Earth & Environment

Biodiversity Conservation

Published October 21, 2020 Calls for Papers Collections

PLOS ONE takes great pleasure to announce the launch of our Biodiversity Conservation Collection. Biodiversity is the backbone of ecosystems and maintaining diversity through conservation is critical for the stability of all ecosystems. The need has never been greater for research that addresses key processes that threaten biodiversity and explores solutions necessary for meaningful conservation. From the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon to pathways of introduction of invasive plants, and from potential effects of global warming on species distributions to the latest advances in conservation genetics for endangered species, this Collection brings together state-of-the-art research in biodiversity conservation from diverse fields and perspectives. We believe the research you will find here is vital for identifying common trends, enabling cross fertilisation and formulating future directions.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Jump to section

PLOS ONE Guest Editors
PLOS ONE Collection

PLOS ONE Guest Editors

Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Introducing the Biodiversity Conservation Collection | EveryONE: The PLOS ONE blog
May 7, 2020 Miquel Vall-llosera Camps, Associate Editor
Image credit
Steve Beissinger

Steve Beissinger Steve Beissinger
August 12, 2019 Guest Editor, PLOS ONE
Image credit
Thomas Couvreur

Thomas Couvreur Thomas Couvreur
August 12, 2019 Guest Editor, PLOS ONE
Image credit
Carlos Duarte

Carlos Duarte Carlos Duarte
August 12, 2019 Guest Editor, PLOS ONE
Image credit
Claudia Mettke-Hoffmann

Claudia Mettke-Hoffmann Claudia Mettke-Hoffmann
August 12, 2019 Guest Editor, PLOS ONE
Image credit
Stuart Pimm

Stuart Pimm Stuart Pimm
August 12, 2019 Guest Editor, PLOS ONE

PLOS ONE Collection

Image credit
Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

PLOS ONE Developing political-ecological theory: The need for many-task computing
November 24, 2020 Timothy Haas

Models of political-ecological systems can inform policies for managing ecosystems that contain endangered species. To increase the…
Image credit
Photo by Luther.M.E. Bottrill on Unsplash

PLOS ONE Environmental diagnoses and effective planning of Protected Areas in Brazil: Is there any connection?
December 11, 2020 Ana Rafaela D´Amico, José Eugênio Cortes Figueira, José Flávio Cândido-Jr., Maria Auxiliadora Drumond

Protected Areas (PAs) are essential to maintaining biodiversity, while effective management plans (MPs) are essential for the management…
Image credit
Photo by Marek Okon on Unsplash

PLOS ONE Effects of land-use change and related pressures on alien and native subsets of island communities
December 3, 2020 Katia Sánchez-Ortiz, Kara J. M. Taylor, Adriana De Palma, Franz Essl, Wayne Dawson, Holger Kreft, Jan Pergl, Petr Pyšek, Mark van Kleunen, Patrick Weigelt, Andy Purvis

Island species and habitats are particularly vulnerable to human disturbances, and anthropogenic changes are increasingly overwriting…
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0240225

PLOS ONE Shifts in Bird Ranges and Conservation Priorities in China Under Climate Change
October 8, 2020 Ruocheng Hu, Yiyun Gu, Mei Luo, Zhi Lu, Ming Wei, Jia Zhong
Image credit
Ingolfson at English Wikipedia(Original text: Uploader.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

PLOS ONE Designing monitoring protocols to measure population trends of threatened insects: A case study of the cryptic, flightless grasshopper Brachaspis robustus
September 24, 2020 Jennifer C. Schori, Tammy E. Steeves, Tara J. Murray
Image credit
ILA-boy, GPL , via Wikimedia Commons

PLOS ONE The role of landscape composition and heterogeneity on the taxonomical and functional diversity of Mediterranean plant communities in agricultural landscapes
September 16, 2020 Joana Cursach, Juan Rita, Carmelo Gómez-Martínez, Carles Cardona, Miquel Capó, Amparo Lázaro
Image credit
Ryan Moehring / USFWS

PLOS ONE Global extent and drivers of mammal population declines in protected areas under illegal hunting pressure
August 21, 2020 Alfan A. Rija, Rob Critchlow, Chris D. Thomas, Colin M. Beale
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0237835

