Protecting just 0.7% of world’s land could help save a third of most unique and endangered species

Imperial College London

 

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Red bellied lemur in Madagascar, one of the EDGE species identified

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Credit: ZSL Rikki Gumbs

Conservation efforts directed towards just 0.7% of the world’s land mass could help protect one third of the world’s threatened and unique tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate) species, new research by Imperial College London, On the Edge, and ZSL has shown.

The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London and published this week in Nature Communications, finds that large gains in conservation are possible by focusing on areas home to exceptional biodiversity and species with high levels of evolutionary distinctiveness and global endangerment.

These endangered species include animals like the aye-aye, a highly distinctive lemur found in Madagascar; the long-legged and eagle-bodied secretary bird; the purple frog, which has a nose similar to a pig; and the gharial, a long-snouted and critically endangered crocodile found in the Indian subcontinent.

At present, however, just 20% of the areas identified in the study are under some form of protection, with most areas facing consistent and increasing levels of human pressure.

Lead author Sebastian Pipins, a PhD candidate at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, said: “Our research highlights the regions of the world that are of immediate concern. Furthermore, it shows that in protecting just a fraction of the Earth’s land surface, huge gains can be made for the preservation of nature.”

On the edge of extinction

The project identified specific areas of conservation interest with exceedingly high levels of threatened evolutionarily history that are marked by their concentration of Evolutionarily Distinct (ED) and Globally Endangered (GE) species. 

Evolutionary distinctiveness quantifies how unique a species is, with some being the result of long periods of unique evolutionary history with few or no close living relatives. Meanwhile, global endangerment reflects the extinction risk of a species. Species that score highly on both measures are known as EDGE species, while the areas in which these species are found in high concentrations are referred to as EDGE Zones.

Pipins added: “It is crucial to not just consider species diversity in conservation efforts, but also the evolutionary history of diversity, to ensure that large and unique branches from the tree of life are not lost.”  

Zones of interest

The study mapped the distribution of almost 3,000 EDGE species, identifying 25 EDGE Zones where conservation efforts can have the greatest impact. 
Specific areas of EDGE species richness include large parts of Southeast Asia and the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Amazon basin and the Atlantic Forest, as well as in Hispaniola, the highlands of Cameroon, and the Eastern Arc mountains of East Africa. 

The authors found maximum richness within an area of less than 100-square kilometres in Madagascar, which, along with Mexico and Indonesia, contained the highest number of EDGE species. 

Underlining the critical importance of national leadership to support conservation efforts, the research also found that 75.6% of EDGE species exist within a single country.

Co-author Dr Rikki Gumbs, from the ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme, said: “Three-quarters of the world’s most unique animals are able to call only one country home, meaning that action from individual nations will go a long way to protect these incredible species from extinction.”

Very large areas of Southeast Asia have higher levels of EDGE species, which the researchers say reflects how the looming biodiversity disaster in this region is impacting the highly unique and wide-ranging species found within.

Human factors

The scientists also found that the vast majority of EDGE Zones face high levels of human disturbance and that the human populations found within many EDGE Zone countries face deprivation in education, health, and living standards. 

Dr Gumbs added: “We’re currently in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, driven by unsustainable use of natural resources; it’s shocking but not surprising that 80% of the zones we identified are under high levels of pressure from human activity.”.

Given these challenges, governments’ limited resources are often prioritised for dealing with human deprivation, leaving less for biodiversity conservation. 

Pipins said: “Given the global importance of the biodiversity found within these regions, high-income countries must mobilise funding to facilitate sustainable development that can benefit both humans and nature.”

Global goals

Just 20% of EDGE zones are under some form of protection. As countries look to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, as per the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target, the authors call for the unprotected portions of EDGE Zones to be prioritised.

Dr Gumbs said: “With the COP16 Biodiversity Conference on the horizon, we need to see world leaders from across the globe scaling up their commitments and resources to support these efforts and restore the natural world that we all rely on.” 

