Biodiversity Conservation

Marco Pautasso (marpauta(at)gmail.com)

London Metropolitan Univ. - 2010

Global biodiversity patterns: vascular plants

from Barthlott et al. (2007) Erdkunde

Global human population density patterns

from Small & Cohen (2004) Current Anthropology

Human impacts on biodiversity

Habitat fragmentation, degradation and loss

Water, air and soil pollution

Species introductions

Climate change

Trade, travel, transportation and tourism

Habitat fragmentation and loss in Amazonia

(2000) Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Habitat fragmentation and loss in Amazonia

(2005) Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Habitat fragmentation and loss in Amazonia

(2009) Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Air pollution due to urbanization: NO2

source: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/

[1015 mol/cm2; Jan 2003- Jun 2004]

Newton (1986) The Sparrowhawk.

Pollution effects on biodiversity: DDT

From: Hufnagel et al. (2005) PNAS (air) & Kaluza et al. (2010) Interface (sea)

Species movements in a globalized world

passengers

Fire blight epidemic development in Switzerland

From: Holdenrieder et al. (2008) ICPP, Turin, Italy

2003 2007

19991995

From: Denis Loustau (2006) Climate change impacts on extensively managed forest: a modelling approach, Wilton Park Conference

Climate change and plant distribution shifts

Pautasso et al. (2010) Biological Reviews

Nature protection in the USA

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Nature protection in the USA: the Northwest

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Yellowstone (1987)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Yellowstone (1988)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Yellowstone (1990)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Yellowstone (1995)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Yellowstone (2000)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Yellowstone (2008)

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Nature protection in the USA: the Southwest

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Nature protection in the USA: Alaska

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Nature protection in the USA: the Midwest

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

Nature protection in the USA: the East

Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA

National Park Sites in the USA

* Tend to be larger in the West

* Are important for tourismand a source of jobs

* Biodiversity conservation is only one of their aims

* What will happen to them when climate changes?

Jobs at National Park Sites in the USA

By middle 1950s, the primary employee of the Service was the Park Ranger and they did

everything that was needed in the parks, e.g.:

Trash cleaners, heavy equipment operators, fire fighters, traffic managers,

trail and road clearing, visitor information, museum managers, rescues, aircraft

maintenance, crime investigation

Jobs at National Park Sites in the USAToday, there are many more career paths in the service:

* Park Manager (Superintendent/Deputy) * United States Park Police

* First Responders (EMT’s, medics, rescue specialist)* Dispatchers

* Maintenance Workers (including carpenters, plumbers, masons, laborers, auto mechanics, motor vehicle operators, electricians)* Park Planners, Architects, Engineers, and Landscape architects

* Resource Managers (biology, soil, water, etc.)* Historians (curators, historians, historic architects, archivists)

* Fire Management (weather specialist, firefighters, engine chiefs)* Public Affairs and Administrators (human resources, finance,

accountants, information technology, budgeting)

Nature protection in Europe

Nature protection in Europe

Nature protection in Europe

Source: RSPB

Natura 2000

* EU-wide ecological network of nature protection areas (1992)

* around 25,000 sites,covering ~ 17% of the EU territory

* two types: Special Areas of Conservation (habitats) and Special Protection Areas (birds)

* not a system of strict nature reserves where most human activities are excluded

UK National Parks

Source: UK National Parks

UK National Parks

Source: UK National Parks

•Most parks established in the 1950s, four new ones since 2000

* They cover ~ 9% of the UK, but less than 1% of the human population lives within them

* About 61 million visitors per year,with ~ 3.6 billion £ spent/yr by visitors

Data source: UK National Parks

y = -0.00x + 4.79R2 = 0.00, n.s.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 1000 2000 3000 4000

UK national park area (km2)vi

sito

rs p

er y

ear (

mill

ion)

Data source: UK National Parks

020000400006000080000

100000120000140000

0 1000 2000 3000 4000

UK national park area (km2)hu

man

pop

ulat

ion

size

(n)

Data source: UK National Parks

y = 26x + 147R2 = 0.20; p < 0.01

0100200300400500600700

0 5 10 15

visitors per year (million)m

oney

spe

nt b

y vi

sito

rs

(mill

ion

poun

ds)

