Papers by Francisco E. Fonturbel
Restoration Ecology, 2026
Introduction: Habitat fragmentation in agricultural landscapes challenges biodiversity conservati... more Introduction: Habitat fragmentation in agricultural landscapes challenges biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience. In Chile's Mediterranean region, restoring habitat connectivity through spatial planning provides efficient opportunities to enhance biodiversity in intensively managed landscapes. Objectives: This study identifies priority ecological corridors based on functional connectivity and evaluates how alternative restoration strategies influence connectivity outcomes in a fragmented agricultural landscape in central Chile. Methods: Functional connectivity was assessed using resistance surfaces for forest mammals and graph-theory metrics. Least-cost paths were used to delineate corridor networks, and alternative corridor-and riparian-based restoration scenarios were simulated. Restoration efficiency was evaluated by comparing gains in Equivalent Connected Area (ECA) relative to restored area. Results: Following the identification of 60 functional connectivity corridors, restoring 10% of priority least-cost corridors was the most spatially efficient strategy (148.6 ECA/ha). A targeted riparian restoration approach near least-cost corridors also performed well (121.7 ECA/ha), offering a feasible option under land-use constraints. In contrast, large-scale restoration along full corridor networks and legal riparian buffers achieved higher total connectivity gains but required substantially larger areas. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the value of spatially explicit corridor planning using least-cost paths to improve connectivity gains per restored area under intensively managed land-use constraints.
Implications for Practice: This study provides a spatially explicit framework to support corridor conservation and restoration in intensively managed agricultural landscapes where land availability is limited. By prioritizing restoration based on spatial configuration and connectivity efficiency, the results show that connectivity benefits can be achieved by restoring a relatively small proportion of strategically located corridors. Restoration efficiency strongly depends on landscape configuration and the placement of restored areas. Least-cost path-based planning emerges as an effective tool to identify connectivity bottlenecks and optimize restoration placement while minimizing land-use conflicts. Riparian restoration is less efficient for enhancing connectivity when priority segments are not targeted but remains a valuable complementary strategy due to its contribution to multiple ecosystem services. Overall, the findings emphasize the role of spatial planning in aligning restoration actions with Forest Landscape Restoration principles in multifunctional agricultural landscapes.
Restoration Ecology, 2024
Keystone plant species are commonly used for restoring degraded terrestrial sites because, despit... more Keystone plant species are commonly used for restoring degraded terrestrial sites because, despite being encountered in low abundances in natural communities, they interact with multiple species across multiple niche dimensions. Nevertheless, the demographic characteristics of these "great interactors" are often disregarded in restoration planning, which may bring unintended consequences for restoration trajectories once the outcome of species relationships interplays between positive and negative effects depending on the density of interacting species. Therefore, while replanting keystone species at their characteristically low densities may re-entangle food webs and allow novel plant and animal recruitment, restoring them at high densities can assemble asymmetrical relationships strong enough to affect sympatric plant species establishment, survival, and reproduction. Here, we explore the negative consequences of overusing keystone plant species in sites undergoing restoration and provide specific guidelines for practitioners to maximize the benefits of keystone plants in restoration initiatives.
Biological Conservation, 2024
Pollination is a key mutualistic interaction between animals and flowering plants, generating bio... more Pollination is a key mutualistic interaction between animals and flowering plants, generating biodiversity and providing valuable ecosystem services. However, a pollination crisis occurs because anthropogenic disturbance affects pollinators and their habitats, risking biodiversity and food security. Also, the lack of evidence-based knowledge may worsen disturbance effects by delaying decision-making and conservation actions. Citizen science plays an important role in data gathering by engaging volunteers in obtaining such information. Here, we present the results of four years of pollinator occurrence data from a series of targeted BioBlitz events conducted each November from 2020 to 2023 in Chile. We obtained a total of 6327 records (identified to the species or genus level), corresponding to 569 species from 44 families, collected along the Chilean territory, a 10-fold increase compared to the pre-BioBlitz period (2016-2019). The most frequent species were the butterfly Vanessa carye, the invasive bees Bombus terrestris and Apis mellifera, and the native bumblebee Bombus dahlbomii. Despite inter-annual abundance fluctuations, species composition was similar over time. The most recorded families were Apidae, Syrphidade, Nymphalidae, and Buprestidae. This nationwide multi-year citizen science survey allowed us to collect an impressive dataset that would have been unattainable by scientists alone. Furthermore, we obtained valuable information for monitoring threatened (e.g., B. dahlbomii) or invasive species (e.g., B. terrestris) over space and time, aiding decision-making and conservation efforts. Engaging people in pollinator monitoring strengthens human-nature connections and fosters conservation attitudes.
Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 2025
MDPI, a rapidly growing mega-publisher, has significantly impacted scientific publishing with a l... more MDPI, a rapidly growing mega-publisher, has significantly impacted scientific publishing with a large number of open-access journals covering all areas of knowledge. Fast publication times, numerous special issues, hundreds of guest editors, and incentives for reviewers contribute to its success. However, concerns have arisen about the quality of its peer-review process and the overall quality of its publications; these practices have led some countries to question the validity of MDPI publications for academic evaluations. MDPI's influence has surged in Chile, with publications rising from 1% to 13% between 2017 and 2023. While offering a solution to the "publish or perish" pressure, this growth has sparked a debate over the quality and sustainability of such publications. Public funding plays a significant role, with approximately 36% of MDPI papers in Chile financed by public funds through national research programs. This situation has raised concerns about the optimal use of these resources. Chilean science, renowned in South America, faces the challenge of maintaining high standards in the open-access era. The focus should be on quality over quantity to ensure impactful and innovative research contributions.
Global Ecology and Conservation, 2023
Deforestation is perhaps the greatest threat to tropical biodiversity. Anyway, extensive areas in... more Deforestation is perhaps the greatest threat to tropical biodiversity. Anyway, extensive areas in the tropics have naturally regenerated and become secondary forests, which might mitigate biodiversity loss. However, evidence about the value of secondary forests for biodiversity conservation is still controversial. To establish the conservation value of secondary forests in the tropical Andes, we compared bird species richness, abundance, and composition between old and mature secondary forests using camera traps for two consecutive years. Our results suggest that old and mature secondary forests are similar in species richness and abundance to mature secondary forests, but these habitats significantly differ in species composition. Old secondary forests harbored some species highly specialized to mature forests (e.g., ant-following insectivorous birds: Myrmeciza longipes, Gymnopithys bicolor, Formicarius analis, and Dendrocincla fuliginosa) that
are highly sensitive to habitat disturbance. Additionally, old secondary forests constitute suitable habitat for several species with decreasing populations, which could become of conservation importance in the long run. We consider that old secondary forests surrounded by mature forests can contribute to conserving understory birds, one of the most susceptible groups, negatively affected by tropical forest loss and degradation. Therefore, strategies for habitat biodiversity protection in this region should also include old secondary forests.
Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 2022
We consider the mechanistic basis and functional significance of the pervasive influence of paras... more We consider the mechanistic basis and functional significance of the pervasive influence of parasitic plants on productivity and diversity, synthesizing recent findings on their responses to drought, heat waves, and fire. Although parasites represent just 1% of all angiosperms, the ecophysiological traits associated with parasitism confer pronounced impacts on their hosts and disproportionate influence upon community structure, composition, and broader ecosystem function. New insights into the roles of their pollinators, seed dispersers, and litter-dependent detritivores have advanced our understanding of how parasitic plants modulate animal communities via their extended and complementary phenology. Direct and indirect impacts of climate change on parasitic plants and their ecological roles are already apparent. Trade-offs between maximizing efficiency at obtaining water from hosts and sensitivity to water stress underlie range shifts and host switching of parasitic plants and increased reliance on these plants by animal communities for food and shelter.
