News & Comment

Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) is a New Zealand company working together with the New Zealand Department of Conservation and other organizations, community groups and Māori groups towards eradicating invasive predator species from the country. We spoke to James Russell, a professor at the University of Auckland and chief scientist at ZIP, and Maggie Nichols, a predator ecologist at ZIP, about the company’s work.

Hafiz Muhammed Wariss and Wenjun Li are captivated by a pungent but threatened medicinal plant.

Recent expanded Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listings for sharks and rays are welcome — yet seizing this opportunity requires that international trade policy is treated not as an end point, but as a catalyst for wider regulatory and market-based reforms.

Sometimes our editors can be spotted out in the wild at conferences and institute visits. We look back at some of our activities over the past year and look forward to what’s on the horizon in 2026.

In this age of abundant remote-sensing data, global datasets are increasingly relied upon to analyse the planet at unprecedented scale and resolution. We offer three considerations on uncertainties and potential misapplications of global datasets, to ensure results appropriate for decision making.

Empathy is helpful when integrating Indigenous and Western science, which in turn can lead to beneficial environmental and social outcomes

A quarter of a century after its publication, the biodiversity hotspot concept remains one of the most cited and influential frameworks in conservation science. But its real-world impact is poorly documented in peer-reviewed literature, which hinders the development of new approaches for prioritizing conservation action.

César Marín feels privileged to work among giants.

Long-term research projects are essential for predicting the ecological and evolutionary responses of species to global change, yet their continuity is often threatened by uncertainties over funding. We talked to Stéphane Blanc, research director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France, about the SEE-LIFE (Long-term Studies in Ecology and Evolution) programme and its priorities for supporting long-term monitoring and research.

Amidst the collective push to establish nature conservation initiatives, little attention has been paid to ensuring that they persist over time. The abandonment of conservation commitments is a blind spot that threatens progress towards global environmental goals.

Lo, the late surging tide of artifice most generative in the realm of science doth unveil a trove of promise, yet not without peril. Thus, we do set forth our decrees and counsel, that authors and reviewers alike may tread with wisdom and clarity.