Continental-level biodiversity collapse

Lindenmayer, David B.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1502766112

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…). Although overall abundance increased under dispersed urban growth, we showed this measure overlooked important changes to individual species’ distributions and abundances, which are likely to change ecological interactions and could lead to unexpected cascading extinctions (Lindenmayer ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Then, we updated all raster layers according to the new land‐use layer. Raster layers for arboreal marsupials: (i) only considered urban and forested cells because we did not have abundance data for other environments, (ii) urban–forest interfaces comprised 400 m each side of an urban–forest boundary, (iii) excluded the southern peninsula because of local extinctions of arboreal marsupials registered in this area from long‐term monitoring (Lindenmayer ) (Appendix S2).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The answers to these questions will provide insights on how to minimize the impacts of future urban growth on mammals in this region. This is important because urban development has driven local mammal extinctions in south‐eastern Australia (van der Ree & McCarthy ), a country in which a large number of endemic mammal species have already been lost (Lindenmayer ). Furthermore, our investigation offers important insights for mammal conservation, because most mammal species inhabit forests (Baillie et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compact development minimizes the impacts of urban growth on native mammals

Villaseñor

Tulloch

Driscoll

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary Unprecedented global human population growth and rapid urbanization of rural and natural lands highlight the urgent need to integrate biodiversity conservation into planning for urban growth. A challenging question for applied ecologists to answer is: What pattern of urban growth meets future housing demand whilst minimizing impacts on biodiversity? We quantified the consequences for mammals of meeting future housing demand under different patterns of compact and dispersed urban growth in an urbanizing forested landscape in south‐eastern Australia. Using empirical data, we predicted impacts on mammals of urban growth scenarios that varied in housing density (compact versus dispersed) and location of development for four target numbers of new dwellings. We predicted that compact developments (i.e. high‐density housing) reduced up to 6% of the area of occupancy or abundance of five of the six mammal species examined. In contrast, dispersed developments (i.e. low‐density housing) led to increased mammal abundance overall, although results varied between species: as dwellings increased, the abundance or occurrence of two species increased (up to ∼100%), one species showed no change, and three species declined (up to ∼39%). Two ground‐dwelling mammal species (Antechinus stuartii and Rattus fuscipes) and a tree‐dwelling species (Petaurus australis) were predicted to decline considerably under dispersed rather than compact development. The strongest negative effect of dispersed development was for Petaurus australis (a species more abundant in forested interiors) which exhibited up to a 39% reduction in abundance due to forest loss and an extended negative edge effect from urban settlements into adjacent forests. Synthesis and applications. Our findings demonstrate that, when aiming to meet demand for housing, any form of compact development (i.e. high‐density housing) has fewer detrimental impacts on forest‐dwelling mammals than dispersed development (i.e. low‐density housing). This is because compact development concentrates the negative effects of housing into a small area whilst at the same time preserving large expanses of forests and the fauna they sustain. Landscape planning and urban growth policies must consider the trade‐off between the intensity of the threat and area of sprawl when aiming to reduce urbanization impacts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compact development minimizes the impacts of urban growth on native mammals

Villaseñor

Tulloch

Driscoll

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

Self Cite

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“…Fire regimes can be defined as the dynamics of repeated fires over a given area (see Gill et al 1981) and comprise fire frequency, intensity, seasonality, heterogeneity and fire area. Fire regimes have been altered in Australia following European settlement (Russell‐Smith 2002) with inappropriate fire regimes being implicated in the decline and extinction of ground‐dwelling mammal species (Lindenmayer 2015; Woinarski et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐term response of threatened small macropods and their predators to prescribed burns in subtropical Australia

McHugh¹,

Goldingay²,

Parkyn³

et al. 2020

Eco Management Restoration

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Fire is an important ecological process that shapes vegetation structure and habitat for faunal assemblages globally. Prescribed burns are increasingly being used in conservation and management to restore fire regimes in fire-suppressed vegetation communities. Small threatened macropods require structurally complex habitat that allows them to evade detection by predators. Given that fire can alter vegetation structure, it can be viewed as a strong ecological force in shifting the dynamics between predator and prey species. Previous studies in temperate Australia have shown that prescribed burns in the presence of European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and feral Cat (Felis catus) can have negative impacts on small macropods and medium-sized mammals. Post-fire response of threatened small macropods and their predators has not been experimentally examined in subtropical Australia despite this region providing refugia for the Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) and Red-legged Pademelon (Thylogale stigmatica). We conducted a before-after-control-impact fire experiment at two paired sites after low-moderate intensity burns typical of cool season prescribed burns. We used camera trapping to investigate changes in activity of threatened small macropods and their predators. We also recorded vegetation change. Despite large reductions in ground and shrub cover, activity of small macropods and the Dingo (Canis dingo) did not change in response to fires. Therefore, the threat of dingo predation appears to have remained unchanged following the fires. Although feral cats and foxes were present, they showed negligible activity across our sites. Our study suggests that small-scale patchy ecological burns may not lead to increased predation of small macropods in our landscape. We attribute this to sufficient post-fire refugia and very low densities of foxes.

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“…He stated that 'the crux of the issue in implementing sustainable development is establishing mechanisms that ensure an integration of economic and environmental considerations both now and in the future' [1]. As is now evident, since then, Australia has moved backwards on many crucial sustainability metrics, with greenhouse gas emissions rising [2], biodiversity counts falling [3], plastic pollution spreading [4], wealth inequality widening [5] and now, of course, vast tracts of land burning. The gap between sustainability aspirations and reality is now so stark that it prompts the following question: why have the numerous agreements committing Australia to sustainability these past 30 years not generated far more significant on-the-ground impacts?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupting the Status-Quo of Organisational Board Composition to Improve Sustainability Outcomes: Reviewing the Evidence

Beasy

Gale

2020

Sustainability

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Sustainability, conceptualised as the integration of economic, social and environmental values, is the 21 st century imperative that demands that governments, business and civil society actors improve their existing performance, yet improvement has been highly fragmented and unacceptably slow. One explanation for this is the lack of diversity on the boards of organisations that perpetuates a narrow business, economic and legal mindset rather than the broader integrated values approach that sustainability requires. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature investigating how board diversity affects the sustainability performance of organisations. Our review uncovers evidence of relationships between various attributes of the diversity of board members and sustainability performance, though over-reliance on quantitative methodologies of studies reviewed means explanations for the observed associations are largely absent. Limited measures of sustainability performance and narrow definitions of diversity, focused predominantly on gender, were also found. Important implications from the study include the need for policy responses that ensure boards are diversely composed. We identify that more qualitative investigations into the influence of a broader range of types of board diversity on sustainability performance is needed, along with studies that focus on public sector boards, and research that takes an intersectional understanding of diversity.

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Continental-level biodiversity collapse

Cited by 17 publications

References 19 publications

Compact development minimizes the impacts of urban growth on native mammals

Compact development minimizes the impacts of urban growth on native mammals

Short‐term response of threatened small macropods and their predators to prescribed burns in subtropical Australia

Disrupting the Status-Quo of Organisational Board Composition to Improve Sustainability Outcomes: Reviewing the Evidence

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