PLOS ONE Using GIS and stakeholder involvement to innovate marine mammal bycatch risk assessment in data-limited fisheries
August 20, 2020 Gregory M. Verutes, Andrew F. Johnson, Marjolaine Caillat, Louisa S. Ponnampalam, Cindy Peter, Long Vu, Chalatip Junchompoo, Rebecca L. Lewison, Ellen M. Hines
Image credit
martin karnis from Pixabay

PLOS ONE Genetic diversity, relatedness and inbreeding of ranched and fragmented Cape buffalo populations in southern Africa
August 14, 2020 Deon de Jager, Cindy Kim Harper, Paulette Bloomer
Image credit
Bureau of Land Management

PLOS ONE A stochastic structured metapopulation model to assess recovery scenarios of patchily distributed endangered species: Case study for a Mojave Desert rodent
August 13, 2020 Stephanie T. Castle, Patrick Foley, Deana L. Clifford, Janet Foley
Image credit
Trond Giæver Myhre

PLOS ONE Modelling the distribution of Mustela nivalis and M. putorius in the Azores archipelago based on native and introduced ranges
August 7, 2020 Lucas Lamelas-López, Xosé Pardavila, Paulo A. V. Borges, Margarida Santos-Reis, Isabel R. Amorim, Maria J. Santos
Image credit
Mabel Amber

PLOS ONE Eradicating the large white butterfly from New Zealand eliminates a threat to endemic Brassicaceae
August 6, 2020 Craig B. Phillips, Kerry Brown, Chris Green, Richard Toft, Graham Walker, Keith Broome
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0236146

PLOS ONE From plentiful to critically endangered: Demographic evidence of the artisanal fisheries impact on the smalltail shark (Carcharhinus porosus) from Northern Brazil
August 6, 2020 Francisco Marcante Santana, Leonardo Manir Feitosa, Rosângela Paula Lessa
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0228477

PLOS ONE Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American countries and territories
August 5, 2020 Elisa Bayraktarov, Anastazia T. Banaszak, Phanor Montoya Maya, Joanie Kleypas, Jesús E. Arias-González, Macarena Blanco, Johanna Calle-Triviño, Nufar Charuvi, Camilo Cortés-Useche, Victor Galván, Miguel A. García Salgado, Mariana Gnecco, Sergio D. Guendulain-García, Edwin A. Hernández Delgado, José A. Marín Moraga, María Fernanda Maya, Sandra Mendoza Quiroz, Samantha Mercado Cervantes, Megan Morikawa, Gabriela Nava, Valeria Pizarro, Rita I. Sellares-Blasco, Samuel E. Suleimán Ramos, Tatiana Villalobos Cubero, María F. Villalpando, Sarah Frías-Torres
Image credit
LadyofHats

PLOS ONE The species composition—ecosystem function relationship: A global meta-analysis using data from intact and recovering ecosystems
July 30, 2020 Peter J. Carrick, Katherine J. Forsythe
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0236647

PLOS ONE Quantitative genetic analyses provide parameters for selection and conservation of captive Great-billed Seed-finches (Sporophila maximiliani)
July 30, 2020 Mário L. Santana Jr.
Image credit
Stromayer, Karl / Public domain

PLOS ONE Age structure changes indicate direct and indirect population impacts in illegally harvested black rhino
July 29, 2020 Nikki le Roex, Sam Ferreira
Image credit
Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

PLOS ONE Modeling diadromous fish loss from historical data: Identification of anthropogenic drivers and testing of mitigation scenarios
July 28, 2020 Marie-Line Merg, Olivier Dézerald, Karl Kreutzenberger, Samuel Demski, Yorick Reyjol, Philippe Usseglio-Polatera, Jérôme Belliard
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0226934

PLOS ONE Interspecific hierarchies from aggressiveness and body size among the invasive alien hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax, and five native hornets in South Korea
July 28, 2020 Ohseok Kwon, Moon Bo Choi
Image credit
Igor Ovsyannykov from Pixabay

