Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity

Tim Newbold (), Lawrence N. Hudson, Samantha L. L. Hill, Sara Contu, Igor Lysenko, Rebecca A. Senior, Luca Börger, Dominic J. Bennett, Argyrios Choimes, Ben Collen, Julie Day, Adriana De Palma, Sandra Díaz, Susy Echeverria-Londoño, Melanie J. Edgar, Anat Feldman, Morgan Garon, Michelle L. K. Harrison, Tamera Alhusseini, Daniel J. Ingram, Yuval Itescu, Jens Kattge, Victoria Kemp, Lucinda Kirkpatrick, Michael Kleyer, David Laginha Pinto Correia, Callum D. Martin, Shai Meiri, Maria Novosolov, Yuan Pan, Helen R. P. Phillips, Drew W. Purves, Alexandra Robinson, Jake Simpson, Sean L. Tuck, Evan Weiher, Hannah J. White, Robert M. Ewers, Georgina M. Mace, Jörn P. W. Scharlemann and Andy Purvis
Additional contact information
Tim Newbold: United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Lawrence N. Hudson: Natural History Museum
Samantha L. L. Hill: United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Sara Contu: Natural History Museum
Igor Lysenko: Imperial College London
Rebecca A. Senior: United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Luca Börger: College of Science, Swansea University
Dominic J. Bennett: Imperial College London
Argyrios Choimes: Natural History Museum
Ben Collen: Evolution and Environment, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London
Julie Day: Imperial College London
Adriana De Palma: Natural History Museum
Sandra Díaz: Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (CONICET-UNC) and FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Susy Echeverria-Londoño: Natural History Museum
Melanie J. Edgar: Natural History Museum
Anat Feldman: Deptartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University
Morgan Garon: Imperial College London
Michelle L. K. Harrison: Imperial College London
Tamera Alhusseini: Imperial College London
Daniel J. Ingram: Imperial College London
Yuval Itescu: Deptartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University
Jens Kattge: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Victoria Kemp: Imperial College London
Lucinda Kirkpatrick: Imperial College London
Michael Kleyer: Landscape Ecology Group, Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Oldenburg
David Laginha Pinto Correia: Natural History Museum
Callum D. Martin: Imperial College London
Shai Meiri: Deptartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University
Maria Novosolov: Deptartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University
Yuan Pan: Imperial College London
Helen R. P. Phillips: Natural History Museum
Drew W. Purves: Computational Science Laboratory, Microsoft Research Cambridge
Alexandra Robinson: Imperial College London
Jake Simpson: Imperial College London
Sean L. Tuck: University of Oxford
Evan Weiher: University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire
Hannah J. White: Imperial College London
Robert M. Ewers: Imperial College London
Georgina M. Mace: Evolution and Environment, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London
Jörn P. W. Scharlemann: United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Andy Purvis: Natural History Museum

Nature, 2015, vol. 520, issue 7545, 45-50

Abstract: Abstract Human activities, especially conversion and degradation of habitats, are causing global biodiversity declines. How local ecological assemblages are responding is less clear—a concern given their importance for many ecosystem functions and services. We analysed a terrestrial assemblage database of unprecedented geographic and taxonomic coverage to quantify local biodiversity responses to land use and related changes. Here we show that in the worst-affected habitats, these pressures reduce within-sample species richness by an average of 76.5%, total abundance by 39.5% and rarefaction-based richness by 40.3%. We estimate that, globally, these pressures have already slightly reduced average within-sample richness (by 13.6%), total abundance (10.7%) and rarefaction-based richness (8.1%), with changes showing marked spatial variation. Rapid further losses are predicted under a business-as-usual land-use scenario; within-sample richness is projected to fall by a further 3.4% globally by 2100, with losses concentrated in biodiverse but economically poor countries. Strong mitigation can deliver much more positive biodiversity changes (up to a 1.9% average increase) that are less strongly related to countries' socioeconomic status.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/nature14324

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