Livestock farming poses new challenges for conservation in the Galápagos

A study involving livestock producers in the Galápagos Islands found that the expansion and intensification of livestock farming are associated with perceived negative changes in local biodiversity

Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja

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A study involving livestock producers in the Galápagos Islands found that the expansion and intensification of livestock farming are associated with perceived negative changes in local biodiversity.

 

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Credit: Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL)

A study published in the journal LAND analyzed how livestock producers on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, perceive the relationship between livestock farming and biodiversity. The study was developed through an ongoing process of engagement and collaborative work with livestock producers, strengthened in recent years through outreach activities, knowledge exchange, and joint initiatives with organizations and institutions involved in the agricultural sector. This process made it possible to characterize livestock management systems, identify production practices, and document changes observed by producers in their surrounding environment.

When analyzing the factors associated with these changes, statistically significant associations were identified between the expansion of livestock farming and perceived changes in biodiversity. Likewise, the intensification of livestock production was associated with the perception of declining biodiversity, while deforestation was identified as one of the main factors associated with these transformations.

The length of time producers had been engaged in livestock farming was associated with their perception of changes in native species. However, years of experience in livestock farming were not significantly associated with the general perception that this activity has negative impacts on biodiversity. Similarly, no statistically significant associations were observed between this general perception and producers’ age, educational level, gender, or economic activity.

The results also reveal differences in the types of changes identified by producers. More direct and visible effects, such as the expansion of livestock farming and deforestation, were recognized more clearly than cumulative processes such as soil degradation or declining water quality.

The Galápagos Islands are a territory where production and conservation share a limited amount of space. A large proportion of the terrestrial area consists of protected areas, while human settlements include areas designated for agricultural and livestock activities. On Santa Cruz Island, livestock production is carried out under extensive and semi-intensive systems, with grazing practices based on introduced pasture species.

According to Natacha Fierro Jaramillo, researcher and one of the authors of the study, livestock farming plays a fundamental economic and food-security role for rural families. However, its development must progress in a manner compatible with the conservation of biodiversity and the ecosystems that sustain agricultural production. The challenge, she points out, is to promote integrated alternatives that reconcile production and conservation, recognizing that conservation is an essential component of ensuring the long-term sustainability of production systems.

“Livestock farming is a resource that generates employment and contributes to household food security. We need alternatives that allow this activity to be developed sustainably, without neglecting biodiversity conservation,” the author states.

The producers who participated in the study also provided information on potential measures to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock farming. Among these alternatives, 80% expressed support for subsidies for sustainable practices, while 60% expressed interest in receiving training. The practices with the highest levels of implementation or willingness to adopt them included rotational grazing (27%) and reforestation (25%). Nevertheless, the authors point out that implementing these practices faces economic and institutional constraints.

The researchers further emphasize that the findings should be interpreted as producers’ perceptions rather than as direct measurements of biodiversity. The associations identified do not establish cause-and-effect relationships either. In this regard, the next step is to complement the knowledge developed jointly with producers with measurements that can determine what is actually occurring in the territory.

“Our work made it possible to identify producers’ perceptions. Now we need to determine what is actually happening in the territory: if a practice is affecting water quality, the corresponding analyses should be conducted; changes in animal condition and milk production should be assessed, as well as the amount of carbon being stored in specific production systems.”

The findings correspond to the group of producers and the territorial context considered in the study and therefore cannot be generalized to the entire population of Santa Cruz Island. The researchers propose that future studies incorporate ecological measurements and long-term monitoring, including spatial analyses, to complement the knowledge generated from producers’ experiences and deepen understanding of the relationship between livestock practices and biodiversity conservation.

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Journal

Land

DOI

10.3390/land15071216

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Perceptions of the Effects of Livestock Farming on Biodiversity: Insights from a Study in the Galápagos Islands

One in nine older adults who use cannabis meet criteria for cannabis use disorder

University of California - San DiegoFacebook

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Cannabis use is becoming increasingly common among older adults in the United States, but less is known about how often cannabis use may become problematic in this population. A new study from University of California San Diego School of Medicine finds that among the estimated 8.9% of adults age 65 and older who used cannabis in the past year, more than one in nine (11.4%) met the criteria for cannabis use disorder (CUD), a pattern of cannabis use that causes problems or interferes with daily life. The study was published on Sept. 28, 2026, in the journal Addiction.

