Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight

Extinction rates in the Anthropocene are three orders of magnitude higher than background and disproportionately occur in the tropics, home of half the world’s species. Despite global efforts to combat tropical species extinctions, lack of high-quality, objective information on tropical biodiversity...

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Main Authors: Beaudrot, L., Ahumada, Jorge A., O'Brien, T., Álvarez Loayza, P., Boekee, K., Campos Arceiz, A., Eichberg, D., Espinosa, S., Fegraus, E., Fletcher, C., Gajapersad, K., Hallam, C., Hurtado, J., Jansen, P.A., Kumar, A., Larney, E., Moreira Lima, M.G., Mahony, C., Martin, E.H., McWilliam, A., Mugerwa, B., Ndoundou-Hockemba, M., Razafimahaimodison, J.C., Romero Saltos, H., Rovero, F., Salvador, J., Santos, F., Sheil, D., Spironello, W.R., Willig, M.R., Winarni, Nurul L., Zvoleff, A., Andelman, Sandy J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Public Library of Science 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94043
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author Beaudrot, L.
Ahumada, Jorge A.
O'Brien, T.
Álvarez Loayza, P.
Boekee, K.
Campos Arceiz, A.
Eichberg, D.
Espinosa, S.
Fegraus, E.
Fletcher, C.
Gajapersad, K.
Hallam, C.
Hurtado, J.
Jansen, P.A.
Kumar, A.
Larney, E.
Moreira Lima, M.G.
Mahony, C.
Martin, E.H.
McWilliam, A.
Mugerwa, B.
Ndoundou-Hockemba, M.
Razafimahaimodison, J.C.
Romero Saltos, H.
Rovero, F.
Salvador, J.
Santos, F.
Sheil, D.
Spironello, W.R.
Willig, M.R.
Winarni, Nurul L.
Zvoleff, A.
Andelman, Sandy J.
author_browse Ahumada, Jorge A.
Andelman, Sandy J.
Beaudrot, L.
Boekee, K.
Campos Arceiz, A.
Eichberg, D.
Espinosa, S.
Fegraus, E.
Fletcher, C.
Gajapersad, K.
Hallam, C.
Hurtado, J.
Jansen, P.A.
Kumar, A.
Larney, E.
Mahony, C.
Martin, E.H.
McWilliam, A.
Moreira Lima, M.G.
Mugerwa, B.
Ndoundou-Hockemba, M.
O'Brien, T.
Razafimahaimodison, J.C.
Romero Saltos, H.
Rovero, F.
Salvador, J.
Santos, F.
Sheil, D.
Spironello, W.R.
Willig, M.R.
Winarni, Nurul L.
Zvoleff, A.
Álvarez Loayza, P.
author_facet Beaudrot, L.
Ahumada, Jorge A.
O'Brien, T.
Álvarez Loayza, P.
Boekee, K.
Campos Arceiz, A.
Eichberg, D.
Espinosa, S.
Fegraus, E.
Fletcher, C.
Gajapersad, K.
Hallam, C.
Hurtado, J.
Jansen, P.A.
Kumar, A.
Larney, E.
Moreira Lima, M.G.
Mahony, C.
Martin, E.H.
McWilliam, A.
Mugerwa, B.
Ndoundou-Hockemba, M.
Razafimahaimodison, J.C.
Romero Saltos, H.
Rovero, F.
Salvador, J.
Santos, F.
Sheil, D.
Spironello, W.R.
Willig, M.R.
Winarni, Nurul L.
Zvoleff, A.
Andelman, Sandy J.
author_sort Beaudrot, L.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Extinction rates in the Anthropocene are three orders of magnitude higher than background and disproportionately occur in the tropics, home of half the world’s species. Despite global efforts to combat tropical species extinctions, lack of high-quality, objective information on tropical biodiversity has hampered quantitative evaluation of conservation strategies. In particular, the scarcity of population-level monitoring in tropical forests has stymied assessment of biodiversity outcomes, such as the status and trends of animal populations in protected areas. Here, we evaluate occupancy trends for 511 populations of terrestrial mammals and birds, representing 244 species from 15 tropical forest protected areas on three continents. For the first time to our knowledge, we use annual surveys from tropical forests worldwide that employ a standardized camera trapping protocol, and we compute data analytics that correct for imperfect detection. We found that occupancy declined in 22%, increased in 17%, and exhibited no change in 22% of populations during the last 3–8 years, while 39% of populations were detected too infrequently to assess occupancy changes. Despite extensive variability in occupancy trends, these 15 tropical protected areas have not exhibited systematic declines in biodiversity (i.e., occupancy, richness, or evenness) at the community level. Our results differ from reports of widespread biodiversity declines based on aggregated secondary data and expert opinion and suggest less extreme deterioration in tropical forest protected areas. We simultaneously fill an important conservation data gap and demonstrate the value of large-scale monitoring infrastructure and powerful analytics, which can be scaled to incorporate additional sites, ecosystems, and monitoring methods. In an era of catastrophic biodiversity loss, robust indicators produced from standardized monitoring infrastructure are critical to accurately assess population outcomes and identify conservation strategies that can avert biodiversity collapse.
