Future land use effects on the connectivity of protected area networks in southeastern Spain

Land-use change is a major driver of the global biodiversity crisis, mainly via the fragmentation and loss of natural habitat. Although land-use changes will accelerate to meet humankind's growing demand for agricultural products, conservation planning rarely considers future land uses and how they may affect the connectivity of ecological networks. Here, we integrate land-use models with landscape fragmentation and connectivity analyses, to assess the effects of past and future land-use changes on the connectivity of protected area networks for a highly dynamic region in southeast Spain. Our results show a continued geographical polarisation of land use, with agricultural intensification and urban development in the coastal areas, and the abandonment of traditional land use in the mountains (e.g., 1100 km² of natural vegetation are projected to be lost in coastal areas whereas 32 km² of natural vegetation would recover in interior areas from 1991 to 2015). As a result, coastal protected areas will experience increasing isolation. The connectivity analyses reveal that the two protected area networks in place in the study area, the European “Natura 2000” and the Andalusian “RENPA” networks, include many landscape connectors. However, we identify two areas that currently lack protection but contain several important patches for maintaining the region's habitat connectivity: the northwestern and the southwestern slopes of the Sierra Cabrera and Bédar protected area. Our results highlight the importance of considering future land-use trajectories in conservation planning to maintain connectivity at the regional scale, and to improve the resilience of conservation networks.     

Conservation of Freshwater Biodiversity: a Comparison of Different Area Selection Methods

The biodiversity of freshwater systems is endangered, especially in Mediterranean semiarid areas such as the south east of the Iberian Peninsula, whose rich and endemic biota is threatened by the development of surrounding land-crop irrigation. For this reason, the prioritization of areas for biodiversity conservation is an urgent target. In this study we used data records of water beetles from a province of the southeast of Spain for assessing priority areas for freshwater biodiversity conservation. We compare the performance of various area-selection methods, ranging from scoring procedures to complementarity-based algorithms, which are based on different criteria such as richness, rarity and vulnerability. The complementarity approaches were more efficient than methods using scoring or richness and rarity hotspots for representing conservation targets in a given number of areas and for identifying the minimum set of areas containing all species at least once. Within these, the richness-based algorithm was more efficient than rarity-based algorithm. Crucial target habitats for aquatic biodiversity conservation in the area studied are streams at medium altitude, hypersaline streams, and endorreic and karstic complexes.     

Effects of land-use change on functional and taxonomic diversity of Neotropical bats

Human land-use changes are particularly extensive in tropical regions, representing one of the greatest threats to terrestrial biodiversity and a key research topic in conservation. However, studies considering the effects of different types of anthropogenic disturbance on the functional dimension of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes are rare. Here, we obtained data through an extensive review of peer-reviewed articles and compared 30 Neotropical bat assemblages in well-preserved primary forest and four different human-disturbed habitats in terms of their functional and taxonomic diversity. We found that disturbed habitats that are structurally less similar to primary forest (pasture, cropland, and early-stage secondary forest) were characterized by a lower functional and taxonomic diversity, as well as community-level functional uniqueness. These habitats generally retained fewer species that perform different ecological functions compared to higher-quality landscape matrices, such as agroforestry. According to functional trait composition, different bat ensembles respond differently to landscape change, negatively affecting mainly gleaning insectivorous bats in pasture, narrow-range species in cropland, and heavier animalivorous bats in secondary forest. Although our results highlight the importance of higher-quality matrix habitats to support elevated functional and taxonomic bat diversity, the conservation of bat species that perform different ecological functions in the mosaic of human-modified habitats also depends on the irreplaceable conservation value of well-preserved primary forests. Our study based on a pooled analysis of individual studies provides novel insights into the effects of different human-modified habitats on Neotropical bat assemblages.     

Effectiveness of a large reserve network in protecting freshwater biodiversity: a test for the Iberian Peninsula

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Bush encroachment under three contrasting land-use practices in a mesic South African savanna

