Ecology

“Ever since the first time I visited, I’ve been in love with the Sahara. That was in Morocco in 2011, to survey the situation of the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki). I am a conservation biologist at the University of Granada, Spain, and I quickly realized the importance of preserving these forgotten animals. It’s especially key in the context of climate change, to see how they adapt to drought, for instance.The scientific community has paid little attention to Saharan wildlife. Almost nobody knows about the sand cat (Felis margarita), for example. This beautiful animal highlights the challenges that all ecological research faces in hostile and remote environments, such as the Sahara. My colleagues and I have published the only scientific estimate of the sand cat’s abundance (J. M. Gil-Sánchez et al. Eur. J. Wildl. Res. 69, 20; 2023).It is difficult to work in such an isolated area. We must take a lot of care to avoid landmines left from regional conflict, for example, by using maps and steering clear of the areas that local camel herders also avoid.I’m the chair of the non-governmental organization Harmusch Wildlife Research and Conservation, Ciudad Real, Spain. My fieldwork group is made up of a translator, scientists and wildlife experts. Some of the members also have skills as mechanics. We usually travel in two cars, with eight to ten people in total. Our expeditions last for 10–20 days. We need to carry enough water, food and fuel to see us through. We try to avoid the summer, because it’s impossible to carry as much water as we would need.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00234-9

References

Subjects

Conservation biology More

The yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) is a federally listed species endemic to California.Credit: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via GettyPlants and animals that gain protection by US law owe much more to studies published in small, specialist journals than they do to those published in prestigious titles such as Nature and Science. That’s the finding of a study1 that tracked citations linked to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a US law designed to protect and support the recovery of species at risk of extinction.Given that the ESA has the power to halt logging, construction, problematic fishing practices and other human activities that threaten vulnerable wildlife, getting a species added to it can be an important way for a conservation biologist to help protect populations. But publishing in the kinds of journal that are more likely to influence the ESA could set conservation researchers back in their careers, says study co-author Brian Silliman, a marine conservation biologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. For decisions about who gets hired, promoted or funded, he says, a researcher’s impact is too often equated with the number of citations they receive and the impact factor of the journals they’ve published in (the standard way of calculating a journal’s impact factor is by dividing the number of times all the papers it has published in the past two years were cited in the last year by the total number of papers published in those two years.) “When you have graduate students who are trying to get jobs, you generally advise them not to publish in taxon-specific journals, because they’re going to be low impact factor,” says Silliman. “Even if it’s great science and it has applications to other systems, it’s a very limited audience and it’s going to be harder for them to get a job.” This disconnect between what’s valued in academia and what has real-life impact prompted Silliman to ask a graduate class to think of alternative ways to evaluate research. PhD student and co-author Jonathan Choi suggested that they investigate which journals are publishing the studies that are cited in the ESA when new species are added to it.2024 Research LeadersChoi and his colleagues examined documentation for the 260 species that were added to the ESA by the administration of Barack Obama between 2012 and 2016. They counted 4,836 citations for academic papers published in 785 journals. Categorizing the journals according to their impact factor, they showed that only 7% of ESA citations came from journals with an impact factor of more than 9, whereas 87% came from journals with an impact factor of less than 4 or no impact factor at all. Mid-ranking journals accounted for 6%. Journals that have not been given an impact factor by Clarivate — often because they are not considered influential enough — represented 13% of ESA citations. The team also created an “ESA listing impact factor”, which was based on the fraction of papers that a journal publishes that go on to be cited by the ESA. The highest ranked journal was Pacific Science, a regional journal with a conventional impact factor of just 0.74.Collectively, regional journals, such as The Southwestern Naturalist and The American Midland Naturalist, and taxa-specific journals, such as the Journal of the Lepidopterists Society, American Fern Journal and American Malacological Bulletin, were the most important sources of ESA citations, says Choi. Habitat-specific journals such as Coral Reefs and Rangeland Ecology & Management were also important, he adds. The study, published in Conservation Biology, highlights how conservation law relies on the type of rigorous practical work that is typically published in niche journals but is not rewarded by academic promotion and funding systems.Greater support needed for fieldworkChoi is careful to point out that the study’s findings do not devalue the kind of theory-driven science that appeals to high-impact-factor journals. Rather, they emphasize the need to support researchers who want to do other kinds of work, such as long-term population-monitoring studies, without sacrificing their career prospects. “That is really important science when it comes to conservation that we stand to lose if we don’t incentivize this kind of very baseline data collection,” says Choi.

