More Like this

1. How deregulation, drought and increasing fire impact Amazonian biodiversity

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03876-7  

   Feng, Xiao; Merow, Cory; Liu, Zhihua; Park, Daniel S.; Roehrdanz, Patrick R.; Maitner, Brian; Newman, Erica A.; Boyle, Brad L.; Lien, Aaron; Burger, Joseph R.; et al (September 2021, Nature)

   null (Ed.)

   Biodiversity contributes to the ecological and climatic stability of the Amazon Basin1,2, but is increasingly threatened by deforestation and fire3,4. Here we quantify these impacts over the past two decades using remote-sensing estimates of fire and deforestation and comprehensive range estimates of 11,514 plant species and 3,079 vertebrate species in the Amazon. Deforestation has led to large amounts of habitat loss, and fires further exacerbate this already substantial impact on Amazonian biodiversity. Since 2001, 103,079–189,755 km2 of Amazon rainforest has been impacted by fires, potentially impacting the ranges of 77.3–85.2% of species that are listed as threatened in this region5. The impacts of fire on the ranges of species in Amazonia could be as high as 64%, and greater impacts are typically associated with species that have restricted ranges. We find close associations between forest policy, fire-impacted forest area and their potential impacts on biodiversity. In Brazil, forest policies that were initiated in the mid-2000s corresponded to reduced rates of burning. However, relaxed enforcement of these policies in 2019 has seemingly begun to reverse this trend: approximately 4,253–10,343 km2 of forest has been impacted by fire, leading to some of the most severe potential impacts on biodiversity since 2009. These results highlight the critical role of policy enforcement in the preservation of biodiversity in the Amazon. 

   more » « less
2. People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023483118  

   Ellis, Erle C.; Gauthier, Nicolas; Klein Goldewijk, Kees; Bliege Bird, Rebecca; Boivin, Nicole; Díaz, Sandra; Fuller, Dorian Q.; Gill, Jacquelyn L.; Kaplan, Jed O.; Kingston, Naomi; et al (April 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   Archaeological and paleoecological evidence shows that by 10,000 BCE, all human societies employed varying degrees of ecologically transformative land use practices, including burning, hunting, species propagation, domestication, cultivation, and others that have left long-term legacies across the terrestrial biosphere. Yet, a lingering paradigm among natural scientists, conservationists, and policymakers is that human transformation of terrestrial nature is mostly recent and inherently destructive. Here, we use the most up-to-date, spatially explicit global reconstruction of historical human populations and land use to show that this paradigm is likely wrong. Even 12,000 y ago, nearly three quarters of Earth’s land was inhabited and therefore shaped by human societies, including more than 95% of temperate and 90% of tropical woodlands. Lands now characterized as “natural,” “intact,” and “wild” generally exhibit long histories of use, as do protected areas and Indigenous lands, and current global patterns of vertebrate species richness and key biodiversity areas are more strongly associated with past patterns of land use than with present ones in regional landscapes now characterized as natural. The current biodiversity crisis can seldom be explained by the loss of uninhabited wildlands, resulting instead from the appropriation, colonization, and intensifying use of the biodiverse cultural landscapes long shaped and sustained by prior societies. Recognizing this deep cultural connection with biodiversity will therefore be essential to resolve the crisis. 

   more » « less
3. Landscape-level human disturbance results in loss and contraction of mammalian populations in tropical forests

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002976  

   Greco, Ilaria; Beaudrot, Lydia; Sutherland, Chris; Tenan, Simone; Hsieh, Chia; Gorczynski, Daniel; Sheil, Douglas; Brodie, Jedediah; Firoz_Ahmed, Mohammad; Ahumada, Jorge; et al (February 2025, PLOS Biology)

   Loreau, Michel (Ed.)