This study determined the effects of land-use practice had on the rate and extent of bush encroachment in a mesic savanna in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Changes in woody cover were measured for 1 km² sites in areas under communal, commercial and conservation land-use systems for the period between 1937 and 2000. Land users from each area were interviewed to gain the histories of each area and to determine how the changes in woody cover had impacted them and whether anything was being done to counteract the spread of trees and shrubs on their land. Bush encroachment occurred across all three of the land-use types in the 67-year period between 1937 and 2000. The results showed that land-use practice had enormous impacts on the process of bush encroachment. The communal site showed a decrease in grass (21%) and tree (5%) cover and an increase in shrub cover (13%). At the commercial site, there was a considerable decrease in grass cover (46%) and moderate increase in shrub cover (10%) and a massive increase in tree cover (36%). The area under conservation showed a substantial decrease in grass cover (47%), a slight decrease in shrub cover (19%) and a massive increase in tree cover (66%). The perceived causes of these changes were fairly similar amongst the different land users. The changes were mostly not perceived to be a problem for the communal land users. The main advantages mentioned were increased woody resources for building and firewood and increased browse availability. The commercial and conservation land users perceived the changes to have significant negative connotations including the loss of grazing land and biodiversity and secondary invasion of encroached areas by alien plant species. Despite these perceptions, very little has been done to combat bush encroachment in the commercial and conservation land use systems.     

Food security versus biodiversity protection: an example of land-sharing from East Africa

The recent controversial debate on land-sharing versus land-sparing is clearly exemplified in the East African mountains, one of the most diverse biodiversity hotspots on our planet. In these areas, species richness is particularly concentrated in the mountain cloud forests which are surrounded by a sea of dry lowland savannas heavily encroached on by local communities. Sustainable land use practices in the lowlands, however, are necessary to safeguard the natural capital at higher elevations. The interdependence between sustainable land-use and conservation of biodiversity hotspots was underlined during a workshop held in the rural areas of Kenya, East Africa, early spring 2013. It was concluded that close links between livelihoods, natural capital and poverty remains a fundamental challenge in East Africa’s forest conservation efforts.     

Integrating the spatial proximity effect into the assessment of changes in ecosystem services for biodiversity conservation

The assessment of the value of ecosystem services is a valuable tool for biodiversity conservation that can facilitate better environmental policy decision-making and land management, and can help land managers develop interventions to compensate for biodiversity loss at the patch level. Previous studies have suggested that it is appropriate to assess the value of biodiversity for conservation planning by considering both the condition of the landscape and the spatial configuration of adjacent land uses that can be reflected as a proximity effect. This research examines the influence of spatial proximity on biodiversity conservation from the ecosystem service perspective based on the assumption that the variation in the proximity effect caused by land cover change has positive or negative impacts on ecological services. Three factors related to the spatial characteristics of the landscape were considered in this approach: the relative artificiality of the land cover types, the distance decay effect of patches and the impact of one land cover type on others. The proximity effect change (PE_C) parameter reflected the relationship between the spatial proximity effect and biodiversity conservation. The results of a quantitative and spatial comparative analysis of the proposed method and the conventional method in Yingkou for the periods of 2000–2005 and 2005–2010 showed that the former can account for the temporal and spatial changes in ecosystem services for biodiversity conservation that were caused by patch-level changes as well as the interaction between the altered and adjacent patches from a spatial perspective. The metric can also identify the most critical areas for biodiversity protection and inform the efficient allocation of limited land resources for nature conservation to maximize the benefit to biodiversity by guiding the process of land-use change, particularly urbanization and agriculture. Future studies should focus on the other important factors that are applicable to the assessment of the value of biodiversity conservation in socio-ecological systems, where society and nature are mutually capable of fulfilling their roles.     

Nutrient concentrations and fibre contents of plant community biomass reflect species richness patterns along a broad range of land-use intensities among agricultural grasslands

Understanding changes in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in relation to land-use type and intensity is a major issue in current ecological research. In this context nutrient enrichment has been identified as a key mechanism inducing species loss in Central European grassland ecosystems. At the same time, insights into the linkage between agricultural land use and plant nutrient status are largely missing. So far, studies on the relationship between chemical composition of plant community biomass and biodiversity have mainly been restricted to wetlands and all these studies neglected the effects of land use. Therefore, we analyzed aboveground biomass of 145 grassland plots covering a gradient of land-use intensities in three regions across Germany. In particular, we explored relationships between vascular plant species richness and nutrient concentrations as well as fibre contents (neutral and acid detergent fibre and lignin) in the aboveground community biomass.We found the concentrations of several nutrients in the biomass to be closely linked to plant species richness and land use. Whereas phosphorus concentrations increased with land-use intensity and decreased with plant species richness, nitrogen and potassium concentrations showed less clear patterns. Fibre fractions were negatively related to nutrient concentrations in biomass, but hardly to land-use measures and species richness. Only high lignin contents were positively associated with species richness of grasslands. The N:P ratio was strongly positively related to species richness and even more so to the number of endangered plant species, indicating a higher persistence of endangered species under P (co-)limited conditions. Therefore, we stress the importance of low P supply for species-rich grasslands and suggest the N:P ratio in community biomass to be a useful proxy of the conservation value of agriculturally used grasslands.     

