Campus Review Vol. 29 Issue 4 - April 2019 | Seite 19

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How to disappear completely
A study into extinction hotspots
reveals human activity is placing
thousands of species on the brink.
By Nicole Madigan
A
University of Queensland-led study
has delivered alarming results,
signalling the imminent extinction
of up to 1000 species of birds, mammals
and amphibians unless the mostly human
threats are actively managed.
The team mapped destructive human
activities, including hunting, agriculture,
urbanisation and other industrial land uses,
in the locations of 5457 threatened species.
Published in PLOS Biology, the study
found that species are affected across 84
per cent of the Earth’s surface, with global
hotspots in South-East Asia and South
America, where tropical forests contain the
richest diversity of life.
James Allan, from UQ’s School of Earth
and Environmental Sciences, said the crisis
is severe, to say the least.
“We predict hundreds of extinctions
will happen without conservation action,
which really is shocking. This is new
evidence that shows just how extreme the
crisis is, and identifies the specific species
in the most trouble.
“A quarter of those assessed [1237
species] are impacted by threats covering
more than 90 per cent of their habitat,
and 395 species are impacted by threats
across their entire range, including many
charismatic large mammals,” he said.
“We only mapped threats within a
location if those threats are known to
specifically endanger the species.
“This means species will decline, and
possibly die out in the impacted parts of
their habitat without conservation action.
“Completely impacted species will almost
certainly face extinction.”
Allan said while the findings were
alarming, they were not surprising.
“Human activity is so pervasive across
Earth, and we really are leaving species no
place to hide.
“We certainly expected to find the
patterns that we did, but the bit that
surprised us is just how extensive
impacts were.”
The authors also mapped ‘cool spots’
where species had not been affected,
identifying the world’s last, threat-free
refuges.
“Cool spots are places where many
species are not threatened by human
activity," Allan said.
“Interestingly, cool spots can occur in the
same place as hotspots simultaneously.
“This tends to happen in places with
lots of species, where some species are
sensitive to the threats, and others are not –
so it is a cool spot for them.
“For example, a road might be
catastrophic for amphibians or mammals
trying to cross it but for birds flying high
above it has no impact.”
Professor James Watson of UQ and
the Wildlife Conservation Society said the
results are a striking reminder of the severity
of the biodiversity extinction crisis, but
there is room for hope.
“All the threats we mapped can be stopped
by conservation action, we just need the
political will and funding to do it,” Watson said.
“We have shown, throughout the
world, that actively tackling these types of
threats works, with species bouncing back
when conservation action is targeted and
well resourced.
“One obvious step is to secure species'
threat-free refuges, which are paramount
for their survival, avoiding any initial human
impacts in these places.”
The authors said the study provides
essential information for conservation and
development planning, and can help guide
future national and global conservation
agendas.
“It can also help us define the
conservation strategy for different areas.
In hotspots, we must manage threats and
remove them. In cool spots, we just need
to prevent threats getting in,” Allan said.
“These strategies appeal to different
organisations. We can also use the data
to specifically identify which threat to
remove where.
“Opening up space for species with large
areas of their ranges impacted is key.”
Allan said studies such as these provide
a framework for moving beyond just
mapping threats to actually mapping where
they impact species.
“Others can adapt and improve this,
adding in finer scale data and so on.
“The results of our analyses are a wake-
up call telling us the situation is dire, but
all the threats we map can be stopped by
conservation action – we just need to fund
it and get political will.”  ■
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