Biodiversity Data Journal, 2022
Background This database gathers 10,721 specimens, belonging to 2,578 species from the Chilean va... more Background This database gathers 10,721 specimens, belonging to 2,578 species from the Chilean vascular flora (angiosperms, gymnosperms and pteridophytes) deposited in the Herbarium of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) in Chile. The PUCV botanical collection was started by the renowned botanist Otto Zöllner and represents a major natural historical legacy for central Chile, with decades of information represented through preserved specimens. This collection is currently deposited in the Curauma campus of the PUCV. This digitisation effort is part of the PUCV's endeavour to mobilise its biological collections and make them freely available through GBIF, encouraging national and international researchers to generate new knowledge, based on this invaluable heritage, which is a silent witness of the vast plant diversity that once existed in Chile and that is now vanishing due to anthropogenic drivers. New information The database provides occurrence records from 10,721 specimens of vascular flora held in the PUCV Herbarium, representing 2,578 species, 914 genera and 177 families. Each ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ © Cordero S et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. record includes data on taxonomy, geographic distribution, elevation and collection information (e.g. date of collection, legitimavit and determinavit of specimens, general observations). The database serves as a repository containing records from past decades on the diversity and distribution of plant species, mainly from the Chilean Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot.
Agronomy, 2023
Wild insects provide pollination services in agroecosystems. Avocado is an economically important... more Wild insects provide pollination services in agroecosystems. Avocado is an economically important crop grown in the Chilean Mediterranean climate region and exported worldwide. Av- ocado pollination is managed using honeybee hives, while the role of wild insects as pollinators remains poorly known. We quantified the relative contributions of wild floral visitors and honeybees to the fruit set of avocados in two contrasting seasons (2015 and 2016) in Central Chile. Observations were made in 60 trees grown nearby (~300 m) to remnant patches of native sclerophyll vegetation. We found that honeybees and wild insects accounted for 48.6% and 51.4% of total floral visitation, respectively, with a 68% taxonomic similarity of floral visitors between seasons. The presence of honeybees significantly modulated the floral visitor composition and modified plant-pollination network parameters, which resulted in the biotic homogenization of the interaction network, through the increase of shared tree–floral visitor interactions, to the detriment of exclusive interactions. Finally, wild insects were more effective than honeybees in pollinating avocado trees and their contribution was greatest during the dry year. Thus, honeybees alone cannot be relied upon to deliver maximum pollination. We highlight ecological intensification practices to encourage wild insect visits and avoid native vegetation replacement with orchards. Therefore, we emphasize that future ecological intensification research should address agricultural practices to promote wild insects and evaluate the role of native vegetation as wild pollinator habitat in agricultural landscapes.
Global Ecology and Conservation, 2023
Land-use change is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Particularly, the expansion of the agricul... more Land-use change is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Particularly, the expansion of the agricultural frontier results from an increased resource demand by the human population. A biodiverse community provides positive ecosystem services for natural areas and commercial crops. Ecological intensification aims to increase crop yields while conserving biodiversity and the ecosystem services that it provides. This study aimed to assess vertebrate diversity in two commercial crops (apple and cherry) along a gradient of surrounding natural vegetation. We hypothesized that vertebrate composition would differ along the vegetation gradient in the landscape, and species diversity would increase in crops surrounded by more natural or seminatural vegetation. For this purpose, we set up 54 camera trap points within the orchards. Vertebrate composition, abundance, and diversity were significantly different along the gradient, with those crops surrounded mainly by natural areas having the highest values of diversity and abundance of native species, but exotic species explained most of the differences. We conclude that maintaining natural areas nearby crop fields would enhance their biodiversity and the ecosystemic services native species provide.