PLOS ONE Actions, indicators, and outputs in urban biodiversity plans: a multinational analysis of city practice
July 8, 2020 Jennifer Pierce, Melissa Barton, Mika Tan, Ginevra Oertel, Michael Halder, Pablo Lopez-Guijosa, Rohan Nuttall
Image credit
skeeze from Pixabay

PLOS ONE Modeling predator and prey hotspots: management implications of baleen whale co-occurrence with krill in Central California
July 7, 2020 R. Cotton Rockwood, Meredith Elliott, Benjamin Saenz, Nadav Nur, Jaime Jahncke
Image credit
Des Kerrigan from Pixabay

PLOS ONE Spatially congruent sites of importance for global shark and ray biodiversity
July 6, 2020 Danielle Derrick, Jessica Cheok, Nicholas Dulvy
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0235210

PLOS ONE Investigating the direct and indirect effects of forest fragmentation on plant functional diversity
July 2, 2020 Jenny Zambrano, Norbert J. Cordeiro, Carol Garzon-Lopez, Lauren Yeager, Claire Fortunel, Henry J. Ndangalasi, Noelle G. Beckman
Image credit
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234503

PLOS ONE Nest boxes buffer the effects of climate on breeding performance in an African urban raptor
June 24, 2020 Petra Sumasgutner, Andrew Jenkins, Arjun Amar, Res Altwegg
Image credit
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

PLOS ONE Effects of pyric herbivory on prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus spp) habitat
June 23, 2020 Heath Starns, Samuel Fuhlendorf, Robert Elmore, Dirac Twidwell, Eric Thacker, Torre Hovick, Barney Luttbeg
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0234968

PLOS ONE Optimizing conservation planning for multiple cohabiting species
June 22, 2020 Yicheng Wang, Qiaoling Fang, Sahan Dissanayake, Hayri Onal
Image credit
NASA Earth Observatory

PLOS ONE Assessment of Varying Changes of Vegetation and the Response to Climatic Factors using GIMMS NDVI3g on the Tibetan Plateau
June 17, 2020 Yuke Zhou, Junfu Fan, Xiaoying Wang
Image credit
Mukerjee/Wikipedia

PLOS ONE Evaluation of the effect of longitudinal connectivity in population genetic structure of endangered golden mahseer, Tor putitora (Cyprinidae), in Himalayan rivers: Implications for its conservation
June 15, 2020 Prabhaker Yadav, Ajit Kumar, Syed Ainul Hussain, Sandeep Kumar Gupta
Image credit
U.S. Government Accountability Office

PLOS ONE Trends in Illegal Wildlife Trade: Analyzing Personal Baggage Seizure Data in the Pacific Northwest
June 10, 2020 Rosemary Hitchens, April Blakeslee
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0234327

PLOS ONE Flower power in the city: Replacing roadside shrubs by wildflower meadows increases insect numbers and reduces maintenance costs
June 9, 2020 Karsten Mody, Doris Lerch, Ann-Kathrin Müller, Nadja Simons, Nico Blüthgen, Matthias Harnisch
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0227468

PLOS ONE Spatially explicit capture recapture density estimates: robustness, accuracy and precision in a long-term study of jaguars (Panthera onca)
June 8, 2020 Bart Harmsen, Rebecca Foster, Howard Quigley
Image credit
ALAN SCHMIERER from near Patagonia, AZ, USA

PLOS ONE Habitat selection of female sharp-tailed grouse in grasslands managed for livestock production
June 4, 2020 Megan C. Milligan, Lorelle I. Berkeley, Lance B. McNew
Image credit
© Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com

PLOS ONE Site conditions for regeneration of climax species, the key for restoring moist deciduous tropical forest in Southern Vietnam
May 29, 2020 Ha T. T. Do, John C. Grant, Heidi C. Zimmer, Bon N. Trinh, J. Doland Nichols
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Changes in Emberiza bunting communities and populations spanning 100 years in Korea
May 27, 2020 CHANG-YONG CHOI, Hyun-Young Nam, Han-Kyu Kim, Se-Young Park, Jong-Gil Park
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Freshwater fisheries conservation can increase biodiversity
May 27, 2020 Declan Butorac, Paulo Santos, Phounsavanh Phouvin, Francois Guegan
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Population dynamics of Hippophae rhamnoides shrub in response of sea-level rise and insect outbreaks
May 21, 2020 Mathieu Decuyper, Robbert van den Dool, Pieter Slim, A.T. (Loek) Kuiters, Jeroen Jansen, Ute Sass-Klaassen
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Development and evaluation of habitat suitability models for nesting white-headed woodpecker (Dryobates albolarvatus) in burned forest
May 15, 2020 Quresh S. Latif, Victoria A. Saab, Jonathan G. Dudley, Amy Markus, Kim Mellen-McLean
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0232872

