Forest conservation: Remember Gran Chaco

Kuemmerle, Tobias; Altrichter, Mariana; Baldi, Germán; Cabido, Marcel; Camino, Micaela; Cuéllar, Erika; Cuéllar, Rosa Leny; Decarre, Julieta; Dı́az, Sandra; Gasparri, Ignácio; Gavier-Pizarro, Gregorio; Ginzburg, Rubén; Giordano, Anthony J.; Grau, H. Ricardo; Jobbágy, Estéban G.; Leynaud, Gerardo C.; Macchi, Leandro; Mastrangelo, Matías Enrique; Matteucci, Silvia Diana; Noss, Andrew J.; Paruelo, José M.; Piquer‐Rodriguez, María; Romero‐Muñoz, Alfredo; Semper‐Pascual, Asunción; Thompson, Jeffrey J.; Torrella, Sebastián A.; Torres, Ricardo; Volante, José Norberto; Yanosky, Alberto; Zak, Marcelo Román

doi:10.1126/science.aal3020

Cited by 92 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Current conservation planning for SDTF in Brazil focuses solely on the Caatinga Domain, but many Brazilian SDTFs are found in disjunct patches outside this area, especially in the Cerrado, placing them under laws designed to protect savanna diversity. As another example, the Chaco is under great threat owing to an increase of habitat destruction and fragmentation during the last 30 years (Hansen et al, ; Nori et al, ), but if recognized as a separate biome, as our analyses suggest, the urgency of its conservation might be better appreciated (Kuemmerle et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Using tree species inventories to map biomes and assess their climatic overlaps in lowland tropical South America

Miranda

Oliveira‐Filho

Pennington

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim To define and map the main biomes of lowland tropical South America (LTSA) using data from tree species inventories and to test the ability of climatic and edaphic variables to distinguish amongst them. Location Lowland Tropical South America (LTSA), including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We compiled a database of 4,103 geo‐referenced tree species inventories distributed across LTSA. We used a priori vegetation classifications and cluster analyses of floristic composition to assign sites to biomes. We mapped these biomes geographically and assessed climatic overlaps amongst them. We implemented classification tree approaches to quantify how well climatic and edaphic data can assign inventories to biomes. Results Our analyses distinguish savanna and seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) as distinct biomes, with the Chaco woodlands potentially representing a third dry biome in LTSA. Amongst the wet forests, we find that the Amazon and Atlantic Forests might represent different biomes, because they are distinct in both climate and species composition. Our results show substantial environmental overlap amongst biomes, with error rates for classifying sites into biomes of 19–21 and 16–18% using only climatic data and with the inclusion of edaphic data, respectively. Main conclusions Tree species composition can be used to determine biome identity at continental scales. We find high biome heterogeneity at small spatial scales, probably attributable to variation in edaphic conditions and disturbance history. This points to the challenges of using climatic and/or interpolation‐based edaphic data or coarse‐resolution, remotely sensed imagery to map tropical biomes. From this perspective, we suggest that using floristic information in biome delimitation will allow for greater synergy between conservation efforts centred on species diversity and management efforts centred on ecosystem function.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Using tree species inventories to map biomes and assess their climatic overlaps in lowland tropical South America

Miranda

Oliveira‐Filho

Pennington

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…The Chaco is also considered a biodiversity hotspot, harbouring more than 400 birds, 150 mammals, 120 reptiles and 100 amphibian species (The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina (FVSA), Fundación para el Desarrollo Sustentable del Chaco (DeSdel Chaco) & Wildlife Conservation Society Bolivia (WCS), ). Given the high biodiversity, the high anthropogenic pressure and the limited extent of protected areas (9%; Nori et al., ), the Chaco is in urgent need of conservation action (Kuemmerle et al., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping extinction debt highlights conservation opportunities for birds and mammals in the South American Chaco