Agronomy, 2023
Characterizing insect communities in pollinator-dependent crops helps determine the potential pol... more Characterizing insect communities in pollinator-dependent crops helps determine the potential pollinator effectiveness and their effects on crop yield. Few studies have examined polli- nator communities and their services to crops in South America. Furthermore, optimal sampling methods for these communities in the crop habitat have received little attention. Pan traps are one of the simplest and most widely used sampling methods to assess insect diversity. We compared different pan trap arrangements to describe potential pollinator communities in two commercial crops (blueberry and canola) in Southern Chile. We compared communities in the crops and assessed how sampling position (border or center) and pan trap color (blue, white, or yellow) affected sample composition. Species composition was significantly different between crops. Furthermore, trap color affected sample composition in blueberry, but trap position did not, whereas color had no significant effect on canola, but trap position did. In all cases, yellow pans captured the largest number of species. Hymenoptera explained most of the differences in sampling efficiency because of the differential responses across species. We suggest that pan trap assessments of the diversity in potential pollinator insects depend on crop characteristics, including planting configuration and floral morphology. Therefore, comparative studies should include pans of different colors positioned at various locations within the crop.
Plants, 2023
Exotic species are one of the main threats to biodiversity, leading to alterations in the structu... more Exotic species are one of the main threats to biodiversity, leading to alterations in the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. However, they can sometimes also provide ecological services, such as seed dispersal. Therefore, we assessed the ecological impacts of exotic species on native dispersal systems and the mechanisms underlying the disruption of mutualistic plant-disperser interactions. Exotic species negatively affect dispersal mutualisms by (i) altering dispersal behavior and visitation rates of native dispersers, (ii) predating native dispersers, (iii) transmitting forest pathogens, and (iv) predating seeds. Conversely, positive impacts include the dispersal of native plants, forest regeneration, and native habitat restoration via (i) increasing the visitation rates of frugivorous birds, (ii) facilitating the colonization and establishment of native forest trees, (iii) enhancing forest species seedling survival, and (iv) facilitating seed rain and seedling recruitment of early and late successional native plants. The reviewed studies provide similar results in some cases and opposite results in others, even within the same taxa. In almost all cases, exotic species cause negative impacts, although sometimes they are necessary to ensure native species' persistence. Therefore, exotic species management requires a comprehensive understanding of their ecological roles, since the resulting effects rely on the complexity of native-exotic species interactions.
Flora, 2023
Invasive species are one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. As exotic ... more Invasive species are one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. As exotic species invade new ecosystems, they establish ecological interactions with the existing species, which may facilitate their spread. Flower colour is an important trait that influences pollination and pollinator preferences. To determine the role of these variables on the bumblebee preferences, we compared the floral associations of two exotic bumblebee species: Bombus terrestris and B. ruderatus (introduced two decades ago for crop pollination) and the native B. dahlbomii with native and exotic plants in Chile. We analysed 3,019 citizen science records in order to understand bumblebee associations with native and exotic plant species regarding flower colour. We found that the exotic bumblebees were mainly recorded visiting flowers of exotic plants (86% for B. terrestris and 93% for B. ruderatus), while the native B. dahlbomii visited exotic and native plant species in a similar proportion. Also, the exotic bumblebees visited purple and pink flowers more often, while the native bumblebee species frequently visited white, pink, and purple flowers. Although the three species share trichromatic vision, they seem to have different flower colour preferences. The association of B. terrestris and B. ruderatus with exotic non-crop species (i. e., exotic ornamental plants) may be acting as steppingstones from croplands to other habitats, facilitating the bee invasion process. Despite its inherent limitations, citizen science data provide large amounts of valuable information that is difficult to be obtained otherwise, which can be used to improve our understanding of invasion processes, as is the case of exotic Bombus species in southern South America.
