Grassroots September 2016, Vol. 16, No. 3 | Page 6
News
Biodiversity falls below 'safe levels' globally
University College London
London, United Kingdom
L
[email protected]
http://phys.org/news/2016-07-biodiversity-falls-safe-globally.html
evels of global biodiversity loss may
negatively impact on ecosystem function
and the sustainability of human societies,
according to UCL-led research.
"This is the first time we've quantified the effect
of habitat loss on biodiversity globally in such
detail and we've found that across most of the
world biodiversity loss is no longer within the safe
limit suggested by ecologists" explained lead
researcher, Dr Tim Newbold from UCL and
previously at UNEP-WCMC.
"We know biodiversity loss affects ecosystem
function but how it does this is not entirely clear.
What we do know is that in many parts of the
world, we are approaching a situation where human
intervention might be needed to sustain ecosystem
function."
History Museum, London, who also worked on the
study.
"Decision-makers worry a lot about economic
recessions, but an ecological recession could have
even worse consequences - and the biodiversity
damage we've had means we're at risk of that
happening. Until and unless we can bring
biodiversity back up, we're playing ecological
roulette."
The team used data from hundreds of scientists
across the globe to analyse 2.38 million records for
39,123 species at 18,659 sites where are captured in
the database of the PREDICTS project. The
analyses were then applied to estimate how
biodiversity in every square kilometre land has
changed since before humans modified the habitat.
The team found that grasslands, savannas and
shrublands were most affected by biodiversity loss,
followed closely by many of the world's forests and
woodlands. They say the ability of biodiversity in
these areas to support key ecosystem functions
such as growth of living organisms and nutrient
cycling has become increasingly uncertain.
They found that biodiversity hotspots - those
that have seen habitat loss in the past but have a lot
of species only found in that area - are threatened,
showing high levels of biodiversity decline. Other
high biodiversity areas, such as Amazonia, which
have seen no land use change have higher levels of
biodiversity and more scope for proactive
conservation.
The study, published 15 July 2016 in Science,
led by researchers from UCL, the Natural History
Museum and UNEP-WCMC, found that levels of
biodiversity loss are so high that if left unchecked,
they could undermine efforts towards long-term
sustainable development.
"The greatest changes have happened in those
places where most people live, which might affect
physical and psychological wellbeing. To address
this, we would have to preserve the remaining areas
of natural vegetation and restore human-used
lands," added Dr Newbold.
For 58.1% of the world's land surface, which is
home to 71.4% of the global population, the level
of biodiversity loss is substantial enough to
question the ability of ecosystems to support
human societies. The loss is due to changes in land
use and puts levels of biodiversity beyond the 'safe
limit' recently proposed by the planetary boundaries
- an international framework that defines a safe
operating space for humanity.
The team hope the results will be used to inform
conservation policy, nationally and internationally,
and to facilitate this, have made the maps from this
paper and all of the underlying data publicly
available.
"It's worrying that land use has already pushed
biodiversity below the level proposed as a safe
limit," said Professor Andy Purvis of the Natural
Grassroots
More information: "Has land use pushed
terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary
boundary? A global assessment," Science,
science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aaf
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September 2016
Vol 16 No.3