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1. Opportunities for Transdisciplinary Science to Mitigate Biosecurity Risks From the Intersectionality of Illegal Wildlife Trade With Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.604929  

   Aguirre, A. Alonso; Gore, Meredith L.; Kammer-Kerwick, Matt; Curtin, Kevin M.; Heyns, Andries; Preiser, Wolfgang; Shelley, Louise I. (February 2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution)

   null (Ed.)

   Existing collaborations among public health practitioners, veterinarians, and ecologists do not sufficiently consider illegal wildlife trade in their surveillance, biosafety, and security (SB&S) efforts even though the risks to health and biodiversity from these threats are significant. We highlight multiple cases to illustrate the risks posed by existing gaps in understanding the intersectionality of the illegal wildlife trade and zoonotic disease transmission. We argue for more integrative science in support of decision-making using the One Health approach. Opportunities abound to apply transdisciplinary science to sustainable wildlife trade policy and programming, such as combining on-the-ground monitoring of health, environmental, and social conditions with an understanding of the operational and spatial dynamics of illicit wildlife trade. We advocate for (1) a surveillance sample management system for enhanced diagnostic efficiency in collaboration with diverse and local partners that can help establish new or link existing surveillance networks, outbreak analysis, and risk mitigation strategies; (2) novel analytical tools and decision support models that can enhance self-directed local livelihoods by addressing monitoring, detection, prevention, interdiction, and remediation; (3) enhanced capacity to promote joint SB&S efforts that can encourage improved human and animal health, timely reporting, emerging disease detection, and outbreak response; and, (4) enhanced monitoring of illicit wildlife trade and supply chains across the heterogeneous context within which they occur. By integrating more diverse scientific disciplines, and their respective scientists with indigenous people and local community insight and risk assessment data, we can help promote a more sustainable and equitable wildlife trade. 

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2. Knowing Your Field Community: Elevating the Human Dimension in Ecological Research and Teaching

   https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad036  

   Bowser, Gillian; Cid, Carmen_R (May 2023, Integrative And Comparative Biology)

   Synopsis Public health researchers have long been aware of the importance of defining the human community associated with research on environmental health initiatives. However, the field community’s human components where applied ecology research is conducted, e.g. diverse participants and perspectives, are often overlooked in environmental problem solving. We outline a framework for elevating the human dimension in defining the field community in applied ecology research and for teaching diverse undergraduate students the skills needed to address Anthropocene environmental concerns. We promote broadening participation and incorporating cultural and racial perspectives in ecology research planning, implementation, and teaching. We use the environmental research problem of concern to identify the diverse human community groups potentially connected to the problem and guide the strategies for incorporating their perspectives in the proposed research project. Which human community, whether local, ethnic, or visiting public community, affects the resource management strategy, i.e. people protect what they love, can change the outcomes of applied ecological research, as well as promote development of a diverse environmental workforce. Broadening participation and perspectives means that the people asking the research questions are also part of the social ecological community processes who choose which questions to pursue to manage the natural resources of the community. Here, we promote research and teaching practices that consider the long-standing multicultural connections to nature to allow all students to pursue their love of nature and its beauty in a safe, comfortable, and mentoring setting. We integrate current human diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused pedagogical knowledge into the Ecological Society of America-endorsed 4DEE multidimensional curricular framework. We provide a faculty action guide to engage and train diverse students in ecological practices that meet the needs of today’s environmental problem-solving workforce. 

