Today’s International Day for Biodiversity highlights the importance and value of biodiversity and aims to raise awareness of biodiversity issues. To mark the occasion Elsevier has curated a special collection of journal articles and book chapters. Explore articles relating to topics such as Biodiversity for ecosystem services, the role of citizen science in biodiversity monitoring and mountain biodiversity.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 11 and 12 by reviewing the economic importance of biodiversity and the services that it provides to the rest of the economy, then considering the policy options available for better conservation of biodiversity.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 14 and 15 by discussing conservation efforts for mammals, which particularly focus on habitat protection and direct protection. Mammals are often treated as flagships for the rest of biodiversity conservation.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 13 and 14 by reviewing the range of ecosystem services provided by coral reefs, the human activities that threaten these services and proposing promising policy and management interventions to promote the maintenance of key coral reef ecosystem services into the future.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 15, 11, and 17 by reviewing ways for community members to take part in insect conservation. Particularly with the rise of social media and the popularity of new reporting apps, citizen science is an often overlooked, yet effective tool in monitoring insect biodiversity and invasive species.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 13 and 14 by reviewing how to calculate species count in a high-veracity ecosystem model for use in climate resilience and aquatic conservation settings.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 9 and 15 by reviewing how industry and infrastructure development can infringe on snow leopard habitat and how sustainable business drivers can encourage companies to engage in biodiversity conservation efforts.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 11 and 15 by reviewing how intentional and sustainable urban design can promote urban diversity and preserve regional biodiversity in the face of increasing urbanization and industrial development.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 13 and 15 by reviewing the biodiversity of soil fauna, they key roles these taxa play in ecosystem functioning, and their importance in the context of climate change.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 11, 13, and 14 by reviewing the role of lakes and ponds in maintaining critical aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the context of growing urbanization and climate change.
The cascading effects of biodiversity decline on human well-being present a pressing challenge for sustainable development. Conservation efforts often prioritize safeguarding specific species, habitats, or intact ecosystems but overlook biodiversity's fundamental role in providing Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) in human-modified landscapes.
This paper highlights the importance for conservation biologists and on-the-ground practitioners to engage more with local pastoralists to tackle the complex and infrequently described conflicts on how best to implement protective policies.
The paper highlights the interconnectedness of public health crises, such as pandemics, with biodiversity loss and climate change, as increased demand for materials to combat infectious diseases exacerbates environmental pressures, posing a threat to global sustainability and biodiversity.
This Review supports SDGs 3 and 15 by exploring the links between climate change, biodiversity loss, and infectious diseases. The authors focus on the social, political, and financial factors that frame these issues, and suggest that a better understanding of these interactions is needed to drive solutions.
This paper supports SDGs 3 and 15 by examining environmental exposures and risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in early life in a Danish cohort. The study found that increased agricultural land use was associated with a higher risk of Crohn's disease, while increased biodiversity and green space were associated with a lower risk of Crohn's disease. These findings may have implications for IBD prevention.
The paper elucidates the importance of monitoring and integrating conserved areas into area-based conservation efforts to effectively achieve the 30% protection goal by 2030, emphasizing transparency and accountability in tracking changes to protected and conserved areas for maximizing benefits to biodiversity.
This paper supports SDG 15 by highlighting that the effects of loss of biodiversity due to climate change and associated changes in the distribution of venomous snakes will be most pronounced in tropical regions, where extensive land is devoted to agriculture and rearing livestock.
The paper addresses the urgency of communicating the worsening anthropogenic-driven species extinction crisis to diverse audiences and proposes a threatened species recovery report card as a tool to showcase conservation progress, emphasizing the need for immediate action to prevent further biodiversity loss.
The paper presents a scientific framework for assessing marine biodiversity and reveals significant gaps in our understanding and protection of ocean biodiversity, emphasizing the need for more strategic conservation efforts to safeguard marine ecosystems and their contributions to human well-being.
Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) is among the most lucrative illegal industries in the world and is a significant driver of biodiversity decline. This paper outline the basics of IWT and discuss its cascading consequences on environments, human lives and communities, national stability, and the economy.
The paper underscores the urgency of addressing climate change's impact on biodiversity through transboundary conservation efforts, offering guidelines for designing climate-smart marine protected area (MPA) networks in regions like the California Bight, highlighting the need for international coordination to ensure effective protection and adaptation strategies for vulnerable species and ecosystems.