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Victoria, Olivia and Justine (left to right) during one of their field sessions on Sable Island.Credit: Justine AmmendoliaIn 2023 and 2024, the three of us spent two five-week field seasons on Sable Island, a tree-less environment in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It was originally settled in 1801, when a life-saving station was built to aid sailors whose ships had been wrecked. The island consists of grasses and shrubs that sustain a population of around 450 feral horses, descended from an unknown population introduced in the mid-1700s. A meteorological station was established in the 1890s, and biological research began in the 1970s.Two of us (V.C. and J.A.) were there to collect data for our PhD projects. O.A. was a summer undergraduate researcher; V.C. and O.A. research the feral horses and work 16-hour days to conduct field surveys and laboratory work. J.A. collects and processes atmospheric microplastic samples in the mornings and then monitors her equipment throughout the rest of the day.The island is almost 25 times longer than it is wide. Its expansive coastline hosts the largest breeding population of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the world and has a rich biodiversity of seabirds. The weather often changes without warning, from blaring heat to dense fog. There is an average summer population of 15 people, including federal employees, researchers and visiting academics.Our island ‘town’ is Parks Canada’s main station. This cluster of buildings, mostly from the 1940s, includes our shared accommodations. The Visitors’ Quarters building has all the comforts of home. Electricity, running water, Wi-Fi and laundry facilities all make the isolation and long working days easier.We’ve reflected on our shared experiences to compile advice for early-career researchers (ECRs) journeying into the pressure-cooker environment of remote fieldwork, which poses many challenges. These include managing logistics for the first time, fixing damaged field gear and navigating group dynamics at close quarters. We encourage all ECRs going into the field to take initiative. Given that the barrier between work and life tends to dissolve in the field, initiative can take different forms from those that you might be used to. For example, you might offer to cook, or to verify weather conditions for the next working day or even just to sweep up if you notice that it needs to be done.Don’t overcomplicate thingsGetting to your remote field site is hard, typically involving making relevant partnerships, applying for permits and funding, and ensuring that you are prepared to conduct your science in the field. Don’t be hard on yourself. Fieldwork is unpredictable; for reasons from illness to adverse weather conditions, it isn’t always possible to do everything you initially planned. Put your health and safety first, to prevent burnout.We were lucky to spend two periods at our field site, enabling us to better understand sampling protocols and the environment. This helped to reduce the risk of our project not meeting our expectations. For example, V.C.’s work is part of a long-term monitoring project on the feral horses, collecting data through photography and non-invasive faecal sampling without disturbing or handling the animals. Her first field season was spent gaining experience with her study system, which inspired the direction of her PhD project, by asking new questions that use data collected over the past 17 years.Justine Ammendolia processes atmospheric microplastic samples on Sable Island, as part of her PhD project.Credit: Victoria CrozierWith any field project, we suggest working with what’s available. In designing her field programme, J.A. could have collected data anywhere on the island, but instead chose to use existing infrastructure, because it didn’t require any extra construction. J.A. has adapted a localized sampling approach that minimizes island travel and uses the Air Chemistry building in the island’s main town to take samples. And although choosing not to sample at multiple points on the island has reduced the number of variables to measure, by keeping things simple, J.A. has framed her project to have reliable data while minimizing its impact on the environment. Our two projects have taken approaches that support the philosophy of ‘leave no trace’, which should inform our work as field scientists.Capture science in actionWe have supported each other in documenting our fieldwork experiences. This has involved waking up at the crack of dawn to photograph microplastic collections or hiking across the island to document data being collected on feral-horse biology.We’ve invested time in developing stories about our research and filming each other in the field, with the intention of sharing the results with audiences back home through seminars, articles and educational-outreach initiatives. J.A. photographed O.A. and V.C. during their fieldwork; the photos were used in an article celebrating O.A.’s experience as an Indigenous scholar. V.C. and O.A. helped J.A. to document her science for her virtual tour, part of her National Geographic Society grant.Victoria Crozier on Sable Island, collecting data for her PhD project.Credit: Justine AmmendoliaJ.A. shared her knowledge about science communication and photography, and as a group we gained a better understanding of how to develop an impactful story arc and capture complementary footage. As a group, we’ve become better science communicators, working together to capture research in action, so that we can share our science beyond our time in the field. Sharing your research can not only inspire others, but also help to elevate your professional profile and reputation in your field.