PLOS ONE Sustainability management of short-lived freshwater fish in human-altered ecosystems should focus on adult survival
May 12, 2020 Michael Hatch, Fitsum Abadi, Wiebke Boeing, Sabela Lois, Michael Porter, David Cowley
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0232013

PLOS ONE Margay (Leopardus wiedii) in the southernmost Atlantic Forest: Density and activity patterns under different levels of anthropogenic disturbance
May 6, 2020 Paula E. Horn, Maria J. R. Pereira, Tatiane C. Trigo, Eduardo Eizirik, Flávia P. Tirelli
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Combining genetic and demographic monitoring better informs conservation of an endangered urban snake
May 5, 2020 Dustin A. Wood, Jonathan P. Rose, Brian J. Halstead, Ricka E. Stoelting, Karen E. Swaim, Amy G. Vandergast
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Small is beautiful, but large is certified: A comparison between fisheries the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) features in its promotional materials and MSC-certified fisheries
May 4, 2020 Frédéric Le Manach, Jennifer L. Jacquet, Megan Bailey, Charlène Jouanneau, Claire Nouvian
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0232052

PLOS ONE The relationship between biodiversity and wetland cover varies across regions of the conterminous United States
May 1, 2020 Jeremy S. Dertien, Stella Self, Beth E. Ross, Kyle Barrett, Robert F. Baldwin
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0232282

PLOS ONE Adaptive genetic diversity and evidence of population genetic structure in the endangered Sierra Madre Sparrow (Xenospiza baileyi)
April 30, 2020 José G. Ham-Dueñas, Gary Voelker, Irene Ruvalcaba-Ortega, Carlos E. Aguirre-Calderón, José I. González-Rojas, Ricardo Canales-del-Castillo
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Abundance, density, and social structure of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in a human-modified landscape in southwestern Gabon
April 29, 2020 Colin M. Brand, Mireille B. Johnson, Lillian D. Parker, Jesús E. Maldonado, Lisa Korte, Hadrien Vanthomme, Alfonso Alonso, Maria Jose Ruiz-Lopez, Caitlin P. Wells, Nelson Ting
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Multi-targeted management of upland game birds at the agroecosystem interface in midwestern North America
April 27, 2020 Marlis R. Douglas, Whitney J. B. Anthonysamy, Steven M. Mussmann, Mark A. Davis, Wade Louis, Michael E. Douglas
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Carbon metabolic rates and GHG emissions in different wetland types of the Ebro Delta
April 22, 2020 Daniel Morant, Antonio Picazo, Carlos Rochera, Anna C. Santamans, Javier Miralles-Lorenzo, Alba Camacho-Santamans, Carles Ibañez, Maite Martínez-Eixarch, Antonio Camacho
Image credit
Dennis Otten

PLOS ONE On the brink of isolation: Population estimates of the Araguaian river dolphin in a human-impacted region in Brazil
April 22, 2020 Mariana Paschoalini, Rafael Marques Almeida, Fernando Trujillo, Gabriel Melo-Santos, Miriam Marmontel, Heloíse Julião Pavanato, Federico Mosquera Guerra, Nathali Ristau, Alexandre Novaes Zerbini
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Genetic and demographic vulnerability of adder populations: results of a genetic study in mainland Britain
April 20, 2020 Sarah Ball, Nigel Hand, Faye Willman, Christopher Durrant, Tobias Uller, Katja Claus, Joachim Mergeay, Dirk Bauwens, Trenton Garner
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Inoculation of tomato plants with rhizobacteria suppresses development of whitefly Bemisia tabaci (GENNADIUS) (HEMIPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE): Agro-ecological application
April 16, 2020 Redouan Qessaoui, Abderrahim Amarraque, Hind Lahmyed, Abdelhadi Ajerrar, El Hassan Mayad, Bouchra Chebli, Alan Stuart Walters, Rachid Bouharroud
Image credit
Public Domain Pictures