Older adults may be at greater risk for some harms associated with cannabis use because of age-related changes in the body, as well as the higher prevalence of chronic diseases and use of prescription medications in this population. Previous studies have linked cannabis use among older adults to increased risk for chronic diseases, cognitive impairment, falls, cannabis poisoning and cannabis-related emergency health care visits. However, less research has examined cannabis use disorder among older adults.

“While there is a lot of attention on how cannabis may help common chronic symptoms older adults experience or the possible acute adverse effects in this population, less focus has been on cannabis use disorder,” said Benjamin Han, MD, assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “It is important to recognize that any psychoactive substance, including cannabis, can lead to a harmful pattern of use, including among older adults.”

The researchers analyzed data from the 2021–2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative survey of U.S. residents. The analysis included 21,189 adults aged 65 and older. Among older adults who reported using cannabis in the past 12 months, 11.4% met criteria for CUD — spending time obtaining, using and recovering from the drug’s effects (74.4%) and craving (67.5%). Of those, 76% had mild CUD, 20.1% had moderate CUD and 3.9% had severe CUD.

Smoking was the most common way older adults used cannabis, reported by 65.8% of those who used cannabis in the past year, followed by eating or drinking cannabis products (40.5%) and vaping (15.4%). About one in five (19.9%) older adults who used cannabis in the past year said a doctor had recommended some or all of their cannabis use.

The likelihood of CUD was greater among older adults who used cannabis more frequently. Those who used cannabis for at least 300 days in the past year were almost four times more likely to meet criteria for CUD than those who used it less frequently. Smoking cannabis was also strongly associated with CUD in this population. CUD was also more common among older adults with past-year mental illness, tobacco use and use of drugs other than cannabis.

Among older adults who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM)-5 criteria for CUD, the most commonly reported activity included spending a great deal of time obtaining or using cannabis (74.4%), craving (67.5%) and tolerance (48.3%). The researchers note that most cases were mild, suggesting an opportunity for early intervention, while nearly a quarter were moderate or severe.

The findings highlight the importance of screening older adults for unhealthy cannabis use and discussing cannabis use as part of routine health care, particularly as cannabis becomes more widely available and is increasingly used for medical and other health-related reasons.

Read the full study: “Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder among Older Adults in the United States”

Additional co-authors on the study include: Evan Eschliman from Duke University. Joseph Palamar from New York University. Mireia Triguero Roura and Pia Mauro from Rutgers Health.

The research was supported by multiple grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the UC San Diego Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging.

Authors declare no competing interests.

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Journal

Addiction

Can Antarctic radar improve southern hemisphere weather forecasts?

Researchers show that continuous radar observations from Antarctica improve forecasts of atmospheric rivers and large-scale weather patterns

Research Organization of Information and Systems

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Sparse weather observations over Antarctica limit the accuracy of Southern Hemisphere weather forecasts. Now, researchers show that assimilating hourly wind observations from the Antarctic PANSY radar improves weather forecasts and atmospheric river prediction, demonstrating the value of Antarctic radar data for numerical weather prediction.

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Credit: Assistant Professor Kazutoshi Sato from the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan.

Weather forecasts in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) are generally less accurate than those in the Northern Hemisphere because Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean have relatively few weather observations. With limited information about atmospheric conditions in one of the world's most remote regions, forecasting models often struggle to accurately predict the movement of weather systems. This is especially true for atmospheric rivers that can trigger heavy rain, snowfall, flooding, and strong winds across Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Antarctica. Improving forecasts of these weather systems is therefore essential for protecting lives and property, supporting aviation and shipping, and helping communities prepare for hazardous weather.

To solve this problem, researchers from Japan investigated whether continuous radar observations from Antarctica could improve weather forecasts across SH. In a study made available online on July 11, 2026, in the Scientific Reports journal, Assistant Professor Kazutoshi Sato of the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan, together with Professor Jun Inoue and Associate Professor Yoshihiro Tomikawa of NIPR; Dr. Akira Yamazaki of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan; and Professor Kaoru Sato from The University of Tokyo, Japan, found that incorporating hourly wind observations from an Antarctic radar into a numerical weather prediction system could improve forecasts of atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers over SH.

"Observations from the Antarctic radar are not currently incorporated into operational numerical weather prediction systems. Our findings show that assimilating these observations can improve forecast accuracy, demonstrating the value of continuous radar measurements for weather forecasting," says Asst. Prof. Sato.

