Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing
Unsustainable wildlife trade imperils thousands of species, but efforts to identify and reduce these threats are hampered by rapidly evolving commercial markets. Businesses trading wildlife-derived products innovate to remain competitive, and the patents they file to protect their innovations also p...
| Huvudupphovsmän: | , , , , , , |
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| Materialtyp: | Journal article |
| Språk: | English |
| Publicerad: |
Nature Research
2024
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| _version_ | 1826313835963744256 |
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| author | Hinsley, A Challender, DWS Masters, S Macdonald, DW Milner-Gulland, EJ Fraser, J Wright, J |
| author_facet | Hinsley, A Challender, DWS Masters, S Macdonald, DW Milner-Gulland, EJ Fraser, J Wright, J |
| author_sort | Hinsley, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Unsustainable wildlife trade imperils thousands of species, but efforts to identify and reduce these threats are hampered by rapidly evolving commercial markets. Businesses trading wildlife-derived products innovate to remain competitive, and the patents they file to protect their innovations also provide an early-warning of market shifts. Here, we develop a novel machine-learning approach to analyse patent-filing trends and apply it to patents filed from 1970-2020 related to six traded taxa that vary in trade legality, threat level, and use type: rhinoceroses, pangolins, bears, sturgeon, horseshoe crabs, and caterpillar fungus. We found 27,308 patents, showing 130% per-year increases, compared to a background rate of 104%. Innovation led to diversification, including new fertilizer products using illegal-to-trade rhinoceros horn, and novel farming methods for pangolins. Stricter regulation did not generally correlate with reduced patenting. Patents reveal how wildlife-related businesses predict, adapt to, and create market shifts, providing data to underpin proactive wildlife-trade management approaches. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:22:47Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:d819c9b5-f4a0-4311-bcc4-aece6c9e0924 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:22:47Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Nature Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:d819c9b5-f4a0-4311-bcc4-aece6c9e09242024-08-10T19:33:40ZEarly warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filingJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d819c9b5-f4a0-4311-bcc4-aece6c9e0924EnglishJisc Publications RouterNature Research2024Hinsley, AChallender, DWSMasters, SMacdonald, DWMilner-Gulland, EJFraser, JWright, JUnsustainable wildlife trade imperils thousands of species, but efforts to identify and reduce these threats are hampered by rapidly evolving commercial markets. Businesses trading wildlife-derived products innovate to remain competitive, and the patents they file to protect their innovations also provide an early-warning of market shifts. Here, we develop a novel machine-learning approach to analyse patent-filing trends and apply it to patents filed from 1970-2020 related to six traded taxa that vary in trade legality, threat level, and use type: rhinoceroses, pangolins, bears, sturgeon, horseshoe crabs, and caterpillar fungus. We found 27,308 patents, showing 130% per-year increases, compared to a background rate of 104%. Innovation led to diversification, including new fertilizer products using illegal-to-trade rhinoceros horn, and novel farming methods for pangolins. Stricter regulation did not generally correlate with reduced patenting. Patents reveal how wildlife-related businesses predict, adapt to, and create market shifts, providing data to underpin proactive wildlife-trade management approaches. |
| spellingShingle | Hinsley, A Challender, DWS Masters, S Macdonald, DW Milner-Gulland, EJ Fraser, J Wright, J Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title | Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title_full | Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title_fullStr | Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title_short | Early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine-learning analysis of patent filing |
| title_sort | early warning of trends in commercial wildlife trade through novel machine learning analysis of patent filing |
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