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spelling CGSpace940432025-06-17T08:24:18Z Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight Beaudrot, L. Ahumada, Jorge A. O'Brien, T. Álvarez Loayza, P. Boekee, K. Campos Arceiz, A. Eichberg, D. Espinosa, S. Fegraus, E. Fletcher, C. Gajapersad, K. Hallam, C. Hurtado, J. Jansen, P.A. Kumar, A. Larney, E. Moreira Lima, M.G. Mahony, C. Martin, E.H. McWilliam, A. Mugerwa, B. Ndoundou-Hockemba, M. Razafimahaimodison, J.C. Romero Saltos, H. Rovero, F. Salvador, J. Santos, F. Sheil, D. Spironello, W.R. Willig, M.R. Winarni, Nurul L. Zvoleff, A. Andelman, Sandy J. protected areas tropical forests populations systematic reviews conservation biodiversity Extinction rates in the Anthropocene are three orders of magnitude higher than background and disproportionately occur in the tropics, home of half the world’s species. Despite global efforts to combat tropical species extinctions, lack of high-quality, objective information on tropical biodiversity has hampered quantitative evaluation of conservation strategies. In particular, the scarcity of population-level monitoring in tropical forests has stymied assessment of biodiversity outcomes, such as the status and trends of animal populations in protected areas. Here, we evaluate occupancy trends for 511 populations of terrestrial mammals and birds, representing 244 species from 15 tropical forest protected areas on three continents. For the first time to our knowledge, we use annual surveys from tropical forests worldwide that employ a standardized camera trapping protocol, and we compute data analytics that correct for imperfect detection. We found that occupancy declined in 22%, increased in 17%, and exhibited no change in 22% of populations during the last 3–8 years, while 39% of populations were detected too infrequently to assess occupancy changes. Despite extensive variability in occupancy trends, these 15 tropical protected areas have not exhibited systematic declines in biodiversity (i.e., occupancy, richness, or evenness) at the community level. Our results differ from reports of widespread biodiversity declines based on aggregated secondary data and expert opinion and suggest less extreme deterioration in tropical forest protected areas. We simultaneously fill an important conservation data gap and demonstrate the value of large-scale monitoring infrastructure and powerful analytics, which can be scaled to incorporate additional sites, ecosystems, and monitoring methods. In an era of catastrophic biodiversity loss, robust indicators produced from standardized monitoring infrastructure are critical to accurately assess population outcomes and identify conservation strategies that can avert biodiversity collapse. 2016 2018-07-03T10:56:51Z 2018-07-03T10:56:51Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94043 en Open Access Public Library of Science Beaudrot, L., Ahumada, J.A., O'Brien, T., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Boekee, K., Campos-Arceiz, A., Eichberg, D., Espinosa, S., Fegraus, E., Fletcher, C., Gajapersad, K., Hallam, C., Hurtado, J., Jansen, P.A., Kumar, A., Larney, E., Moreira Lima, M.G., Mahony, C., Martin, E.H., McWilliam, A., Mugerwa, B., Ndoundou-Hockemba, M., Razafimahaimodison, J.C., Romero-Saltos, H., Rovero, F., Salvador, J., Santos, F., Sheil, D., Spironello, W.R., Willig, M.R., Winarni, N.L., Zvoleff, A., Andelman, S.J.. 2016. Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas : The End Is Not in Sight. Plos Biology, 14 (1) : e1002357. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002357
spellingShingle protected areas
tropical forests
populations
systematic reviews
conservation
biodiversity
Beaudrot, L.
Ahumada, Jorge A.
O'Brien, T.
Álvarez Loayza, P.
Boekee, K.
Campos Arceiz, A.
Eichberg, D.
Espinosa, S.
Fegraus, E.
Fletcher, C.
Gajapersad, K.
Hallam, C.
Hurtado, J.
Jansen, P.A.
Kumar, A.
Larney, E.
Moreira Lima, M.G.
Mahony, C.
Martin, E.H.
McWilliam, A.
Mugerwa, B.
Ndoundou-Hockemba, M.
Razafimahaimodison, J.C.
Romero Saltos, H.
Rovero, F.
Salvador, J.
Santos, F.
Sheil, D.
Spironello, W.R.
Willig, M.R.
Winarni, Nurul L.
Zvoleff, A.
Andelman, Sandy J.
Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title_full Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title_fullStr Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title_full_unstemmed Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title_short Standardized Assessment of Biodiversity Trends in Tropical Forest Protected Areas: The End Is Not in Sight
title_sort standardized assessment of biodiversity trends in tropical forest protected areas the end is not in sight
topic protected areas
tropical forests
populations
systematic reviews
conservation
biodiversity
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94043
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