The researchers argue that their findings demonstrate that large gains of biodiversity are possible with relatively small additions to globally protected areas. They also argue that their research offers the potential for extending the EDGE Zone approach to other important groups of wildlife, such as plants and fish. 

Using EDGE zone research

The EDGE Zones identified in this research will guide the activities of the charitable organisation On the Edge, directing their conservation grant-making, regional campaigns, and grantee-led storytelling.

They will also form part of the decision-making for resource allocation for ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme, which has already funded work on over 50 EDGE species found within EDGE Zone countries, with a particular focus on the Gangetic Plains and Cameroon.

 

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-51992-5 

Article Title

Advancing EDGE Zones to identify spatial conservation priorities of tetrapod evolutionary history

Article Publication Date

5-Sep-2024

 

5 lessons to level up conservation successfully

Imperial College London

 

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Mangrove planting in Zanzibar

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Credit: Matthew Clark/Imperial College London

Conservation needs to scale successfully to protect nature. A new paper takes lessons from around the world to show how that might be done.

To reverse biodiversity loss and meet ambitious global targets, conservation programmes designed to preserve everything from forests to fish need to work ‘at scale’.

Scaling can mean three things. Scaling ‘out’ means expanding a programme to new people and places, while scaling ‘up’ means bringing in higher-level institutions, such as governments introducing policies or incentives that make it easier for individuals and private companies to engage.

Scaling ‘deep’ means changing hearts and minds – what is socially acceptable. A particularly good example of scaling deep is the ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ campaign in the 1980s, which successfully made littering a social no-no.

But not every attempt to expand pilot programmes in one or more of these directions works. Now, the Catalysing Conservation team led by Dr Morena Mills at Imperial College London researchers have reviewed conservation initiatives around the world with global experts and come up with five lessons to avoid the pitfalls of ineffective expansion.

The study is published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, and we spoke to two of the authors on the paper, Dr Thomas Pienkowski and Dr Matthew Clark, both from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial.

Before we dive in, Dr Clark says: “There’s no magic bullet – it’s not a case of ‘do these five things and you will succeed’ – but we hope these lessons will allow reflection on what hasn’t worked, and where we need to go from here.”

Lesson 1: There must be a balance between what is effective and what is scalable

Say you have a pilot programme that works with coastal communities to protect fish and other marine resources, aiming to improve the local ecology and economy. Then lots of neighbouring communities take up the programme. Great! This is scaling out, but has it actually been effective? Did it meet the stated goals of protecting marine life and improving local livelihoods? If the answer is no, it has scaled but it is not effective.

Conversely, something can be effective but not scalable. Dr Clark works with communities to support mangrove conservation, which can involve planting programmes. However, many of the seedlings die young. It’s possible to use specialised tools and know-how to increase survival rates, which makes the planting more effective, but it is an intensive process, and so not very scalable across rural communities.

The team say these trade-offs between what’s scalable and what’s effective must be balanced.

Good example: Community-based forestry management in Nepal has been adopted for more than 20,000 forests since the 1980s and appears to have reduced both poverty and deforestation, showing that some initiatives can be both highly scalable and effective.

Lesson 2: Effectiveness can depend on scale

A pilot project that is successful in one area may not work when moved out to a new area. This is common, say the researchers, and can be for a number of reasons: pilots may be in optimal locations and have lots of oversight and investment that expanded programmes won’t have, for example.

But it can also work the other way. For example, says Dr Clark: “Where the goal is to protect land for wildlife, larger animals that move over larger areas will only benefit once enough land is conserved, and enough patrols are in place to enforce the protection.”

Good example: Cacao agroforestry in Belize became much more effective at scale when a clear market for sustainable cacao emerged and more international companies wanted to promote their use of these products.

Lesson 3: The effects of conservation can change the conditions for further conservation

Sometimes, conservation expansion can backfire even when it’s effective. For example, a 10-year project in Mozambique introduced ‘no-take’ zones for fish and mangrove timber, which increased food security. However, once these areas had regained their value as sources of food and income, conservation support declined, leading to the abandonment of the zones in some areas.

