Conservation tools: the next generation of engineering-biology collaborations

The recent increase in public and academic interest in preserving biodiversity has led to the growth of the field of conservation technology. This field involves designing and constructing tools that use technology to aid in the conservation of wildlife. In this review, we present five case studies and infer a framework for designing conservation tools (CT) based on human-wildlife interaction. Successful CT range in complexity from cat collars to machine learning and game theory methodologies and do not require technological expertise to contribute to conservation tool creation. Our goal is to introduce researchers to the field of conservation technology and provide references for guiding the next generation of conservation technologists. Conservation technology not only has the potential to benefit biodiversity but also has broader impacts on fields such as sustainability and environmental protection. By using innovative technologies to address conservation challenges, we can find more effective and efficient solutions to protect and preserve our planet's resources.

Biology Students' Math and Computer Science Task Values Are Closely Linked

Quantitative and computational skills are required of 21st-century biologists. While biology student abilities and attitudes toward math have been studied extensively, less is known about corresponding attitudes toward computer science (CS). It is important to understand how students perceive math and CS subjects and whether those perceptions are linked or operate contradictorily to determine instructional best practices. This study 1) determined biology students' perceptions of math and CS in biological contexts, 2) measured the linkage of those perceptions, and 3) examined additional factors affecting attitudes. Students (N = 272) were surveyed using the original and a CS-adapted version of the Math-Biology Values Instrument to determine interest, perceived utility, and perceived costs toward math and CS in biological contexts. Mixed-effects models were used to determine correlations between task values and investigate effects of exposure to topics and demographic factors. Math and CS values exhibited positive correlations, but utility and cost were more negative for CS, possibly due to less exposure to CS before college, and overall attitudes were influenced by CS background and gender. Given these findings, we make educational recommendations for CS and math exposure early, often, and embedded in the biology curriculum.

A Guide for Successful Research Collaborations between Zoos and Universities

Zoos offer university researchers unique opportunities to study animals that would be difficult or impractical to find in the wild. However, the different cultures, goals, and priorities of these institutions can be a source of conflict. How can researchers build mutually beneficial collaborations with their local zoo? In this article, we present the results of a survey of 117 personnel from 59 zoos around the United States, where we highlight best practices spanning all phases of collaboration, from planning to working alongside the zoo and maintaining contact afterward. Collaborations were not possible if university personnel did not appreciate the zoo staff's time constraints as well as the differences between zoo animals and laboratory animals. We include a vision for how to improve zoo collaborations, along with a history of our own decade-long collaborations with Zoo Atlanta. A central theme is the long-term establishment of trust between institutions.

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

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.

Concept Map Assessment Reveals Short-Term Community-Engaged Fieldwork Enhances Sustainability Knowledge

Today's rapidly changing world calls for sustainability-minded scientists who are prepared to solve complex, interconnected problems. Service learning is a pedagogical approach that allows students to engage with the needs of the community by integrating academic work with complex civic issues. Student learning was examined during a short-term service-learning experience focused on water-quality monitoring in an urban watershed to determine whether community-engaged fieldwork in an upper-level ecology lab course enhances sustainability knowledge for future biologists. We used concept map scoring methods and reflection assessments to evaluate and understand changes in the structure and content of student knowledge as a result of the experience. Students showed increases in sustainability knowledge breadth, depth, and complexity, particularly in demonstrating biological-sociological connections. Student reflections indicated most students identified at least one community-engaged serving-learning objective as a result of this experience. These results suggest that community-engaged fieldwork can illustrate ecological and sociological sustainability concepts for students and that engagement works best when we make explicit our objective of engaging communities in the learning process. Short service-learning experiences are effective, can be quickly assessed using concept maps, and can be readily incorporated in other classrooms to enhance sustainability education.

No evidence for adjustment of maternal investment under alternative mate availability regimes

Using treatments that mimic high and low availability of reproductive males, it was found that female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus, previously shown to adjust their mate choices when male mates were rare, did not alter their reproductive investment strategies. These results suggest that plasticity in investment is perhaps limited by physiological requirements or dependent on relatively extreme mate availability regimes. The probability of becoming reproductive, number of clutches per season (per female), initial clutch size and mass and the timing of reproduction were all independent of the experience a female had with mate availability. This suggests that pre-copulatory plasticity in reproductive strategies may contribute more to variation in the strength and direction of sexual selection than reproductive investment in offspring.

Context matters: sexual signaling loss in digital organisms

Sexual signals are important in attracting and choosing mates; however, these signals and their associated preferences are often costly and frequently lost. Despite the prevalence of signaling system loss in many taxa, the factors leading to signal loss remain poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that complexity in signal loss scenarios is due to the context-dependent nature of the many factors affecting signal loss itself. Using the Avida digital life platform, we evolved 50 replicates of ∼250 lineages, each with a unique combination of parameters, including whether signaling is obligate or facultative; genetic linkage between signaling and receiving genes; population size; and strength of preference for signals. Each of these factors ostensibly plays a crucial role in signal loss, but was found to do so only under specific conditions. Under obligate signaling, genetic linkage, but not population size, influenced signal loss; under facultative signaling, genetic linkage does not have significant influence. Somewhat surprisingly, only a total loss of preference in the obligate signaling populations led to total signal loss, indicating that even a modest amount of preference is enough to maintain signaling systems. Strength of preference proved to be the strongest single force preventing signal loss, as it consistently overcame the potential effects of drift within our study. Our findings suggest that signaling loss is often dependent on not just preference for signals, population size, and genetic linkage, but also whether signals are required to initiate mating. These data provide an understanding of the factors (and their interactions) that may facilitate the maintenance of sexual signals.

Flexible mate choice when mates are rare and time is short

Female mate choice is much more dynamic than we once thought. Mating decisions depend on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and these two may interact with one another. In this study, we investigate how responses to the social mating environment (extrinsic) change as individuals age (intrinsic). We first conducted a field survey to examine the extent of natural variation in mate availability in a population of threespine sticklebacks. We then manipulated the sex ratio in the laboratory to determine the impact of variation in mate availability on sexual signaling, competition, and mating decisions that are made throughout life. Field surveys revealed within season heterogeneity in mate availability across breeding sites, providing evidence for the variation necessary for the evolution of plastic preferences. In our laboratory study, males from both female-biased and male-biased treatments invested most in sexual signaling late in life, although they competed most early in life. Females became more responsive to courtship over time, and those experiencing female-biased, but not male-biased sex ratios, relaxed their mating decisions late in life. Our results suggest that social experience and age interact to affect sexual signaling and female mating decisions. Flexible behavior could mediate the potentially negative effects of environmental change on population viability, allowing reproductive success even when preferred mates are rare.