Ornithological Applications, 2023
Different sampling methods are used to study bird diversity in the tropics, mist nets being one o... more Different sampling methods are used to study bird diversity in the tropics, mist nets being one of the most common approaches. However, camera traps have been used for this purpose in the last 20 years. We compared the performance of mist nets and camera traps in sampling the diversity of understory and sub-canopy birds in a Neotropical rainforest. Given its high biodiversity, obtaining accurate bird diversity estimates in these forests is a challenging task. We sampled secondary forest patches in the Colombian central Andes between 2019 and 2021. We compared the effectiveness of both methods based on six comparison criteria (body size, foraging stratum, detection difficulty, habitat specialization, population trend, and migratory status). We recorded a total of 99 bird species: 92 species were captured using mist nets and 37 species using camera traps; 30 species were detected using both methods (mainly generalist and abundant birds). Mist net's effectiveness was 83%, while camera trap effectiveness was 68%. Differences in sampling effectiveness were mainly determined by body size, as small birds were captured using mist nets, while camera traps often recorded large birds. However, detection difficulty and habitat specialization were also relevant. Camera traps effectively recorded ground-dwelling species that were not captured in mist nets. In contrast, those birds that forage in the sub-canopy stratum were mainly captured in the mist nets but not detected in camera traps. Although both methods detected different species, we found similar patterns regarding estimated species richness among different categories of body size, detection difficulty, population trend, and behavior, but not for habitat specialization. As both methods have advantages and limitations, using mist nets and camera traps together would improve bird diversity estimations. We urge investigators to explore canopy ecology with camera traps, as they provide long-term information that cannot be obtained with other methods.
Bulletin of the American Society of America, 2023
In this brief Editorial I discuss some questionable practices on citizen science, in which a few ... more In this brief Editorial I discuss some questionable practices on citizen science, in which a few individuals take advantage of the work of many people, as is the case of the "Salvemos Nuestro Abejorro" endeavor, as the project leader has illegally retained the copyright of thousands of photographs belonging to other people in order to prevent other researchers to use the data and monopolize publication.
Forest Ecology and Management, 2022
Deforestation and forest degradation are among the main biodiversity loss drivers worldwide. The ... more Deforestation and forest degradation are among the main biodiversity loss drivers worldwide. The expansion of productive activities, such as forest plantations, often results in the loss and degradation of native forests, affecting native species in many ways. While many studies have assessed the effects of habitat degradation on taxonomic diversity, the effects on functional diversity have been little explored. Functional diversity provides a robust framework for understanding how anthropogenic disturbance changes biodiversity. We assessed how bird functional diversity changes along a habitat degradation gradient in the Valdivian rainforests (southern Chile). We used four functional diversity indices and compared four habitat types (old-growth, secondary, and logged native forests and exotic plantations) to assess how functional diversity changes depending on habitat structure and bird life history, and behavioral traits. We found that most functional diversity differences occur between old growth and secondary native forests, being the latter the less functionally diverse habitat. Further, secondary forests lack natural tree cavities, and birds nesting there are more prone to be affected by brood parasitism. Changes in habitat structure seem to be determinant for bird functional diversity along a habitat degradation gradient. Therefore, habitat degradation can lead to functional homogenization beyond changes in species richness or abundance, with less evident ecological consequences.
Avian Research, 2022
Hummingbird species have closely evolved with the plants they feed on, which is confirmed by thei... more Hummingbird species have closely evolved with the plants they feed on, which is confirmed by their often tight ecological relationships in natural settings. Hummingbird-plant interactions are of interest for research areas such as ecology, evolution, and even agriculture, as they usually inform on the conservation status of interacting species assemblages, and its disappearance may precede the population extinction of the species involved in the interaction. In Chile, there are nine hummingbird species, which interact with a large and diverse number of angiosperm species in forest, desert, and mountain range environments. The motivation to perform this review is to systematize the available information regarding the flowering plants visited by hummingbird species in Chile, to present some basic plant-hummingbird pollination network metrics, and on this basis to identify the components of the plant-hummingbird relationships in need of further research. A plant-hummingbird metanetwork revealed a low connectance value, low niche overlap, and strong modularity among species. However, the fact that most species present a strong allopatric distribution across Chile, suggests that network structure results mostly from the history of colonization rather than from ecological organization. Nowadays, the main threats to Chilean hummingbirds are anthropogenic disturbance and climate change, which disrupt hummingbird-plant interactions, leading to unpredictable ecological consequences at the community level. Long periods of drought may reduce the resource base for hummingbirds, with dramatic consequences for the maintenance of bird and plant populations.
