Intra-and interspecific variation in plant and insect traits can alter the strength and direction of insect-plant interactions, with outcomes modified by soil biotic and abiotic conditions. We used the potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas) feeding on cultivated Solanum tuberosum and wild Solanum berthaulti to study the impact of water availability and plant mutualistic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on aphid performance and susceptibility to a parasitoid wasp (Aphidius ervi Haliday). Plants were grown under glass with live or sterile AM fungal spores and supplied with sufficient or reduced water supply. Plants were infested with 1 of 3 genotypes of M. euphorbiae or maintained as aphidfree controls; aphid abundance was scored after 1 week, after which aphid susceptibility to A. ervi was assayed ex planta. Solanum tuberosum accumulated c. 20% more dry mass than S. berthaultii, and root mass of S. berthaultii was smallest under reduced water supply in the presence of AM fungi. Aphid abundance was lowest on S. berthaultii and highest for genotype "2" aphids; genotype "1" aphid density was particularly reduced on S. berthaultii. Aphid genotype "1" exhibited low susceptibility to parasitism and was attacked less frequently than the other two more susceptible aphid genotypes. Neither AM fungi nor water availability affected insect performance. Our study suggests a fitness trade-off in M. euphorbiae between parasitism resistance and aphid performance on poor quality Solanum hosts that warrants further exploration, and indicates the importance of accounting for genotype identity in determining the outcome of multitrophic interactions.

Until recently, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has overlooked many of the social and environmental dimensions of its projects and actions in favor of more immediate economic and sociopolitical considerations. The main focus of investments under BRI has largely been to improve transport, telecommunication, and energy infrastructures. However, in Central Asia, biodiversity is not only foundational for the livelihoods and socioeconomic wellbeing of communities, it also shapes people's culture and identities. Furthermore, ecosystem services derived from functioning landscapes bring enormous benefit for millions of people downstream through integrated and transboundary water systems. Already under pressure from climate-induced melting of glaciers, the fate of ecologically important areas is considered in light of the potential harm arising from largescale linear infrastructure projects and related investments under China-led BRI.Following review of some of the anticipated impacts of BRI on mountain environments and societies in the region, we highlight several emerging opportunities and then offer recommendations for development programs-aiming fundamentally to enhance the sustainability of BRI investments. Leveraging new opportunities to strengthen partner countries' priority Sustainable Development Goals and enhancing their agency in the selection of collaborations and the standards to use in environmental impact and risk assessments are recommended. K E Y W O R D Sbiodiversity hotspot, Central Asia, China, environmental conservation, impact and risk assessments, linear infrastructure, mountains, policy recommendations, strategic development planning, sustainable mountain developmentThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3 builds on three cycles of Conservation Outlook Assessments undertaken since 2014. It presents the main results for 2020, but also some longer-term trends based on a comparison of three data sets now available. As such, it can ser ve as an indicator of the effectiveness of protected and conserved areas at a time when the international community seeks to measure progress towards global biodiversity targets and defines the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Focusing on the natural values for which sites are inscribed, threats to these values, and the effectiveness of actions to protect them, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook assesses the conservation prospects of all natural World Heritage sites. These sites are globally recognised as the most significant natural areas on Earth and their conservation must meet the high standards of the World Heritage Convention. Our ability to conserve these sites is thus a litmus test for the broader success of conservation worldwide. Securing a positive outlook for these sites is a priority, as expressed in the Promise of Sydney carried by IUCN’s World Parks Congress in 2014.

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L’Horizon du patrimoine mondial de l’UICN 3 s’appuie sur les trois cycles des Évaluations des perspectives de conservation réalisées depuis 2014. Il présente les principaux résultats pour 2020, mais aussi certaines tendances à plus long terme, en se basant sur une comparaison des trois ensembles de données aujourd’hui disponibles. Il peut donc servir d’indicateur de l’efficacité des aires protégées et conservées, à un moment où la communauté internationale cherche à mesurer les avancées vers la réalisation des objectifs mondiaux de la biodiversité, et définit son Cadre mondial pour la biodiversité pour l’après-2020. Se concentrant sur les valeurs naturelles pour lesquelles ces sites sont inscrits, les menaces qui pèsent sur ces valeurs, et l’efficacité des mesures pour les protéger, l’Horizon du patrimoine mondial de l’UICN évalue les perspectives de conservation de tous les sites naturels du patrimoine mondial. Ces sites sont mondialement reconnus comme les zones naturelles les plus significatives sur terre, et leur conservation doit répondre aux normes les plus élevées de la Convention du patrimoine mondial.