Habitat destruction and overexploitation drive widespread declines in all facets of mammalian diversity in the Gran Chaco

Romero‐Muñoz, Alfredo; Fandós, Guillermo; Benítez‐López, Ana; Kuemmerle, Tobias

doi:10.1111/gcb.15418

Cited by 26 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 80 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Identifying The conservation importance of tropical dry woodlands is starting to be recognized (Miles et al, 2006;Pennington et al, 2018;Ribeiro et al, 2020;Schröder et al, 2021) and our analysis further supports this by showing that these ecosystems are disproportionally likely to harbour global priority areas for biodiversity, carbon stocks and water quality regulation. Yet, we also uncover that many of conservation assets within these woodlands are threatened by deforestation frontiers, with potential impacts on endemic species and the climate regulation potential of these woodlands (Cardoso Da Silva & Bates, 2002;Grace et al, 2006;Romero-Muñoz et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

Buchadas¹,

Jung

Bustamante

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tropical and subtropical dry woodlands are rich in biodiversity and carbon. Yet, many of these woodlands are under high deforestation pressure and remain weakly protected. Here, we assessed how deforestation dynamics relate to areas of woodland protection and to conservation priorities across the world's tropical dry woodlands. Specifically, we characterized different types of deforestation frontier from 2000 to 2020 and compared them to protected areas (PAs), Indigenous Peoples' lands and conservation areas for biodiversity, carbon and water. We found that global conservation priorities were always overrepresented in tropical dry woodlands compared to the rest of the globe (between 4% and 96% more than expected, depending on the type of conservation priority). Moreover, about 41% of all dry woodlands were characterized as deforestation frontiers, and these frontiers have been falling disproportionately in areas with important regional (i.e. tropical dry woodland) conservation assets.While deforestation frontiers were identified within all tropical dry woodland classes of woodland protection, they were lower than the average within protected areas coinciding with Indigenous Peoples' lands (23%), and within other PAs (28%). However, within PAs, deforestation frontiers have also been disproportionately affecting | 4881 BUCHADAS et al.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

Buchadas¹,

Jung

Bustamante

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, the functional structure of the small mammal communities tended to be more dispersed among the three forest types than their phylogenetic structure. Distinct functional and phylogenetic structures of a community have been reported in many taxa, such as birds (He et al, 2022; Sobral & Cianciaruso, 2016) and mammals (García‐Navas, 2019; Romero‐Muñoz et al, 2020). Within local communities, species interact with each other based on their phenotypic similarities and differences, and species' phenotypic variation has a basis in evolutionary history (Hanz et al, 2019; Sobral & Cianciaruso, 2016; Webb et al, 2002; Zhang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low impact of forest conversion on biodiversity: Evidence from small mammals in contrasting forests of Mt. Liangshan

Wen

Zhang

et al. 2023

Ecosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Secondary and plantation forests are the main alternative forests remaining after the deforestation of primary forests. Understanding the conservation value of secondary and plantation forests is important for biological conservation. To explore the impact of forest conversion on biodiversity, we compared multiple diversity metrics (taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity) and community structure of small mammals in the primary, secondary, and plantation forests in Mt. Liangshan, Sichuan Province, China. Three field surveys were conducted in each of the three forest types to characterize local small mammal assemblages from 2017 to 2020. We found that the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of small mammals in the three forest types were similar at the landscape scale, while all diversity metrics were lowest in the plantation forest and highest in the primary forests at the site scale. The community structure analysis showed that habitat filtering was the dominant process driving the assembly of small mammal communities across the three forest types, and there was no statistically significant difference in small mammal community structure among the three forest types. Our results indicated that secondary and plantation forests in the nature reserves, adjacent to the primary forest and exposed to little human disturbance, also can provide important habitats for small mammals.

show abstract

“…Additionally, disparities in these semi-natural habitats have important implications for biodiversity conservation efforts. We live in an epoch characterised by a biodiversity crisis, partly due to habitat loss, landscape fragmentation [ 52 , 53 ], and other factors associated with urbanisation such as air and light pollution [ 54 ]. Therefore, biodiversity needs enhanced and contiguous ecological, infrastructural, and societal support across the landscape including in urban centres, which can be neglected as our study shows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban centre green metrics in Great Britain: A geospatial and socioecological study

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Green infrastructure plays a vital role in urban ecosystems. This includes sustaining biodiversity and human health. Despite a large number of studies investigating greenspace disparities in suburban areas, no known studies have compared the green attributes (e.g., trees, greenness, and greenspaces) of urban centres. Consequently, there may be uncharacterised socioecological disparities between the cores of urban areas (e.g., city centres). This is important because people spend considerable time in urban centres due to employment, retail and leisure opportunities. Therefore, the availability of––and disparities in––green infrastructure in urban centres can affect many lives and potentially underscore a socio-ecological justice issue. To facilitate comparisons between urban centres in Great Britain, we analysed open data of urban centre boundaries with a central business district and population of ≥100,000 (n = 68). Given the various elements that contribute to ‘greenness’, we combine a range of different measurements (trees, greenness, and accessible greenspaces) into a single indicator. We applied the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) to estimate the mean greenness of urban centres and the wider urban area (using a 1 km buffer) and determined the proportion of publicly accessible greenspace within each urban centre with Ordnance Survey Open Greenspace data. Finally, we applied a land cover classification algorithm using i-Tree Canopy to estimate tree coverage. This is the first study to define and rank urban centres based on multiple green attributes. The results suggest important differences in the proportion of green attributes between urban centres. For instance, Exeter scored the highest with a mean NDVI of 0.15, a tree coverage of 11.67%, and an OS Greenspace coverage of 0.05%, and Glasgow the lowest with a mean NDVI of 0.02, a tree cover of 1.95% and an OS Greenspace coverage of 0.00%. We also demonstrated that population size negatively associated with greenness and tree coverage, but not greenspaces, and that green attributes negatively associated with deprivation. This is important because it suggests that health-promoting and biodiversity-supporting resources diminish as population and deprivation increase. Disparities in green infrastructure across the country, along with the population and deprivation-associated trends, are important in terms of socioecological and equity justice. This study provides a baseline and stimulus to help local authorities and urban planners create and monitor equitable greening interventions in urban/city centres.

show abstract

Habitat destruction and overexploitation drive widespread declines in all facets of mammalian diversity in the Gran Chaco

Cited by 26 publications

References 80 publications

Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

Tropical dry woodland loss occurs disproportionately in areas of highest conservation value

Low impact of forest conversion on biodiversity: Evidence from small mammals in contrasting forests of Mt. Liangshan

Urban centre green metrics in Great Britain: A geospatial and socioecological study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About