Van der Wal et al. (2015) (henceforth VdW) attempted to evaluate the degree to which the geographical origin of a species shapes people's attitudes towards conservation management decisions. Based on questionnaire surveys of the general public and experts from Scotland and Canada, the authors perceive “widespread use of the label ‘non-native’ as a proxy for harmfulness” and a species' origin as being used as shorthand for “harmfulness” (pp. 349 & 352). However, the authors cited by VdW do not take such a categorical view. Invasions of non-native species are also often just symptoms, not causes of human-created environmental changes. VdW focus on well-known species with long introduction histories for which the potential abundance and impact can plausibly be judged by experts and the public alike. However, when a decision is to be made regarding whether a non-native taxon that is not yet present in the local biota should be introduced, or whether a recently established and geographically restricted but spreading non-native taxon should be controlled, the taxon's origin should be a primary component in the decision-making process.

We appreciate Rejmánek and Simberloff's (2017; henceforth R&S) response to our paper, as well as their review of the biological studies showing that non-native species are a ‘non-random’ group of species that are more likely to cause problems at some point in time than would be expected by chance. We note that the focus of their response lies almost exclusively on recently introduced species, which suggests that their argument might be less defensible for established introductions such as the ones covered by our study (Van der Wal et al. 2015). Moreover, R&S appear to have missed the major point of our paper, which is socio-cultural rather than strictly biological, so we briefly respond here in order to clarify our objective and results.

Forested landscapes provide a source of micronutrient rich food for millions of people around the world. A growing evidence base suggests these foods may be of great importance to the dietary quality of people living in close proximity to forests – especially in communities with poor access to markets. Despite widespread evidence of the consumption of forest foods around the world, to date, few studies have attempted to quantify the nutritional contributions these foods make. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the consumption of forest foods can make important contributions to dietary quality. We investigated the dietary contributions of wild forest foods in smallholder dominated forested landscapes from 37 sites in 24 tropical countries, using data from the Poverty and Environment Network (PEN). We compared quantities of forest foods consumed by households with dietary recommendations and national average consumption patterns. In addition, we compared the relative importance of forests and smallholder agriculture in supplying fruits, vegetables, meat and fish for household consumption. More than half of the households in our sample collected forest foods for their own consumption, though consumption patterns were skewed towards low-quantity users. For high-quantity consuming households, however, forest foods made a substantial contributions to their diets. The top quartile of forest food users in each site obtained 14.8% of the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and 106% of the reference quantity of meat and fish from forests. In 13 sites, the proportion of meat and fish coming from forests was greater than from domestic livestock and aquaculture, while in 11 sites, households procured a greater proportion of fruits and vegetables from forests than from agriculture. Given high levels of heterogeneity in forest food consumption, we identify four forest food use site typologies to characterize the different use patterns: ‘forest food dependent’, ‘limited forest food use’, ‘forest food supplementation’ and ‘specialist forest food consumer’ sites. Our results suggest that while forest foods do not universally contribute significantly to diets, in some sites where large quantities of forest foods are consumed, their contribution towards dietary adequacy is substantial.

Habitat loss is widely recognized as the major cause of global biodiversity decline, but remaining habitat is increasingly threatened by chronic human disturbances. Using a multi-model averaging approach we examined the association between five chronic disturbance surrogates and the richness and taxonomic and functional composition of ants in Brazilian Caatinga. Using pitfall traps in 47 plots near Parnamirim city (Pernambuco) across two soil types (sand and clay), we recorded 53 species from 27 genera. Ant species richness on sand was slightly higher than on clay, and was negatively related to most surrogates of anthropogenic disturbance. Soil type and human population size were the main predictors of ant species richness. Soil type was the most important predictor of functional group abundance. Taxonomic and functional composition were influenced by soil type and disturbance, but this relationship varied between clay and sandy soils. Ant functional composition showed a weak relationship with disturbance on sandy soils, but on clay soils it showed predictable winner–loser replacement. We attribute the greater effect of disturbance on clay soils to higher intensity of land use, and our study highlights the importance of considering context dependence when evaluating biodiversity responses to disturbance.

Ecuador, a country with nearly unparalleled levels of biodiversity and endemism, has one of the highest deforestation rates of South America. I examined whether governmentally protected areas in Ecuador have been effective at reducing deforestation. After estimating deforestation rates from existing land cover change data for 2000 to 2008, I used a matching approach to compare the rates of forest loss inside and outside protected areas, which corrected for geographic biases in the locations of protected areas. I tested for the effects of protected area age, size and level of protection on the rate of deforestation using generalized linear models. Governmentally protected areas still experienced deforestation – with no apparent effect of age, size and level of protection – of nearly 10,000 ha per year, but deforestation rates were lower inside compared to outside protected areas. Governmental protection led to the avoidance of additional deforestation of 2600–7800 ha of natural forest per year. Actions to mitigate deforestation in Ecuador are of global importance and as such it is promising that protected areas can help diminish deforestation, although the effectiveness of Ecuador's protected areas can still be improved upon.

