KEVIN J GASTON

Garrett, J.K., Elliott, L.R., Lovell, R., Wheeler, B.W., Marshall, T., Kibowski, F., Phillips, B.B. & Gaston, K.J. 2025. A novel approach for mapping exposure to land cover at the small statistical geography level. International Journal of Health Geographics 24, 37.

Many studies linking spatial environmental exposures to health outcomes rely on small statistical geography units, such as Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs), to estimate exposure. However, these units commonly vary in size, particularly between urban and rural areas, leading to potential exposure misclassification. This study proposes a new method for better capturing environmental exposure at the small statistical geography unit level. Using the Living England Habitat Map as an example, we combined LSOA and postcode-level data to account for varying area sizes and mitigate edge effects. We compared our method with the typical approach, which calculates an average at the small geography unit level. Overall, our proposed method resulted in lower exposure to non-built-up areas compared to averaging across entire LSOAs, whereas exposure to built-up areas was higher by 8–10%. However, these patterns varied based on region, urban/rural classification, land cover type, and LSOA size class. We suggest that this proposed method offers a more consistent approach to estimating neighbourhood exposure to nature. 

Troscianko, J., O’Shea-Wheller, T.A., Galloway, J. & Gaston, K.J. 2026. BehaveAI enables rapid detection and classification of objects and behaviour from motion. PLoS Biology 24, e3003632.

Here we introduce BehaveAI, a biologically inspired video analysis framework that integrates static and motion information through a novel color-from-motion encoding strategy. This method translates object movement—direction, speed, and acceleration— into color gradients, enabling both human annotators and pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to infer motion patterns while retaining high-resolution spatial detail. Using a range of case studies, we demonstrate how the increased salience of motion information allows for the robust detection of objects that are challenging or impossible to identify reliably from static frames alone, particularly in complex natural scenes. We further demonstrate the reliable classification of different behaviors in animals and single-celled organisms. Additionally, the framework supports flexible hierarchical model structures that can separate the tasks of detection and classification for optimal efficiency, and provide individual tracking data that specifies what is present where and what it is doing in each frame. The framework makes use of the latest deep learning architecture (YOLO11), combined with a semi-supervised annotation workflow. Together with salient motion information, these features can dramatically reduce the effort required for dataset annotation such that reliable models can often be made within an hour. Moreover, smaller annotation datasets mean that model training can be achieved on conventional computers without dedicated hardware, thereby improving accessibility. The motion encoding approach is also computationally lightweight, and can run in real-time on low-end edge devices such as a Raspberry Pi. We release the framework as a free, open source, and user-friendly package. 

Elliott, L.R., Garrett, J.K., Lovell, R., Kibowski, F. & Gaston, K.J. 2026. Sociodemographic and visit-related correlates of ‘psychologically rich’ nature visits. Journal of Environmental Psychology 111, 102999.

Experiences of nature are often appraised as interesting, novel or perspective-changing, with both experimental and qualitative work invoking these constructs, particularly regarding biodiversity. However, these psychological outcomes of interactions with nature are seldom investigated quantitatively, perhaps due to the lack of a coherent conceptualisation. Drawing on ‘psychological richness’ – an account of subjective well-being from positive psychology which unifies these constructs – we explored the predictors of psychologically rich nature visits. Using data from English adults taken from 10 years of the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment survey (n = 9827), we used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify a set of survey items pertaining to the psychological richness experienced after recent nature visits and subsequently constructed linear regression models which explored sociodemographic and visit-related variables that predicted this. To demonstrate the discriminant validity of the construct, we further examined comparable associations with survey items concerning enjoyment and perceived restorativeness. We found that ratings of psychological richness were higher on nature visits taken by people who were female, older/retired, lower socioeconomic status, non-white-British, non-disabled, car-free respondents, and on visits taken to community gardens, farmland, woodlands, uplands, inland waters, country parks, and designated sites, involving wildlife watching or fishing, and taken further afield or while on holiday. These findings were largely robust to two alternative model specifications. Associations differed in strength, sign, or statistical significance when considering enjoyment/ restorativeness. We argue that these findings demonstrate that psychological richness overlaps with, but is distinct from, related psychological outcomes of nature experience. We discuss the results with regards to socioeconomic inequalities and biodiversity, and present research avenues for the continued exploration of the psychological richness of nature experience. 

