The weedy seadragon Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (family Syngnathidae) is an iconic fish endemic to Australia’s southern coast. There are indirect indications of population declines over the last decade, with large numbers of individuals washed up in 2022, and the impacts of such events are exacerbated by limited dispersal and spatial differences in genetics. Given the limited data from scientific surveys, we compiled citizen science data for south-east Australia over 3 decades (1990–2025) from long-term divers who regularly record the seadragons they encounter (seadragons are popular targets for divers, especially for photography). These data suggest a peak of seadragon abundance (measured as maximum number and number seen per dive) in 2000–2003, followed by a decline, with a possible increase from 2021. A recent stranding event on the 100 km of coastline around Sydney and in South Australia adds to concerns of population declines in these regions, despite some sites having high densities. We highlight both the efficacy and shortcomings of using data from long-term citizen scientists to assist in population assessments of marine species.

Wetland restoration has been a key strategy in Denmark’s efforts to reduce agricultural nutrient runoff into aquatic systems over the past three decades. Beyond their primary function, these re-created waterbodies also benefit waterbird species. This study investigates the role of restored wetlands in supporting the national breeding population of the Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis. Drawing on spatial information on restoration efforts from the national monitoring programme and citizen science records from volunteer observers, we analysed breeding presence and abundance of the species across 651 freshwater sites. Our results revealed a strong preference for restored habitats; the proportions of breeding pairs observed in these wetlands increased from 6% in the early 1990s to 83% in the last ten years. Colonisation typically occurred within the first year following restoration but was short-lived, with most colonies persisting only a few years. In a modern Danish landscape largely devoid of hyper-saline and ephemeral arid-lands wetland ecosystems favoured by Black-necked Grebes, restored wetlands appear to function as temporary surrogate habitats for this pioneer species. Longer-term conservation of this species may require the continued creation of newly established wetlands, as well as the re-invigoration of wetland systems governed by natural hydrological processes.

Community engagement is essential to research. Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are frequently consulted to inform recruitment and engagement strategies. In our experience, a gap emerged between CAB recommendations and implementation, largely due to limitations in research infrastructure, funding, and team capacity. Researchers may underappreciate why providing contextual details about studies that relate to resources or constraints, can lead to tailored recommendations. In response, our institutional CAB now incorporates researcher input before and after consultations to clarify programmatic and institutional limitations. This ongoing, bidirectional dialogue supports more pragmatic, tailored recommendations that better align with research team capacity while advancing shared goals.

The Black-fronted Piping-Guan Pipile jacutinga is an important seed disperser in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay but has been extirpated from several regions within its original range. Identifying key areas with a high probability of species presence is essential for guiding conservation actions, such as reintroductions. Our goal was to update the potential distribution of the Black-fronted Piping-Guan and identify environmentally suitable areas for reintroduction. We used secondary data (2009–2021) from literature sources and researchers (N = 64), as well as from citizen science platforms (N = 143), along with eight environmental variables (e.g. topographic, vegetation). We applied the maxent algorithm to build a Species Distribution Model (SDM). We identified suitable areas exceeding a minimum size threshold of 208 km², calculated by combining the average population density (1.51 individuals/km²) with the estimated minimum population size needed to maintain long-term viability. The SDM performed well statistically (AUC = 0.973 ± 0.006; TSS = 0.876 ± 0.071), indicating 73,802 km² as suitable for the species, primarily in two regions, i.e. Serra do Mar and Misiones. This area represents only 6.9% of the species’ original distribution. We identified 15 suitable areas larger than the minimum threshold, nine of which have no recent records of the species but are near forested areas where the species still occurs. Together, these areas cover 53,435 km², with 33.4% (17,838 km²) under protection. Suitable areas without recent Black-fronted Piping-Guan records may be considered potential reintroduction sites, although local factors such as hunting pressure and resource availability should be assessed to confirm their short-, medium-, and long-term viability. The SDM and identified suitable areas should be integrated into conservation planning for the species, providing strategic guidance for its reintroduction and long-term persistence.