These kinds of feedback loops between environmental change and human behaviour can be negative, as in Mozambique, or positive, where the impact of conservation schemes in one area can lead to neighbouring areas taking them up spontaneously, or where grassroots actions become national policy.

Good example: on the island of Pemba, Zanzibar, protected forest areas initially led to more harvesting on the edges of these zones; but this in turn led to neighbouring communities applying for their own forest protection, spontaneously expanding conversation.

Lesson 4: Pressures to scale can lead to bad practices that undermine long-term outcomes

Ambition is needed to meet ambitious goals, but ambition without care can be harmful. Dr Pienkowski explains one way this can happen: “NGOs [non-governmental organisations] play a really important role in scaling out, providing technical and financial support to local communities. But there can also be blurred boundaries between assistance and coercion.

“This can take the form, for example, of NGOs misleading communities of the benefits they might get from engaging in conservation programmes, or only engaging with people in the community who are most likely to benefit, leaving more vulnerable members behind and widening inequalities.”

For example, the REDD+ scheme is designed to help developing countries manage their forests and improve carbon stocks, but its implementation in parts of Tanzania was marred by promised payments not materialising, leading people to abandon conservation efforts and be suspicious of other schemes.

Larger NGOs are often needed to scale programmes, but this can be at the expense of local knowledge and grassroots organisations. For example, ‘slash and burn’ agriculture is considered bad practice in Europe, so European NGOs may lobby against it, but in communities in Africa it can be well used and an integral part of local ecosystem management.

Good example: Eco-tourism in Costa Rica started locally with support from NGOs, but has now become self-sustaining, meaning it no longer relies on direct aid or other structures that may undermine its long-term success.

Lesson 5: More evidence is needed

Dr Pienkowski explains: “This one is really an appeal from us researchers, who are struggling to develop the evidence base we need to inform more effective scaling strategies. It’s very difficult to know which initiatives have gone to scale or not – this information isn’t collected in a systematic or rigorous way.”

This is particularly true after programmes have ‘ended’ – few NGOs routinely review whether a scheme is still working years after their intervention has ended, or whether it has been abandoned.

Dr Pienkowski concludes: “For those calling for conservation scaling, this is a valuable moment to pause and reflect: with these examples and these lessons, what do we need to change? If we do this, we’re more likely to be able to deliver impact at scale and finally bend the curve on biodiversity loss.”

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Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-024-02507-4 

Article Title

Five lessons for avoiding failure when scaling in conservation

Article Publication Date

6-Sep-2024

 

Disparity in access to medications for opioid use disorder persist in criminal legal settings

University of Pittsburgh

Individuals involved in the criminal legal system have a high rate of opioid use disorder (OUD) and a high risk of overdose death compared to the general population, yet the most effective treatments—medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD)—are underutilized in criminal legal settings where treatment is mandated as part of a person’s probation or parole. Medications are often not provided due to stigma or lack of adequate funding for evidence-based care. According to a study published today in JAMA Health Forum, use of these lifesaving medications has increased only modestly in criminal legal settings in recent years, despite national, state and local efforts, and progress has varied widely across the country. Only six states successfully delivered MOUDs to at least 50% of people referred to treatment by the criminal legal system in 2021, a rate comparable to what people treated in non-criminal legal settings receive. 

“One of the groups at the highest risk of opioid overdose death is people leaving jails and prisons. If we want to save lives, we have to do a better job of connecting people to the most effective treatments when they are released from incarceration,” said says J. Travis Donahoe, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. “While there has been some progress in closing the gap, those gains have been uneven. States that have been the most successful—such as Massachusetts and New Jersey—can serve as models for states that are lagging behind.”

