scholarly journals Putting species back on the map: devising a robust method for quantifying the biodiversity impacts of land conversion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
América P. Durán ◽  
Jonathan M.H. Green ◽  
Christopher D. West ◽  
Piero Visconti ◽  
Neil D. Burgess ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Direct Conversion ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTAimQuantifying connections between the global drivers of habitat loss and biodiversity impact is vital for decision-makers promoting responsible land-use. To that end, biodiversity impact metrics should be able to report linked trends in specific anthropogenic activities and changes in biodiversity state. However, for biodiversity, it is challenging to deliver integrated information on its multiple dimensions (i.e. species richness, endemicity) and keep it practical. Here, we developed a biodiversity footprint indicator that can i) capture the status of different species groups, ii) link biodiversity impact to specific human activities, and iii) be adapted to the most applicable scale for the decision context.LocationCerrado Biome, BrazilMethodsWe illustrate this globally-applicable approach for the case of soybean expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado. Using species-specific habitat suitability models, we assessed the impact of soy expansion and other land uses over 2,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and plants for three time periods between 2000 and 2014.ResultsOverall, plants suffered the greatest reduction of suitable habitat. However, among endemic and near-endemic species – which face greatest risk of global extinction from habitat conversion in the Cerrado - birds were the most affected group. While planted pastures and cropland expansion were together responsible for most of the absolute biodiversity footprint, soy expansion via direct conversion of natural vegetation had the greatest impact per unit area. The total biodiversity footprint over the period was concentrated in the southern states of Minas Geráis, Goiás and Mato Grosso, but the soy footprint was proportionally higher in those northern states (such as Bahía and Piauí) which belong to the new agricultural frontier.Main conclusionsThe ability and flexibility of our approach to examine linkages between biodiversity loss and specific human activities has substantial potential to better characterise the pathways by which habitat loss drivers operate.

scholarly journals Animals in Our Midst: An Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jozef Keulartz ◽  
Bernice Bovenkerk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Landscape Degradation ◽  
The World ◽  
Habitat Loss And Fragmentation

AbstractIn this introduction we describe how the world has changed for animals in the Anthropocene—the current age, in which human activities have influenced the planet on a scale never seen before. In this era, we find many different types of animals in our midst: some—in particular livestock—are both victims of and unwittingly complicit in causing the Anthropocene. Others are forced to respond to new environmental conditions. Think of animals that due to climate change can no longer survive in their native habitats or wild animals that in response to habitat loss and fragmentation are forced to live in urban areas. Some animals are being domesticated or in contrast de-domesticated, and yet others are going extinct or in contrast are being resurrected. These changing conditions have led to new tensions between humans and other animals. How can we shape our relationships with all these different animals in a rapidly changing world in such a way that both animal welfare and species diversity are not further affected? We describe how animal ethics is changing in these trying times and illustrate the impacts of Anthropocene conditions on animals by zooming in on one country where many problems, such as biodiversity loss and landscape degradation, converge, the Netherlands. We conclude by giving an overview of the different chapters in this volume, which are organised into five parts: animal agents, domesticated animals, urban animals, wild animals and animal artefacts.

scholarly journals The Impact of Late Holocene Flood Management on the Central Po Plain (Northern Italy)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Brandolini ◽  
Mauro Cremaschi
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Po Plain ◽  
The Impact

Fluvial environments have always played a crucial role in human history. The necessity of fertile land and fresh water for agriculture has led populations to settle in floodplains more frequently than in other environments. Floodplains are complex human–water systems in which the mutual interaction between anthropogenic activities and environment affected the landscape development. In this paper, we analyzed the evolution of the Central Po Plain (Italy) during the Medieval period through a multi-proxy record of geomorphological, archaeological and historical data. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD) coincided with a progressive waterlogging of large floodplain areas. The results obtained by this research shed new light on the consequences that Post-Roman land and water management activities had on landscape evolution. In particular, the exploitation of fluvial sediments through flood management practices had the effect of reclaiming the swamps, but also altered the natural geomorphological development of the area. Even so, the Medieval human activities were more in equilibrium with the natural system than with the later Renaissance large-scale land reclamation works that profoundly modified the landscape turning the wetland environment into the arable land visible today. The analysis of fluvial palaeoenvironments and their relation with past human activities can provide valuable indications for planning more sustainable urbanized alluvial landscapes in future.

