Biology subjects

Lindenmayer, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Lindenmayer, D..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A data-driven redefinition of global biodiversity hotspots

The 36 global biodiversity hotspots harbor a disproportionate share of the worlds endemic species, making their conservation critical for planetary health. Traditionally hotspots were defined as ecoregions with [≥]1,500 endemic vascular plant species and >70% natural habitat loss; this relied heavily on expert judgment, with subjective assessments of endemism and habitat loss applied. Challenges in defining endemism, quantifying habitat loss, and the global unevenness in available vascular plant data have hindered hotspot identification over the past decades. Here, we built a global dataset of 150,487 rare vascular plants, identified from 88.1% of the worlds known vascular species, and recognize hotspots based on their richness using three complementary conservation targets and algorithms. We then quantified natural habitat loss and habitat fragmentation using high-resolution remote sensing data and assessed the diversity and distribution of terrestrial vertebrates within these newly identified hotspots. Our data-driven method recovered all the 36 established global biodiversity hotspots, revised 17, and identified 11 new hotspots spanning diverse ecosystems across six continents. These 47 hotspots cover 26.63% of global land area, yet contain 83.8% of rare vascular plants, 92.4% of mammals, 96.1% of birds, 87.8% of reptiles, and 95.0% of amphibians. Collectively, they encompass >89% of terrestrial vertebrates classified as IUCN threatened species. Only 10 hotspots have undergone [≥]70% habitat loss, and the lack of a consistent relationship with habitat fragmentation suggests that this criterion is not globally applicable. Effectively protecting [~]27% of Earths land could theoretically safeguard >89.8% of threatened terrestrial species and >67% of threatened terrestrial species hotspot area, assuming effective protection of the identified biodiversity hotspots. Targeted conservation efforts within these global biodiversity hotspots can meet the established biodiversity targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as well as post-2030 biodiversity targets. Most importantly, our framework enables conservation scientists to iteratively identify and update global biodiversity hotspots in step with growing global biodiversity data.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

The impacts of contemporary logging after 250 years of deforestation and degradation on forest-dependent threatened species

Despite the importance of safeguarding forests and woodlands for achieving global climate and biodiversity agendas, logging continues across most forested countries. Forestry advocates often claim logging has minimal impacts, but rarely consider the cumulative threat deforestation and degradation has had, and continue to have, on species. Using New South Wales (Australia) as a case study, we quantify the extent of deforestation and degradation from 1750 - current. Using these estimates of overall loss as a baseline, we then quantify the relative extent of contemporary (2000 - 2022) logging and the condition of the remaining native forest and woodland (quantified by measuring the similarity of a current ecosystem to a historical reference state with high ecological integrity). Using these data, we measure the impacts on distinct vegetation types and on 484 terrestrial forest-dependent now-threatened species. We show that more than half (29 million ha) of pre-1750 (pre-European colonization of Australia) native forest and woodland vegetation in NSW has been lost. Of the remaining 25 million ha, 9 million ha is degraded. We found contemporary degradation from logging affected 244 forest-dependent now-threatened species that had already been affected by this historical deforestation and degradation, but the impacts varied across species and vegetation types. We found that 70 now-threatened species that were impacted by historical deforestation and degradation and continue to be impacted by logging, now have [≤]50% of their pre-1750 extent remaining that is intact (with three species now having <20%). By quantifying the historical impacts of deforestation and degradation, our research sets the impact of contemporary degradation from logging in perspective and highlights shortfalls in current environmental assessments that fail to consider appropriate baselines when reporting on overall impact. Future land management decisions need to consider not only the extent of remaining habitat based on pre-1750 extents, but also its condition. Article impact statementThe impact of logging needs to be placed in perspective by considering past losses and degradation due to human land use decisions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

High species turnover shapes anuran community composition in ponds along an urban-rural gradient

The rapid expansion of urban areas in which natural and semi-natural areas are replaced by human infrastructure, such as buildings and streets, is a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. However, little is known about how the structure of biotic communities is affected by urbanization in the tropics. Here, we tested the effect of land use types in urban and peri-urban areas on frog species richness and community composition in central Brazil. We selected 20 ponds differing in size and surrounding levels of urbanization as well as natural forest cover. We then used a Poisson GLM and a distance-based Redundancy Analysis (db-RDA) to relate species richness and community composition, respectively, to environmental variables. Variation in species richness was best explained by pond size (positive effect) and amount of urbanization (negative effect) in the surrounding 500 m. Community composition was mainly driven by species turnover than by nestedness, with db-RDA showing that turnover was explained primarily by urban infrastructure and forest cover. Our results indicate that urbanization negatively influences species richness. Moreover, as the amount of urbanization increased, several species were replaced by others taxa that appear better adapted to urban environments. Our results indicate that maintaining large ponds with surrounding native vegetation in urban environments might be an effective strategy for conserving frog communities.

ecology↗