Agricultural intensification alters bat assemblage composition and abundance in a dynamic Neotropical landscape

The recent trend of agricultural intensification in tropical landscapes poses a new threat to biodiversity conservation. Conversion of previously heterogeneous agricultural landscapes to intensive plantation agriculture simplifies and homogenizes the landscape, reducing availability, and connectivity of natural habitat for native species. To assess the impact of agricultural intensification on bats, we characterized the bat assemblage in the Sarapiquí region of Costa Rica, where heterogeneous land uses are being converted to intensive, large‐scale pineapple plantations. In 2012 and 2013, we sampled bats in 20 remnant forest patches surrounded by varying proportions of pasture, mature forest, and pineapple and captured 1821 individual bats representing 39 species. We used ordination analyses to evaluate changes in species composition, where pineapple is the main component of the agricultural matrix. We identified landscape metrics specifically correlated with pineapple and used multiple linear regression to test their effects on bat species richness, diversity, and guild‐specific relative abundance. Results suggest pineapple expansion is driving changes in assemblage composition in remnant forest patches, resulting in new assemblages with higher proportions of frugivorous bats and lower proportions of insectivorous bats than in continuous mature forests. In addition, while pineapple does not diminish total bat species richness and diversity, the reduced forest cover and increased distance between forest patches in pineapple plantations has a significant negative impact on the relative abundance of insectivores. We also identify a potential threshold effect whereby patches surrounded by more than 50 percent forest can retain assemblage composition similar to that found in continuous mature forest.     

Restoration of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Agricultural Land

Cultivation and cropping are major causes of destruction and degradation of natural ecosystems throughout the world. We face the challenge of maintaining provisioning services while conserving or enhancing other ecosystem services and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. There is a range of possibilities within two types of intervention, namely “land sharing” and “land separation”; the former advocates the enhancement of the farmed environment, but the latter a separation between land designated for farming versus conservation. Land sharing may involve biodiversity-based agricultural practices, learning from traditional farming, changing from conventional to organic agriculture and from “simple” crops and pastures to agro-forestry systems, and restoring or creating specific elements to benefit wildlife and particular services without decreasing agricultural production. Land separation in the farmland context involves restoring or creating non-farmland habitat at the expense of field-level agricultural production—for example, woodland on arable land. Restoration by land sharing has the potential to enhance agricultural production, other ecosystem services and biodiversity at both the field and landscape scale; however, restoration by land separation would provide these benefits only at the landscape scale. Although recent debate has contrasted these approaches, we suggest they should be used in combination to maximize benefits. Furthermore, we suggest “woodland islets”, an intermediate approach between land abandonment and farmland afforestation, for ecological restoration in extensive agricultural landscapes. This approach allows reconciliation of farmland production, conservation of values linked to cultural landscapes, enhancement of biodiversity, and provision of a range of ecosystem services. Beyond academic research, restoration projects within agricultural landscapes are essential if we want to halt environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.     

Expert assessment of landscape-level conservation strategies in boreal forests for biodiversity,recreation and water quality

Determining effects of landscape-level conservation strategies is needed, yet a challenging and costly endeavour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of landscape-level conservation strategies in forests on biodiversity and provision of two ecosystem services (recreation and water quality). Specifically, we focused on the spatial allocation of unmanaged areas in production forests and different levels of “land sharing” or “land sparing”. They were represented through seven scenarios constructed for a boreal managed forest landscape in central Sweden. All scenarios had the same total level of conservation effort, but they differed in the combinations of sizes of unmanaged areas and how these areas were spread in the landscape. In one scenario, this was complemented with extended rotation of production areas. Experts (researchers in relevant fields) assessed these scenarios for overall biodiversity, recreation, and water quality. We used the Delphi technique: experts filled out an online survey individually in two rounds. In the second round they were familiarized with anonymized responses of others from the previous round. There was little agreement between experts whether concentration of unmanaged areas in one part of the landscape or dispersion of them around the entire area is more beneficial, for biodiversity as well as for the two ecosystem services. The explanation of the opinions given by biodiversity experts were based on different ecological theories resulting in different conclusions (mainly habitat complementation vs. metapopulation ecology). A few large unmanaged areas were considered more beneficial for biodiversity than many small areas. The main argument was that long-term species persistence becomes higher with larger areas. For recreation and water quality, there were almost no differences in estimates between these two strategies. One “land sharing” approach, retention trees, received the lowest score. The second “land sharing” approach, extended rotation, was scored higher, especially regarding recreation. This may be because extended rotations generate features of high recreational value, such as mature, thinned forests with not so much dead wood. Conclusively, we suggest a strategy of mixed conservation measures, with considerable efforts directed towards establishing and maintaining large unmanaged areas.     