The paper addresses the urgent need to halt species extinction by proposing a global prioritization strategy for conservation, leveraging individual population data to identify priority areas that significantly enhance the long-term persistence of threatened terrestrial mammal species, thus providing a more effective and efficient approach for meeting the targets outlined in the Global Biodiversity Framework.
This article aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The research focuses on transitioning the construction industry towards sustainable practices by utilizing local biological materials and developing a construction method for tension-compression anticlastic shellular structures. The use of a fully biodegradable material system and an earthen construction workflow helps minimize the environmental footprint in the built environment.
This article aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being. The use of polymer-functionalized plant leaf scaffolds as a novel human cell culture platform for tissue engineering applications, specifically for promoting the alignment and elongation of muscle cells, contributes to advancements in healthcare and the development of functional skeletal muscle tissue.
The paper underscores the need for improved conservation efforts in the tropics, using Bangladesh as a case study, by revealing gaps in protected area coverage for species representation and providing spatial prioritization to guide future expansion efforts, ultimately contributing to meeting global biodiversity targets outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Framework.
This paper supports SDG 15 by showing that mangroves contribute substantially to food security and nutrition of coastal communities in Indonesia, and thus the conservation of mangroves is important not only for carbon storage and biodiversity, but also for the communities living near them.
This Health Policy paper supports SDG 3, 15, and 16 by highlighting how climate change and other human-induced environmental changes, such as loss of biodiversity and air pollution, disproportionately affect the health of minoritised people globally.
"Illegal wildlife trade is a global concern and a major threat to biodiversity conservation. DNA barcoding, specifically the use of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI), is widely used to identify wildlife species in the Philippines.
DNA fingerprinting provide accurate identification of aquatic species and can be used for monitoring and tracking IWT."
This articles describes an investigative study in a suspected wildlife hunting incident in which molecular biology techniques were employed to identify the species involved. The genetic analysis in this study was suitable for diagnosing the species and concluding a criminal investigation. Molecular forensic techniques can, therefore, provide an important tool that enables local law enforcement agencies to apprehend poachers.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 13 and 15 by reviewing the unique species assemblages of high-elevation ecosystems and biodiversity trends in the context of climate change.
This chapter advances the UN SDG goals 13 and 14 by reviewing the impact of habitat degradation on local biodiversity and species invasions, particularly in the context of climate change and shifting habitat ranges.
Amphibian rewilding initiatives may provide early indications of ecological health and better contribute to conservation goals, by simultaneously protecting highly endangered species, and promoting ecological stability in these species ecosystems. Authors recommend the rapid (re)introduction of this “forgotten” taxon via the guidelines of trophic rewilding.
Conservation translocations have become popular and important conservation tools and this paper reviews the recent studies concerning animal translocation redefining the field to translocation science to embrace sociopolitical factors.
Bats are among the most diverse of all mammalian species and serve as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses responsible for several recent pandemics; new technologies are providing insights into how the unique physiology and lifestyle of bats drive tolerance to virus infection.
This paper evaluates the negative impacts of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) on Indian biodiversity and highlights an urgent necessity to continue building management programs and develop government policies to protect the aquatic environment from it.
The paper demonstrates the importance of a cross-sectoral approach in conservation planning to mitigate the impacts of industrial activities such as fishing, shipping, and deep-sea mining on biodiversity in the open ocean, offering a cost-effective solution for achieving conservation targets and promoting sustainable management in the face of "blue acceleration".
This article aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. The research focuses on the green synthesis of nanoparticles using biological entities, such as microorganisms and plants, through nanobiotechnology processes. The use of these environmentally friendly methods has the potential to revolutionize biomedical applications, including cancer detection and treatment, as well as agricultural applications for crop improvement. Furthermore, green nanoparticles show promise in energy production and storage, offering cost-effective and sustainable solutions for future energy demands.
The paper highlights the increasing importance of multiple-use protected areas in achieving global conservation targets, emphasizing their effectiveness in conserving biodiversity and socio-economic benefits, and calling for closing knowledge gaps to ensure their continued contribution to meeting policy goals such as the 2030 target to protect 30% of Earth's surface.