Corrigendum: Coding for Life: Designing a Platform for Projecting and Protecting Global Biodiversity

AbstractExperiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss.

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Animal sales from Wuhan wet markets immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91470-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiao Xiao ◽

Chris Newman ◽

Christina D. Buesching ◽

David W. Macdonald ◽

Zhao-Min Zhou

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Human Health ◽

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Wildlife Trade ◽

Wild Animals ◽

Protected Species ◽

Zoonotic Infections ◽

Global Biodiversity ◽

Poor Welfare

AbstractHere we document 47,381 individuals from 38 species, including 31 protected species sold between May 2017 and November 2019 in Wuhan’s markets. We note that no pangolins (or bats) were traded, supporting reformed opinion that pangolins were not likely the spillover host at the source of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While we caution against the misattribution of COVID-19’s origins, the wild animals on sale in Wuhan suffered poor welfare and hygiene conditions and we detail a range of other zoonotic infections they can potentially vector. Nevertheless, in a precautionary response to COVID-19, China’s Ministries temporarily banned all wildlife trade on 26th Jan 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic concludes, and permanently banned eating and trading terrestrial wild (non-livestock) animals for food on 24th Feb 2020. These interventions, intended to protect human health, redress previous trading and enforcement inconsistencies, and will have collateral benefits for global biodiversity conservation and animal welfare.

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Protect the Natives to Combat the Aliens: Could Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 Be a Natural Agent for the Control of the Lionfish Invasion in the Mediterranean Sea?

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering ◽

10.3390/jmse9030308 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 308 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fabio Crocetta ◽

Maria Shokouros-Oskarsson ◽

Nikolaos Doumpas ◽

Ioannis Giovos ◽

Stefanos Kalogirou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Octopus Vulgaris ◽

Major Threat ◽

Global Biodiversity ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Natural Agent

Biological invasions constitute a major threat to native ecosystems and to global biodiversity [...]

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Towards the New Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Environmental Policy and Law ◽

10.3233/epl-210005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Human Life ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

The World ◽

Global Biodiversity

While 2020 –dubbed the “Super Year for Nature –has seen the world battling an unforeseen global pandemic, this article comes back on the Convention of Biological Diversity and its regime, studies the aim of the negotiations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the relevance of this framework for the planet, considering that the protection of biological diversity impacts all aspects of human life, including the full enjoying of human rights and protection against future pandemics.

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The biodiversity-wind energy-land use nexus in a global biodiversity hotspot

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144471 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 144471

Author(s):

Vassiliki Kati ◽

Christina Kassara ◽

Zoi Vrontisi ◽

Aristides Moustakas

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Wind Energy ◽

Biodiversity Hotspot ◽

Global Biodiversity

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Meta-analysis reveals severe pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing in East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region

BMC Ecology ◽

10.1186/s12898-020-00322-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xianfeng Jiang ◽

Yanping Xie

Keyword(s):

Confidence Interval ◽

Pollen Limitation ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Flowering Plants ◽

Biodiversity Hotspot ◽

Clear Relationship ◽

Hengduan Mountains ◽

Independent Data ◽

The World ◽

Global Biodiversity

Abstract Background Pollen limitation occurs widely and has an important effect on flowering plants. The East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region is a global biodiversity hotspot. However, to our knowledge, no study has synthetically assessed the degree of pollen limitation in this area. The present study aims to reveal the degree of pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing on East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains and to test whether the reproductive features or the elevation is closely correlated with the degree of pollen limitation in this area. Results We complied data from 76 studies, which included 96 species and 108 independent data records. We found that the flowering plants in this area undergo severe pollen limitation [overall Hedges’ d = 2.004, with a 95% confidence interval (1.3264, 2.6743)] that is much higher than that of the flowering plants growing in many other regions around the world. The degree of pollen limitation was tested to determine the correlation with the capacity for autonomous self-reproduction and with the pollination pattern (generalized vs. specialized pollination) of plants. In addition, we found a clear relationship between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation, which indicates that plants might undergo more severe pollen limitation in relatively high places. Conclusions This paper is the first to address the severe pollen limitation of the flowering plants growing in East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region. Moreover, we reveal the positive correlation between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation.

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