Recent literature within archaeology and heritage studies has highlighted the need for multispecies and more-than-human approaches that go beyond human exceptionalism in the past and within the remains of the past in the present. Responding to these developments, this paper highlights a previously underrepresented group of cohabitants within human societies and their ruins – fungi. The paper demonstrates the need to account for fungi in archaeology, given that fungi can be both decomposers (living off traces of the past) and symbionts (forging connections for healthier multispecies ecologies). As such, four principles for ‘a mushroom archaeology’ are proposed by drawing on the work done within the ongoing ‘fungal turn’ in social sciences, humanities and the popular imagination. As an example of how this can be done, recent archaeological work on German World War II era ruins in northeastern Norway is drawn into dialogue with ongoing research with a local citizen science group that has begun surveying the unique fungal ecologies of these post-conflict remains. In the process, this paper demonstrates how focusing on fungi reveals a previously overlooked archaeological data source and underscores the need to notice the emergent more-than-human subterranean ecologies created in the wake of human use and ruination that underpin life in the present and future.

Grassland biodiversity and forage nutritive value are influenced by pedoclimatic conditions (e.g., soil nutrients, precipitation), management practices (e.g., mowing, grazing), and animal grazing behaviour shaping the sward botanical composition and structure. Horses, in particular, affect sward structure through selective foraging, short biting, trampling, and toileting, resulting in a patchy vegetation pattern on pastures. However, the relative importance of pedoclimatic and management factors across regions remains unclear. The effects of horse grazing and pasture heterogeneity versus management on grassland biodiversity and forage quality are also uncertain. To analyse these interactions, data were collected from 36 horse farms across two contrasting regions in Germany: an upland and a lowland area, differing in pedoclimatic conditions and farming intensity. On each farm, two of the studied grassland fields were exclusively grazed by horses, while two were either mown or both mown and grazed. A total of 148 grasslands were assessed for vegetation (species composition and proportion) and agronomic (forage nutritive value) target variables. Grazed pastures were generally more variable in terms of higher coefficients of variation of target variables than mown sites. The analysis further revealed a significant patch type × region interaction for species composition, with higher evenness in short patches – particularly in the more extensively managed upland region – indicating enhanced structural diversity under grazing. Agronomic traits were driven primarily by patch type and management, with minimal regional effects. In this study, patch type and therefore management strategies play a larger role for grassland biodiversity and forage nutritive value than regional context alone.

Biodiversity monitoring is essential to inform the state of wildlife populations, and the impacts of environmental change, conservation intervention, and sustainable development policies and actions. We review the current state of bird monitoring across Africa using public questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. We received 87 questionnaire responses from 46 (of 54) countries and, additionally, 24 in-depth interviews were carried out. Multiple data collection methods were reported with total counts of individuals being most frequent, but all-species surveys, essential for quantifying ecosystem health, were restricted to bird atlases and Common Bird Monitoring (CBM) projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana. Data collection relied largely on volunteers, but their motivation, recruitment, training, and retention is a continuing challenge. The most sustainable programmes were driven by clear policy objectives (e.g. waterbird monitoring under the Ramsar Convention or the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species), monitoring of individual groups (e.g. raptors, vultures, bustards), specific threatened species, and where clear national priorities had been set within government agencies. Use of monitoring data by governments in country biodiversity reports or National Biodiversity Species Action Plans (NBSAPs) varied widely and, for many countries, simply did not exist. A lack of skilled analysts and a comprehensive approach to data curation and ownership were identified as major limitations. A more strategic approach to funding and monitoring is needed, whereby smaller funders collaborate to reduce costs associated with applying for small amounts of money, and bird (and biodiversity) monitoring is explicitly integrated with sustainable development goals to exploit broader funding streams.

We describe #FPGlobal, a digital platform for revitalizing Francoprovençal, a threatened and underdocumented language. This platform connects speakers and learners of Francoprovençal varieties in three European and two North American countries. Its community-developed, sociolinguistically informed, and electronically mediated approach fosters communication that is less likely to trigger essentialist language ideologies common to language endangerment contexts. Early uptake of the platform illustrates how it encourages language users to share multimodal responses to prompts, archives these responses, and develops corpora of speech and text with potential utility for both pedagogy and research. Our participatory framework increases cross-variety and intergenerational language use, introduces Francoprovençal into new domains, fosters a new generation of linguists, and offers data for investigating developing writing systems and variation patterns.

This article describes a novel program of language science engagement, called CogSciDIY: Language Science. This program combines features from citizen science and participatory-action research in an innovative way to promote science understanding. Language science is rarely covered in these domains, so the program provides a unique opportunity for nonlinguists to learn more about the field. Using an interactive online platform, members of the general public assisted a research team in identifying a research question, designing an experiment to test that question, and interpreting the results of the experiment. The program provided guided support for the participants to learn about both language science content and the scientific method more generally. User outcomes in the form of participation analytics and an internal evaluation survey suggest that this program has promise for helping the general public to better understand the scientific dimensions of language study.