A Study on Social Awareness about Deforestation in India

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
S. Nivithra ◽  
K.S. Shoba Jasmin
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
General Public ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

Forests keep our climate stable, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, and they regulate our water supply and improve its quality. Forests are vulnerable to anthropogenic activities which affect the biodiversity with adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts. Large-scale destruction of the forests began with the British who wished to utilise the timber and the natural resources for the expansion and continuation of the empire. Over recent decades, human activity has also severely impacted the habitats and natural resources that wildlife and humanity depend on such as oceans, forests, coral reefs, wetlands and mangroves. This study attempted to analyse the level of awareness among the general public about deforestation in India. The impact of deforestation is poorly understood and the rate of deforestation is alarming the environmentalists wishing to protect the wildlife and forest resources. The causes and impacts of deforestation are associated with human activities but the linkage is not clearly understood by the public and the level of awareness is poor.

scholarly journals Impacts of Climate and Anthropogenic Activities on Streamflow Regimes in the Beiluo River, China

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2892
Author(s):  
Zhibo Xie ◽  
Xingmin Mu ◽  
Peng Gao ◽  
Changxue Wu ◽  
Dexun Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Annual Streamflow ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Daily Streamflow ◽  
Significant Downward Trend ◽  
The Impact

Quantitatively assessing the characteristics of river streamflow variation and conducting research on attribution identification are the basis for formulating climate-change response strategies and rational use of water resources. Based on the daily streamflow data of the Zhuangtou Hydrological Station in 1970–2018, this paper analyzes the streamflow changes in the Beiluo River Basin and studies the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the streamflow in this basin. A non-parametric Mann–Kendall test and Pettitt’s test were used to determine the trend and detect abrupt changes of streamflow and baseflow. The method based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, as well as the double-mass curve of precipitation–streamflow, was established to evaluate the impact of climate change and non-climate factors on annual streamflow. The results reveal a statistically significant downward trend (p = 0.01) in both annual streamflow and baseflow, with the abrupt point year in 1994 and 1988, respectively. When comparing to a modest declining trend in annual average precipitation, we see that the temperature showed a significant upward trend (p = 0.01), whose abrupt point year was 1996. Under the policy of returning farmland to forest, land-use analysis shows that the area of farmland had decreased by 222.4 km2, of which 31.4% was mainly converted into the forestland. By the end of 2015, the area of forestland had increased by 123.4 km2, which has largely caused streamflow decrease. For the method based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, climate change contributed 43.7% of the annual streamflow change, and human activities (mainly refers to LUCC) contributed 56.3%. For the DMC of precipitation–streamflow, the precipitation contributed 9.4%, and non-precipitation factors (mainly refers to human activities) contributed 90.6%, and human activities played a more vital part in driving streamflow reduction in different decades, with a contribution rate of more than 70%. This study is of great practical significance to the planning, management, development and utilization of water resources in basins.

Response of karst springs to climate change and anthropogenic activities: the Niangziguan Springs, China

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 634-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonghong Hao ◽  
Yajie Wang ◽  
Yuen Zhu ◽  
Yi Lin ◽  
Jet-Chau Wen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Grey System Theory ◽  
Spring Discharge ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Groundwater Abstraction ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Niangziguan Springs

