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Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment
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dc.contributor.author | Bates, Amanda | |
dc.contributor.author | Primack, Richard | |
dc.contributor.author | PAN-Environment Working Group | |
dc.contributor.author | Duarte, Carlos | |
dc.contributor.author | Rutz, Christian | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-05-19T23:42:40Z | |
dc.date.available | 2022-05-19T23:42:40Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2021-05-20 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Bates , A , Primack , R , PAN-Environment Working Group , Duarte , C & Rutz , C 2021 , ' Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment ' , Biological Conservation , vol. In Press . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0006-3207 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE: 274256143 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE UUID: 8dc21e91-d5cb-41a0-aa2b-46c4f11ef2f4 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0001-5187-7417/work/94669783 | |
dc.identifier.other | Scopus: 85107531420 | |
dc.identifier.other | WOS: 000719385700005 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/25418 | |
dc.description | Funding: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Geographic Society (NGS-82515R-20). | en |
dc.description.abstract | 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. | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Biological Conservation | en |
dc.rights | Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175. | en |
dc.subject | Pandemic | en |
dc.subject | Biodiversity | en |
dc.subject | Restoration | en |
dc.subject | Global monitoring | en |
dc.subject | COVID-19 | en |
dc.subject | GE Environmental Sciences | en |
dc.subject | GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography | en |
dc.subject | QH301 Biology | en |
dc.subject | RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine | en |
dc.subject | 3rd-NDAS | en |
dc.subject | SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being | en |
dc.subject.lcc | GE | en |
dc.subject.lcc | GF | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QH301 | en |
dc.subject.lcc | RA0421 | en |
dc.title | Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.contributor.sponsor | Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation | en |
dc.contributor.sponsor | National Geographic Society | en |
dc.description.version | Postprint | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. School of Biology | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversity | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution | en |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109175 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
dc.date.embargoedUntil | 2022-05-20 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | en | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | NGS-82515R-20 | en |
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