Socioecology Research Today

The supposition that agricultural intensification results in land sparing for conservation has become central to policy formulations across the tropics. However, underlying assumptions remain uncertain and have been little explored in the context of conservation incentive schemes such as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable management, and enhancement of carbon [...]

There is growing recognition that humans are faced with a critical and narrowing window of opportunity to halt or reverse some of the key indicators involved in the environmental crisis. Given human activities’ scale and impact, as well as the overly narrow perspectives of environmental research’s dominant natural sciences, a major effort is necessary to [...]

One of the prominent features of contemporary society is an increased anxiety over risks. The potentially adverse effects of industrial development and technological innovation are the subject of widespread social concern, leading to a surge in the number of ‘risk disputes’ that involve novel technologies and projected environmental catastrophes. These ‘risk disputes’ are taking place [...]

Rapid economic development in the past century has translated into severe pressures on species survival as a result of increasing land-use change, environmental pollution, and the spread of invasive alien species. However, though the impact of these pressures on biodiversity is substantial, it could be seriously underestimated if population declines of plants and animals lag [...]

This article examines the concepts ‘environment’ and ‘expertise’. It is argued that these concepts, while having long and diverse individual histories, acquired new meaning through a process of mutual co-production which occurred largely in the period 1920–1960, thus significantly preceding the common understanding of environmentalism as a phenomenon emerging in the 1960s. It is further [...]

Many conservation plans remain unimplemented, in part because of insufficient consideration of the social processes that influence conservation decisions. Complementing social considerations with an integrated understanding of the ecology of a region can result in a more complete conservation approach. We suggest that linking conservation planning to a social–ecological systems (SES) framework can lead to [...]

Recent metaanalyses suggest biodiversity loss affects the functioning of ecosystems to a similar extent as other global environmental change agents. However, the abundance and functioning of soil organisms have been hypothesized to be much less responsive to such changes, particularly in plant diversity, than aboveground variables, although tests of this hypothesis are extremely rare. We [...]

Genetically modified (GM) crops are increasingly gaining acceptance but concurrently consumers’ concerns are also increasing. The introduction of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes into the plants has raised issues related to its risk assessment and biosafety. The International Regulations and the Codex guidelines regulate the biosafety requirements of the GM crops. In addition, these bodies synergize [...]

Ecosystem restoration is now globally recognized as a key component in conservation programs and essential to the quest for the long-term sustainability of our human-dominated planet. Restoration scientists and practitioners are now on the frontline and will be increasingly called upon to get involved in large scale programs addressing immediate environmental crises and challenges. Here, [...]

We often evaluate ecosystems according to their natural biodiversity. However we rarely see these metrics applied to human populations. Supposing we wanted to evaluate the human diversity of nations. How could this be done. Among the several methods that come to mind is the use of a genetic proxy for diversity, the y-dna haplogroup. Using [...]