Area Networks for Conserving Iberian Insects: A Case Study of Dung Beetles (col., Scarabaeoidea)

Possibilities to create an efficient network of areas for the conservation of Iberian dung-beetle biodiversity were investigated. Data were taken from BANDASCA, a 15,740 record dung-beetle database with information for 101,996 specimens. The greatest species richness and phylogenetic diversity are found in the Iberian Central System cordilleras, while those of range-size rarity are in the southernmost corner of the Iberian Peninsula and in the coastal plains of the Guadalquivir basin. Additionally, broad regional score trends of these variables reach a maximum in a smaller northeastern, and a larger southeastern region (Baetic and sub-Baetic mountains). Major Central and Southern Spain dung-beetle hotspots contain many of the UTM grid cells which delimit the near-minimum-set of areas hosting maximum dung-beetle biodiversity scores. They are viewed as the nucleus of a potential network of reserves. A UTM grid cell (30TXK1) where Onthophagus albarracinus, an endemic and demographically rare species inhabits the Sierra of Albarracín and Montes Universales, was detected as an irreplaceable area. Because of recent land use changes and rapid human-induced habitat transformation threatening dung-beetle fauna, caution should be taken not to recommend an in memoriam network of areas no longer hosting a fauna extinct today. The abandoning of traditional herding management in Europe threatens the preservation of grasslands where dung-feeding beetles play a major ecological role in maintaining pasture quality and livestock health. A return to more traditional herding methods would require stable dung-beetle populations. Any insect conservation planning in Spain would benefit from more biogeographical information for other insect groups.     

重庆澎溪河湿地自然保护区生物多样性空间格局及热点区

生物多样性空间格局和热点区域的分析与探测是进行生物多样性保护规划和科学管理的有效途径。以重庆澎溪河湿地自然保护区为例,基于实地综合调查、历史资料、文献信息,利用生境质量指数、物种多样性和景观多样性评价指标,构建生物多样性综合指数。结合空间自相关分析,揭示保护区生物多样性空间分布格局及其空间自相关程度,并识别生物多样性热点区,探讨现有保护区对热点区域的保护有效性。结果表明: 保护区生物多样性空间格局呈现出随距河流及两岸消落带距离的增加而减少的趋势,生物多样性指数高值区主要集中在澎溪河、普里河、白夹溪及其沿岸地区。生物多样性在空间分布上具有显著的正相关性,局部空间自相关以高-高聚集和低-低聚集类型为主。生物多样性热点区域面积为457 hm²,占保护区总面积的11.1%。现有保护区核心区涵盖了51%的热点区域和50%的次热点区域,保护区结构和功能区布局有待进一步优化调整,建议将普里河段龙王堂区域,白夹溪小垭口、邓家湾、洞子岩、龙王塘、旧屋咀、铧头咀、新铺子与龙家院子等热点区域纳入核心区,将冷点区域划到核心区之外,完善保护区功能区划。研究结果可为保护区范围及功能区优化和管控、合理推进“三区变两区”调整提供定量的基础资料,对于提高物种保护效率、制定科学的保护策略具有指导意义。     

Biodiversity potential of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nothofagus</Emphasis> forests in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): tool proposal for regional conservation planning

It is difficult to map and quantify biodiversity at landscape level in areas with low data availability, despite demand from decision-makers. We propose a methodology to determine potential biodiversity pattern using habitat suitability maps of the understory plant species with highest cover and occurrence frequency in the three different forests types of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). We used a database of vascular plants from 535 surveys from which we identified 35 indicative species. We explored more than 50 potential explanatory variables to develop habitat suitability maps of the indicative species, which were combined to develop a map of the potential biodiversity. Correlation among environmental, topographic and forest landscape variables were discussed, as well as the marginality and the specialization of the indicative species. We detected differences in the niches of the species prevailing in the three forest types. The developed map of potential biodiversity uncovered hotspots of biodiversity in the ecotone of Nothofagus pumilio and N. antarctica as well as in the wettest part of the mixed N. pumilio–N. betuloides forests. It allowed thus to identify forest areas with different conservation potential and can be readily used as a decision support system for conservation and management strategies at different scales including the identification of land-use conflicts (e.g. of biodiversity with timber production and livestock) and the development of a network of protected areas, which currently does not cover the forests of highest conservation value.     