Jobs in biodiversity conservation

Jobs in biodiversity conservation

Jobs in biodiversity conservation: jobs.ac.uk

Jobs in biodiversity conservation: jobs.ac.uk

Jobs in biodiversity conservation: the Guardian

from the Guardian

from the Guardian

Source: Greater London

Authority

from: Schlick-Steiner et al. (2008) J Biogeography

A key biodiversity pattern : the species-area relationship

ants in European countries

Species-people correlation in Europe

from Araujo (2003) Global Ecology & Biogeography

plants birds

people

spp

Some recent studies of the spp-people correlation

World wilderness map from: UNEP-WCMC World Atlas of Biodiversity, GIS analysis by R. Lesslie (ANU), method developed for the Australian Heritage Commission

Balmfordet al. (2001) ScienceReal et al.

(2003) J Biogeog

McKinney (2003) Biol Cons

Vazquez & Gaston (2006) Biodiv & Cons

Chown et al. (2003) Ecol Appl

Luck (2007)J Biogeog

Araujo(2003) GEB

Hunter & Jonzon(1993) CB

Ding et al. (2006) J Biogeog

Moreno-Rueda &

Pizarro (2008) Ecol Res

Diniz-Filho et al. (2006) Acta Oecol.

from: Marini et al. (2009) J Biogeography

Both species and people correlate with productivity

Altitude Plant species richness in Trentino, Italy

from: Chiari et al. (2010) J Animal Ecology

Locally, the spp-people correlation tends to be negative

birds in Florence

Air pollution due to urbanization: NO2

source: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/EarthObservation/pollution_europe_hires.jpg

[1015 mol/cm2; Jan 2003- Jun 2004]

Air pollution, lichen biodiversity and lung cancer

Cislaghi & Nimis (1987) Nature

from: Lonsdale et al. (2008) European Journal of Forest Research

Random sample of 100 papers per year on ‘species richness’ in WOS (1991-2004)

ReferencesBarbosa AM, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) Positive regional species–people correlations: a sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development? Animal Conservation 13: 446-447Cantarello E, Steck CE, Fontana P, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) A multi-scale study of Orthoptera species richness and human population size controlling for sampling effort. Naturwissenschaften 97: 265-271Golding J, Güsewell S, Kreft H, Kuzevanov VY, Lehvävirta S, Parmentier I & Pautasso M (2010) Species-richness patterns of the living collections of the world's botanic gardens: a matter of socio-economics? Annals of Botany 105: 689-696Pautasso M (2009) Geographical genetics and the conservation of forest trees. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Systematics & Evolution 11: 157-189Pautasso M & Chiarucci A (2008) A test of the scale-dependence of the species abundance-people correlation for veteran trees in Italy. Annals of Botany 101: 709-715 Pautasso M & Dinetti M (2009) Avian species richness, human population and protected areas across Italy’s regions. Environmental Conservation 36: 22-31Pautasso M & Fontaneto D (2008) A test of the species-people correlation for stream macro-invertebrates in European countries. Ecological Applications 18: 1842-1849Pautasso M & Parmentier I (2007) Are the living collections of the world’s botanical gardens following species-richness patterns observed in natural ecosystems? Botanica Helvetica 117: 15-28Pautasso M & Powell G (2009) Aphid biodiversity is correlated with human population in European countries. Oecologia 160: 839-846Pautasso M & Weisberg PJ (2008) Density-area relationships: the importance of the zeros. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17: 203-210Pautasso M & Zotti M (2009) Macrofungal taxa and human population in Italy's regions. Biodiversity & Conservation 18: 473-485Pautasso M et al (2010) Plant health and global change – some implications for landscape management. Biological Reviews 85: 729-755Pautasso M et al (2011) Global macroecology of bird assemblages in urbanized and semi-natural ecosystems. Global Ecology & Biogeography 20: 426-436Pecher C, Fritz S, Marini L, Fontaneto D & Pautasso M (2010) Scale-dependence of the correlation between human population and the species richness of stream macroinvertebrates. Basic Applied Ecology 11: 272-280Schlick-Steiner B, Steiner F & Pautasso M (2008) Ants and people: a test of two mechanisms behind the large-scale human-biodiversity correlation for Formicidae in Europe. Journal of Biogeography 35: 2195-2206Steck CE & Pautasso M (2008) Human population, grasshopper and plant species richness in European countries. Acta Oecologica 34: 303-310