Biodiversity Conservation – week 2
Marco Pautasso ([email protected])
London Metropolitan Univ. - 2010
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
The oldest (since 1951) and most visited (~10
million visitors/yr)
UK National Parks: the Peak District
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: the Peak District
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
The newest (since 2009) and most inhabited
(~120,000 people)
UK National Parks: the South Downs
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: the South Downs
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
New Forest
Established 2005, ~570km2
UK National Parks: the New Forest
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: the New Forest
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South DownsDartmoor
2x New Forest (size), but ~ same n
of inhabitants
New Forest
UK National Parks: Dartmoor
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: Dartmoor
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South DownsExmoor
Least visited (~1.4 million people/yr)
New ForestDartmoor
UK National Parks: Exmoor
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: Exmoor
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
Pembrokeshire
Second for money spent by visitors
(~500 million £/yr)
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
UK National Parks: Pembrokeshire
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: Pembrokeshire
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
Snowdonia
~25,000 inhabitants,4.3 million visitors/yr,
~2200 km2
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
Pembrokeshire
UK National Parks: Snowdonia
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
Lake District
2nd for number of inhabitants and
visitors
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia
UK National Parks: Lake District
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks: Lake District
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
Loch Lomond
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia
Lake District
UK National Parks: Loch Lomond
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia
Lake District
North Yorkshire Moors
Loch Lomond
UK National Parks: North Yorkshire Moors
from Wikimedia Commons
UK National Parks~10% of the UK area
Source: UK National Parks
Peak District
South Downs
New ForestDartmoor
Exmoor
Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia
Lake District
Loch LomondCairngorms
North Yorkshire Moors
Northumberland
BreconBeacons
Broads
North Yorkshire Dales
Species-people correlation in Europe
from Araujo (2003) Global Ecology & Biogeography
plants birds
people
spp
Global biodiversity patterns: vascular plants
from Barthlott et al. (2007) Erdkunde
US National Parks: ~270 million visitors/yr
Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA
Yellowstone (1988)
Source: NASA Earth Observatory
Nature protection in the USA: the Northwest
Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA
US National Parks: Mount Rainier
Source: Wikimedia Commons
US National Parks: Yosemite
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Nature protection in the USA: the Southwest
Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA
US National Parks: Yosemite
Source: Wikimedia Commons
US National Parks: Big Bend
Source: Wikimedia Commons
US National Parks: Big Bend
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Nature protection in the USA: Alaska
Source: Map Collection of the Library of the University of Texas at Austin, USA
US National Parks: Denali (Alaska)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
US National Parks: Glacier Bay
Source: Wikimedia Commons
US National Parks: the Everglades
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Five botanic gardens in the UK
Source: BGCI
NAME PLACE PLANT SPECIES
AREA (HA) ESTABLISHED
Eden Project Bodelva, Cornwall ~5000 50 1997
Wales National Botanic Garden
Llanarthne, Wales ~4000 60 2000
Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh, Scotland ~12500 26 1670
Oxford University Botanic Garden
Oxford, England ~8000 1.8 1621
Chelsea Physic Garden London ~5000 1 1673
Species richness vs. % of protected area
1. Link country with n of plant species Brazil 1,600 Britain 3,200 Canada 5,600 Italy 20,000 USA 56,000 1. Link country and % of terrestrial
protected area Brazil 15 China 22 Germany 27 UK 30 USA 56
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
lessthan1%
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-30 morethan30%
proportion of protected area
num
ber o
f cou
ntri
es
Source: UNEP, 2008
Are protected areas effective at preserving biodiversity?
Many protected areas tend to be located in relatively remote/inaccessible regions
Sometimes protected areas become tourist attractions
Protected area networks have often been created without international coordination
Efficiency and effectiveness of protected areas
Wiersma et al. (2009) Biological Conservation
Protected areas in Spain and Portugal
Araujo et al. (2008) Conservation Biology
Protected areas and human population growth
Wittemyer et al. (2008) Science
from: Lonsdale et al. (2008) European Journal of Forest Research
Random sample of 100 papers per year on ‘species richness’ in WOS (1991-2004)
Which institutions other than National Parks aim to protect biodiversity?
* Government Departments
* Foundations and charities
* Research Institutes
* Private individuals
* NGOs
What can the single individual do to stop the loss of 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
(2009) Source: NASA Earth Observatory
Air pollution due to urbanization: NO2
source: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/EarthObservation/pollution_europe_hires.jpg
[1015 mol/cm2; Jan 2003- Jun 2004]
From: Hufnagel et al. (2005) PNAS (air) & Kaluza et al. (2010) Interface (sea)
Species movements in a globalized world
passengers
From: Denis Loustau (2006) Climate change impacts on extensively managed forest: a modelling approach, Wilton Park Conference
Climate change and plant distribution shifts
Examples of how the single individual can make a difference in biodiversity conservation
1) Volunteer in conservation activities/ biodiversity education
2) Reduce consumption/Carbon emissions?
3) Adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle
4) avoid unintended introductions of exotic species
Volunteering in biodiversity conservation
Volunteering in biodiversity conservation
Volunteering in biodiversity conservation
How can you get to know more about
biodiversity?
Source: Greater London
Authority
Scholarships in biodiversity conservation
Summer schools in biodiversity conservation
Conferences about biodiversity conservation
ReferencesBarbosa AM, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) Is the human population a large-scale indicator of the species richness of ground beetles? Animal Conservation 13: 432-441Cantarello 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 (2010) Worsening file-drawer problem in the abstracts of natural, medical and social science databases. Scientometrics 85: 193-202Pautasso 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
