Habitat fragmentation amplifies threats from habitat loss to mammal diversity across the world’s terrestrial ecoregions
Kuipers, Koen Jacobus Josefus; Hilbers, Jelle P; Garcia-Ulloa, John Alejandro; Graae, Bente Jessen; May, Roelof Frans; Verones, Francesca; Huijbregts, MAJ; Schipper, Aafke M.
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Accepted version
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Date
2021Metadata
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- Institutt for biologi [2596]
- Institutt for energi og prosessteknikk [4211]
- Publikasjoner fra CRIStin - NTNU [38294]
Original version
10.1016/j.oneear.2021.09.005Abstract
Global biodiversity is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic environmental change. While there is mounting evidence that habitat loss is a key threat to biodiversity, global assessments typically ignore additional threats from habitat fragmentation. Here, we present a species-area model that integrates habitat size and connectivity, considering species habitat preference and dispersal capacity, patch size, inter-patch distances, and landscape matrix permeability. We applied the model to predict threats from habitat loss and fragmentation to non-volant mammal diversity across the world’s ecoregions. We predict that, on average, 10 mammal species are committed to extinction due to habitat loss and fragmentation (range 0–86). On average, 9% of loss is due to fragmentation (range 0%–90%). Considering both habitat loss and fragmentation, our model can be used for large-scale explorative assessments to inform and evaluate strategies for minimizing biodiversity loss and for optimizing habitat conservation and restoration.