Species turnover does not rescue biodiversity in fragmented landscapes

Thiago Gonçalves-Souza (), Jonathan M. Chase, Nick M. Haddad, Maurício H. Vancine, Raphael K. Didham, Felipe L. P. Melo, Marcelo A. Aizen, Enrico Bernard, Adriano G. Chiarello, Deborah Faria, Heloise Gibb, Marcelo G. Lima, Luiz F. S. Magnago, Eduardo Mariano-Neto, André A. Nogueira, André Nemésio, Marcelo Passamani, Bruno X. Pinho, Larissa Rocha-Santos, Rodolpho C. Rodrigues, Nathalia Vieira Hissa Safar, Bráulio A. Santos, Alejandra Soto-Werschitz, Marcelo Tabarelli, Marcio Uehara-Prado, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, Simone Vieira and Nathan J. Sanders
Additional contact information
Thiago Gonçalves-Souza: University of Michigan
Jonathan M. Chase: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Nick M. Haddad: Michigan State University
Maurício H. Vancine: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Raphael K. Didham: University of Western Australia
Felipe L. P. Melo: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Marcelo A. Aizen: INIBIOMA (CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue)
Enrico Bernard: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Adriano G. Chiarello: Universidade de São Paulo
Deborah Faria: Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz
Heloise Gibb: La Trobe University
Marcelo G. Lima: Center for Large Landscape Conservation
Luiz F. S. Magnago: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Eduardo Mariano-Neto: Universidade Federal da Bahia
André A. Nogueira: Independent researcher
André Nemésio: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU)
Marcelo Passamani: Universidade Federal de Lavras
Bruno X. Pinho: University of Bern
Larissa Rocha-Santos: Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz
Rodolpho C. Rodrigues: Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio)
Nathalia Vieira Hissa Safar: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Bráulio A. Santos: Universidade Federal da Paraíba
Alejandra Soto-Werschitz: Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro
Marcelo Tabarelli: University of Western Australia
Marcio Uehara-Prado: Independent researcher
Heraldo L. Vasconcelos: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU)
Simone Vieira: Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Nathan J. Sanders: University of Michigan

Nature, 2025, vol. 640, issue 8059, 702-706

Abstract: Abstract Habitat fragmentation generally reduces biodiversity at the patch scale (α diversity)1. However, there is ongoing debate about whether such negative effects can be alleviated at the landscape scale (γ diversity) if among-patch diversity (β diversity) increases as a result of fragmentation2–6. This controversial view has not been rigorously tested. Here we use a dataset of 4,006 taxa across 37 studies from 6 continents to test the effects of fragmentation on biodiversity across scales by explicitly comparing continuous and fragmented landscapes. We find that fragmented landscapes consistently have both lower α diversity and lower γ diversity. Although fragmented landscapes did tend to have higher β diversity, this did not translate into higher γ diversity. Our findings refute claims that habitat fragmentation can increase biodiversity at landscape scales, and emphasize the need to restore habitat and increase connectivity to minimize biodiversity loss at ever-increasing scales.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08688-7

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