Among the greatest challenges facing the conservation of plants and animal species in protected areas are threats from a rapidly changing climate. An altered climate creates both challenges and opportunities for improving the management of protected areas in networks. Increasingly, quantitative tools like species distribution modeling are used to assess the performance of protected areas and pr...

— Are parks effective in forest conservation? This study examines data from 163 forests in 13 countries to determine the necessity of legally established protected areas for forest conservation and alternative conditions and institutions that may conserve forests. The results show no statistically significant differences in forest conditions between legally protected forests and forests governe...

Wild life: The elusive fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the top predator in the dry deciduous forests of Madagascar, but very little was known about its biology until the 1990s. The presence of volunteer groups studying its role in the forest’s ecology has also helped to protect its habitat. (Photo: Earthwatch/ Luke Dollar.) The world’s latest national park has just been created in the east of Russ...