Conservation of birds in fragmented landscapes requires protected areas

Abstract

H ome to ~80% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity (World Bank 2004), forest systems are increasingly under threat from a wide range of anthropogenic pressures (Newbold et al. 2015). Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million km 2 of forest was lost globally (Hansen et al. 2013), and up to 70% of the remaining forest area worldwide is estimated to be within only a single kilometer of forest edges (Haddad et al. 2015). Habitat loss and fragmentation are major drivers of biodiversity loss, with disproportionate species declines in small, isolated fragments (Lees and Peres 2006;Bregman et al. 2014;Keinath et al. 2017). Protected areas (PAs) are increasingly being implemented as a tool to conserve species and maintain associated ecosystem services. As a result, PA coverage has almost doubled over the past 30 years, from ~8.2% of terrestrial land surfaces in 1990 to 15% in 2020 (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2020), although coverage still falls short of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Biodiversity Target of 17%. However, to what extent PAs are an effective conservation measure in landscapes where natural habitat types have become fragmented and are under growing pressure of human activities (hereafter "fragmented landscapes") remains unclear.Several global studies on PA performance have demonstrated the importance of protection status of relatively large and pristine areas for conservation (

Overabundant deer and invasive plants drive widespread regeneration debt in eastern United States national parks

“…Since eastern park forests house greater tree diversity (Miller et al, 2018) and structural complexity (Miller et al, 2016) than unprotected forests in the surrounding ecoregions, forests in eastern national parks play a unique role in providing protected habitat for countless organisms and essential ecosystem services. Even in highly urbanized settings, eastern national parks and other protected forests support higher‐integrity bird communities than the surrounding unprotected lands (Goodwin & Shriver, 2014; Timmers et al, 2022). Given the importance of eastern park forests, the patterns we documented in this study are even more concerning and require immediate and sustained action to prevent further loss and degradation of forest resources in eastern national parks.…”

Detailed mapping of protected species distribution, an essential tool for renewable energy planning in agroecosystems

“…In fragmented landscapes, species' protection should not be limited to the best areas. In fact, conservation actions have been shown to become increasingly effective as the size of protected patches increases (Timmers et al, 2022). For this reason, a recommended conservation strategy is to increase the size of habitat patches, linking together the closest ones.…”

Rapid and large changes in coastal wetland structure in China's four major river deltas

“…Intensified natural or anthropogenic disturbances not only cause the losses of coastal wetlands but also exacerbate the substantial changes in their structures (e.g., patch size and number), which have substantial effects on coastal restoration and biodiversity protection (Haddad et al, 2015; Lindenmayer, 2019; Timmers et al, 2022; Wilson et al, 2016). For example, integrated coastal wetlands with larger patch sizes usually have better ecological functions, such as water purification, carbon sequestration, and sediment deposition (Barbier et al, 2011).…”