(Press-News.org) URBANA, Ill. — Farmers plant or preserve riparian buffers for various reasons, such as improving water quality, controlling erosion, or maintaining hunting habitat. Now, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign underscores the benefits of riparian buffers to terrestrial biodiversity, finding that for every 10% increase in forest cover, an additional species is present.
“We found raccoon and common snapping turtle DNA all over the place,” said senior study author Eric Larson, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois. “But the fact that we found bobcats and big brown bats with our sampling method was exciting, and shows just how much is going on in those riparian buffers.”
The sampling method Larson is referring to — environmental DNA metabarcoding — is one he and fellow ecologists have leaned into in recent decades to detect rare or hard-to-capture species. By extracting DNA fragments from water, soil, snow, or even air, scientists can reconstruct the animals that have traipsed, swam, or flown nearby.
When Larson and Olivia Reves, the study’s first author, decided to study biodiversity in riparian buffers, they already knew the benefits of tree cover for aquatic organisms. For example, shade from overhanging trees protects the water from thermal extremes and creates more favorable fish habitat. But less was known about the benefits of riparian buffers to terrestrial animals in agricultural areas.
To fill this gap, Reves and Larson used eDNA metabarcoding to identify terrestrial species from water adjacent to agricultural land across 47 sites in Central Illinois, varying in forest cover.
“This monitoring tool has been overlooked to identify the benefits of agricultural conservation actions like riparian buffers for terrestrial biodiversity,” said Reves, who recently completed her master’s degree with Larson.
But why sample water to detect terrestrial species?
“If we looked for fish in these samples, we would certainly find fish DNA,” Larson said. “But water in a stream or river incorporates DNA from all of the animals using the surrounding landscape. You dip down to the stream for a drink, and you leave some of your DNA to be detectable downstream.”
After isolating and identifying all of the DNA fragments from the water, the researchers could then look at the relationships between terrestrial diversity and forest cover. Not only did they find an additional species for every 10% increase in forest cover, but sites with complete forest cover supported three times the terrestrial vertebrate species compared to those lacking tree cover. Also, community composition turned over in higher-cover locations.
“We saw a gradient in the animal communities linked with forest cover,” Reves said. “At one end, we saw grassland species — mice, ground squirrels, killdeer — that are adapted to more disturbed environments. In the high forest cover sites, it was a totally different set of species. The fact that we saw forest-dependent species, including southern two-lined salamanders, North American river otters, and ruby-throated hummingbirds, really drives home the idea that riparian buffers are beneficial in agricultural landscapes.”
Reves added that, despite the biodiversity benefits, not all agricultural landowners are sold on riparian buffers.
“Some landowners see them as unkempt or think they bring pests to their fields. But we found a lot of species, like bats, that actually draw pests away or prey on those pests. In addition, riparian buffers can help with soil erosion and water quality,” she said. “I hope our study informs the voluntary and regulatory implementation of forested riparian buffers across the Midwest.”
The study, "Environmental DNA quantifies the terrestrial biodiversity co-benefit of forested riparian buffers in agricultural landscapes," is published in the Journal of Applied Ecology [DOI: TBD]. Authors include Olivia Reves, Nick Iacaruso, Mark Davis, and Eric Larson.
Research in the College of ACES is made possible in part by Hatch funding from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This study was also supported by a project funded by USDA’s McIntire-Stennis program [grant no. 7004745].
END
Terrestrial biodiversity grows with tree cover in agricultural landscapes
2025-12-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Experts call for AED placement on every commercial aircraft to boost in-flight cardiac arrest survival rates from 6% to up to 70%
2025-12-03
December 3, 2025 – In-flight cardiac arrest is extremely rare, yet catastrophic, and responsible for up to 86% of all deaths in the air. A new comprehensive literature review highlights systemic and policy shortcomings of current aviation safety standards, calling for global alignment. Recommendations include regulated and mandated automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on board, standardized cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) protocols training, and integration of telemedicine. The article in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier, aims to inform policy regulators, airlines, and international aviation ...
“Proton‑iodine” regulation of protonated polyaniline catalyst for high‑performance electrolytic Zn‑I2 batteries
2025-12-03
As demand for safe, low-cost and grid-scale storage keeps climbing, aqueous Zn–I2 batteries attract intense attention yet are dogged by polyiodide shuttling and sluggish iodine conversion. Now, researchers from Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Beijing Institute of Technology, led by Prof. Yi Zhao, present a catalytic cathode that finally tames these twin problems. Their three-dimensional carboxyl-carbon-nanotube-wrapped polyaniline (C-PANI) realises a direct I⁰/I⁻ redox, delivering ...