The researchers used wind observations collected by the Program of the Antarctic Syowa Mesosphere–Stratosphere–Troposphere/Incoherent Scatter (MST/IS) Radar (PANSY) at Japan's Syowa Station in Antarctica. The PANSY radar continuously measures wind conditions in the atmosphere, providing observations at much higher temporal resolution than weather balloons or radiosondes, which are routinely used for weather forecasting but cannot be launched frequently in Antarctica because of financial and operational constraints. The team compared weather analyses and forecasts generated with and without assimilated PANSY radar observations during the 2022 austral winter. The weather analyses and forecasts were conducted using data assimilation and forecasting systems called “ALEDAS” , developed and managed by JAMSTEC on the Earth Simulator, JAMSTEC’s supercomputer. Both experiments included enhanced radiosonde observations from the Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH) campaign and covered seven atmospheric river events over the mid-latitude of SH, allowing the researchers to assess the added value of the Antarctic radar.

The results showed that assimilating Antarctic radar observations improved the representation of atmospheric conditions, including wind speed, temperature, and geopotential height, over Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in (re)analysis. Furthermore, the presence or absence of PANSY radar observations resulted in more than a 30% difference in atmospheric river moisture transport. These improvements persisted during the forecast period and enhanced predictions of atmospheric circulation and integrated water vapor associated with atmospheric rivers over SH mid-latitudes. Across all seven SH mid-latitude atmospheric river cases examined, forecasts that included the radar observations showed lower prediction errors than those based only on conventional observations.

"Although radiosonde observations are routinely performed to improve weather forecasts, high-frequency launches are challenging in extremely cold environments. We therefore proposed a new method for improving forecast accuracy using instruments capable of continuous, high-temporal-resolution observations," explains Prof. Inoue.

The study also highlights the broader importance of strengthening weather observations in data-sparse regions. Because uncertainties in Antarctic atmospheric conditions can spread far beyond the polar continent, improving observations there can enhance forecasts across much of SH. As weather prediction models continue to advance, integrating continuous observations from atmospheric radars and other emerging technologies could help make forecasts more reliable, benefiting disaster preparedness, transportation, scientific operations, and communities affected by extreme weather. Furthermore, reanalysis datasets with large uncertainties are widely used to estimate the Antarctic Ice Sheet surface mass balance under climate change. Assimilating PANSY radar observations may therefore improve our understanding of climate change.

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About National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

Founded in 1973, the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) is an inter-university research institute that conducts comprehensive scientific research and observations in the polar regions. NIPR is one of the four institutes constituting the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) and engages in comprehensive research via observation stations in the Arctic and Antarctica. It strives to promote polar science by soliciting collaboration research projects publicly, as well as by providing samples, materials, and information. NIPR plays a special role as the only institute in Japan that comprehensively pursues observations and research efforts in both the Antarctic and Arctic regions.

Website: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/index.html

About Assistant Professor Kazutoshi Sato of the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

Dr. Kazutoshi Sato is an Assistant Professor of Meteorology at the National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Japan, and is affiliated with The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI). He holds a Ph.D. in Science and has more than a decade of research experience in polar meteorology and climate science. He has authored 53 peer-reviewed publications. His research focuses on polar meteorology, atmosphere–sea ice–ocean interactions, atmospheric rivers, numerical weather prediction, and the use of polar observations to improve weather models. His achievements include recognition in Nature Communications Editors' Highlights (2021).

About the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS)
ROIS is a parent organization of four national institutes (National Institute of Polar Research, National Institute of Informatics, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and National Institute of Genetics) and the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research. It is ROIS's mission to promote integrated, cutting-edge research that goes beyond the barriers of these institutions, in addition to facilitating their research activities, as members of inter-university research institutes.

