COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown as a “Global Human Confinement Experiment” to investigate biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Efforts to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) have led to the unprecedented concurrent confinement of nearly two-thirds of the global population. The large human lockdown and its eventual relaxation can be viewed as a Global Human Confinement Experiment. This experiment is a unique opportunity to identify positive and negative effects of human presence and mobility on a range of natural systems, including wildlife, and protected areas, and to study processes regulating biodiversity and ecosystems. We encourage ecologists, environmental scientists, and resource managers to contribute their observations to efforts aiming to build comprehensive global understanding based on multiple data streams, including anecdotal observations, systematic assessments and quantitative monitoring. We argue that the collective power of combining diverse data will transcend the limited value of the individual data sets and produce unexpected insights. We can also consider the confinement experiment as a "stress test" to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in the adequacy of existing networks to detect human impacts on natural systems. Doing so will provide evidence for the value of the conservation strategies that are presently in place, and create future networks, observatories and policies that are more adept in protecting biological diversity across the world.

Rapid behavioural response of urban birds to COVID-19 lockdown

“…In addition to the birds’ rapid behavioural response to the anomalous environmental conditions during the lockdown, observers had certainly enhanced opportunities to detect birds during this period. Urban areas were quitter than usual [27–29], improving the chances of listening the birds [32–34,53]. Moreover, absence of people outdoors allowed for the display of shy and distrustful behaviours [6], facilitating bird observations, especially for those less singing species, as the magpie Pica pica or the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis.…”

“…The COVID-19 lockdown is revealing the stress, noise and pollution present in urban areas [25,26,28,29]. Under normal conditions, bird behaviour is altered and the possibility to enjoy the natural values of our cities is notably diminished [8].…”

“…Overall, the measures have contributed to a global diminishing of human activities [24]. This abrupt and dramatic disruption of most human social and economic activities have already had quantifiable effects on urban environments by marked reductions in air pollution [25–27] and noise [28,29]. One of the most noticeable and generalized measure has been applying certain degree of population lockdown, which renders our city streets empty and virtually silent.…”

Sustainable Development in the Wake of Covid-19

“…Air pollution in cities is at its lowest level in decades, with NO2 emissions down by an average of 30% 32 , bene tting health outcomes. Furthermore, studies suggest that human lockdown and its eventual relaxation can be viewed as a Global Human Con nement Experiment to understand the positive and negative effects of human presence and mobility on a range of natural systems 33 . In the short term, Covid-19 is set to cause the largest ever annual fall in CO2 emissions in 2020, with daily global CO2 emissions decreased by 17% by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels 34 .…”

Global change increases zoonotic risk, COVID-19 changes risk perceptions: a plea for urban nature connectedness

“…We indeed cannot predict the potential sustainability benefits of GUCMs. Relevant to the urban human-animal-environment nexus are increased wildlife sightings (Bates et al 2020) and potentially higher valuation of urban nature (Helm 2020). Across continents, local improvements in urban air quality were observed, exemplified by reports from Milan, Italy (Collivignarelli et al 2020), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Dantas et al 2020) and Salé, Morocco (Otmani et al 2020).…”