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129 results for “Biodiversity change”

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dryad36/100

King's College Cambridge wildflower meadow monitoring data: biodiversity, climate change and society

The biodiversity and climate crises are critical challenges of this century. Wildflower meadows in urban areas could provide important nature-based solutions, addressing the biodiversity and climate crises jointly, and benefitting society in the process. King's College Cambridge (England, UK) established a wildflower meadow over a portion of its iconic Back Lawn in 2019, replacing a fine lawn first laid in 1772. We used biodiversity surveys, Wilcoxon signed rank, and ANOVA models to compare species richness, abundance, and composition of plants, spiders, bugs, bats, and nematodes supported by the meadow, and remaining lawn, over three years. We estimated the climate change impact of meadow vs lawn from maintenance emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and reflectance effect. We surveyed members of the university to quantify the societal benefits of, and attitudes towards, increased meadow planting on the collegiate university estate. In spite of its small size (0.36 ha), the meadow supported approximately three times more plant species, three times more spider and bug species and individuals, and bats were recorded three times more often over the meadow than the remaining lawn. Terrestrial invertebrate biomass was 25 times higher in the meadow compared with the lawn. Fourteen species with conservation designations were recorded on the meadow (six for lawn), alongside meadow specialist species. Reduced maintenance and fertilising associated with meadow reduced emissions by an estimated 1.36 Mg CO2-e per hectare per year compared with lawn. Relative reflectance increased by 25-34% for meadow relative to lawn. Soil carbon stocks did not differ between meadow and lawn. Respondents thought meadows provided greater aesthetic, educational, and mental well-being services than lawns. In open responses, lawns were associated with undesirable elitism and social exclusion (most colleges in Cambridge restrict lawn access to senior members of the college), and respondents proved overwhelmingly in favour of meadow planting in place of lawns on the collegiate university estate. This study demonstrates the substantial benefits of small urban meadows for local biodiversity, cultural ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation, supplied at a lower cost than maintaining conventional lawn.

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Large-scale changes in macrobenthic biodiversity driven by mangrove afforestation

<ol> <li>Large-scale anthropogenic mangroves have been constructed in coastal regions worldwide, but our understanding of their ecological effects is limited. In particular, the question of whether and how anthropogenic mangroves influence biodiversity patterns remains elusive.</li> <li>Here, we investigated the influence of large-scale anthropogenic mangroves on biodiversity patterns of mangrove macrobenthos. Specifically, we measure and seek to explain differences in species richness, abundance, assemblage composition, and distance-decay effect before and after the construction of anthropogenic mangroves.</li> <li>We surveyed assemblages of gastropod, bivalve and crab species over a wide latitudinal extent (24–28°N) in subtropical China. For each, we calculated species richness, abundance, assemblage composition, and distance-decay relationship before and after the construction of anthropogenic mangroves.</li> <li> After the large-scale anthropogenic mangroves, we found species richness of gastropods, bivalves and crabs increased by 23.81%, 100% and 20%, respectively. The distance-decay effects of gastropods and bivalves decreased by 25% and 91.43%, while that of crabs remained virtually unchanged, indicating that large-scale monospecific planting changed spatial processes of macrobenthos (e.g., dispersal limitation). With mangrove plantation, compositional similarity of crab and bivalve assemblages increased by 28.57% and 38.46%, suggesting that large-scale monospecific planting exacerbates biotic homogenization. Altogether, these results indicate that large-scale anthropogenic habitats increase the diversity of mangrove macrobenthos and change taxonomic compositions by reducing distance-decay effects. </li> <li> Synthesis and applications. We emphasize that afforestation of coastal wetlands can drive major changes in benthonic communities. Monitoring and assessing the ecological effects of the anthropogenic habitats for the presence of functional faunas will be important in determining the future coastal restoration and maintaining economic aquaculture. Quantifying those effects in terms of regional biodiversity composition enables management decisions about habitat restoration to be based upon macro-evidence rather than wishful thinking or untested intuition even or a one-sided local perspective. </li> </ol>

opencc-zeroJun 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Multiple facets of biodiversity are threatened by mining-induced land-use change in the Brazilian Amazon

