TY - JOUR
T1 - Stewardship practices enhance nature’s contributions to people
AU - Mattalia, Giulia
AU - McAlvay, Alex
AU - Reyes-García, Victoria
AU - Asfaw, Zemede
AU - Ban, Natalie C.
AU - Caviedes, Julián
AU - De Meyer, Emiel
AU - Díaz, Sandra
AU - Franco, F. Merlin
AU - Ibarra, José Tomás
AU - Loayza, Gabriela
AU - Loring, Philip A.
AU - Lukawiecki, Jessica
AU - Montúfar, Rommel
AU - Moola, Faisal
AU - Ojeda, Jaime
AU - Schunko, Christoph
AU - Uprety, Yadav
AU - Wall, Jeffrey
AU - Zafra-Calvo, Noelia
AU - Teixidor-Toneu, Irene
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site-for further information please contact [email protected]. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
PY - 2026/6
Y1 - 2026/6
N2 - Humans shape landscapes through the management of organisms and ecosystems, either degrading or sustaining biodiversity. Despite their essential role in sustaining biodiversity, stewardship practices have been overlooked by conventional conservation research and action. To improve understanding of biophysical stewardship practices, we propose a classificatory framework and illustrate it by applying it to cultural keystone species (CKS), which are rich in examples due to their high value to people. We identified 19 types of biophysical stewardship practices with impacts across ecological levels. Through a review of CKS literature, we identified 343 reports of biophysical stewardship practices directed toward almost 1000 CKS and 1652 reports of nature’s contributions to people associated with these species. Integrating stewardship practices into biodiversity conservation frameworks would facilitate consideration of both biodiversity and its stewards. Strengthening Indigenous, local, and other place-based stewardship practices within scientific and policy settings could contribute to more effective and inclusive conservation.
AB - Humans shape landscapes through the management of organisms and ecosystems, either degrading or sustaining biodiversity. Despite their essential role in sustaining biodiversity, stewardship practices have been overlooked by conventional conservation research and action. To improve understanding of biophysical stewardship practices, we propose a classificatory framework and illustrate it by applying it to cultural keystone species (CKS), which are rich in examples due to their high value to people. We identified 19 types of biophysical stewardship practices with impacts across ecological levels. Through a review of CKS literature, we identified 343 reports of biophysical stewardship practices directed toward almost 1000 CKS and 1652 reports of nature’s contributions to people associated with these species. Integrating stewardship practices into biodiversity conservation frameworks would facilitate consideration of both biodiversity and its stewards. Strengthening Indigenous, local, and other place-based stewardship practices within scientific and policy settings could contribute to more effective and inclusive conservation.
KW - Indigenous Peoples
KW - Kunming–Montreal biodiversity framework
KW - biodiversity conservation
KW - ecosystem management
KW - local ecological knowledge
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105042543348
U2 - 10.1093/biosci/biag047
DO - 10.1093/biosci/biag047
M3 - Artículo de revisión
AN - SCOPUS:105042543348
SN - 0006-3568
VL - 76
SP - 491
EP - 500
JO - BioScience
JF - BioScience
IS - 6
ER -