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Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 07:37 authored by Bates, AE, Primack, RB, Biggar, BS, Bird, TJ, Clinton, M, Command, RJ, Richards, C, Shellard, M, Geraldi, NR, Vergara, V, Acevedo-Charry, O, Colon-Pineiro, Z, Ocampo, D, Ocampo-Penuela, N, Sanchez-Clavijo, LM, Adamescu, CM, Cheval, S, Racoviceanu, T, Adams, MD, Kalisa, E, Kuuire, VZ, Aditya, V, Anderwald, P, Wiesmann, S, Wipf, S, Badihi, G, Henderson, MG, Loetscher, H, Baerenfaller, K, Benedetti-Cecchi, L, Bulleri, F, Bertocci, I, Maggi, E, Rindi, L, Ravaglioli, C, Boerder, K, Bonnel, J, Mathias, D, Archambault, P, Chauvaud, L, Braun, CD, Thorrold, SR, Brownscombe, JW, Midwood, JD, Boston, CM, Brooks, JL, Cooke, SJ, China, V, Roll, U, Belmaker, J, Zvuloni, A, Coll, M, Ortega, M, Connors, B, Lacko, L, Jayathilake, DRM, Costello, MJ, Crimmins, TM, Barnett, L, Denny, EG, Gerst, KL, Marsh, RL, Posthumus, EE, Rodriguez, R, Rosemartin, A, Schaffer, SN, Switzer, JR, Wong, K, Cunningham, SJ, Sumasgutner, P, Amar, A, Thomson, RL, Stofberg, M, Hofmeyr, S, Suri, J, Richard Stuart-SmithRichard Stuart-Smith, Day, PB, Graham EdgarGraham Edgar, Antonia CooperAntonia Cooper, De Leo, FC, Garner, G, Des Brisay, PG, Schrimpf, MB, Koper, N, Diamond, MS, Dwyer, RG, Baker, CJ, Franklin, CE, Efrat, R, Berger-Tal, O, Hatzofe, O, Eguiluz, VM, Rodriguez, JP, Fernandez-Gracia, J, Elustondo, D, Calatayud, V, English, PA, Archer, SK, Dudas, SE, Haggarty, DR, Gallagher, AJ, Shea, BD, Shipley, ON, Gilby, BL, Ballantyne, J, Olds, AD, Henderson, CJ, Schlacher, TA, Halliday, WD, Brown, NAW, Woods, MB, Balshine, S, Juanes, F, Rider, MJ, Albano, PS, Hammerschlag, N, Hays, GC, Esteban, N, Pan, Y, He, G, Tanaka, T, Hensel, MJS, Orth, RJ, Patrick, CJ, Hentati-Sundberg, J, Olsson, O, Hessing-Lewis, ML, Higgs, ND, Mark HindellMark Hindell, McMahon, CR, Harcourt, R, Guinet, C, Hirsch, SE, Perrault, J, Hoover, SR, Reilly, JD, Hobaiter, C, Gruber, T, Huveneers, C, Udyawer, V, Clarke, TM, Kroesen, LP, Hik, DS, Cherry, SG, Belluz, JDB, Jackson, JM, Lai, S, Lamb, CT, LeClair, GD, Parmelee, J, Chatfield, MWH, Frederick, CA, Lee, S, Park, H, Choi, J, LeTourneux, F, Grandmont, T, De Broin, FD, Bety, J, Gauthier, G, Legagneux, P, Lewis, JS, Haight, J, Liu, Z, Lyon, JP, Hale, R, D'Silva, D, MacGregor-Fors, I, Arbelaez-Cortes, E, Estela, FA, Sanchez-Sarria, CE, Garcia-Arroyo, M, Aguirre-Samboni, GK, Morales, JCF, Malamud, S, Gavriel, T, Buba, Y, Salingre, S, Lazarus, M, Yahel, R, Ben Ari, Y, Miller, E, Sade, R, Lavian, G, Birman, Z, Gury, M, Baz, H, Baskin, I, Penn, A, Dolev, A, Licht, O, Karkom, T, Davidzon, S, Berkovitch, A, Yaakov, O, Manenti, R, Mori, E, Ficetola, GF, Lunghi, E, March, D, Godley, BJ, Martin, C, Mihaly, SF, Barclay, DR, Thomson, DJM, Dewey, R, Bedard, Je, Miller, A, Dearden, A, Chapman, J, Dares, L, Borden, L, Gibbs, D, Schultz, J, Sergeenko, N, Francis, F, Weltman, A, Moity, N, Ramirez-Gonzalez, J, Mucientes, G, Alonso-Fernandez, A, Namir, I, Bar-Massada, A, Chen, R, Yedvab, S, Okey, TA, Oppel, S, Arkumarev, V, Bakari, S, Dobrev, V, Saravia-Mullin, V, Bounas, A, Dobrev, D, Kret, E, Mengistu, S, Pourchier, C, Ruffo, A, Tesfaye, M, Wondafrash, M, Nikolov, SC, Palmer, C, Sileci, L, Rex, PT, Lowe, CG, Peters, F, Pine, MK, Radford, CA, Wilson, L, McWhinnie, L, Scuderi, A, Jeffs, AG, Prudic, KL, Larrivee, M, McFarland, KP, Solis, R, Hutchinson, RA, Queiroz, N, Furtado, MA, Sims, DW, Southall, E, Quesada-Rodriguez, CA, Diaz-Orozco, JP, Rodgers, KS, Severino, SJL, Graham, AT, Stefanak, MP, Madin, EMP, Ryan, PG, Maclean, K, Weideman, EA, Kittelberger, KD, Kusak, J, Seminoff, JA, Hanna, ME, Shimada, T, Meekan, MG, Smith, MKS, Mokhatla, MM, Soh, MCK, Pang, RYT, Ng, BXK, Lee, BPY-H, Loo, AHB, Er, KBH, Souza, GBG, Stallings, CD, Curtis, JS, Faletti, ME, Peake, JA, Schram, MJ, Wall, KR, Terry, C, Rothendler, M, Zipf, L, Ulloa, JS, Hernandez-Palma, A, Gomez-Valencia, B, Cruz-Rodriguez, C, Herrera-Varon, Y, Roa, M, Rodriguez-Buritica, S, Ochoa-Quintero, JM, Vardi, R, Vazquez, V, Requena-Mesa, C, Warrington, MH, Taylor, ME, Woodall, LC, Stefanoudis, PV, Zhang, X, Yang, Q, Zukerman, Y, Sigal, Z, Ayali, A, Clua, EG, Carzon, P, Seguine, C, Corradini, A, Pedrotti, L, Foley, CM, Gagnon, C, Panipakoochoo, E, Milanes, CB, Botero, CM, Velazquez, YR, Milchakova, NA, Morley, SA, Martin, SM, Nanni, V, Otero, T, Wakeling, J, Abarro, S, Piou, C, Sobral, AFL, Soto, EH, Weigel, EG, Bernal-Ibanez, A, Gestoso, I, Cacabelos, E, Cagnacci, F, Devassy, RP, Loretto, M-C, Moraga, P, Rutz, C, Duarte, CM
The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness.

Funding

Department of Environment and Energy (Cwth)

History

Publication title

Biological Conservation

Volume

263

Article number

109175

Number

109175

Pagination

1-18

ISSN

0006-3207

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Elsevier Sci Ltd

Place of publication

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox5 1Gb

Rights statement

© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems

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