Bushmeat hunting poses a huge challenge for biodiversity conservation, but bushmeat is also an important source of essential protein in many locations. Although war may have substantial impacts on hunting, how these effects vary across different spatial scales and over multiple stages of warfare remain largely unknown. In addition, despite serious conflicts that may have affected hunting patterns in West Africa, no studies have examined the impacts of war on hunting in Sierra Leone. We used the randomized response technique together with semi-structured interviews to examine variations in hunting techniques and the proportion of the population that engages in hunting over three time periods (before, during and after war) among different communities bordering a protected area. At the scale of the whole protected area, the proportion of people hunting did not vary significantly over time. Similarly, the methods used for hunting were generally consistent over time and space. However, within each community, the proportion of the population hunting varied significantly over time, and the locations with the greatest participation rates in hunting changed at each time period. Access to alternative livelihood options and the severity of the war's impact shaped patterns of change in hunting participation across different communities. Our results point to the importance of adaptive management approaches that can adjust management strategies in order to account for spatial or temporal variations in hunting behaviour.

Despite increasing support for conservation efforts, humans exert strong negative forces on nature and disagree over the management of these effects. Conflicts over conservation policy may reflect evolving opinions about how people ought to conserve species and whether to intervene in various processes. To understand public preferences for conservation in the USA, we measured support for various strategies in five case studies, where we pitted one species against another in simplified but realistic scenarios. Among our online convenience sample of 1040 participants, we found the majority of participants favoured habitat protection in all but one case, and there was little acceptance of lethal control across all cases. The results reveal that habitat protection preferences positively relate to considerations of moral principles and ecosystems and negatively relate to economic and practical considerations. Older, conservative and male participants were less likely to support habitat protection and more likely to support no action. The results suggest broad support for holistic nature conservation that benefits both people and nature and highlight areas where current wildlife management may not align with public preferences. Controversy may continue until wildlife management policies are consistent with societal values and address moral and ecosystem considerations at multiple levels.

Despite ongoing efforts to motivate politicians and publics in Europe regarding nature conservation, biodiversity continues to decline. Monetary valuation of ecosystem services appears to be insufficient to motivate people, suggesting that non-monetary values have a crucial role to play. There is insufficient information about the motivations of actors who have been instrumental in successful conservation projects. We investigated the motivations underlying these biodiversity actors using the ranking of cards and compared the results with the rankings of motivations of a second group of actors with more socially related interests. For both groups of actors, their action relating to biodiversity was supported in general by two groups of motivations related to living a meaningful life and moral values. The non-biodiversity actors also noted that their action relating to biodiversity rested more on beauty, place attachment and intrinsic values in comparison with their main non-biodiversity interests. Our results have implications for environmental policy and biodiversity conservation in that the current tendency of focusing on the economic valuation of biodiversity fails to address the motivations of successful actors, thereby failing to motivate nature conservation on an individual level.

Protected areas (PAs) have long been the foundation of conservation strategies to halt biodiversity losses and ecosystem degradation. In the South Caucasus (SC), coverage of PAs increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet how well biodiversity is represented in them is unknown. We utilized the PA downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD) conceptual framework and the gap analysis approach to assess how changes in the PAs of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia between 1991 and 2014 have affected the representation of biodiversity. Throughout this period, vegetation formations associated with high mountain ecosystems changed (≥17% representation). Colchic lowland vegetation formations which are only present in Georgia, also changed from unrepresented (0%) to under-represented (from 0% to <17%). The effect of PADDD events on biodiversity representation varied among countries depending on the amount of area gazetted after 1991. There is an inherent bias in the expansion of PAs in the SC. Our findings could be a first step towards changing the status quo by helping conservationists to strategically allocate resources towards ecosystems that are below 17% representation. Yet this will require governments in the SC to shift their views about PAs from being only national efforts to being key pieces of a larger-scale conservation strategy.