Discharge from the largest karst spring in north China, the Niangziguan Springs, has been declining since the 1950s. This paper examines the response of these springs to climatic change and anthropogenic influence by attempting a model-based discrimination between phases in the stream discharge record. In Niangziguan Springs Basin, the exploitation of karst groundwater began in 1979. Accordingly, the spring discharge data were divided into two phases: pre-1979 and post-1979. In the first phase (1957—78) the spring discharge was believed to be affected solely by climate change, and in the second phase (1979—2007) the spring discharge was influenced by both climate change and human activities. Using grey system theory, a discharge model was estimated for the first phase. Extrapolating the model, we obtained a projection of the spring discharge during the second phase. Using a water balance calculation, we discerned the respective effects of climate change and human activities on depletion of spring discharge for the second phase. The results show that the contribution of climate change to depletion of Niangziguan Springs is 2.30m3/s and the contribution of anthropogenic activities ranges from 1.89 to 2.90 m3/s, although this assumes a constant for the climate change effect. Accordingly, the anthropogenic effects have been approaching and surpassing the effects of climate change during the second phase. With respect to the impact of human activities on spring discharge, groundwater abstraction accounts for only about 34—52% of the declines; 48—66% of the declines are related to other human activities, such as dewatering from coal mining, dam building and deforestation.

scholarly journals Anthropocene refugia: integrating history and predictive modelling to assess the space available for biodiversity in a human-dominated world

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Monsarrat ◽  
Scott Jarvie ◽  
Jens-Christian Svenning
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Predictive Modelling ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
The Future ◽  
Novel Concept ◽  
The Impact

1.AbstractDuring periods of strong environmental change, some areas may serve as refugia, where components of biodiversity can find protection, persist and potentially expand from should conditions again become favourable. The refugia concept has previously been used in the context of climatic change, to describe climatically stable areas in which taxa survived past Quaternary glacial-interglacial oscillations, or where they might persist in the future under anthropogenic climate change. However, with the recognition that Earth has entered the Anthropocene, an era in which human activities are the dominant driving force on ecosystems, it is critical to also consider human pressures on the environment as factors limiting species distributions. Here, we present a novel concept, Anthropocene refugia, to refer to areas that provide spatial and temporal protection from human activities and that will remain suitable for a given taxonomic unit in the long-term. It integrates a deep-time perspective on species biogeography that provides information on the natural rather than current-day relictual distribution of species, with spatial information on modern and future anthropogenic threats. We define the concept and propose a methodology to effectively identify and map realised and potential current and future refugia, using examples for two megafauna species as a proof of concept. We argue that identifying Anthropocene refugia will improve biodiversity conservation and restoration by allowing better prediction of key areas for conservation and potential for re-expansions today and in the future. More generally, it forms a new conceptual framework to assess and manage the impact of anthropogenic activities on past, current and future patterns of species distributions.

Landscapes, ecology and wildlife management in highly modified environments - an Australian perspective

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Timber Production ◽  
Habitat Value ◽  
Habitat Loss And Fragmentation ◽  
Species Specific

Landscapes in southern Australia have been extensively modified by a variety of human activities, predominantly agriculture and urban development. Over much of the area, native vegetation has been replaced with agriculture or buildings and infrastructure. A continuum exists from areas that remain largely intact, but are modified in some way (e.g. forests managed for timber production), to areas where the remaining native vegetation is fragmented to varying degrees. Habitat management will vary across this continuum, depending on the degree of habitat loss and isolation. In areas outside the main zones of agricultural and urban development, the process of habitat loss and fragmentation is less in evidence. Here, instead, the landscapes remain apparently structurally intact, in that the native vegetation is not actually removed. However, these landscapes have also, in many cases, been significantly modified, particularly by pastoralism and related activities, to the extent that their value as habitat is impaired. Declining habitat value in northern landscapes may lead to the same types of functional fragmentation as found in the south. An examination of the differences and similarities between southern and northern landscapes can highlight what can be learned from the southern experience which may be of value in savanna landscapes. In both cases, the importance of considering impacts in relation to species-specific responses needs to be emphasised.

scholarly journals Mobile resistome of human gut and pathogen drives anthropogenic bloom of antibiotic resistance

Microbiome ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kihyun Lee ◽  
Dae-Wi Kim ◽  
Do-Hoon Lee ◽  
Yong-Seok Kim ◽  
Ji-Hye Bu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽  
Anthropogenic Influences ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spatial Continuum

