Haddou, Y., Mancy, R. , Matthiopoulos, J. , Spatharis, S. and Dominoni, D. M. (2022) Widespread extinction debts and colonization credits in United States breeding bird communities. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 6(3), pp. 324-331. (doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01653-3) (PMID:35145265) (PMCID:PMC8913367)
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Abstract
Species extinctions and colonizations in response to land cover change often occur with time lags rather than instantaneously, leading to extinction debts and colonization credits. These debts and credits can lead to erroneous predictions of future biodiversity. Recent attempts to measure debts and credits have been limited to small geographical areas and have not considered multiple land cover types, or the directionality of land cover change. Here we quantify the relative contribution of past and current landscapes on the current effective number of species of 2,880 US bird communities, explicitly measuring the response of biodiversity to increases and decreases in five land cover types. We find that the current effective number of species is still largely explained by the past landscape composition (legacy effect), depending on the type, magnitude and directionality of recent land cover change. This legacy effect leads to widespread extinction debts and colonization credits. Specifically, we reveal debts across 52% of the United States, particularly in recently urbanized areas, and colonization credits in the remaining 48%, which are primarily associated with grassland decrease. We conclude that biodiversity policy targets risk becoming rapidly obsolete unless past landscapes are considered and debts and credits accounted for.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Haddou, Mr Yacob and Mancy, Dr Rebecca and Spatharis, Dr Sofie and Dominoni, Dr Davide and Matthiopoulos, Professor Jason |
| Creator Roles: | Haddou, Y.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft Mancy, R.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft Matthiopoulos, J.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft Spatharis, S.Conceptualization, Writing – original draft Dominoni, D.Conceptualization, Writing – original draft |
| Authors: | Haddou, Y., Mancy, R., Matthiopoulos, J., Spatharis, S., and Dominoni, D. M. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Life Sciences College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine |
| Journal Name: | Nature Ecology and Evolution |
| Publisher: | Nature Research |
| ISSN: | 2397-334X |
| ISSN (Online): | 2397-334X |
| Published Online: | 10 February 2022 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2022 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Nature Ecology and Evolution 6(3): 324–331 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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