Cai, J., Bennie, J. & Gaston, K.J. 2026. Artificial light at night alters earthworm communities and soil aggregation. Journal of Applied Ecology 62, 3408-3420.

1. The global expansion of artificial light at night (ALAN) threatens many plants and animals. However, potentially important predicted impacts on earthworm communities, both directly (dALAN) and through plant-mediated pathways (plant-mediated ALAN), remain little explored. Also, whether and how any impacts extend to changes in key ecosystem processes, such as soil aggregation, are not known.

2. Here, we sampled earthworm assemblages and soil near and between streetlights that have been nocturnally lit for 9 years. Using streetlight illuminance and correlated colour temperature (CCT) as ALAN proxies, we explored the impacts of dALAN and plant-mediated ALAN on earthworm abundance and biomass across ecological categories (total, anecic, epigeic and endogeic) and age classes (total, adult and juvenile), and subsequently, on earthworm-driven soil aggregation (large macro-aggregates, small macro-aggregates and micro-aggregates).

3. We found that increasing CCT (‘bluer’ light) decreased both total earthworm abundance and biomass, whilst increasing illuminance promoted total earthworm biomass; the magnitude of positive effects of illuminance reduced as CCT increased. However, such impacts differed across earthworm ecological categories and age classes. Our results also suggested that illuminance and CCT can shape earthworm communities contingent on plant cover.

4. The pathway of ALAN-earthworm communities-soil aggregation was, in part, confirmed. Specifically, ALAN, via juvenile endogeic earthworms enhanced the formation of large macro-aggregates whilst inhibiting that of small macro-aggregates and micro-aggregates.

5. Synthesis and applications. Our results provide evidence that continuous night-time street lighting can affect earthworm communities and earthworm-driven soil aggregation. The nature of these effects differed across earthworm ecological categories and age classes and appeared to depend on illuminance, light spectrum and/or plant cover. This highlights that, rather than a one-size-fits-all reduction in light, effective ALAN management should involve adjusting illuminance and spectral composition in relation to local ecological conditions—including variations in habitat characteristics—to support community diversity and maximise earthworm-driven soil functionality.

Sutherland, W.J., Butchart, S.H.M., Clarke, S.J., Doar, N.R., Doran, H., Douglas, I.C., Field, D.J., Fleishman, E., Gaston, K.J., Herbert-Read, J.E., Hughes, A.C., Kaartokallio, H., Maggs, L., Palardy, J.E., Pearce-Higgins, J.W., Peck, L.S., Pettorelli, N., Schloss, I.R., Spalding, M.D., Timoshyna, A., Tubbs, N., Uehara, T., Watson, J.E.M., Wentworth, J., Wilson, J.D. & Thornton, A. 2026. A horizon scan of biological conservation issues for 2026. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 41, 91-101.

We present outcomes from our 17th horizon scan of issues potentially impacting global biodiversity conservation in the next decade. Issues are novel, or represent a significant step-change in impact, and are currently not well-known or understood within the conservation community. Our panel of 26 scientists, practitioners, and policymakers scored an initial list of 96 issues, discussed the highest ranked 35 issues at a workshop, and identified the 15 top-ranked issues. This year, technology innovations, including low-power optic artificial intelligence (AI) chips and tiny machine learning (TinyML) models, could revolutionize biodiversity monitoring. We highlight impacts from changes in land-use driven by appetite-suppressing pharmaceuticals and the unknown effects of mirror biomolecules. Highlighting these issues may increase awareness of any impacts on global biodiversity conservation.

Gaston, K.J. & Pettorelli, N. 2026. An ecology fit for a crisis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, in press.

We live in a time of ecological crisis, with natural systems widely depauperated, biodiversity indicators in ongoing decline, and concerns that environmental tipping points are being approached or crossed. Given the scale of these challenges and the limited resource brought to bear on addressing them, it seems reasonable to argue that in response the discipline of ecology and its research community be put on something more akin to an emergency footing. Multiple arguments have been made for why ecology should not become mission-oriented. None seems compelling. Rather, in addition to improved planetary outcomes, there is an array of potential benefits, particularly if institutions, funders, and other ecological community actors support researchers as they shift research priorities to more mission-relevant avenues.