Our blog provides news, updates and insights related to evidence-based conservation from the Conservation Evidence team, as well as our partner organisations and others in the conservation community. We're particularly interested in work that uses, or generates, evidence on the effects of biodiversity conservation actions.
To get in touch about the blog please contact Nigel Taylor at nt461@cam.ac.uk. We’re always happy to receive suggestions for new guest blog posts.
Reducing publication delay to improve the efficiency and impact of conservation science
Recently, Tom White and Alec Christie spoke to PeerJ about their article Reducing publication delay to improve the efficiency and impact of conservation science. This interview was originally published on the PeerJ blog. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves? We’re both researchers from the Conservation Evidence project at the University of Cambridge. Alec…
Making conservation evidence from citizen science accessible
Francesca is an Ecological Modeller at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, where she works primarily with citizen science data to produce species trends and identify the drivers of biodiversity change.framan@ceh.ac.uk; @Frances_Mancini The UK has a long tradition of monitoring biodiversity through citizen science (Pocock et al, 2015). Since the 1970s hundreds of volunteer-led…
Challenges and opportunities for evidence-based development mitigation
This blog was written by Bronwen Hunter, a PhD student at the University of Sussex who recently completed her MSc at Imperial College, London, where she conducted research on the evidence for ecological mitigation measures. Her current work focuses on the application of text-analysis tools to global analyses of wildlife exploitation. What is ecological mitigation?…
1,000 pages of evidence for conservation actions
This week, the sixth edition of Conservation Evidence’s flagship publication, What Works in Conservation, is published. What Works provides a freely-available, comprehensive overview of the expert assessment of evidence for the effectiveness (or not) of management actions collated within Conservation Evidence synopses. It is a freely-available resource for conservation managers, practitioners and policy-makers who want…
Turning evidence into action for the conservation of the UK’s woods and trees
This blog was written by Karen Hornigold, Conservation Evidence Advisor for the Woodland Trust. The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading native woods and trees conservation charity, with a large woodland estate that we manage for people and wildlife. We use research and evidence to underpin our conservation work, not only on our estate, but…
Experiments in conservation practice
This blog was written by Nancy Ockendon, Science Manager for the Endangered Landscapes Programme, to accompany the publication of the open-access article Effectively integrating experiments into conservation practice in Ecological Solutions and Evidence. It seeks to raise awareness of opportunities to embed experiments in conservation and restoration management, in order to generate new evidence and…
Evidence synthesis communities and the future of evidence-informed conservation
Neal R Haddaway, Matthew J Grainger, Gavin Stewart From computer science to public health, from sustainable agriculture to marine conservation, evidence synthesis is increasingly seen as a vital piece of the decision-making process. Evidence synthesis methodologies are developing rapidly, aided by new technologies that can make synthesis work more efficient. At the same time, communities…
Looking out for the little things
Dr Andrew Bladon is a Research Associate at Conservation Evidence and is currently writing the Butterfly and Moth Conservation synopsis. The list of Conservation Evidence synopses seems to grow longer by the month, and with the reptile synopsis due out later this year [read about it here], we are close to having produced synopses for…
What evidence matters most in conservation practice?
Dr Anne Mupepele is a Postdoc and Lecturer at the Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, University of Freiburg Conservation practitioners frequently have to prioritize which actions to take to preserve or restore ecosystems, biodiversity or threatened species. Calls that such actions should be based on scientific evidence are not new (Stuart 1945; Cochrane…
Applied Ecology Resources: connecting research and practice
Marc Cadotte is a Professor at the University of Toronto and Chair of Applied Ecology Resources, as well as Editor-in-Chief of its accompanying journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence. Effective conservation and applied ecological management and policy requires that information from both research and practice are available. While it is a straightforward endeavour to search for…