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Journal

JAMA Health Forum

DOI

10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.2807 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Disparities in Medication Use for Criminal Justice System –Referred Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Article Publication Date

6-Sep-2024

COI Statement

Dr Donahoe reported personal fees from Greylock McKinnon Associates outside the submitted work. Dr Saloner reported grants from the Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program and the National Institute on Drug Abuse during the conduct of the study and personal fees from Susman Godfrey outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

 

New research from Swansea University shines a light on how solar power and farming can coexist

Swansea University

 

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An illustration showing three applications of agrivoltaics. A protected cropping environment, such as an advanced greenhouse (right), in which lightweight, semitransparent PV cells are integrated into the roof and/or walls. Semitransparent PVs and opaque PVs can also be combined with open cropping environments and livestock, providing shade while also generating power (left).

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Credit: Austin Kay

Scientists from Swansea University have developed a new tool to help identify optimal photovoltaic (PV) materials capable of maximising crop growth while generating solar power.

In a recent study published in Solar RRL, academics from the University’s Department of Physics have been exploring the effect of semi-transparent PV materials placed over crops – an exemplary application of agrivoltaics (solar panels combined with agricultural settings).

As part of this work, the team has developed an innovative freeware tool that predicts the light transmission, absorption, and power generation of different PV materials nearly anywhere on the globe using geographical, physical, and electrical measurements.

Austin Kay, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate at Swansea University, said: “This technology, which allows us to compare many types of PV material, could help us determine how we balance food production and renewable energy generation.”

A key factor for optimising agrivoltaics is selecting the appropriate PV material, which requires an understanding of how the material absorbs different wavelengths (colours) of light, as well as its bandgap. A wider bandgap means the material can absorb light that is higher-energy and has a shorter wavelength (blue), while a narrower bandgap allows the absorption of lower-energy, longer wavelength (red) light.

By carefully selecting PV materials with specific bandgaps and absorption properties, researchers can fine-tune the ‘colour’ of light transmitted through semi-transparent PVs to hit the crops, which mainly absorb red and blue light to photosynthesise, reflecting green light.

Project lead, Associate Professor Ardalan Armin, said: “By optimising the combination of solar panels and agriculture, agrivoltaics has the potential to significantly contribute to the decarbonisation of the agricultural sector. This approach not only generates clean energy but also enhances food security.”

Solar panels or PVs can be introduced into agricultural settings in many ways to provide locally generated power with minimal effect on a farm’s output. They can be attached to the roofs of greenhouses or polytunnels and can also be used to provide shelter for livestock. In return, the livestock can reduce maintenance costs by eating vegetation around the panels. However, careful consideration of the type of livestock is crucial as some species, like goats, can jump onto the PVs and cause irreversible damage.

Read the paper On the Performance Limits of Agrivoltaics—From Thermodynamic to Geo-Meteorological Considerations in full.

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Journal

Solar RRL

DOI

10.1002/solr.202400456 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

On the Performance Limits of Agrivoltaics—From Thermodynamic to Geo-Meteorological Considerations

 

Researcher develops technology to provide cleaner energy and cleaner water

A researcher in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering has developed a novel method for direct lithium extraction from produced water to contribute to the high demand for electric vehicles and green energy.

Virginia Tech

 

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(From left) Graduate student Peidong Liu and mining and minerals engineering Associate Professor Wencai Zhang analyze water samples in the lab.

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Credit: Photo by Hailey Wade for Virginia Tech.

As the world transitions to cleaner energy sources, the need for energy-relevant metals and critical minerals has surged dramatically. Driven by the rise of electric vehicles and other green technologies, these essential materials are in high demand across the globe.  

Metals, such as lithium, cannot be grown. They must be mined or recycled, making this a top priority for researchers in the mining industry. Traditional methods of mining lithium are expensive and can be harmful to the environment, but researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to minimize this environment impact. They will optimize and scale up this method with a pending Department of Energy grant worth over $1.8 million, including $1.5 million in federal shares.