PLOS ONE Impact of exotic macroalga on shorebirds varies with foraging specialization and spatial scale
April 10, 2020 Alice F. Besterman, Sarah M. Karpanty, Michael L. Pace
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0230525

PLOS ONE Anticipating changes in wildlife habitat induced by private forest owners’ adaptation to climate change and carbon policy
April 2, 2020 Yukiko Hashida, John Withey, David J. Lewis, Tara Newman, Jeffrey D. Kline
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0230729

PLOS ONE An initial industrial flora: A framework for botanical research in cooperation with industry for biodiversity conservation
April 1, 2020 Rima D. Lucardi, Chelsea E. Cunard, Steven C. Hughes, Kevin S. Burgess, Jennifer N. Reed, Lauren E. Whitehurst, Samantha J. Worthy, Travis D. Marsico
Image credit
Flickr

PLOS ONE Associations of breeding-bird abundance with climate vary among species and trait-based groups in southern California
March 31, 2020 Frank A. Fogarty, Daniel R. Cayan, Laurel L. DeHaan, Erica Fleishman
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Longitudinal fecal hormone monitoring of adrenocortical function in zoo housed fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) during institutional transfers and breeding introductions
March 18, 2020 Jilian M. Fazio, Elizabeth W. Freeman, Erika Bauer, Larry Rockwood, Janine L. Brown, Katharine Hope, Jessica Siegal-Willott, E. C. M. Parsons
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Marked decline in forest-dependent small mammals following habitat loss and fragmentation in an Amazonian deforestation frontier
March 11, 2020 Ana Filipa Palmeirim, Manoel Santos-Filho, Carlos A. Peres
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0226173

PLOS ONE Marine deforestation leads to widespread loss of ecosystem function
March 4, 2020 Matthew Edwards, Brenda Konar, Ju-Hyoung Kim, Scott Gabara, Genoa Sullaway, Tristin McHugh, Michael Spector, Sadie Small
Image credit
Pixabay

PLOS ONE Environmental factors influencing the abundance of four species of threatened mammals in degraded habitats in the eastern Brazilian Amazon
February 26, 2020 Juliana Teixeira-Santos, Ana Carolina da Cunha Ribeiro, Øystein Wiig, Nelson Silva Pinto, Lorrane Gabrielle Cantanhêde, Leonardo Sena, Ana Cristina Mendes-Oliveira
Image credit
Wikimedia

PLOS ONE Combining ensemble models and connectivity analyses to predict wolf expected dispersal routes through a lowland corridor
February 24, 2020 Olivia Dondina, Valerio Orioli, Elisa Torretta, Federico Merli, Luciano Bani, Alberto Meriggi
Image credit
Flickr

PLOS ONE Marsh bird occupancy of wetlands managed for waterfowl in the Midwestern USA
February 21, 2020 Therin M. Bradshaw, Abigail G. Blake-Bradshaw, Auriel M. V. Fournier, Joseph D. Lancaster, John O’Connell, Christopher N. Jacques, Michael W. Eichholz, Heath M. Hagy
Image credit
NPS

PLOS ONE The Elephant in the room: What can we learn from California regarding the use of sport hunting of pumas (Puma concolor) as a management tool?
February 13, 2020 John W. Laundré, Christopher Papouchis
Image credit
Flickr

PLOS ONE Non-invasive genetic monitoring for the threatened valley elderberry longhorn beetle
January 17, 2020 Raman P. Nagarajan, Alisha Goodbla, Emily Graves, Melinda Baerwald, Marcel Holyoak, Andrea Schreier

Read the original Call for Papers

PLOS announced the Biodiversity Conservation Call for Papers on August 12, 2019

READ THE CALL HERE

Follow PLOS on Twitter

To keep up to date on the latest research.

View our other Calls for Papers

PLOS offers a variety of Calls for Papers where selected articles are included in a published Collection. Find out if any of our Calls are relevant to your research.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR ACTIVE CALLS FOR PAPERS