Positive human–wildlife coexistence, especially in contexts of rewilding and the reintroduction of large carnivores, partially depends on communication between stakeholders. The media, and in particular local journalism, can play a crucial role in determining people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards wildlife. In this article, we analyse the online coverage of bears produced by the most widely circulated local newspaper in Trentino (Italy), where bears have been reintroduced thanks to a rewilding project funded by the European Union. Employing quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 375 articles, we look into the main features of the media coverage of bears over one year (2024). We find that articles tend to focus on controversial and uncommon events, such as culls and interactions. The most prevalent sources of quotations in the articles are politicians and activists, while experts, local residents, and individuals in the farming sector are less often quoted. The majority of articles are framed through the lens of the socio-political struggle generated by bear presence. Micro-dynamics of the online media coverage include high polarisation, fragmentation of narratives, and the marginalisation of relevant stakeholders (i.e., local communities, experts, European institutions).

Ecosystems are increasingly being represented as marketplaces that produce goods for humanity, and because of this, economic metaphors for increasing efficiency have been introduced into conservation. A powerful model for economic growth is the globalised free market, and some are implicitly deploying it to suggest changes in conservation practice. Ecological globalisation is the position that we should not control the free movement of species and rewilding occurs most efficiently through non-intervention. When species can move and interact with new ecological systems, they create novel ecosystems. These novel arrangements create experimental markets in nature’s economy, providing opportunities for the efficient production of goods for humans, also known as ecosystem services. When invasive species supersede local populations, it indicates previous biotic systems were inefficient, which is why they were replaced, and therefore, it is wrong to protect indigenous “losers” from extinction. Those who defend indigenous species are accused of being xenophobic against recent biotic migrants. This position is flawed both empirically and morally as there is a disconnect between these economic and political arguments when applied to human economies and nature’s economy.

This perspective article takes up the challenge of articulating a political epistemology for extinction studies, centered around how both the systematic-scientific and mythopoetic traditions conceive of the idea of preservation. Political epistemology offers a solution to this for impasse because it asks the question of the social orientation or “end” of knowledge formations, thereby questioning what the larger goal of preservation might be. By focusing on the example of the thylacine, I outline one strand of what a political epistemology for contemporary justifications of preservation in the Museum might look like. Then I discuss how the mode of storytelling in extinction studies also conceives of preservation. Finally, I introduce the idea of replenishment as contrary to the preservation, focused on the cultural practices of Indigenous peoples in North East Arnhem Land, and ask whether new developments in the techno-scientific tradition will begin to turn to replenishment as well.

Cycads, an ancient lineage, face a higher threat of extinction than any other plant group. To address this urgent issue, a more comprehensive method for assessing extinction threat, the Conservation and Prioritization Index (CPI), is proposed and tested for cycads in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. The CPI is a multifaceted approach that incorporates techniques used in conservation status assessments by the IUCN and the Mexican NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 but incorporates other information, including georeferenced distribution data, endemism in Veracruz, number of locations, extent of occurrence, and distribution area. Using CPI, correlations were found between longitude and extinction risk for Ceratozamia species in Veracruz. Zamia vazquezii and Z. inermis were assessed to have the highest level of extinction risk. Overall, this study indicates that a more holistic approach, incorporating broader sources of environmental health, can be used to more effectively and proactively manage extinction threats to cycads in Veracruz. In this sense, Veracruz can serve as a model for conservation planning in different states in Mexico and worldwide. CPI is a tool that can be applied to other regions to manage another threatened biota. This method enhances objectivity and effectiveness in conservation efforts, promoting data-driven decision-making that can be used globally.