Wencai Zhang, associate professor in the Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, is leading this project to recover high-demand metals, such as lithium and rare earth elements, from produced water from the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin. Produced water is naturally occurring water that comes out of the ground during the production of natural gas and can contain pollutants such as lithium, along with sodium chloride, calcium, and magnesium that cause extremely high salinity levels. Researchers aim to reduce salinity levels and remove pollutants while extracting lithium for other manufacturing applications.

“High-demand metals and minerals, such as lithium, play an essential role in electric vehicle production and are present in virtually every battery worldwide,” said Zhang. “Our goal is to contribute to the supply chain of these critical materials while also making a positive environmental impact. We specifically aim to reduce the environmental consequences that can be associated with produced water.”

The novel approach

Although several studies have been performed on lithium recovery from produced water, a complete process that can produce battery-grade lithium has not yet been developed.

Enter Zhang and his team, who have developed a novel process for achieving beneficial uses of produced water, including valuable mineral recovery and carbon fixation. Their project involves five major phases to treat the produced water and harvest these high-demand minerals.

Phase one: Produced water treatment

Zhang and his team will begin by treating the produced water from the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin with the aim of removing any solid particles while maintaining minimal loss of valuable minerals.

Phase two: Rare earth elements and critical metals recovery

In order to recover these high-demand minerals, Zhang has developed patented and patent-pending technologies to recover critical minerals from the produced water. The concentration of the minerals in the produced water is too low for efficient recovery, so Zhang’s method, known as staged precipitation, concentrates critical elements from the solution so that they can be efficiently extracted and further refined.

Phase three: Direct lithium recovery

The conventional method of lithium extraction from the earth is costly and requires a significant amount of energy. The researchers will combine a specially designed ion-exchange system, which is used in the separation of substances and is specifically selective for lithium, and a multiple-stage solvent extraction process that has been significantly modified to suit produced water treatment. Zhang and his team’s novel method for direct lithium extraction is cost-effective and less energy-intensive. 

Phase four: Carbon mineralization

Produced water contains alkaline earth metals, such as calcium and magnesium, which contribute to the hardness of water, or how usable it is. Zhang and his team will be using carbon mineralization to remove these metals by adding carbon dioxide gas to a solution that contains alkaline earth metals, which then allows carbonate compounds, such as calcium carbonate, to form and settle out of the solution. By turning carbon dioxide and minerals into solid particles, they can then be filtered out of the water. 

Phase five: Phyto-microbial treatment

In the final project phase, Zhang and his team will be reducing salinity levels and removing pollutants from the produced water using phyto-microbial treatment, which involves employing plants and their respective microbes to clean up contaminants in the produced water. They will intentionally select certain plants with excellent purification characteristics that might not normally grow in the location of the produced water. These plants and microbes will be tailored to the removal of all contaminants, resulting in cleaner water.

Environmental improvements for the future

The minerals recovered from this project play a critical role in our modern society. With an electric vehicle future on the horizon, Zhang is teaming up with interdisciplinary researchers and industry partners that will contribute their expertise and relevant data for the project. Their partners include

• Colleen Doherty, associate professor of molecular and structural biochemistry at North Carolina State University, will lead phase five of the project. 
• Austin Elements, a battery-recycling company, will lead the effort of phase three and the pre-pilot construction and techno-economics for the commercialization.
• EQT Corporation, a leading natural gas producer in the United States with operations in the Appalachian Basin, will provide the team with sufficient produced water for experimental tests. 

When collaborating on a project with such significant impacts like cleaner energy and cleaner water, having a shared goal becomes crucial. The research team’s goal for this project happens to benefit our region.

“The Marcellus Shale is a significant geological formation known for its rich deposits of natural gas, particularly shale gas,” said Zhang. “It is located primarily in the Appalachian Basin in the eastern United States, which includes part of Virginia. This project offers the opportunity to unlock additional environmental benefits for this region.

“My knowledge itself cannot solve this issue, so it’s crucial to the project that we have collaborators who have industry relevant knowledge that will make a substantial impact on the project and get the issue resolved." 

