Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Laurance, WF; Useche, DC; Rendeiro, J; Kalka, M; Bradshaw, CJA; Sloan, SP; Laurance, SG; Campbell, M; Abernethy, K; Alvarez, P; Ashton, P ...
Published in: Nature
September 2012

The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the world’s major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve ‘health’: about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

September 2012

Volume

489

Issue

7415

Start / End Page

290 / 294

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Climate
  • Trees
  • Temperature
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Research Personnel
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Rain
  • Population Growth
  • Mining
  • Interviews as Topic
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Laurance, W. F., Useche, D. C., Rendeiro, J., Kalka, M., Bradshaw, C. J. A., Sloan, S. P., … Zamzani, F. (2012). Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature, 489(7415), 290–294. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11318
Laurance, William F., D Carolina Useche, Julio Rendeiro, Margareta Kalka, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Sean P. Sloan, Susan G. Laurance, et al. “Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas.Nature 489, no. 7415 (September 2012): 290–94. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11318.
Laurance WF, Useche DC, Rendeiro J, Kalka M, Bradshaw CJA, Sloan SP, et al. Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature. 2012 Sep;489(7415):290–4.
Laurance, William F., et al. “Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas.Nature, vol. 489, no. 7415, Sept. 2012, pp. 290–94. Epmc, doi:10.1038/nature11318.
Laurance WF, Useche DC, Rendeiro J, Kalka M, Bradshaw CJA, Sloan SP, Laurance SG, Campbell M, Abernethy K, Alvarez P, Arroyo-Rodriguez V, Ashton P, Benítez-Malvido J, Blom A, Bobo KS, Cannon CH, Cao M, Carroll R, Chapman C, Coates R, Cords M, Danielsen F, De Dijn B, Dinerstein E, Donnelly MA, Edwards D, Edwards F, Farwig N, Fashing P, Forget P-M, Foster M, Gale G, Harris D, Harrison R, Hart J, Karpanty S, Kress WJ, Krishnaswamy J, Logsdon W, Lovett J, Magnusson W, Maisels F, Marshall AR, McClearn D, Mudappa D, Nielsen MR, Pearson R, Pitman N, van der Ploeg J, Plumptre A, Poulsen J, Quesada M, Rainey H, Robinson D, Roetgers C, Rovero F, Scatena F, Schulze C, Sheil D, Struhsaker T, Terborgh J, Thomas D, Timm R, Urbina-Cardona JN, Vasudevan K, Wright SJ, Arias-G JC, Arroyo L, Ashton M, Auzel P, Babaasa D, Babweteera F, Baker P, Banki O, Bass M, Bila-Isia I, Blake S, Brockelman W, Brokaw N, Brühl CA, Bunyavejchewin S, Chao J-T, Chave J, Chellam R, Clark CJ, Clavijo J, Congdon R, Corlett R, Dattaraja HS, Dave C, Davies G, Beisiegel BDM, da Silva RDNP, Di Fiore A, Diesmos A, Dirzo R, Doran-Sheehy D, Eaton M, Emmons L, Estrada A, Ewango C, Fedigan L, Feer F, Fruth B, Willis JG, Goodale U, Goodman S, Guix JC, Guthiga P, Haber W, Hamer K, Herbinger I, Hill J, Huang Z, Sun IF, Ickes K, Itoh A, Ivanauskas N, Jackes B, Janovec J, Janzen D, Jiangming M, Jin C, Jones T, Justiniano H, Kalko E, Kasangaki A, Killeen T, King H-B, Klop E, Knott C, Koné I, Kudavidanage E, Ribeiro JLDS, Lattke J, Laval R, Lawton R, Leal M, Leighton M, Lentino M, Leonel C, Lindsell J, Ling-Ling L, Linsenmair KE, Losos E, Lugo A, Lwanga J, Mack AL, Martins M, McGraw WS, McNab R, Montag L, Thompson JM, Nabe-Nielsen J, Nakagawa M, Nepal S, Norconk M, Novotny V, O’Donnell S, Opiang M, Ouboter P, Parker K, Parthasarathy N, Pisciotta K, Prawiradilaga D, Pringle C, Rajathurai S, Reichard U, Reinartz G, Renton K, Reynolds G, Reynolds V, Riley E, Rödel M-O, Rothman J, Round P, Sakai S, Sanaiotti T, Savini T, Schaab G, Seidensticker J, Siaka A, Silman MR, Smith TB, de Almeida SS, Sodhi N, Stanford C, Stewart K, Stokes E, Stoner KE, Sukumar R, Surbeck M, Tobler M, Tscharntke T, Turkalo A, Umapathy G, van Weerd M, Rivera JV, Venkataraman M, Venn L, Verea C, de Castilho CV, Waltert M, Wang B, Watts D, Weber W, West P, Whitacre D, Whitney K, Wilkie D, Williams S, Wright DD, Wright P, Xiankai L, Yonzon P, Zamzani F. Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature. 2012 Sep;489(7415):290–294.
Journal cover image

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

September 2012

Volume

489

Issue

7415

Start / End Page

290 / 294

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Climate
  • Trees
  • Temperature
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Research Personnel
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Rain
  • Population Growth
  • Mining
  • Interviews as Topic