The possibility of human extinction has received growing academic attention over the last several decades. Research has analysed possible pathways to human extinction, as well as ethical considerations relating to human survival. Potential causes of human extinction can be loosely grouped into exogenous threats such as an asteroid impact and anthropogenic threats such as war or a catastrophic physics accident. In all cases, an outcome as extreme as human extinction would require events or developments that either have been of very low probability historically or are entirely unprecedented. This introduces deep uncertainty and methodological challenges to the study of the topic. This review provides an overview of potential human extinction causes considered plausible in the current academic literature, experts’ judgements of likelihood where available and a synthesis of ethical and social debates relating to the study of human extinction.

Through compositional inclusion or exclusion, the photograph can assert and communicate what belongs in a picture, in a landscape, in an ecosystem. It can illuminate what we deem conservation-worthy, or, on a larger scale, which extinctions are attention-worthy. Photographic practice helps to illuminate the active nature of extinction, and our choices as actors and witnesses within that process. Here, researchers from the University of Leeds’ Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme present individual reflections on interdisciplinary practice-led research in the Scottish Small Isles. We consider how photography, as a form of praxis, can generate new forms of knowledge surrounding extinction: its meanings, representations, and legacies, particularly through visual representation. We offer seven perspectives on contemporary image-making, from disciplines including philosophy, conservation biology, literature, sociology, geology, cultural anthropology, and palaeontology. Researchers gathered experiential, ethical, even biological meanings from considering what to include or exclude in images: from the micro to the macro, the visible to the invisible, the aesthetic to the ecological. We draw conclusions around meaning-making through the process of photography itself, and the tensions encountered through framing and decision-making in a time of mass ecological decline.

This perspective positions rewilding as a novel approach to ecosystem restoration, emphasising the restoration of natural processes to create self-willed ecosystems. Central to European rewilding is the de-domestication of cattle and horses to act as functional analogues of the extinct aurochs and wild horses. This de-extinction pathway shifts the focus from the loss of species to the loss of their ecological roles caused by human actions commencing millennia ago. The focus on restoring functional effects provides a strong policy rationale for large herbivore de-domestication, aligning with nature-based solutions to address environmental challenges. This alignment requires a pragmatic approach that prioritises the restoration of ecosystem functions over genetic purity and offers flexibility and scalability in rewilding efforts. I argue that creating a new category of ‘ecosystem engineer’ livestock is more effective than seeking wild status for these animals. As they are released into recovering ecosystems, de-domesticated large herbivores are recreating their ecological roles, ‘life-spheres’ and interactions. These processes open new avenues in both extinction discourse and ecological theory and encourage us to explore how de-extinct species can drive the recovery of European ecosystems.

The transition between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs (ca. 56 Ma) was marked by a period of rapid global warming of 5 °C to 8 °C following a carbon isotope excursion (CIE) lasting 200 ky or less referred to as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The PETM precipitated a significant shift in the composition of North American floral communities and major mammalian turnover. We explored the ecological impacts of this phenomenon by analyzing 173 mammal species from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, including their associated body alongside a database of 30 palynofloral localities as proxies for habitat. For each time bin, we calculated mean and median differences in body mass and habitat preference between significantly aggregated and segregated mammal species. Aggregated species showed significant similarity in habitat preference only prior to the PETM, after which habitat preference ceased to be a significant factor in community assembly. Our measures of differences in body mass space provide no evidence of a significant impact of competitive interactions on community assembly across the PETM, aligning with previous work. Our results indicate the persistence of a stable mammalian functional community structure despite taxonomic turnover, climate change and broadening habitat preferences.

Accurately predicting the vulnerabilities of species to climate change requires a more detailed understanding of the functional and life-history traits that make some species more susceptible to declines and extinctions in shifting climates. This is because existing trait-based correlates of extinction risk from climate and environmental disturbances vary widely, often being idiosyncratic and context dependent. A powerful solution is to analyse the growing volume of biological data on changes in species ranges and abundances using process-explicit ecological models that run at fine temporal and spatial scales and across large geographical extents. These simulation-based approaches can unpack complex interactions between species’ traits and climate and other threats. This enables species-responses to climatic change to be contextualised and integrated into future biodiversity projections and to be used to formulate and assess conservation policy goals. By providing a more complete understanding of the traits and contexts that regulate different responses of species to climate change, these process-driven approaches are likely to result in more certain predictions of the species that are most vulnerable to climate change.