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Prominent ecologist Thomas Crowther, whose research on trees has influenced figures including US President Donald Trump, will depart the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) after the institution said that it would not renew his contract. ETH Zurich says it has received “reports of alleged misconduct on a variety of levels” and has lost trust in the assistant professor.Crowther and ETH Zurich declined to comment on the allegations. Crowther says that he is in talks to relocate his laboratory, which employs 40–60 people.“The team is doing its best to be resilient, but most of us are in shock, and there is grief over what has been lost,” says Emily Clark, the group’s manager, who describes the atmosphere in the lab as quiet and sad. Members of Crowther’s team were told in mid-December that they would lose their jobs by September because the lab is being dissolved, according to a member who asked to remain anonymous.Crowther rose to prominence while doing postdoctoral research at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2015, he was lead author on a paper published in Nature1 that suggested there were nearly eight times more trees growing on Earth than expected. His research garnered attention from influential people and inspired the launch a high-profile tree-conservation initiative by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which received support from the first Trump administration. He was dubbed the ‘Steve Jobs of ecology’ and profiled by journals including Nature and Science.Millions in fundingIn 2017, Crowther moved to ETH Zurich on a tenure-track professorship. Within a year, he had secured 17.7 million Swiss francs (US$19.5 million) in funding from a Dutch non-profit foundation called DOB Ecology in Veessen for a 13-year project to understand how ecological processes drive the carbon cycle and climate.In late 2024, Swiss media reported that eight people had made allegations against Crowther to the university. Details of the allegations have not been reported, and ETH Zurich and Crowther declined to comment to Nature on the content of the press reports.In a statement to Nature, ETH Zurich said that last July its leadership decided to “have the allegations informally clarified by an external law firm”. It added: “ETH Zurich President, Joël Mesot has decided to no longer employ the scientist following expiration of the scientist’s tenure process. Following a careful evaluation, the ETH Zurich President reached the conclusion that there is no longer a basis of trust for a permanent employment contract.”Crowther is on administrative leave and his contract, which expires at the end of September, will not be renewed, according to the statement. “The initiated clarifications are still ongoing. Please understand, that we cannot comment further on this matter,” ETH Zurich said.Crowther told Nature that he is contemplating offers from two institutions, one in Europe and one in Asia, to relocate his lab. “I am still considering where might be the best place for the next phase of the group,” he says.

