Newbold_et_al_2015.pdf (1.22 MB)
Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 20:29 authored by Tim Newbold, Lawrence N Hudson, Samantha L L Hill, Sara Contu, Igor Lysenko, Rebecca A Senior, Luca Börger, Dominic J Bennett, Argyrios Choimes, Ben Collen, Julie Day, Adriana De Palma, Sandra Díaz, Susy Echeverria-Londoño, Melanie J Edgar, Anat Feldman, Morgan Garon, Michelle L K Harrison, Tamera Alhusseini, Daniel John Ingram, Yuval Itescu, Jens Kattge, Victoria Kemp, Lucinda Kirkpatrick, Michael Kleyer, David Laginha Pinto Correia, Callum D Martin, Shai Meiri, Maria Novosolov, Yuan Pan, Helen R P Phillips, Drew W Purves, Alexandra Robinson, Jake Simpson, Sean L Tuck, Evan Weiher, Hannah J White, Robert M Ewers, Georgina M Mace, Jörn P W Scharlemann, Andy PurvisHuman activities, especially conversion and degradation of habitats, are causing global biodiversity declines. How local ecological assemblages are responding is less clear—a concern given their importance for many ecosystem functions and services. We analysed a terrestrial assemblage database of unprecedented geographic and taxonomic coverage to quantify local biodiversity responses to land use and related changes. Here we show that in the worst-affected habitats, these pressures reduce within-sample species richness by an average of 76.5%, total abundance by 39.5% and rarefaction-based richness by 40.3%. We estimate that, globally, these pressures have already slightly reduced average within-sample richness (by 13.6%), total abundance (10.7%) and rarefaction-based richness (8.1%), with changes showing marked spatial variation. Rapid further losses are predicted under a business-as-usual land-use scenario; within-sample richness is projected to fall by a further 3.4% globally by 2100, with losses concentrated in biodiverse but economically poor countries. Strong mitigation can deliver much more positive biodiversity changes (up to a 1.9% average increase) that are less strongly related to countries' socioeconomic status.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
NatureISSN
0028-0836Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupExternal DOI
Issue
7545Volume
520Page range
45-50Department affiliated with
- Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2015-04-08First Open Access (FOA) Date
2015-10-01First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2015-04-02Usage metrics
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