   Tropical forests hold most of Earth’s biodiversity and a higher concentration of threatened mammals than other biomes. As a result, some mammal species persist almost exclusively in protected areas, often within extensively transformed and heavily populated landscapes. Other species depend on remaining remote forested areas with sparse human populations. However, it remains unclear how mammalian communities in tropical forests respond to anthropogenic pressures in the broader landscape in which they are embedded. As governments commit to increasing the extent of global protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss, identifying the landscape-level conditions supporting wildlife has become essential. Here, we assessed the relationship between mammal communities and anthropogenic threats in the broader landscape. We simultaneously modeled species richness and community occupancy as complementary metrics of community structure, using a state-of-the-art community model parameterized with a standardized pan-tropical data set of 239 mammal species from 37 forests across 3 continents. Forest loss and fragmentation within a 50-km buffer were associated with reduced occupancy in monitored communities, while species richness was unaffected by them. In contrast, landscape-scale human density was associated with reduced mammal richness but not occupancy, suggesting that sensitive species have been extirpated, while remaining taxa are relatively unaffected. Taken together, these results provide evidence of extinction filtering within tropical forests triggered by anthropogenic pressure occurring in the broader landscape. Therefore, existing and new reserves may not achieve the desired biodiversity outcomes without concurrent investment in addressing landscape-scale threats. 

   more » « less
4. Land use changes result in increased phylogenetic clustering and preferential loss of species-rich sites for Michigan floral assemblages.

   https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2967584/v1  

   Figueroa, Héctor Fox; Grady, CJ; Cortez, Maria_Beatriz_de Souza; Beach, Jim; Stewart, Aimee; Soltis, Douglas E; Soltis, Pamela S; Smith, Stephen A (May 2023, Research Square)

   Abstract Distribution models are widely used to understand landscape biodiversity patterns, facilitate evolutionary and ecological studies, and for making informed conservation decisions. While it is common to examine consequences of climate change, impacts of land use on distributions, a major factor in limiting ranges and corridors between populations, are less well understood. Here, we use distribution models to quantify changes in biodiversity due to land use for Michigan floral assemblages. We leveraged a distribution model dataset (1930 species) integrated with dated phylogenetic information and USGS land use maps to parse Michigan areas with unsuitable habitat. Additionally, we quantify the degree of high-quality habitat lost for each species, identifying those most strongly impacted by land use changes. Approx. 39% of Michigan terrestrial habitat fell within “unsuitable” land use categories. Sites predicted to harbor the most species based on climatic variables were those sites that lost the greatest proportion due to land use changes. Further, excluded sites were preferentially those composed of more phylogenetically even communities. Overall, the impact of land use changes on community species richness was the preferential loss of sites with the predicted highest biodiversity. For phylodiversity metrics, land use changes increased the degree of community phylogenetic clustering. This results in overall decreased phylodiversity, leading to assemblages less equipped to respond to rapid climatic changes. Our results confirm land use to be a major, but somewhat overlooked, factor impacting local diversity dynamics and illustrate how local-scale land use impacts regional-scale richness and phylodiversity patterns, likely leading to increased community fragility. 

   more » « less
5. Meta-analysis reveals less sensitivity of non-native animals than natives to extreme weather worldwide

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02235-1  

   Gu, Shimin; Qi, Tianyi; Rohr, Jason R.; Liu, Xuan (December 2023, Nature Ecology & Evolution)

   Extreme weather events (EWEs; for example, heatwaves, cold spells, storms, floods and droughts) and non-native species invasions are two major threats to global biodiversity and are increasing in both frequency and consequences. Here we synthesize 443 studies and apply multilevel mixed-effects metaregression analyses to compare the responses of 187 non-native and 1,852 native animal species across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems to different types of EWE. Our results show that marine animals, regardless of whether they are non-native or native, are overall insensitive to EWEs, except for negative effects of heatwaves on native mollusks, corals and anemone. By contrast, terrestrial and freshwater non-native animals are only adversely affected by heatwaves and storms, respectively, whereas native animals negatively respond to heatwaves, cold spells and droughts in terrestrial ecosystems and are vulnerable to most EWEs except cold spells in freshwater ecosystems. On average, non-native animals displayed low abundance in terrestrial ecosystems, and decreased body condition and life history traits in freshwater ecosystems, whereas native animals displayed declines in body condition, life history traits, abundance, distribution and recovery in terrestrial ecosystems, and community structure in freshwater ecosystems. By identifying areas with high overlap between EWEs and EWE-tolerant non-native species, we also provide locations where native biodiversity might be adversely affected by their joint effects and where EWEs might facilitate the establishment and/or spread of non-native species under continuing global change. 

   more » « less