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Carnivore ecologist Tyus Williams crouches to eye level to install a wildlife camera in Bayview Park, San Francisco, California.Credit: Dr Christopher J. SchellWorking scientist profilesThis article is part of an occasional series in which Nature profiles scientists with unusual career histories or outside interests.Tyus Williams says he grew up as a nerdy, neurodiverse, science-loving child who was a little bit unsure of his place in the world. “When you’re a young, curious Black kid with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, you feel like you were born into a world that wasn’t made for you,” he says. Today, he’s a budding carnivore ecologist with fans who range from readers of his first children’s book to online social-justice warriors and colleagues who admire his brand of equity-seeking science. “I knew at the age of six what I wanted to be,” Williams says. That meant working with animals, especially wildlife. But after a school job at an animal hospital in Alpharetta, Georgia, where he grew up, Williams realized that he couldn’t bear to euthanize pets. Instead, he chose a research path.Williams studied wildlife science at the University of Georgia in Athens. His early research included contributions to surveying salamanders in the Appalachian mountains, jaguars (Panthera onca) in Belize and sea turtles and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus) in coastal Georgia.TikTok’s dancing chemist catalyses joy in studentsAs someone who didn’t always fit in, Williams has a soft spot for carnivores, which can be seen as menaces or threats, particularly in urban areas.“My mom would never let me have a snake,” he says, “but I was always interested in carnivorism.” He is now working on his PhD dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley, where he splits his time between urban ecologist Chris Schell’s group and that of wildlife ecologist Justin Brashares. Williams examines how human society exacerbates the effects that outdoor domestic cats — now considered invasive — have on other species. The research groups study urban ecology, justice and equity.‘Your friendly neighbourhood ecologist’Schell first met Williams at an event for Black mammologists. The two bonded over a shared interest in finding links between ecology and sociology — in other words, in how human behaviour influences what animals do in their environments.“He has the genuine love of science you’d see in a five-year-old,” Schell says. Even in the burnout-prone academic world, Williams seems to have maintained that. Yet, “I don’t think it’s lost on Tyus that he’s one of the few Black students in the department”, Schell says. “Tyus has struggled with impostor syndrome in an incredibly big way.”Despite these struggles, Williams cultivates a steady social-media outreach effort alongside his studies. He led social media for the Cougar Network, a US research organization, and his children’s book Big Cats (A Day in the Life) was published in 2022.Working Scientist career profilesThe book is aimed at children six to eight years old who want to delve into the scientific details — just as Williams did at that age. His publisher, Sam Priddy, at Neon Squid Books, says the target audience is a little kid who “loves facts, learning things, collecting them and telling their friends and family about them”. For an author, “we wanted someone who had actually been with these animals in the wild and tracked them”, says Priddy. In 2018, Williams launched #SciQFriday on X (formerly Twitter). Through this, he spent a couple of years hosting weekly Q&As with dozens of life scientists, from herpetologists to virologists and microbiologists, before turning to newer platforms such as TikTok.Also on social media, Williams, who describes himself on TikTok as “your friendly neighborhood ecologist”, has gained a following for posts that address current issues from a scientific and social-justice perspective. An example is this one explaining why the disappearance of pets in Springfield, Ohio, is probably down to coyote predation, and not — as put forth by US president-elect Donald Trump during his election campaign — to their being eaten by Haitian immigrants. Williams often lists references in the bottom corner of the TikTok videos he records in his apartment, with his favourite Spider-Man poster in the background.Williams beside a sign at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline in San Leandro, California, warning people not to abandon domestic cats in the park. Credit: Tyus D. WilliamsAs a Millennial scientist, Williams often blurs the boundaries between personal and professional identity. His chatty, information-packed style has earned him a following of more than 31,700 accounts on TikTok, with more than 1.2 million likes. He’s not afraid to post a video on the science behind textured hair, with half a dozen citations, because that’s what he himself is interested in. Williams describes his own hair as “if Medusa and Hydra got together, and this was their love child”. He goes on to explain that the concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ hair is problematic and driven by white supremacist ideals of smooth, straight hair, and the idea that curly or textured hair is inherently less desirable.“The different types of textures we see, and even curly hair in its kinkiest form, is a great example of the living phenomena of adaptive selection under selective pressures,” he explains, outlining research hypothesizing that textured hair developed as a cooling mechanism as humans evolved in equatorial Africa. Researchers showed that the tighter the curl, the better heat can dissipate. The video lasts nearly five minutes, an eternity in the world of TikTok.But social-media super-sharing typifies Williams’s style. “Engaging in a long philosophical debate about the connection from things that seem completely unrelated to something we do in the lab,” Schell says. “That’s quintessential Tyus.”Social justice in the wildWilliams’s research draws complex links between racism and colourism (prejudice against people of the same ethnicity but with darker skin tones). It includes the effects of biases against darker animals and the spiritual significance of rare, white versions of species including buffalo (Bison bison), bears and elk (Cervus canadensis). A study that he co-authored last year highlighted how human societies interact with and protect unusual black or white coyotes (Canis latrans), eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and white- and black-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus and O. hemionus), whose fur is typically brown or grey1.

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The Comment article ‘How biodiversity credits could help to conserve and restore nature’ suggests proper design could make biodiversity-credit markets work (A. Antonelli et al. Nature 634, 1045–1049; 2024). However, this overlooks fundamental flaws that make these credits even more problematic than carbon credits.
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests. More