@article{discovery10200119, publisher = {American Institute of Biological Sciences}, year = {2025}, journal = {BioScience}, title = {Expanding the historical baseline: using pre-modern archives to inform conservation from ecological and human perspectives}, note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.}, month = {February}, abstract = {Conservation practitioners are increasingly aware of historical biodiversity change and the importance of environmental archives, which include both specimen-based and document-based materials spanning a range of resolutions and contexts. The incorporation of written records into conservation planning typically involves documents with a biological focus from the modern and early modern periods (sixteenth century onward, and mainly the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). Extensive older pre-modern document-based archives are not traditionally used as conservation evidence. However, this data type can provide unique insights into past human-environment interactions, including biotic states and change, cultural interactions with nature, and human dimensions of social-ecological systems that involved rural communities closely dependent on biodiversity. Multicentury archives can also track the long-term consequences of human activities. Incorporation of pre-modern baselines into conservation is hindered by conceptual and logistical barriers, and increased interdisciplinary collaboration between environmental sciences and the humanities is needed to promote awareness and use of conservation-relevant insights.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae127}, author = {Turvey, Samuel T and McClune, Kate} }