The potential future impact of this project is substantial, and integrating this research into common practice could significantly enhance the benefits of shale gas production. Shale gas companies operate multiple production sites, often relying on centralized water facilities to collect and distribute water across various locations. Zhang and his team’s technology can be integrated into these facilities to optimize this process.

Treated produced water could also be used as irrigation water in the future, supporting agriculture in the region. 

“Our technology not only facilitates the recovery of valuable minerals like lithium, but also ensures that the water remains suitable for shale gas production," Zhang said. "We can also reduce water salinity, providing cleaner water to support agriculture in areas with low water supply."

 

‘Ice bucket challenge’ reveals that bacteria can anticipate the seasons

Bacteria use their internal 24-hour clocks to anticipate the arrival of new seasons

John Innes Centre

 

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Dr Luisa Jabbur - "There is something very precious about looking at a set of plates with bacteria on them and realizing that in that moment you know something that nobody else knows.” 

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Credit: John Innes Centre

Bacteria use their internal 24-hour clocks to anticipate the arrival of new seasons, according to research carried out with the assistance of an ‘ice bucket challenge.’ 

This discovery may have profound implications for understanding the role that circadian rhythms – a molecular version of a clock – play in adapting species to climate change, from migrating animals to flowering plants.  

The team behind the findings gave populations of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) different artificial day lengths at a constant warm temperature. Samples on plates received either short days, equinox days (equal light and dark), or long days, for eight days.  

After this treatment, the blue-green algae were plunged into ice for two hours and survival rates monitored.   

Samples that had been exposed to a succession of short days (eight hours light and 16 hours dark) in preparation for the icy challenge achieved survival rates of 75%, up to three times higher than colonies that had not been primed in this way. 

One short day was not enough to increase the bacteria’s resistance to cold. Only after several short days, and optimally six to eight days, did the bacteria’s life chances significantly improve. 

In cyanobacteria which had genes that make up their biological clock removed, survival rates were the same regardless of day lengths. This indicates that photoperiodism (the ability to measure the day-night cycle and change one’s physiology in anticipation of the upcoming season) is critical in preparing bacteria for longer-term environmental changes such as a new season or shifts in climate. 

“The findings indicate that bacteria in nature use their internal clocks to measure day length and when the number of short days reaches a certain point, as they do in autumn/fall, they ‘switch’ to a different physiology in anticipation of the wintry challenges that lie ahead,” explained first author of the study, Dr Luísa Jabbur, who was a researcher at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, in the laboratory of Prof. Carl Johnson when this study took place, and is now a BBSRC Discovery Fellow at the John Innes Centre.  

The Johnson lab has a long history of studying the circadian clock of cyanobacteria, both from a mechanistic and an ecological perspective. 

Previous studies have shown that bacteria have a version of a biological clock, which could allow them to measure differences in day-night length, offering an evolutionary advantage. 

This study, which appears in Science, is the first time that anyone has shown that photoperiodism in bacteria has evolved to anticipate seasonal cues.  

Based on these findings a whole new horizon of scientific exploration awaits. A key question is: how does an organism with a lifespan of between six and 24 hours evolve a mechanism that enables it not merely to react to, but to anticipate, future conditions? 

“It’s like they are signalling to their daughter cells and their granddaughter cells, passing information that the days are getting short, you need to do something,” said Dr Jabbur. 

Dr Jabbur and colleagues at the John Innes Centre will, as part of her BBSRC Discovery Fellowship, use cyanobacteria as a fast-reproducing model species to understand how photoperiodic responses might evolve in other species during climate change, with hopeful applications to major crops.  

A key part of this work will be to understand more about the molecular memory systems by which information is passed from generation to generation in species. Research will investigate the possibility that an accumulation of compounds during the night on short days acts as a molecular switch that triggers change to a different physiology or phenotype.  

For Dr Jabbur the findings amount to an early-career scientific breakthrough in the face of initial scepticism from her scientific mentor and the corresponding author of the paper, Professor Carl Johnson. 

