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Avocados have become a global commodity, and environmental and socioeconomic impacts in the regions where avocados are grown have increased in tandem with production. In this article, we synthesize the current state of knowledge about the impacts of avocado production in Michoacán, México, the global center of avocado production. Environmental impacts on biodiversity, soil, and hydrological systems stem from deforestation and forest fragmentation that result from avocado expansion. The avocado industry has brought some economic benefits, namely increased employment and reductions in poverty and out-migration, but inequity in the region limits the positive socioeconomic impacts. We draw comparisons to other commodity studies and propose that lessons learned from such research could be utilized to make the avocado supply chain more sustainable. Ultimately, steps could be taken at all levels of the commodity chain to improve sustainability, including improved farming practices, policies protecting smallholders and local capital, and increased consumer awareness.

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One Health faces enormous pressure and challenges as it attempts to mitigate dynamic, surprising and complex global events that threaten the health and sustainability of human and animal populations and the biosphere. One Health practitioners and researchers need every advantage to developing working solutions to the world's imminent complex issues. Heath promotion and harm reduction, interrelated approaches that have seen much success over decades of use in global public health, may be important models to consider. Both use an upstream socioecological determinant of health approach to reach beyond the health sector in all health efforts, and encourage active community participation and empowerment to attain and sustain human and ecological health. This scoping review of 411 documents, believed to be the first to relate health promotion and harm reduction to One Health, searched self-declared One Health research literature for evidence of health promotion and harm reduction policies, principles and methodologies. It sought to answer the questions: "What is the scope of practice of One Health in self-declared One Health publications?" and "Are attributes of health promotion and harm reduction found in self-declared One Health-reviewed research literature?" Over half of the papers revealed no health promotion or harm reduction attributes while 7% were well-endowed with these attributes. These 7% of papers focused on deep-seated, complex health issues with systemic knowledge gaps and decision-making issues revolving around specific population vulnerabilities, social inequities and competing stakeholders. Implementing 'on the ground change' was a common theme in the strongest health promotion/harm reduction papers we identified. Alternatively, papers lacking health promotion or harm reduction attributes focused on managing proximate risks, primarily for infectious diseases. The addition of health promotion and harm reduction to One Health practices may help the field rise to the growing expectations for its involvement in complex global issues like pandemics and climate change.

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Human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) are complex conservation challenges that impair both wildlife populations and human livelihood. Research on HWC, however, has traditionally approached ecological and human components separately, hampering a broader understanding of connections between ecological drivers and human dimensions of conflicts. We developed a model that integrates ecological and human components of HWC to investigate how the amount of remaining native forest (forest cover, a key ecological variable known to influence species occurrence and abundance) affects human experiences with wildlife (contact with species and attacks on livestock) and how such experiences influence tolerance via beliefs, emotions, and attitudes. We tested the model with piecewise structural equation modeling and data on human interactions with 3 mammals with different rarity and body size: opossum (Didelphis aurita), crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), and puma (Puma concolor). Data were obtained by interviewing 114 landowners across 13 Atlantic Forest landscapes (10-50% forest cover). Forest cover was associated with high chance of attacks on livestock, and thus with low tolerance, only in the case of the puma. Effects of distinct experiences with wildlife on beliefs and emotions varied across species. Beliefs and emotions toward wildlife influenced tolerance toward all species, but negative emotions affected tolerance toward only with the puma. Conflicts with large carnivores, such as pumas, can then be understood as disservices provided by forests, indicating the relevance of framing HWC more broadly to consider trade-offs with ecosystems services. For some species, positive experiences with wildlife may counteract the negative effects of attacks on livestock in shaping tolerance. Models such as ours-that link ecological and human dimensions-can help identify more effective leverage points to improve HWC mitigation.

Vinculación de componentes humanos y ecológicos para entender los conflictos humano-fauna a nivel paisaje y especies Resumen Los conflictos humano-fauna (CHF) son retos complejos para la conservación pues perjudican tanto a las poblaciones de fauna como al sustento humano. Sin embargo, las investigaciones sobre los CHF por tradición han manejado a los componentes humanos y ecológicos de manera separada, dificultando un entendimiento más amplio de las conexiones entre los conductores ecológicos y las dimensiones humanas de estos conflictos. Desarrollamos un modelo que integra a los componentes ecológicos y humanos de los CHF para investigar cómo la cantidad de bosque nativo remanente (la cobertura de bosque, una variable ecológica importante que se sabe influye sobre la presencia y abundancia de las especies) afecta a las experiencias que las personas tienen con la fauna (contacto con especies y ataques al ganado) y cómo dichas experiencias influyen en la tolerancia por medio de creencias, emociones y actitudes. Probamos el modelo con un modelado de ecuación estructural por partes y datos sobre las interacciones humanas con tres mamíferos de diferente tamaño y rareza: la zarigüeya (Didelphis aurita), el zorro cangrejero (Cerdocyon thous) y el puma (Puma concolor). Los datos se obtuvieron por medio de entrevistas realizadas a 114 terratenientes distribuidos en 13 paisajes de bosque atlántico (10-50% de cobertura de bosque). La cobertura de bosque estuvo asociada con una alta probabilidad de ataques al ganado, y por lo tanto con una baja tolerancia, sólo para el caso del puma. Los efectos de las distintas experiencias con la fauna sobre las creencias y las emociones variaron con cada especie. Las creencias y las emociones hacia la fauna influyeron en la tolerancia hacia todas las especies, aunque las emociones negativas afectaron la tolerancia solamente hacia el puma. Los conflictos con los grandes carnívoros, como el puma, pueden entenderse como servicios negativos proporcionados por los bosques, lo que indica la relevancia de enmarcar a los CHF de manera más amplia para considerar las compensaciones con los servicios ambientales. Para algunas especies, las experiencias positivas con la fauna pueden contrarrestar los efectos negativos de los ataques al ganado en cuanto a la formación de la tolerancia. Los modelos como el nuestro - que conectan las dimensiones ecológicas y humanas - pueden ayudar a identificar puntos de ventaja más efectivos para mejorar la mitigación de los CHF.