Winners and losers of national and global efforts to reconcile agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation

Closing yield gaps within existing croplands, and thereby avoiding further habitat conversions, is a prominently and controversially discussed strategy to meet the rising demand for agricultural products, while minimizing biodiversity impacts. The agricultural intensification associated with such a strategy poses additional threats to biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. The uneven spatial distribution of both yield gaps and biodiversity provides opportunities for reconciling agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation through spatially optimized intensification. Here, we integrate distribution and habitat information for almost 20,000 vertebrate species with land‐cover and land‐use datasets. We estimate that projected agricultural intensification between 2000 and 2040 would reduce the global biodiversity value of agricultural lands by 11%, relative to 2000. Contrasting these projections with spatial land‐use optimization scenarios reveals that 88% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through globally coordinated land‐use planning, implying huge efficiency gains through international cooperation. However, global‐scale optimization also implies a highly uneven distribution of costs and benefits, resulting in distinct “winners and losers” in terms of national economic development, food security, food sovereignty or conservation. Given conflicting national interests and lacking effective governance mechanisms to guarantee equitable compensation of losers, multinational land‐use optimization seems politically unlikely. In turn, 61% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through nationally focused optimization, and 33% through optimization within just 10 countries. Targeted efforts to improve the capacity for integrated land‐use planning for sustainable intensification especially in these countries, including the strengthening of institutions that can arbitrate subnational land‐use conflicts, may offer an effective, yet politically feasible, avenue to better reconcile future trade‐offs between agriculture and conservation. The efficiency gains of optimization remained robust when assuming that yields could only be increased to 80% of their potential. Our results highlight the need to better integrate real‐world governance, political and economic challenges into sustainable development and global change mitigation research.     

Protecting persistent dynamic oceanographic features: transboundary conservation efforts are needed for the critically endangered Balearic shearwater

The protection of key areas for biodiversity at sea is not as widespread as on land and research investment is necessary to identify biodiversity hotspots in the open ocean. Spatially explicit conservation measures such as the creation of representative networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a critical step towards the conservation and management of marine ecosystems, as well as to improve public awareness. Conservation efforts in ecologically rich and threatened ecosystems are specially needed. This is particularly urgent for the Mediterranean marine biodiversity, which includes highly mobile marine vertebrates. Here, we studied the at sea distribution of one of the most endangered Mediterranean seabird, the critically endangered Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus. Present knowledge, from vessel-based surveys, suggests that this species has a coastal distribution over the productive Iberian shelf in relation to the distribution of their main prey, small pelagic fish. We used miniaturised satellite transmitters to determine the key marine areas of the southern population of Balearic shearwaters breeding on Eivissa and spot the spatial connections between breeding and key marine areas. Our tracking study indicates that Balearic shearwaters do not only forage along the Iberian continental shelf but also in more distant marine areas along the North African coast, in particular W of Algeria, but also NE coast of Morocco. Birds recurrently visit these shelf areas at the end of the breeding season. Species distribution modelling identified chlorophyll a as the most important environmental variable in defining those oceanographic features characterizing their key habitats in the western Mediterranean. We identified persistent oceanographic features across time series available in the study area and discuss our results within the current conservation scenario in relation to the ecology of the species.     

Disrupted montane forest recovery hinders biodiversity conservation in the tropical Andes

Aim

Andean montane forests are biodiversity hotspots and large carbon stores and they provide numerous ecosystem services. Following land abandonment after centuries of forest clearing for agriculture in the Andes, there is an opportunity for forest recovery. Field-based studies show that forests do not always recover. However, large-scale and long-term knowledge of recovery dynamics of Andean forests remains scarce. This paper analyses tropical montane forest recovery trajectories over a 15-year time frame at the landscape and tropical Andean scale to inform restoration planning.