1. 1. Understanding whether a species still persists, or the timing of its extinction is challenging, however, such knowledge is fundamental for effective species management.

2. 2. For the vast majority of species our understanding of their existence is based solely on sighting data that can range from museum specimens and clear photographs, through vocalisations, to markings and oral accounts.

3. 3. Here we review the methods that have been developed to infer the extinction of species from a sighting record, providing an understanding of their assumptions and applications. We have also produced an RShiny package which can be used to implement some of the methods presented in the article.

4. 4. While there are a number of potential areas that could be further developed, the methods reviewed provide a useful tool for inferring species extinction.

Biodiversity shortfalls and taxonomic bias can lead to inaccurate assessment of conservation priorities. Previous literature has begun to explore practical reasons why some species are discovered sooner or are better researched than others. However, the deeper socio-cultural causes for undiscovered and neglected biodiversity, and the value of collectively analysing species at risk of unrecorded, or “dark”, extinction, are yet to be fully examined. Here, we argue that a new label (we propose “shadow diversity”) is needed to shift our perspective from biodiversity shortfalls to living, albeit unknown, species. We suggest this linguistic shift imparts intrinsic value to these species, beyond scientific gaze and cultural systems. We review research on undiscovered, undetected and hidden biodiversity in the fields of conservation biology, macroecology and genetics. Drawing on philosophy, geography, history and sociology, we demonstrate that a range of socio-cultural factors (funding, education and historical bias) combine with traditional, practical impediments to limit species discovery and detection. We propose using a spectrum of shadow diversity which enables a complex, non-binary and comprehensive approach to biodiversity unknowns. Shadow diversity holds exciting potential as a tool to increase awareness, appreciation and support for the conservation of traditionally less studied wildlife species and sites, from soil microbes to less charismatic habitat fragments. We advocate for a shift in how the conservation community and wider public see biodiversity and an increase in popular support for conserving a wider range of life forms. Most importantly, shadow diversity provides appropriate language and conceptual frameworks to discuss species absent from conservation assessment and at potential risk of dark extinction.

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened biomes globally. Data from monitoring programs are necessary to evaluate the conservation status of species, prioritise conservation actions and to evaluate the effectiveness of these actions. Birds are particularly well represented in citizen-collected datasets that are used worldwide in ecological and conservation studies. Here, we analyse presence-only data from three online citizen science datasets of Atlantic Forest endemic bird species to evaluate whether the representation of these species was correlated with their global threat status, range and estimated abundance. We conclude that even though species are over- and under-represented with regard to their presumed abundance, data collected by citizen scientists can be used to infer species distribution and, to a lesser degree, species abundance. This pattern holds true for species across global threat status.

In 2021, scientists published a preprint stating that the dugong population of Okinawa had declined below the minimum viable population and should be considered extinct. The publication led to an outcry amongst Japanese/Okinawan environmentalists and to criticism by international dugong specialists. Two issues were raised: 1) Declaring dugongs extinct, although feeding trails were found in several locations, misrepresented the reality in Okinawan waters, and could have negative impacts on conservation measures; 2) Three authors were sitting on the Environmental Monitoring Committee for a controversial military base construction project in an area where dugongs were frequently spotted before construction commenced. The presence/absence of dugongs at the site had become a political issue, as the animal’s protected status and its depiction in folklore gave it symbolic meaning in the anti-base movement. The declaration of dugong extinction reminded protesters of a former Environmental Impact Assessment conducted by Japan’s Ministry of Defence, declaring the site to be no relevant dugong habitat. The paper explores the implications of the preprint for the political situation in Okinawa and questions the certainty of dugong extirpation in the region. It argues that speculations about extinction cannot be divorced from the political contexts to which they are invariably tied.