Forest Ecology and Management, 2022
Plants are involved in different interactions with animals that may have contrasting effects on t... more Plants are involved in different interactions with animals that may have contrasting effects on their reproductive output. However, as multitrophic interactions are resource-mediated and density-dependent, the frequency at which these interactions occur is modulated by the demographical characteristics of the populations of interacting species. For example, while plant aggregation may increase pollinator attraction and consequently, pollination success, an increased seed set may also attract more seed predators. Therefore, the intensity of pollination and seed predation events may affect plant population dynamics. Although multitrophic plant-animal interactions are crucial for maintaining biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems, they have seldom been studied together, especially in restored habitats. To fill this gap, we used five restoration sites that used Inga vera trees at different densities to evaluate how density-dependent effects impact fruit set, seed predation, seed germination rate and the number of viable germinated seeds (i.e., the net effect of pollination and seed predation). Using structural equation models to assess the isolated effects of each predictor variable in each response variable and the cascading effects of each response variable on another, we found that density-dependent effects influenced I. vera reproduction. While I. vera trees in high density presented higher fruit set and seed predation rates, trees in low-density plantations presented lower fruit set, but seed predators consumed fewer seeds. The contrasting results of final seed germination rates revealed that density-dependent effects are pivotal to plant establishment and population dynamics. We argue that the study of density-dependent multitrophic plant-animal interactions is essential to guarantee that the efforts done in restoration initiatives can turn into successful results in terms of restoring ecosystem structure and stability.
Forest Ecology and Management, 2022
Anthropogenic disturbance has dramatically degraded and reduced the extension of the temperate ra... more Anthropogenic disturbance has dramatically degraded and reduced the extension of the temperate rainforests of southern South America, negatively affecting forest animals that depend on habitat attributes at local and landscape scales. We conducted a multi-scale assessment (from 1 to 4000 m) to understand better how local and landscape attributes influence forest animal abundance in an anthropogenic disturbance gradient. We selected five forest-dependent animal species to assess the effects of habitat alteration: an arboreal marsupial (Dromiciops gliroides) and four forest birds (Pteroptochos tarnii, Scytalopus magellanicus, Scelorchilus rubecula, and Sylviortho- rhynchus desmursii). We recorded forest animal abundances in four different habitat types (old-growth native, secondary, and logged native forests and forestry plantations). We measured local attributes in the field and characterized landscape attributes remotely. We evaluated marsupial abundance using camera traps and forest bird abundance using point counts, which were analyzed with Generalized Linear Mixed Models. Locally, canopy cover positively predicted marsupial abundance, while the number of fallen logs positively predicted bird abundance. At the landscape scale, native forest cover positively affected marsupial abundance, with significant effects at all levels. Conversely, plantation cover negatively affected forest bird abundance, while landscape heterogeneity negatively affected both groups. Our results showed that the abundance of the forest animals assessed here depends on multi-scale determinants. At the local scale, we advise greater canopy cover and maintaining woody debris. On the landscape scale, maintaining native forest cover should prioritize biodiversity management in the southern South America temperate forests. It is also crucial to control the expansion of forest plantations and reduce forest fragmentation to guarantee the persistence of forest-dependent species.
Diversity and Distributions, 2022
Aim
Aggregated species occurrence data are increasingly accessible through public databases for ... more Aim
Aggregated species occurrence data are increasingly accessible through public databases for the analysis of temporal trends in the geographic distributions of species. However, biases in these data present challenges for statistical inference. We assessed potential biases in data available through GBIF on the occurrences of four flower-visiting taxa: bees (Anthophila), hoverflies (Syrphidae), leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) and hummingbirds (Trochilidae). We also assessed whether and to what extent data mobilization efforts improved our ability to estimate trends in species' distributions.