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-026-61250-x

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Impact of Antarctic radar on Southern Hemisphere atmospheric river reanalysis and forecast

SPAGYRIC HERBALISM

Mediterranean rockrose extract shows fungicidal activity against fungi that cause common skin infections

A polyphenol-rich extract from Cistus salviifolius showed fungicidal activity against several dermatophytes and reduced fungal infection in a reconstructed human epidermis model

Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche

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Transmission electron microscopy images of the dermatophytes T. rubrum (A–F) and M. canis (G–L). The images show untreated cells (A, B, G, H) and cells treated with C. salviifolius extract (C–F, I–L), showing alterations in cellular structure. Arrows indicate autophagy-like structures. Source: Álvarez-Martínez et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

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Credit: Álvarez-Martínez et al., Journal of Ethnopharmacology. / UMH

A polyphenol-rich extract from Cistus salviifolius, a Mediterranean rockrose species traditionally used to treat skin conditions, has shown fungicidal activity against several dermatophytes, the fungi responsible for superficial infections of the skin, hair and nails. The study, conducted by researchers from Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), together with the universities of Namur (Belgium) and Coimbra (Portugal), has been published in Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Dermatophytes are fungi capable of colonizing keratin-rich tissues such as the skin, hair and nails, causing very common infections, including different types of ringworm. The researchers prepared the polyphenol-rich extract from plants grown in the controlled gardens at UMH and tested its activity against different fungal species. Dermatophytes were particularly sensitive, especially Trichophyton rubrum—one of the main causes of fungal skin infections—and Microsporum canis, which can be transmitted from animals to humans. In contrast, the extract showed no antifungal activity at the concentrations tested against yeasts such as Candida albicans.

From traditional use to laboratory testing

The rockrose species studied is a resilient, sun-loving evergreen shrub native to the Mediterranean Basin that thrives in dry, rocky soils. It has traditionally been used in different regions in topical preparations to treat wounds, inflammation and skin infections. “Traditional medicine provides us with clues, but we need to experimentally determine what lies behind these uses, what biological processes are actually taking place and under what conditions they may be useful,” explains Vicente Micol Molina, a researcher at the Institute for Research in Biotechnology and Health (IDiBE) at UMH. The results do not support applying the plant directly to the skin, but rather support further research into controlled formulations in which the composition and behavior of the extract are known.

Before testing its effect against fungi, the team had already analyzed the composition of the extract using techniques capable of separating and identifying its molecules. They found that it was composed mainly of polyphenols, including tannins and flavonoids. To investigate how the extract acted, they examined treated fungi using electron microscopy. The images revealed major alterations: large vacuoles, disorganization of the cell interior, membrane detachment and cellular debris outside the cells, suggesting that some cells had lost their contents or ruptured. The authors suggest that the extract may disrupt several fungal cellular processes at once, although further research is needed to determine which compounds are responsible for its activity.

“We observed that the fungus stops growing and that its cells sustain substantial damage. This helps us understand why the rockrose extract has fungicidal activity and allows us to begin investigating the specific mechanisms involved,” says Francisco Javier Álvarez Martínez, IDiBE researcher and first author of the study.

Testing the extract in a human epidermis model

The extract was also tested on reconstructed human epidermis, tissue grown in the laboratory from primary keratinocytes, the cells that make up most of the outer layer of the skin.The researchers infected this tissue with dermatophytes to study whether the treatment could slow the infection and protect the skin barrier. When applied after infection, the rockrose extract reduced fungal load and tissue invasion, preserved the epidermal barrier and decreased the inflammatory response. It also did not reduce keratinocyte viability under the conditions tested.

“This means that, in this model and at the concentrations used, the extract showed no toxicity to the main cells of the epidermis. This is an important result, although it is still not enough to say that it is safe as a treatment in humans,” the UMH researcher cautions.

Potential for future topical formulations

The study also detected antioxidant activity and the ability to inhibit enzymes that degrade skin components such as collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. These results support further investigation of Cistus salviifolius extract for the development of potential topical formulations, such as creams or hydrogels, but it has not yet been tested as a treatment in humans. The next steps include studying its effects on resistant fungal strains, developing formulations, and confirming its safety and efficacy in animal models and, subsequently, in clinical trials.

In addition to Álvarez Martínez and Micol Molina, the UMH researchers involved in the study include IDiBE researcher Nerea Pons Rocamora and IDiBE researcher Enrique Barrajón Catalán, together with researchers from the universities of Namur and Coimbra. The research received European funding and support from public bodies in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, including the European Union through the NextGenerationEU programme, as well as the Generalitat Valenciana, the Valencian Innovation Agency and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.

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Journal

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

DOI

10.1016/j.jep.2026.122196

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Lab-produced tissue samples

Article Title

Polyphenol-rich Cistus salviifolius L. extract exerts fungicidal activity against dermatophytes through severe ultrastructural disruption

Cistus salviifolius, Cistaceae -

Credit

Jeantosti. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ciste2.jpg

 

Historic fishery collapse holds lessons for the present

The study is based on a unique dataset: a 450-year time series of herring catches in the Sound from 1200 to 1650.