Semper‐Pascual

Macchi

Sabatini

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Habitat loss is the primary cause of local extinctions. Yet, there is considerable uncertainty regarding how fast species respond to habitat loss, and how time‐delayed responses vary in space. We focused on the Argentine Dry Chaco (c. 32 million ha), a global deforestation hotspot, and tested for time‐delayed response of bird and mammal communities to landscape transformation. We quantified the magnitude of extinction debt by modelling contemporary species richness as a function of either contemporary or past (2000 and 1985) landscape patterns. We then used these models to map communities' extinction debt. We found strong evidence for an extinction debt: landscape structure from 2000 explained contemporary species richness of birds and mammals better than contemporary and 1985 landscapes. This suggests time‐delayed responses between 10 and 25 years. Extinction debt was especially strong for forest specialists. Projecting our models across the Chaco highlighted areas where future local extinctions due to unpaid extinction debt are likely. Areas recently converted to agriculture had highest extinction debt, regardless of the post‐conversion land use. Few local extinctions were predicted in areas with remaining larger forest patches. Synthesis and applications. The evidence for an unpaid extinction debt in the Argentine Dry Chaco provides a substantial window of opportunity for averting local biodiversity losses. However, this window may close rapidly if conservation activities such as habitat restoration are not implemented swiftly. Our extinction debt maps highlight areas where such conservation activities should be implemented.

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“…Despite this neglect, the succulent biome includes important hotspots of endemism (DRYFLOR, 2016; Marshall, Wieringa, & Hawthorne, 2016), most notably in Africa, where the hottest hotspots of range‐restricted plant endemism are in the succulent biome (Marshall et al, 2016). The succulent biome is thus a high conservation priority, yet large portions of it are threatened (DRYFLOR, 2016; Kuemmerle et al, 2017; Pennington et al, 2018), and neglected as conservation priorities compared to rain forests (Pennington et al, 2018). Ignorance of the succulent biome is also evident in many prominent recent studies investigating assembly of tropical diversity (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomes as evolutionary arenas: Convergence and conservatism in the trans‐continental succulent biome

Ringelberg

Zimmermann

Weeks

et al. 2020

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim: Historically, biomes have been defined based on their structurally and functionally similar vegetation, but there is debate about whether these similarities are superficial, and about how biomes are defined and mapped. We propose that combined assessment of evolutionary convergence of plant functional traits and phylogenetic biome conservatism provides a useful approach for characterizing biomes. We focus on the little-known succulent biome, a trans-continentally distributed assemblage of succulent-rich, drought-deciduous, fire-free forest, thicket and scrub vegetation as a useful exemplar biome to gain insights into these questions. Location: Global lowland (sub)tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Angiosperms. Methods: We use a model ensemble approach to model the distribution of 884 species of stem succulents, a plant functional group representing a striking example of evolutionary convergence. Using this model, phylogenies, and species occurrence data, we quantify phylogenetic succulent biome conservatism for 10 non-succulent trans-continental plant clades including prominent elements of the succulent biome, representing over 800 species. Results: The geographical and climatic distributions of stem succulents provide an objective and quantitative proxy for mapping the distribution of the succulent biome. High fractions of succulent biome occupancy across continents suggest all 10 nonsucculent study clades are phylogenetically conserved within the succulent biome. Main conclusions: The trans-continental succulent and savanna biomes both show evolutionary convergence in key biome-related plant functional traits. However, in contrast to the savanna biome, which was apparently assembled via repeated local recruitment of lineages via biome shifts from adjacent biomes within continents, the succulent biome forms a coherent trans-continental evolutionary arena for droughtadapted tropical biome conserved lineages. Recognizing the important functional differences between the succulent-rich, grass-poor, fire-free succulent biome and the grass-dominated, succulent-poor, fire-prone savanna biome, and defining them | 1101 RINGELBERG Et aL.

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Forest conservation: Remember Gran Chaco

Cited by 92 publications

References 9 publications

Using tree species inventories to map biomes and assess their climatic overlaps in lowland tropical South America

Using tree species inventories to map biomes and assess their climatic overlaps in lowland tropical South America

Mapping extinction debt highlights conservation opportunities for birds and mammals in the South American Chaco

Biomes as evolutionary arenas: Convergence and conservatism in the trans‐continental succulent biome

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