By Cecilia Derrick, 24th September 2026
The latest issue of Oryx brings together research from a new cohort of early-career conservationists, showcasing studies that address some of the most pressing challenges facing biodiversity today. Featured articles explore topics ranging from human–wildlife coexistence and the impacts of tourism and infrastructure on wildlife, to climate change, illegal wildlife trade and species recovery. Highlights include research on human attitudes towards Baird’s tapirs in Costa Rica, the online trade in raptors in Pakistan, climate change risks for Brazilian conifers, and conservation prospects for species such as leopards, dholes, khulan, long-tailed gorals and the western long-beaked echidna.
This issue’s contributions reflect this spirit of adaptation and innovation, offering new insights into how conservation can support both wildlife and people in a rapidly changing world.
Explore the full contents and our Editor’s picks below:
Editor’s picks
- Exposure of Brazilian conifers to climate change — Costa Manosso et al.
- A population census approach to conserving the threatened tree Xylopia decorticans (Annonaceae) — Horst et al.
- Digital predation: scale, drivers and conservation implications of illegal online trade in raptors in Pakistan — Khalid et al.
- Mammal, reptile, amphibian and invertebrate electrocutions on electric power networks in Iran — Kolnegari et al.
Brazilian conifers Araucaria angustifolia. Photo: Germano Roberto Schüür
Becoming a conservationist
- Matrix resistance and the acceptance of wildlife: corridor connectivity and human–tapir interactions — Pastor-Parajeles et al.
- Exposure of Brazilian conifers to climate change — Costa Manosso et al.
- A population census approach to conserving the threatened tree Xylopia decorticans (Annonaceae) — Horst et al.
- Digital predation: scale, drivers and conservation implications of illegal online trade in raptors in Pakistan — Khalid et al.
- Tourism alters mammal behaviour and juvenile distribution in a West African protected area — Awini et al.
- Drivers of density and sex ratio in the leopard Panthera pardus population of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa — Barker et al.
- On the road’s side: the influence of a road on the agroforestry vertebrate community — Rossi et al.
Behind the cover
Baird’s tapir Tapirus bairdii moves through a landscape shaped not only by forests and rivers, but also by the perceptions and actions of the people with whom it shares those spaces. In the Tenorio–Miravalles Biological Corridor in Costa Rica, Pastor-Parajeles et al. investigated how habitat connectivity and human attitudes combine to influence the movement of this Endangered species on privately-owned lands. Mapping least-cost movement routes revealed a landscape that remains structurally connected for tapirs, with key habitat patches linking two national parks. Interviews with landowners and managers showed that, although most viewed tapirs positively, responses to their presence ranged from active support to efforts to discourage them from particular areas. For ecological corridors in human-dominated landscapes to function effectively, both habitat connectivity and local acceptance need to be considered. For further details, see pp. 9–19. (Photograph © Klein & Hubert/NaturePL.com)
Editorial
Braiding three-stranded conservation — Kent H. Redford
In the editorial, Kent Redford argues that conservation must adapt to a world undergoing unprecedented environmental change. Challenging the assumption that ecosystems can simply be returned to a historical state, he proposes a three-stranded approach to conservation: improving existing practices, extending current tools in new ways and embracing innovation. Together, these strands, he argues, can help conservation respond more effectively to the intertwined challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution.
Other content
Mammal, reptile, amphibian and invertebrate electrocutions on electric power networks in Iran — Kolnegari et al.
Crossing the line: evidence of khulan recolonization east of the Trans-Mongolian Railway — Buuveibaatar et al.
Mapping the distribution and predicting the presence of the Vulnerable long-tailed goral Naemorhedus caudatus in South Korea — Jo et al.
Distribution of the Atrato slider Trachemys medemi, future projections under climate change scenarios and conservation insights — Gaviria-Hernández et al.
New observations of the western long-beaked echidna on the Vogelkop Peninsula, Indonesian New Guinea — Arobaya et al.
New record of dhole Cuon alpinus in Vietnam, yet apparent decline of the species across the country — Nguyen et al.
Rhododendron liboense in flower. See Huang et al.
Conservation news
- First Sale of Certified Wildlife Friendly® beef in Africa — Stein & Fuller
- Co-designing pathways to human–giant otter coexistence in the Pantanal — Marchini et al.
- First recorded roadkill of Amazona rhodocorytha (Psittacidae) raises concern about a new threat to the species — da Silva Ribeiro et al.
- Conservation roadmap and species action plan workshop for Ethiopian antelopes — Mallon & Kebede
- First documented movement of a whale shark between Madagascar and Seychelles — Diamant & Mason-Parker
- New IUCN Species Survival Commission Goby and Blenny Specialist Group — Jaafar et al.
- CITES CoP20 partially addresses amphibian trade with guidance documents and species listing — Borzée et al.
- Integrated conservation of Rhododendron liboense, a Critically Endangered species in Guizhou Province, China — Huang et al.
