Critical appraisal in ecology: What tools are available, and what is being used in systematic reviews?

Stanhope, Jessica; Weinstein, Philip M.

doi:10.1002/jrsm.1609

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Systematic reviews in applied ecology aim to gather higher level of evidence to guide management decisions (Pullin and Stewart 2006). To ensure the quality of the review, it is crucial that the included studies describe study design sufficiently and have retrievable statistics (Stanhope and Weinstein 2023). For instance, in some riparian buffer zone studies it was not possible to separate effects of buffer width and logging based on the study design and results description (Darveau et al 2001;Holmes et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of conservation measures to support biodiversity in boreal timber-production forests

Tange,

Sjølie,

Austrheim

2024

Silva Fenn

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Large parts of the boreal forest ecosystems have been greatly affected by human use, and the current timber-oriented forest management practice that dominates boreal forests is proven to cause biodiversity and ecosystem services declines. These negative effects are mitigated in various ways, including in-situ measures implemented upon harvest. The measures comprise trade-offs between economic and ecological aims; thus, requiring solid knowledge of their effectiveness. However, comprehensive literature review of the effectiveness of such measures is scarce. We aim to fill part of this void by reviewing the scientific literature that have gauged effects of four in-situ conservation measures: green tree retention (GTR), patch retention (PR), dead wood retention (DW) and riparian buffer zones (RB). Two outcomes were considered, species richness and species abundance across taxa. From a total of 3012 initial papers, 48 met our inclusion criteria that generated 238 unique results. Results were grouped according to control. 178 studies used mature, unlogged forest as control. Out of those, 68% of the findings were not significant, i.e., suggesting no significant impact of harvest with biodiversity measures on species richness and species abundance compared to no harvest. Eighteen percent of the observations showed negative effects and 14% of the observations showed positive effects compared to no harvest. Sixty studies used harvest with no measures as control, of which 45% showed significant positive effects, meaning that compared to harvest with no measures, harvest with conservation measures has positively effects on species richness and abundance. However, 43% of the studies found no significant effect of the implemented conservation measures compared to harvest with no measures taken. The relatively few significant results reported restrain distinct conclusions on the effectiveness of the assessed conservation measures, but some degree of conservation measure is likely to have positive effects on biodiversity in timber-production forest. However, the scientific basis does not allow for pointing to threshold levels. Higher transparency of study design and statistical results would allow us to include more studies. There is a clear need for more research of effectiveness of common conservation measures in timber-production forests in order to strengthen the knowledge basis. In particular, there are few studies that employ harvest without any conservation measure as control. This is pivotal knowledge for forest managers as well as for policymakers for preserving biodiversity and the ecosystems in forest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of conservation measures to support biodiversity in boreal timber-production forests

Tange,

Sjølie,

Austrheim

2024

Silva Fenn

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“…The evaluation of bias risk in these types of studies using the NOS was conducted independently by two investigators (DL and CF). It is worth noting that for ecologic studies, there is no established and validated tool for evaluation of quality ( 32 ). As a result, the assessment of the five ecologic studies was primarily descriptive.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of air pollution on interstitial lung disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Lan,

Fermoyle,

Troy

et al. 2024

Front. Med.

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IntroductionThere is a growing body of evidence suggesting a causal relationship between interstitial lung disease (ILD) and air pollution, both for the development of the disease, and driving disease progression. We aim to provide a comprehensive literature review of the association between air pollution, and ILD, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).MethodsWe systematically searched from six online database. Two independent authors (DL and CF) selected studies and critically appraised the risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Findings are presented through a narrative synthesis and meta-analysis. Meta-analyses were performed exclusively when there was a minimum of three studies examining identical pollutant-health outcome pairs, all evaluating equivalent increments in pollutant concentration, using a random effects model.Results24 observational studies conducted in 13 countries or regions were identified. Pollutants under investigation encompassed ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Particulate matter with diameters of 10 micrometers or less (PM10) and 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). We conducted meta-analyses to assess the estimated Risk Ratios (RRs) for acute exacerbations (AE)-IPF in relation to exposure to every 10 μg/m3 increment in air pollutant concentrations, including O3, NO2, PM10, and PM2.5. The meta-analysis revealed a significant association between the increased risk of AE-IPF in PM2.5, yielding RR 1.94 (95% CI 1.30–2.90; p = 0.001). Findings across all the included studies suggest that increased exposure to air pollutants may be linked to a range of health issues in individuals with ILDs.ConclusionA scarcity of available studies on the air pollutants and ILD relationship underscores the imperative for further comprehensive research in this domain. The available data suggest that reducing levels of PM2.5 in the atmosphere could potentially reduce AE frequency and severity in ILD patients.

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“…Like systematic reviews, scoping reviews involve conducting a systematic search and the extraction and synthesis of data in a transparent manner, however, the findings of the included studies are not necessarily required, depending on the research question (eg definition, methods used). 11 While scoping reviews of research findings (eg effectiveness of an intervention) might not be appropriate to use for drawing recommendations about clinical practice and policy, 11,12 scoping reviews of other types of research questions may lead to recommendations for other purposes, for example, recommendations for future research questions, [13][14][15] methods 2,13,15,16 and terminology. 2,15,16 Our review protocol was not registered a priori, but has been outlined below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11 While scoping reviews of research findings (eg effectiveness of an intervention) might not be appropriate to use for drawing recommendations about clinical practice and policy, 11,12 scoping reviews of other types of research questions may lead to recommendations for other purposes, for example, recommendations for future research questions, [13][14][15] methods 2,13,15,16 and terminology. 2,15,16 Our review protocol was not registered a priori, but has been outlined below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are green prescriptions? A scoping review

Stanhope

Weinstein

2023

J. Prim. Health Care

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Introduction. Clear terminology is critical to allow accurate communication between practitioners, policy makers and the public. Aim. We investigated how the term 'green prescription' has been used in the peer-reviewed literature. Methods. We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature that used the term 'green prescription(s)' and determined how this term was used. We then investigated how the term has been used over time, in different geographic locations and in different academic disciplines. Results. We included 268 articles that used the term 'green prescription(s)'. We found that the phrase 'green prescription(s)' has been used since 1997 to mean a written prescription for a lifestyle change, most commonly physical activity, provided by a health practitioner. However, more recently (since 2014) the term has also been used to mean exposure to nature. Despite the emergence of this new meaning, 'green prescription' remains, in the health and medical science literature across all continents, most commonly used to describe a prescription for physical activity. Conclusion. The use of the term 'green prescriptions' is inconsistent and has led to misuse of the research evidence regarding written prescriptions for exercise/diet being used to justify nature exposure to improve human health. We recommend that the term 'green prescriptions' continues to be used only as per its original definition, to refer to written prescriptions for physical activity and/or diet. For prescriptions to spend time in nature, we suggest use of the more appropriate term 'nature prescriptions'.

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Critical appraisal in ecology: What tools are available, and what is being used in systematic reviews?

Cited by 12 publications

References 83 publications

Effectiveness of conservation measures to support biodiversity in boreal timber-production forests

Effectiveness of conservation measures to support biodiversity in boreal timber-production forests

The impact of air pollution on interstitial lung disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

What are green prescriptions? A scoping review

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