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RESUMEN Este artículo analiza el enfoque conceptual de los sistemas socioecológicos en las ciencias ambientales. En este se incorporan conceptos y metodologías analíticas de múltiples disciplinas, las cuales permiten ser aplicadas en el concepto de sistemas socioecológicos, y generar así un enfoque holístico e integrador. Dentro de este marco teórico-conceptual, se busca integrar conceptos como resiliencia, adaptabilidad, sistemas complejos y servicios ecosistémicos, y su relación con el sistema social. En este abordaje se muestra la gestión de los ecosistemas, en atención a las múltiples interacciones y fenómenos que rigen su dinámica, que permite, en última instancia, avanzar en una perspectiva interdisciplinaria en la gestión de los ecosistemas y posibilitar la integración de las nuevas condiciones de una sociedad evolutiva, adaptativa y cambiante, que responda a la necesidad de preservar los ecosistemas de los cuales depende el equilibrio social y económico.

ABSTRACT The review analyzes the conceptual approach of Socioecological Systems (SSEs) in the environmental sciences. It incorporates analytical concepts and methodologies of multiple disciplines, which can be applied in the concept of SSEs, to generate a holistic and integral approach. Within this theoretical-conceptual framework, we seek for integrate concepts such resilience, adaptability, complex systems, ecosystem services and their relationship with the social system. This approach shows the management of ecosystems, considering the multiple interactions and phenomena that govern their dynamics. This discussion ultimately allows to advance in an interdisciplinary perspective in the management of ecosystems, enabling an integration of the new conditions within an evolutionary, adaptive and changing society, with the need to preserve the ecosystems on which the social and economic equilibrium depends.

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Protected areas are an important strategy to safeguard biodiversity. However, if social development is not considered, biological conservation targets may not be achieved. In this empirical study, we assess the relationship between poverty and conservation goals in dry forests within a 62,000-ha Brazilian National Park (Caatinga biome). We conducted 81 structured household interviews between January and July of 2016 to assess socioeconomic, resource management and land-use variables. We used non-parametric analysis of variance to test for differences in socioecological variables among families living inside and outside the Park and both (double dwelling). The majority of families (76%) residing inside the Park were living below the poverty line while less than 14% in outside and double dwelling residences faced the same issue. Families living inside the park had lower socioeconomic conditions such as limited water availability, poor house infrastructure, low income, and high dependence on firewood than outside and double dwelling families. They were also more dependent on external financial support and natural resources. We found that failures in protected areas inception and implementation have driven people towards a mutually reinforcing and declining situation in which negative socioeconomic outcomes are associated with nature degradation. Therefore, our results suggest that the future of dry forests, characterized worldwide by the presence of low-income populations, will be largely dependent on conservation strategies that address poverty alleviation and human well-being.

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In tropical forests farmers are among the most important agents of deforestation. At the interface between societies and their environment, ecosystem services (ES) is an integrated working framework through which natural and anthropogenic dimensions can be addressed. Here, we aimed to understand to what extent farmers impact ES availability. Based on case studies in three locations in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, we performed statistical analyses at 135 sampling points and 110 farms to link socioeconomic and ES data, both derived from field work. The socioeconomic data characterized agricultural production, sociological characteristics, and quality of life. ES data were obtained from statistical analyses that yielded a multiple ES indicator for each sampling point and farm. Our results produced three main findings: first, the establishment of ES associations is due more to agricultural production characteristics than to sociological and quality-of-life factors. Second, the impact of agricultural production on ES availability depends on the level of total incomes. An increase in incomes causes a decrease in the forest cover that provides many ES and an increase in other areas that provide fewer ES. Finally, our analyses show a very strong site effect that probably expresses the heterogeneity of the biophysical contexts, but also the importance for ES availability of the historical depth of deforestation and/or the role of specific public policies. Finding ways of producing an alternative impact on ES availability and establishing specific ES associations will therefore depend more on changes in the global political context than in individual practices.

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Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

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