“As well as being a fascinating person and an inspiration, Carl sings in the Nashville Symphony Chorus, and he has an operatic laugh! It echoed round the department when I first outlined my idea for the icy challenge, to see if photoperiod was a cue for cyanobacteria in their natural element,” said Dr Jabbur. 

“To be fair he told me to go away and try it, and as I went, he showed me a sign on his door with the Frank Westheimer quote: ‘Progress is made by young scientists who carry out experiments that old scientists say would not work.’ 

“It did work, first time. Then I repeated the experiments. There is something very precious about looking at a set of plates with bacteria on them and realizing that in that moment you know something that nobody else knows.” 

Bacteria can anticipate the seasons: Photoperiodism in cyanobacteria appears in Science.  

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Journal

Science

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Bacteria can anticipate the seasons: Photoperiodism in cyanobacteria appears in Science.

Article Publication Date

6-Sep-2024

Falling for financial scams? It may signal early Alzheimer’s disease

New USC Dornsife research reveals a link between the thickness of a certain brain region and vulnerability to financial exploitation in older adults.

University of Southern California

Older adults who are more vulnerable to financial scams may have brain changes linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the fifth leading cause of death among those 65 and older. The disease will carry an estimated $360 billion in health care costs this year alone, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. 

Researchers led by Duke Han, professor of psychology and family medicine at USC Dornsife, aimed to better understand the link between early Alzheimer’s disease and financial vulnerability by using high-powered MRI to examine the brains of 97 study participants over age 50.

The scientists focused on the entorhinal cortex, a region that acts as a relay station between the hippocampus — the brain’s learning and memory center — and the medial prefrontal cortex, which regulates emotion, motivation and other cognitive functions. It is often the first region to show changes in Alzheimer’s disease, typically becoming thinner as the disease progresses.

None of the study participants, age 52 to 83, showed clinical signs of cognitive impairment, but all underwent MRI scans to measure the thickness of their entorhinal cortex.

In addition, the researchers used a standardized tool called a Perceived Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (PFVS) to assess the participants’ financial awareness and their susceptibility to poor financial decisions, which they term “financial exploitation vulnerability,” or FEV.

By comparing the adults’ FEV with the thickness of their entorhinal cortex, Han and the team found a significant correlation: Those more vulnerable to financial scams had a thinner entorhinal cortex.

This was especially true for participants age 70 and older. Previous research has linked FEV to mild cognitive impairment, dementia and certain molecular brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Han, who holds a joint appointment at Keck School of Medicine of USC, says the findings provide crucial evidence supporting the idea that FEV could be a new clinical tool for detecting cognitive changes in older adults — changes that are often difficult to detect.

“Assessing financial vulnerability in older adults could help identify those who are in the early stages of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease,” Han said. He added, however, that financial vulnerability alone is not a definitive indicator of Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive decline. “But assessing FEV could become part of a broader risk profile,” he said.

Han also noted several limitations of the study. Most participants were older, white, highly educated women, making it difficult to generalize the findings to a more diverse population. Additionally, while the study found a link between entorhinal cortex thickness and FEV, it does not prove one. Finally, the study does not include specific measures of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. 

These limitations leave open the possibility that the relationship between FEV and entorhinal cortex thinning could be explained by other factors. Accordingly, Han said that more research, including long-term studies with diverse populations, is needed before FEV can be considered a reliable cognitive assessment tool.

About the study

In addition to Han, study authors include Laura Fenton, Aaron Lim, Jenna Axelrod and Daisy Noriega-Makarskyy of USC Dornsife; Lauren Salminen, Hussein Yassine and Laura Mosqueda of Keck School of Medicine of USC; Gali Weissberger of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University; and Annie Nguyen of the University of California, San Diego. 

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Journal

Cerebral Cortex

DOI

10.1093/cercor/bhae360 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Lower entorhinal cortex thickness is associated with greater financial exploitation vulnerability in cognitively unimpaired older adults

Article Publication Date

3-Sep-2024