Abstract Background The impact of human activities on the environmental resistome has been documented in many studies, but there remains the controversial question of whether the increased antibiotic resistance observed in anthropogenically impacted environments is just a result of contamination by resistant fecal microbes or is mediated by indigenous environmental organisms. Here, to determine exactly how anthropogenic influences shape the environmental resistome, we resolved the microbiome, resistome, and mobilome of the planktonic microbial communities along a single river, the Han, which spans a gradient of human activities. Results The bloom of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was evident in the downstream regions and distinct successional dynamics of the river resistome occurred across the spatial continuum. We identified a number of widespread ARG sequences shared between the river, human gut, and pathogenic bacteria. These human-related ARGs were largely associated with mobile genetic elements rather than particular gut taxa and mainly responsible for anthropogenically driven bloom of the downstream river resistome. Furthermore, both sequence- and phenotype-based analyses revealed environmental relatives of clinically important proteobacteria as major carriers of these ARGs. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a more nuanced view of the impact of anthropogenic activities on the river resistome: fecal contamination is present and allows the transmission of ARGs to the environmental resistome, but these mobile genes rather than resistant fecal bacteria proliferate in environmental relatives of their original hosts.

scholarly journals Anthropocene refugia: integrating history and predictive modelling to assess the space available for biodiversity in a human-dominated world

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1788) ◽  
pp. 20190219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Monsarrat ◽  
Scott Jarvie ◽  
Jens-Christian Svenning
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Predictive Modelling ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
The Future ◽  
Novel Concept ◽  
The Impact

During periods of strong environmental change, some areas may serve as refugia, where components of biodiversity can find protection, persist and potentially expand from should conditions again become favourable. The refugia concept has previously been used in the context of climatic change, to describe climatically stable areas in which taxa survived past Quaternary glacial–interglacial oscillations, or where they might persist in the future under anthropogenic climate change. However, with the recognition that Earth has entered the Anthropocene, an era in which human activities are the dominant driving force on ecosystems, it is critical to also consider human pressures on the environment as factors limiting species distributions. Here, we present a novel concept, Anthropocene refugia, to refer to areas that provide spatial and temporal protection from human activities and that will remain suitable for a given taxonomic unit in the long-term. It integrates a deep-time perspective on species biogeography that provides information on the natural rather than current-day relictual distribution of species, with spatial information on modern and future anthropogenic threats. We define the concept and propose a methodology to effectively identify and map realized and potential current and future refugia, using examples for two megafaunal species as a proof of concept. We argue that identifying Anthropocene refugia will improve biodiversity conservation and restoration by allowing better prediction of key areas for conservation and potential for re-expansions today and in the future. More generally, it forms a new conceptual framework to assess and manage the impact of anthropogenic activities on past, current and future patterns of species distributions. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The past is a foreign country: how much can the fossil record actually inform conservation?’

scholarly journals The most important message in the history of mankind

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Piotr Skubała
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Important Message ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIt the long history of life on the Earth five major mass extinctions were observed. Nowadays, the impact of human activities on the planet has accelerated the loss of species and ecosystems to a level comparable to a sixth mass extinction, the first driven by a living species. Surprisingly, this fact rarely reaches the public consciousness. The negative influence of human activity is observed in whole area of land ecosystems, whereas marine ecosystems are at risk of entering a phase of extinction unprecedented in human history. We have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems causing unforeseen changes in ecosystem attributes. Humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 50% and now lives unsustainabily by depleting stocks of natural capital. Three the Earth-system processes - climate change, rate of biodiversity loss and interference with the nitrogen cycle - have already transgressed their boundaries. Human activities are of sufficient magnitude to suggest that we have triggered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The “Biosphere 2” project revailed that we are not able to build and control a different system life and that we are totally dependent on the present biosphere. The experiment known in the literature as “The Tragedy of the Commons” reminds us that we need frugality and cooperation to solve environmental problems and survive.

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