Methods

We first detect “potential recovery” as areas that have experienced a forest transition between 2000 and 2005. Then, we use Landsat time series analysis of the normalized difference water index (NDWI) to classify four “realized recovery” trajectories (“ongoing”, “arrested”, “disrupted” and “no recovery”) based on a sequential pattern of 5-yearly Z-score anomalies for 2005–2020. We compare these results against an analysis of change in tree cover to validate against other datasets.

Results

Across the tropical Andes, we detected a potential recovery area of 274 km² over the period. Despite increases in tree cover, most areas of the Andes remained in early successional states (10–25% tree cover), and NDWI levelled out after 5–10 years. Of all potential forest recovery areas, 22% showed “ongoing recovery”, 61% showed either “disrupted” or “arrested recovery”, and 17% showed “no recovery”. Our method captured forest recovery dynamics in a Peruvian arrested succession context and in landscape-scale tree-planting efforts in Ecuador.

Main conclusions

Forest recovery across the Andes is mostly disrupted, arrested or unsuccessful, with consequences for biodiversity recovery and provision of ecosystem services. Low-recovery areas identified in this study might be good candidates for active restoration interventions in this UN Decade on Restoration. Future studies could determine restoration strategies and priorities and suggest management strategies at a local planning scale across key regions in the biodiversity hotspot.     

Global diversity of land planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Terricola): a new indicator-taxon in biodiversity and conservation studies

Biodiversity conservation requires prioritization of areas for in situ conservation. In that perspective, the present study documents the global diversity of a component of the soil macrofauna, the land planarians, and concerns an exploratory analysis of their possible role as indicators of biodiversity. Diversity is described by three quantitative methods: (1) hotspots of species richness, selecting areas richest in species, (2) hotspots of range-size rarity, identifying areas richest in narrowly endemic species, and (3) complementarity, prioritizing areas according to their greatest combined species richness. The biodiversity measures of species richness and range-size rarity show a great correspondence in the identification of hotspots of diversity; both measures identify the following seven areas as the most biodiverse for land planarians: Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, western Java, Tasmania, Sri Lanka, North Island/New Zealand, and Sydney. It is discussed to what extent the results for the land planarians correspond with those obtained in other studies that assessed biodiversity hotspots for taxa on a global scale. It is noteworthy that land planarians identify a few global hotspots of diversity that generally do not feature, or only have low rankings, in other studies: New Zealand, southeastern Australia, and Tasmania.     

Biocomplexity and conservation of biodiversity hotspots: three case studies from the Americas

The perspective of 'biocomplexity' in the form of 'coupled natural and human systems' represents a resource for the future conservation of biodiversity hotspots in three direct ways: (i) modelling the impact on biodiversity of private land-use decisions and public land-use policies, (ii) indicating how the biocultural history of a biodiversity hotspot may be a resource for its future conservation, and (iii) identifying and deploying the nodes of both the material and psycho-spiritual connectivity between human and natural systems in service to conservation goals. Three biocomplexity case studies of areas notable for their biodiversity, selected for their variability along a latitudinal climate gradient and a human-impact gradient, are developed: the Big Thicket in southeast Texas, the Upper Botanamo River Basin in eastern Venezuela, and the Cape Horn Archipelago at the austral tip of Chile. More deeply, the biocomplexity perspective reveals alternative ways of understanding biodiversity itself, because it directs attention to the human concepts through which biodiversity is perceived and understood. The very meaning of biodiversity is contestable and varies according to the cognitive lenses through which it is perceived.     

Impact of land-use intensity on the conservation of functional and phylogenetic diversity in temperate semi-natural plant communities

The earth is facing a worldwide decline in biodiversity, with land-use change identified as one of the most important drivers. There is evidence that the loss of diversity has a significant impact on ecosystem functioning. Earlier research focused on species richness, but more recent, functional and phylogenetic diversity came into the picture as the stronger determinants of ecosystem processes. The effects of increasing land-use intensity on functional (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD), however, are still poorly understood. We studied how FD and PD are affected by land-use intensity in temperate plant communities. Our results show that land-use intensity has a clear impact on species richness, but also affects functional and phylogenetic diversity. Intensive agricultural areas fail to support high and sustainable levels of functional and phylogenetic diversity. These results highlight the need for the protection of biodiversity in nature reserves and the conservation of areas with extensive agricultural practices. Because species richness may influence the measures of functional and phylogenetic diversity, we compared the observed FD and PD values with random values generated with a matrix-swap null model. The observed discrepancy between species loss and the loss of FD and PD calls for an integrated approach to biodiversity conservation, in which the different components of biodiversity are considered together.