Aim Mining is increasingly pressuring areas of critical importance for biodiversity conservation, such as the Brazilian Amazon. Biodiversity data are limited in the tropics, restricting the scope for risks to be appropriately estimated before mineral licencing decisions are made. As the distributions and range sizes of other taxa differ markedly from those of vertebrates – the common proxy for analysis of risk to biodiversity from mining – whether mining threatens lesser-studied taxonomic groups differentially at a regional scale is unclear. Location Brazilian Amazon Methods We assess risks to several facets of biodiversity from industrial mining by comparing mining areas (within 70km of an active mining lease) and areas unaffected by mining, employing species richness, species endemism, phylogenetic diversity, and phylogenetic endemism metrics calculated for angiosperms, arthropods, and vertebrates. Results Mining areas contained higher densities of species occurrence records than the unaffected landscape, and we accounted for this sampling bias in our analyses. None of the four biodiversity metrics differed between mining and non-mining areas for vertebrates. For arthropods, species endemism was greater in mined areas. Mined areas also had greater angiosperm species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and phylogenetic endemism, although lower species endemism than unmined areas. Main Conclusions Unlike for vertebrates, facets of angiosperm and arthropod diversity are relatively higher in areas of mining activity, underscoring the need to consider multiple taxonomic groups and biodiversity facets when assessing risk and evaluating management options for mining threats. Particularly concerning is the proximity of mining to areas supporting deep evolutionary history, which may be impossible to recover or replace. As pressures to expand mining in the Amazon grow, impact assessments with broader taxonomic reach and metric focus will be vital to conserving biodiversity in mining regions.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Effects of land use and climate change on functional and phylogenetic diversity of terrestrial vertebrates in a Himalayan biodiversity hotspot

Aim: Land use and climate change interact to impact functional and phylogenetic diversity globally, but this pattern is largely unknown in the eastern Himalayas. We aim to discern the response of community diversity and structure of terrestrial mammals and birds to anthropogenic land use and climate change in this hitherto understudied landscape. Location: Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, Bhutan Methods: We used camera trap and point-count transect data to estimate taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity while accounting for detectability. We calculated the abundance-weighted standardised effect sizes (ses) of mean pairwise distance and mean nearest taxon distance. The ses metrics were regressed against land use (agriculture and forest) and climate (temperature and precipitation) variables using linear mixed effect models. Results: Community diversity declined with agriculture in both groups. Mammal diversity was higher farther from the settlement but birds remained indifferent. Temperature and precipitation were positively associated with mammal diversity, but birds displayed a mixed response: negative with temperature and positive with precipitation. Agriculture had a strong negative effect on the functional structure of birds but not mammals. The functional and phylogenetic structure declined farther from the settlement for mammals but increased for birds. Except for the functional structure, all other metrics increased with temperature and precipitation for mammals. Except for the positive relationship between functional structure and temperature, other metrics showed a mixed response to climate in birds. Main conclusions: Our findings provide evidence that land use rather than climate has an imminent effect in shaping local and regional patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity in a Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. Climate effects, although weak, may reduce functional traits and consequently diminish functional roles. Species that can persist in human-modified environments are clustered within a phylogeny, suggesting possible loss of phylogenetic diversity.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Geographical trends of soil-associated biodiversity changes due to tree plantations in South America: biome and climate constraints revealed through meta-analysis

Aim Evaluate the interaction between climate and biome structure when explaining changes in species richness of soil-associated communities due to tree plantations developed in different biomes. Compare the response of plants, soil invertebrates, and soil microorganisms, and test whether they should be considered sensitive-coupled biotas. Location Continental South America. Time period 1996–2023 Major taxa studied Plants, soil invertebrates and soil microorganisms Methods Through a meta-analysis, the change in species richness (i.e., response ratio) associated with tree plantations was evaluated in 127 points of study across South America, considering soil-associated communities of plants, invertebrates and microorganisms. The influence of biome structure (open vs. closed habitats) on the response ratio and its interaction with the actual evapotranspiration (AET) and temperature seasonality was evaluated. Differentiated responses of different taxa were tested by comparing models with and without an interaction term referring to the taxon studied. The regional agricultural cover and plantation age were considered as anthropogenic variables. Results Models containing the AET were better at explaining the trend of change in species richness than those with temperature seasonality. The response to the change in species richness was oppositely related to the AET in open and closed biomes. Plants presented a higher loss in species richness than soil invertebrates and microorganisms. The three taxa were positively associated with AET, while seasonality was not relevant in any case. Both anthropogenic variables significantly lessened the change in species richness in all models. Main conclusions The structural contrast between the anthropogenic habitat and the biome where it is developed is a key factor influencing the response of soil-associated communities to tree plantations. Nevertheless, its influence must be assessed together with climatic and anthropogenic variables given that their interaction can explain different geographical trends in the change in species richness across regions.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Supplementary Data for "Co-occurrence of climate-change induced and anthropogenic pressures in Central American key biodiversity areas"

Supplementary Data for the article "Co-occurrence of climate-change induced and anthropogenic pressures in Central American key biodiversity areas" This includes the pressure score maps for all climate scenarios / SSPs for the historical and future time periods as well as the script used for preparing the anthropogenic pressure maps (human footprint mapping).

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2023View details →

dryad36/100