Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges
The United Nation’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 calls for reducing species extinctions, as it is increasingly clear that human activities threaten to drive species to decline. Yet despite considerable scientific evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of interacting threats on bio...
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Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2020-03-01
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Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235198941930887X |
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doaj-4f5363b2ef744318983b4492742f0587 |
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Article |
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DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Christopher J. O’Bryan James R. Allan Matthew Holden Christopher Sanderson Oscar Venter Moreno Di Marco Eve McDonald-Madden James E.M. Watson |
spellingShingle |
Christopher J. O’Bryan James R. Allan Matthew Holden Christopher Sanderson Oscar Venter Moreno Di Marco Eve McDonald-Madden James E.M. Watson Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges Global Ecology and Conservation |
author_facet |
Christopher J. O’Bryan James R. Allan Matthew Holden Christopher Sanderson Oscar Venter Moreno Di Marco Eve McDonald-Madden James E.M. Watson |
author_sort |
Christopher J. O’Bryan |
title |
Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
title_short |
Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
title_full |
Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
title_fullStr |
Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
title_full_unstemmed |
Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
title_sort |
intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate ranges |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Global Ecology and Conservation |
issn |
2351-9894 |
publishDate |
2020-03-01 |
description |
The United Nation’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 calls for reducing species extinctions, as it is increasingly clear that human activities threaten to drive species to decline. Yet despite considerable scientific evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of interacting threats on biodiversity, many species lack information on their exposure to cumulative human pressures. Using the most comprehensive global dataset on cumulative human footprint, we assess the extent of intense human pressures across 20,529 terrestrial vertebrate species’ geographic ranges. We consider intense human pressure as areas where landscapes start to be significantly modified (a summed Human Footprint value at or above three on the index), which is where land uses such as pastureland appear. This threshold has been correlated with extinction risk for many species. We show that 85% (17,517) of the terrestrial vertebrate species assessed have >half of their range exposed to intense human pressure, with 16% (3328) of the species assessed being entirely exposed to this degree of pressure. Threatened terrestrial vertebrates and species with small ranges are disproportionately exposed to intense human pressure. Our analysis also suggests that there are at least 2478 species considered ‘least concern’ that have considerable portions of their range overlapping with these pressures, which may indicate their risk of decline. These results point to the utility of assessing cumulative human pressure data across species ranges, which may be a useful first step for measuring species vulnerability. Keywords: Human footprint, Extinction risk, Biodiversity conservation, Species threats, Overexploitation, Land use change, Urbanization, Land clearing |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235198941930887X |
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doaj-4f5363b2ef744318983b4492742f05872020-11-25T02:55:59ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942020-03-0121Intense human pressure is widespread across terrestrial vertebrate rangesChristopher J. O’Bryan0James R. Allan1Matthew Holden2Christopher Sanderson3Oscar Venter4Moreno Di Marco5Eve McDonald-Madden6James E.M. Watson7School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Corresponding author. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94240, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Centre for Applications in Natural Resource Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, AustraliaSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, 2601, AustraliaNatural Resource and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, V2N 4Z9, CanadaCentre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; CSIRO Land & Water, EcoSciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, QLD, 4102, Australia; Dept. of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell’Uniuversità 32, 00185, Rome, ItalySchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, AustraliaCentre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Global Conservation Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300, Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, USAThe United Nation’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 calls for reducing species extinctions, as it is increasingly clear that human activities threaten to drive species to decline. Yet despite considerable scientific evidence pointing to the detrimental effects of interacting threats on biodiversity, many species lack information on their exposure to cumulative human pressures. Using the most comprehensive global dataset on cumulative human footprint, we assess the extent of intense human pressures across 20,529 terrestrial vertebrate species’ geographic ranges. We consider intense human pressure as areas where landscapes start to be significantly modified (a summed Human Footprint value at or above three on the index), which is where land uses such as pastureland appear. This threshold has been correlated with extinction risk for many species. We show that 85% (17,517) of the terrestrial vertebrate species assessed have >half of their range exposed to intense human pressure, with 16% (3328) of the species assessed being entirely exposed to this degree of pressure. Threatened terrestrial vertebrates and species with small ranges are disproportionately exposed to intense human pressure. Our analysis also suggests that there are at least 2478 species considered ‘least concern’ that have considerable portions of their range overlapping with these pressures, which may indicate their risk of decline. These results point to the utility of assessing cumulative human pressure data across species ranges, which may be a useful first step for measuring species vulnerability. Keywords: Human footprint, Extinction risk, Biodiversity conservation, Species threats, Overexploitation, Land use change, Urbanization, Land clearinghttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235198941930887X |