Over a 10-year period, a valley in Crocker Range Park in Sabah (Malaysia) has witnessed a conflict between a community located inside its boundaries – the Ulu Senagang/Mongool Baru – and the state government's parks department – Sabah Parks. Sabah Parks sought to designate the area as a co-managed community use zone (CUZ) in which sustainable practices are allowed to continue, but disagreement over how the zone was to be governed resulted in a prolonged impasse. This paper assesses whether conflict management tools could overcome the impasse. This study assessed the CUZ conflict via a systematic methodology known as ethical analysis (EA), which aims to reveal stakeholder interests, values and principles and identify barriers and bridges to negotiated settlements. First developed in the medical field and subsequently employed in the analysis of forestry disputes, this is the first time that EA has been utilized in the context of protected area management. The EA revealed significant misalignments between stakeholders’ positions that were sufficient to prevent a perfect win–win solution from emerging. As such, at least one party would have to make compromises in order for the CUZ to be established. The EA revealed that whilst both sides in this conflict were willing to move forwards with negotiations, they had been prevented from doing so by mutual mistrust and a number of misconceptions that had developed during the negotiation process. The EA tool was fit for purpose in identifying the underlying causes of the CUZ conflict, which were determined to be resolvable so long as both sides were willing to make compromises. The study concludes that other co-managements could similarly benefit from the employment of EA, which can be easily incorporated into existing protected area conflict management models and structures. We propose that the utility of EA can be further enhanced in the conservation management context by incorporating assessments of stakeholder priorities and worldviews into its analysis structure.

The growing challenge of food insecurity in the Global South has called for new research on the contribution of forests to food security. However, even progressive forest management institutions such as Nepal's community forestry programme have failed to address this issue. We analyse Nepal's community forestry programme and find that forest policies and local institutional practices have historically evolved to regulate forests either as sources of timber or as a means of biodiversity conservation, disregarding food security outcomes for local people. Disciplinary divisions between forestry and the agriculture sector have limited the prospect of strengthening forest–food security linkages. We conclude that the policy and legislative framework and formal bureaucratic practices are influenced by ‘modern forestry science’, which led to community forestry rules and practices not considering the contribution of forests to food security. Furthermore, forestry science has a particularly narrow focus on timber production and conservation. We argue for the need to recognise the importance of local knowledge and community practices of using forests for food. We propose adaptive and transformational approaches to knowledge generation and the application of such knowledge in order to support institutional change and policy reform and to enable landscape-specific innovations in forest–food linkages.

Against the backdrop of the competing demands of agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation, understanding land-use changes is critical. We studied the past, current and future landscape–dynamic scenarios for coffee and rice-coupled crops at a village scale in the Western Ghats (southern India) by integrating three levels of organization (patch, farm and soils). The village structures and dynamics from 1950 to 2010 were modelled with the Dynamic Patch Landscape (DYPAL) modelling platform and analysed with Comparison Map Profile (CMP) spatial analysis in order to assess environmental trends. Our model, combined with mathematical formalizations and multiscale analyses, was also used to project future land-use sustainability. Our findings highlight significant environmental issues affecting the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, which is also subject to increasing and differential demands for other crops that are dependent on farm production systems. Intensive coffee cultivation, with conversion of the forest cover into Grevillea robusta monoculture and ongoing paddy abandonment, have had a strong impact on the region's landscape (+30% G. robusta) and biodiversity (from –3% to –13% in the already-reduced forest cover).

When timber harvesting is an important source of local income and forest resources are declining, even forests that are designated as protected areas may become vulnerable. Therefore, regular monitoring of forest disturbance is necessary to enforce the protection of forest ecosystems. However, mapping forest disturbance with satellite imagery can be complicated if the majority of the harvesting is selective logging and not clearcuts. Our goal was to map both selective logging and clearcuts within and outside of protected areas in Western Siberia, a region with a highly developed timber industry. Combining summer and winter imagery allowed us to accurately estimate not only clearcuts, but also selective logging. Winter Landsat images substantially improved our classification and resulted in a highly accurate forest disturbance map (97.5% overall accuracy and 86% user accuracy for the rarest class, clearcuts). Selective logging and stripcuts were the dominant disturbance types, accounting for 96.3% of all forest disturbances, versus 3.7% for clearcuts. The total annual forest disturbance rate (i.e. disturbance rate for clearcuts, stripcuts and selective logging together) was 0.53%, but total forest disturbance within protected areas was greater than in non-protected forest (0.66% versus 0.50%, respectively), and so was the annual rate of selective logging (i.e. without clearcuts, 0.37% versus 0.25%, respectively). Our results highlight that monitoring only clearcuts without assessing selective logging might result in significant underestimation of forest disturbance. Also, when timber harvesting is important for the local economy and when protected areas have valuable timber resources that have already been depleted elsewhere, then additional protection may be necessary in order to maintain natural forests within protected areas. We suggest that this is the situation in our study area in Western Siberia right now and is likely the situation in many other parts of the globe as well.