Abstract
The integration of palaeolimnology into conservation practice is crucial for effective ecosystem management and restoration. Palaeoecologi-cal data provide a unique long-term perspective on key ecological challenges and enable decision makers to better understand pre-disturbance conditions, natural system dynamism and responses to change. Despite this there exist well-recognised accessibility issues and a clear research-implementation gap, in particular, poor communication and lack of understanding of conservation practitioners' constraints. This study evaluates the accessibility and value of palaeolimnological research to conservation practice by interrogating 60 key applied research papers identified via a rigorous pre-screening process to ensure relevance. The papers were assessed on the use of best practice accessibility criteria, from knowledge-exchange literature, and conservation-practitioner feedback was gathered on the value of conservation recommendations made within the papers. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of accessible research, our review reveals that essential accessibility criteria are inconsistently applied. Although there has been an increase in accessibility practices over time, co-production practices (including co-authorship, co-design of research, and linkage to relevant environmental legislation), showed no significant increase, despite being advocated for by the research community. Practitioner review highlighted the need for research to provide clear, actionable recommendations, and papers that detailed specific management or restoration guidance were particularly well-received, as were those that considered financial implications and summarised their findings more clearly. Equally, many papers were criticised for overly technical language and poor expression, generic suggestions, and a lack of practical consideration in their recommendations. The study highlights the importance of improving accessibility and co-production of knowledge to ensure that research outputs are accessible, relevant, and feasible to guide conservation efforts. To enhance the relevance and impact of applied palaeolimnology, we propose five Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https:// doi.
