Research often takes Richard Primack, a professor of biology at Boston University, beyond his classroom to places like Malaysia, China, Japan, and Germany for extensive fieldwork and writing.

For the time being, however, Primack’s research and travels have been curtailed because he, like so many of his colleagues and students, recognizes the importance of adhering to the stay-at-home advisories issued to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Field and lab work have largely shut down, and teaching and other communications have moved online. The long-term consequences for training, data collection, and networking are still unfolding.

Here, Primack explains how the pandemic is affecting biodiversity conservation and the lessons we can apply moving forward:

What are the main ways COVID-19 is affecting biodiversity conservation?

COVID-19 is completely altering human movement and activities, and the world economy, in ways that are likely to have large and unexpected effects on biodiversity conservation. For example, the world’s fishing fleets are mostly in port which results in reduced pressure on fish populations, and fewer crowds at popular national parks means less stress on wildlife.

On the other hand, many national parks have reduced staffing which could result in more cases of poaching and illegal logging. These are all things that we don’t know about, and scientists are actively investigating the consequences of the pandemic lockdown. We are carrying out a giant human confinement experiment that has never been done before.

Read the full article about COVID-19 is disrupting conservation of biodiversity by Katherine Gianni at Futurity.