ABSTRACT: The pace of biodiversity loss outstrips our ability to conserve Earth's most diverse group of named species—the insects (Arthropoda: Insecta). We increasingly rely on trait-based metrics to understand how insects respond to and affect their environment. Traits provide insights that aid conservation assessment and planning. Yet, we lack a centralised trait database for insects, hampering insights that ...
Amidst a global biodiversity crisis1, the word ‘biodiversity’ has become indispensable for conservation and management2. Yet, biodiversity is often used as a buzzword in scientific literature. Resonant titles of papers claiming to have studied ‘global biodiversity’ may be used to promote research focused on a few taxonomic groups, habitats, or facets of biodiversity — taxonomic, (phylo)genetic, or functional. T...
In the internet era, the digital architecture that keeps us connected and informed may also amplify the spread of misinformation. This problem is gaining global attention, as evidence accumulates that misinformation may interfere with democratic processes and undermine collective responses to environmental and health crises. In an increasingly polluted information ecosystem, understanding the factors underlying...
Mass media plays an important role in the construction and circulation of risk perception associated with animals. Widely feared groups such as spiders frequently end up in the spotlight of traditional and social media. We compiled an expert-curated global database on the online newspaper coverage of human-spider encounters over the past ten years (2010–2020). This database includes information about the locati...