A combination of climate change, overfishing, and social change caused the herring of the Sound to disappear.

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig – iDiv e. V.

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The study shows herring stock itself did shrink markedly in the 16th century, but it did not collapse completely. It was only the combined effect of several factors – environmental change, overfishing, and social change – that brought the profitable fishery to a sudden end.

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Credit: The University of Kiel / Schwermer

From the 13th to the 16th century, herring from the Sound – the strait in the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Sweden – was one of northern Europe’s most important trade goods. Salted herring from the so-called Skanör-Falsterbo fishery fed large parts of Europe. Around 1570, however, this fishery collapsed within a short period of time – with far-reaching consequences for trade, politics, and society. It took almost 400 years, until the 1950s, before comparable catch volumes were reached again. An international team of fisheries economists, ecologists, and historians led by Kiel University (CAU) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) has now investigated why this fishery, stable for centuries, collapsed so suddenly. The results show that the collapse of the fishery cannot be explained by a simple stock collapse alone. The herring stock itself did shrink markedly in the 16th century, but it did not collapse completely. It was only the combined effect of several factors – environmental change, overfishing and social change – that brought the profitable fishery to a sudden end. The new study was published in Nature Sustainability.

“Only when you look at climate, ecology and socio-economic conditions together does a coherent picture of this historic collapse emerge", says first author Dr Rudi Voss, fisheries economist at iDiv and CAU. “None of these factors alone would have brought the fishery down. It is their interplay that explains the dynamics.”

An extraordinary time series: 450 years of fishery history

The study is based on a unique dataset: a 450-year time series of herring catches in the Sound from 1200 to 1650. It was reconstructed using fragmentary historical sources, including customs records, royal pre-emption rights (“kongekøb”), and other archival material documenting trade volumes for individual years and locations. Gaps in the data were filled using economic and ecological indicators such as the availability of salt – the most important production factor for the herring industry at the time – and reconstructed climate data. This gives the researchers a fishery dataset that extends far beyond the usual modern stock time series, which typically span only a few decades. It allowed them to study how climate change, economic crises, and overexploitation played out over decades and centuries, and to determine how these factors reinforced one another.

Interplay rather than a single cause

To reconstruct the dynamics of the fishery, the team combined two methodological approaches: a newly developed bio-economic stock assessment method (BESA), which uses historical catch and price data to estimate both sustainable catch levels and the state of the herring stock over time. In addition they used a so-called loop analysis – a method from ecology that can map complex interactions between ecological, economic and social factors within a single model, without requiring every variable to be precisely quantified. In detail: overfishing had already weakened the stock and increased fishing costs. At the same time, the onset of the “Little Ice Age” brought a period of cooling to the Baltic region, which affected the stock’s productivity and reduced it further. In parallel, social and economic conditions deteriorated: shifting dunes destroyed the infrastructure of the fishing sites, a newly imposed system of serfdom tying peasants to the land deprived the fishery of workers, and cheaper herring from the rising North Sea fishery pushed Baltic herring out of the market.

A lesson for fisheries management today

Herring in the western Baltic Sea currently lies outside safe biological limits and on the brink of collapse; a zero-catch recommendation is already in place for it. According to the authors, an interdisciplinary approach – closely combining fisheries economics, climate research, ecology, and economic history – yields more than new historical insights: these findings can also be applied directly to today’s fisheries policy. Anyone who assesses the current state of a fishery on the basis of biological stock data alone may overlook crucial risk factors. Although the focus today is on a different biological stock, what both cases share is that environmental conditions in addition to fishing pressure are hindering their recovery. Whereas a period of cooling during the “Little Ice Age” affected the stock in the past, today the warming of the Baltic Sea caused by climate change represents an additional stressor.

The study therefore supports the approach of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management, which takes ecological and socio-economic factors into account together – for example infrastructure, economic diversification and the social situation of fishing communities. “Looking back at history makes it clear: sustainable fisheries only succeed if we take social and economic conditions just as seriously as the state of the stock itself. That is the lesson from 450 years of herring fishing in the Sound – and it is just as relevant today as it was then,” concludes first author Voss.

Credit

The University of Kiel / Schwerme

Journal

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-026-01937-1

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Historic fishery collapse holds lessons for the present

Article Publication Date

28-Sep-2026