Solutions-oriented conservation science in the Anthropocene: biodiversity outcomes of urban interventions

尽管保护科学的主体在不断增加，但全球许多分类群的生物多样性仍在继续下降。随着行动变得越来越紧迫，保护科学必须从了解威胁转向设计和测试解决方案。城市地区对生物多样性保护至关重要，因为城市化是造成生物多样性丧失的主要原因。此外，城市生物多样性代表着全球一半以上人口接触自然的主要机会和参与保护的机会。因此，越来越多的基于自然的解决方案和生态恢复方案以城市生物多样性保护为目标。例如植树、清除入侵物种和减少人类干扰，这些举措可以创造栖息地，减少碎片化，最大限度地减少威胁。然而，在高度改变的城市环境中，野生动物对保护干预措施的反应尚不清楚。这种缺乏理解可能会导致效率降低，并可能导致代价高昂的项目失败。我的最终目标是测试针对野生动物社区的城市保护解决方案的结果，以便指导和动员更有效的干预措施。我的研究计划的长期目标是为鸟类和哺乳动物群落如何应对复杂的、人类主导的城市环境中的威胁缓解和栖息地改善建立一个框架。在接下来的五年里，我和我的学员们将追求三个短期目标，将广泛的证据合成与直接测试具体的保护干预措施结合起来。为了实现我的长期目标，这些目标包括：1)检查对城市地区野生动物的主要威胁和缓解措施有效性的现有证据基础；2)确定减少交通流量是否会改变野生动物的行为和人口统计学；以及3)探索影响在城市校园种植本地树木后鸟类群落恢复的不同因素。随着城市的不断发展，需要规划来指导更有效的保护解决方案。我的研究计划将扩大城市野生动物保护的证据基础，并解决有关城市生物多样性关键威胁和缓解的不确定性。我的研究小组将直接承担保护解决方案并评估其影响，为人类和野生动物创造切实的环境效益。我们将让科学家、管理者、规划者和市政决策者参与进来，更重要的是，与社区成员共同创造知识。这将确保研究目标和结果是相关的，并调动知识。通过提供与广泛的合作者建立联系的机会以及发展实地和建模技能，受训人员将为在基础和应用领域从事一系列科学职业做好准备。

Despite a growing body of conservation science, biodiversity across many taxa continues to decline worldwide. As action becomes ever more urgent, conservation science must move from understanding threats, to designing and testing solutions. Urban areas are critical for biodiversity conservation, as urbanization is a major contributor to biodiversity loss. Moreover, urban biodiversity represents the predominant exposure to nature and opportunity to engage with conservation for over half of the global population. As such, an increasing number of nature-based solutions and ecological restoration programs target biodiversity conservation in cities. Examples include tree planting, invasive species removal, and reducing human disturbance, and these initiatives can create habitat, reduce fragmentation, and minimize threats. Yet, how wildlife responds to conservation interventions in highly modified urban environments is unclear. This lack of understanding can lead to reduced efficacy and potentially costly project failures. My ultimate aim is to test the outcome of urban conservation solutions for wildlife communities in order to guide and mobilize more effective interventions. The long-term goal of my research program is to develop a framework for how bird and mammal communities respond to threat mitigation and habitat enhancement in complex, human-dominated urban environments. Over the next five years my trainees and I will pursue three short-term objectives that will combine broad evidence synthesis with direct testing of specific conservation interventions. To work towards my long-term goal, these objectives include: 1) examine key threats to wildlife in urban areas and the current evidence base for the effectiveness of mitigation; 2) determine whether reducing traffic, a key threat in an urban park, changes wildlife behaviour and demography; and 3) explore different factors affecting the recovery of bird communities after native tree-planting in urban schoolyards. As cities continue to grow, planning is required to guide more effective conservation solutions. My research program will grow the evidence base for urban wildlife conservation and resolve uncertainties about key urban biodiversity threats and mitigation. My research group will directly undertake conservation solutions and evaluate their impact, generating tangible environmental benefits for people and wildlife. We will involve scientists, managers, planners, and municipal decision-makers and importantly, co-produce knowledge with community members. This will ensure the research objectives and results are relevant and knowledge is mobilized. By providing networking opportunities with a broad group of collaborators and developing both field and modelling skills, trainees will be prepared for a range of scientific careers in the fundamental and applied realms.