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3. The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

   https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13131  

   Schell, Christopher J.; Stanton, Lauren A.; Young, Julie K.; Angeloni, Lisa M.; Lambert, Joanna E.; Breck, Stewart W.; Murray, Maureen H. (September 2020, Evolutionary Applications)

   Abstract Human–wildlife interactions, including human–wildlife conflict, are increasingly common as expanding urbanization worldwide creates more opportunities for people to encounter wildlife. Wildlife–vehicle collisions, zoonotic disease transmission, property damage, and physical attacks to people or their pets have negative consequences for both people and wildlife, underscoring the need for comprehensive strategies that mitigate and prevent conflict altogether. Management techniques often aim to deter, relocate, or remove individual organisms, all of which may present a significant selective force in both urban and nonurban systems. Management‐induced selection may significantly affect the adaptive or nonadaptive evolutionary processes of urban populations, yet few studies explicate the links among conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution. Moreover, the intensity of conflict management can vary considerably by taxon, public perception, policy, religious and cultural beliefs, and geographic region, which underscores the complexity of developing flexible tools to reduce conflict. Here, we present a cross‐disciplinary perspective that integrates human–wildlife conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution to address how social–ecological processes drive wildlife adaptation in cities. We emphasize that variance in implemented management actions shapes the strength and rate of phenotypic and evolutionary change. We also consider how specific management strategies either promote genetic or plastic changes, and how leveraging those biological inferences could help optimize management actions while minimizing conflict. Investigating human–wildlife conflict as an evolutionary phenomenon may provide insights into how conflict arises and how management plays a critical role in shaping urban wildlife phenotypes. 

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4. Disease‐smart climate adaptation for wildlife management and conservation

   https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2716  

   Thurman, Lindsey L; Alger, Katrina; LeDee, Olivia; Thompson, Laura M; Hofmeister, Erik; Hudson, J Michael; Martin, Alynn M; Melvin, Tracy A; Olson, Sarah H; Pruvot, Mathieu; et al (May 2024, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment)

   Climate change is a well‐documented driver and threat multiplier of infectious disease in wildlife populations. However, wildlife disease management and climate‐change adaptation have largely operated in isolation. To improve conservation outcomes, we consider the role of climate adaptation in initiating or exacerbating the transmission and spread of wildlife disease and the deleterious effects thereof, as illustrated through several case studies. We offer insights into best practices for disease‐smart adaptation, including a checklist of key factors for assessing disease risks early in the climate adaptation process. By assessing risk, incorporating uncertainty, planning for change, and monitoring outcomes, natural resource managers and conservation practitioners can better prepare for and respond to wildlife disease threats in a changing climate. 

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5. An applied ecology of fear framework: linking theory to conservation practice

   https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12629  

   Gaynor, Kaitlyn M.; Cherry, Michael J.; Gilbert, Sophie L.; Kohl, Michel T.; Larson, Courtney L.; Newsome, Thomas M.; Prugh, Laura R.; Suraci, Justin P.; Young, Julie K.; Smith, Justine A. (August 2020, Animal Conservation)

   null (Ed.)

   Research on the ecology of fear has highlighted the importance of perceived risk from predators and humans in shaping animal behavior and physiology, with potential demographic and ecosystem-wide consequences. Despite recent conceptual advances and potential management implications of the ecology of fear, theory and conservation practices have rarely been linked. Many challenges in animal conservation may be alleviated by actively harnessing or compensating for risk perception and risk avoidance behavior in wild animal populations. Integration of the ecology of fear into conservation and management practice can contribute to the recovery of threatened populations, human–wildlife conflict mitigation, invasive species management, maintenance of sustainable harvest and species reintroduction plans. Here, we present an applied framework that links conservation interventions to desired outcomes by manipulating ecology of fear dynamics. We discuss how to reduce or amplify fear in wild animals by manipulating habitat structure, sensory stimuli, animal experience (previous exposure to risk) and food safety trade-offs to achieve management objectives. Changing the optimal decision-making of individuals in managed populations can then further conservation goals by shaping the spatiotemporal distribution of animals, changing predation rates and altering risk effects that scale up to demographic consequences. We also outline future directions for applied research on fear ecology that will better inform conservation practices. Our framework can help scientists and practitioners anticipate and mitigate unintended consequences of management decisions, and highlight new levers for multi-species conservation strategies that promote human–wildlife coexistence. 

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