Location
The Neotropics.
Methods
We used five data-driven heuristics to screen the data for potential geographic, temporal and taxonomic biases. We began with a continental-scale assessment of the data for all four taxa. We then identified two recent data mobilization efforts (2021) that drastically increased the quantity of records of bees collected in Chile available through GBIF. We compared the dataset before and after the addition of these new records in terms of their biases and estimated trends in species' distributions.
Results
We found evidence of potential sampling biases for all taxa. The addition of newly-mobilized records of bees in Chile decreased some biases but introduced others. Despite increasing the quantity of data for bees in Chile sixfold, estimates of trends in species' distributions derived using the postmobilization dataset were broadly similar to what would have been estimated before their introduction, albeit more precise.
Main conclusions
Our results highlight the challenges associated with drawing robust inferences about trends in species' distributions using publicly available data. Mobilizing historic records will not always enable trend estimation because more data do not necessarily equal less bias. Analysts should carefully assess their data before conducting analyses: this might enable the estimation of more robust trends and help to identify strategies for effective data mobilization. Our study also reinforces the need for targeted monitoring of pollinators worldwide.
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Papers by Francisco E. Fonturbel
Implications for Practice: This study provides a spatially explicit framework to support corridor conservation and restoration in intensively managed agricultural landscapes where land availability is limited. By prioritizing restoration based on spatial configuration and connectivity efficiency, the results show that connectivity benefits can be achieved by restoring a relatively small proportion of strategically located corridors. Restoration efficiency strongly depends on landscape configuration and the placement of restored areas. Least-cost path-based planning emerges as an effective tool to identify connectivity bottlenecks and optimize restoration placement while minimizing land-use conflicts. Riparian restoration is less efficient for enhancing connectivity when priority segments are not targeted but remains a valuable complementary strategy due to its contribution to multiple ecosystem services. Overall, the findings emphasize the role of spatial planning in aligning restoration actions with Forest Landscape Restoration principles in multifunctional agricultural landscapes.
are highly sensitive to habitat disturbance. Additionally, old secondary forests constitute suitable habitat for several species with decreasing populations, which could become of conservation importance in the long run. We consider that old secondary forests surrounded by mature forests can contribute to conserving understory birds, one of the most susceptible groups, negatively affected by tropical forest loss and degradation. Therefore, strategies for habitat biodiversity protection in this region should also include old secondary forests.
Aggregated species occurrence data are increasingly accessible through public databases for the analysis of temporal trends in the geographic distributions of species. However, biases in these data present challenges for statistical inference. We assessed potential biases in data available through GBIF on the occurrences of four flower-visiting taxa: bees (Anthophila), hoverflies (Syrphidae), leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) and hummingbirds (Trochilidae). We also assessed whether and to what extent data mobilization efforts improved our ability to estimate trends in species' distributions.
Location
The Neotropics.
Methods
We used five data-driven heuristics to screen the data for potential geographic, temporal and taxonomic biases. We began with a continental-scale assessment of the data for all four taxa. We then identified two recent data mobilization efforts (2021) that drastically increased the quantity of records of bees collected in Chile available through GBIF. We compared the dataset before and after the addition of these new records in terms of their biases and estimated trends in species' distributions.
Results
We found evidence of potential sampling biases for all taxa. The addition of newly-mobilized records of bees in Chile decreased some biases but introduced others. Despite increasing the quantity of data for bees in Chile sixfold, estimates of trends in species' distributions derived using the postmobilization dataset were broadly similar to what would have been estimated before their introduction, albeit more precise.
Main conclusions
Our results highlight the challenges associated with drawing robust inferences about trends in species' distributions using publicly available data. Mobilizing historic records will not always enable trend estimation because more data do not necessarily equal less bias. Analysts should carefully assess their data before conducting analyses: this might enable the estimation of more robust trends and help to identify strategies for effective data mobilization. Our study also reinforces the need for targeted monitoring of pollinators worldwide.