjectPollutionen
dc.subjectSubterranean Biologyen
dc.titleTowards evidence‐based conservation of subterranean ecosystemsen
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.conferencePlaceUnited Statesen
oaire.citation.endPage1510pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue(4)pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage1476pt_PT
oaire.citation.titleBiological Reviewsen
oaire.citation.volume97pt_PT
person.familyNameBorges
person.familyNameCardoso
person.givenNamePaulo
person.givenNamePedro
person.identifier829215
person.identifier.ciencia-idFA1A-C9CB-9C29
person.identifier.ciencia-id3118-EA4B-B8A3
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-8448-7623
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-8119-9960
person.identifier.ridB-2780-2008
person.identifier.ridA-8820-2008
person.identifier.scopus-author-id7003533390
person.identifier.scopus-author-id36112709400
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationd9716a90-cc3e-44d0-adc1-6933e3786278
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationc3ff48e6-cddc-453a-8d17-dc37089270c9
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryc3ff48e6-cddc-453a-8d17-dc37089270c9

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
P1967_Borges_2022_BiologicalReviews.pdf
Size:
3.7 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.73 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

GBA - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais / Articles in International Journals
DCEA - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais / Articles in International Journals