Directional three‑dimensional macroporous carbon foams decorated with WC1−x nanoparticles derived from salting‑out protein assemblies for highly effective electromagnetic absorption
2025-12-03
As electromagnetic (EM) pollution intensifies worldwide, developing high-performance EM wave absorbing materials (EWAMs) becomes critical. Researchers from Harbin Institute of Technology, led by Prof. Yunchen Du, have proposed a groundbreaking strategy to fabricate directional 3D macroporous carbon foams decorated with WC1-x nanoparticles via salting-out protein assemblies from egg white. This work pioneers a simple yet scalable route to construct anisotropic carbon-based EWAMs without relying on conventional unidirectional freezing ...
Tropical Australian study sets new standard for Indigenous-led research
2025-12-03
Tropical Australian study sets new standard for Indigenous-led research
A new study highlights how Indigenous leadership, science and business can unite to protect coastal ecosystems while building long-term environmental and cultural knowledge.
Published in Ocean & Coastal Management, the study found the 300 hectares of mangrove forest on the Barron River estuary around Cairns Airport – on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef – stores more than 2,000 tonnes of carbon annually, making ongoing care and monitoring of these and other coastal wetlands important for slowing climate change.
The research was co-designed ...
Invitation to co-edit a special issue on intelligent additive manufacturing
2025-12-03
Researchers have introduced a new blockchain-enabled framework that could significantly advance dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) in future 6G wireless networks, addressing long-standing challenges in latency, security, and high-density spectrum coordination. Published in Blockchain, this work presents HierSpectrumChain, a hierarchical blockchain architecture that integrates smart-contract–driven Stackelberg auctions to coordinate spectrum access efficiently and securely among diverse wireless users.
Dynamic spectrum sharing is essential for next-generation ...
Success in measuring nano droplets, a new breakthrough in hydrogen, semiconductor, and battery research
2025-12-03
In hydrogen production catalysts, water droplets must detach easily from the surface to prevent blockage by bubbles, allowing for faster hydrogen generation. In semiconductor manufacturing, the quality of the process is determined by how evenly water or liquid spreads on the surface, or how quickly it dries. However, directly observing how such water or liquid spreads and moves on a surface ('wettability') at the nanoscale has been technically almost impossible until now, forcing researchers to rely mostly on conjecture. KAIST announced on ...
Shopping for two is stressful
2025-12-03
For many of us, any kind of shopping is stressful enough. The anxiety, however, really kicks in when you must purchase something you’re going to share with another person.
Such are the findings of a UC Riverside School of Business study published in the Journal of Marketing Research that compared consumer anxiety levels stemming from different shopping circumstances.
Shopping for goods or services that you will share is significantly more stressful than shopping for yourself or for something to be given to another person, explained study co-author Margaret Campbell, an associate dean, professor, and chair of the school’s ...
Micro/nano‑reconfigurable robots for intelligent carbon management in confined‑space life‑support systems
2025-12-03
As CO2 accumulates in crewed spacecraft, submarines and disaster shelters, life-support systems demand sorbents that combine high capacity, ultralow regeneration energy and compact form factors. Now, researchers from Guangxi University, led by Prof. Hui He, unveil micro/nano-reconfigurable robots (MNRM) that harvest sunlight to capture 6.19 mmol g-1 CO2 and release it at only 55 °C—while actively swimming to prevent overheating. In a sealed-mouse model the robots prolonged survival by 54.61 %, offering a self-powered route to carbon-metabolism ...
Long-term antidepressant use surges in Australia, sparking warnings of overprescribing
2025-12-03
Long-term antidepressant use in Australia has risen steadily over the past decade, with the largest increase seen in young people aged 10-24, where rates have more than doubled.
The finding is from a new study undertaken by University of South Australia researchers, who analysed dispensing data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) covering more than 300,000 antidepressant users between 2014 and 2023.
The most comprehensive study of its kind, published in the Pharmacaoepidemiology and Drug Safety Journal, reveals that 45% of young people on antidepressants are staying on ...
To bop or to sway? The music will tell you
2025-12-03
HONOLULU, Dec. 2, 2025 — Some music is for grooving: It evokes spontaneous dancing, like head bopping, jumping, or arm swinging. Other music is for swaying, or for crying, or for slow dancing. Music makes people move, but whether musicians intentionally induce specific movements with their compositions, such as vertical bouncing or horizontal swaying, or what musical features would contribute to these distinctions, is more complex.
Shimpei Ikegami, an associate professor at Showa Women’s University, sought to understand how musicians express intended bodily movement ...