Journal ArticleDOI
Species diversity: from global decreases to local increases
Dov F. Sax,Steven D. Gaines +1 more
TLDR
The authors examine evidence that indicates how species diversity is changing across spatial scales and argue that global decreases in diversity are commonly contrasted by increases in diversity at regional and local scales, and conclude that diversity might commonly be increasing.Abstract:
Current patterns of global change can strongly affect biodiversity at global, regional and local scales. At global scales, habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic species are contributing to declines in species diversity. At regional and local scales, evidence for declines in diversity is mixed, and recent work suggests that diversity might commonly be increasing. In spite of these trends, considerable research continues to consider explicitly the effects of declines in diversity on processes that operate at regional and local scales (such as ecosystem functioning), without explicitly considering the converse set of questions, namely the effects of increases in diversity. Here, we examine evidence that indicates how species diversity is changing across spatial scales and argue that global decreases in diversity are commonly contrasted by increases in diversity at regional and local scales.read more
Citations
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Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge
D. U. Hooper,F. S. Chapin,John J. Ewel,Andy Hector,P. Inchausti,Sandra Lavorel,John H. Lawton,David M. Lodge,Michel Loreau,Shahid Naeem,Bernhard Schmid,Heikki Setälä,Amy J. Symstad,John Vandermeer,David A. Wardle,David A. Wardle +15 more
TL;DR: Understanding this complexity, while taking strong steps to minimize current losses of species, is necessary for responsible management of Earth's ecosystems and the diverse biota they contain.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
Bradley J. Cardinale,J. Emmett Duffy,Andrew Gonzalez,David U. Hooper,Charles Perrings,Patrick Venail,Anita Narwani,Georgina M. Mace,David Tilman,David A. Wardle,Ann P. Kinzig,Gretchen C. Daily,Michel Loreau,James B. Grace,Anne Larigauderie,Diane S. Srivastava,Shahid Naeem +16 more
TL;DR: It is argued that human actions are dismantling the Earth’s ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate, and the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper is asked.
Journal ArticleDOI
Urbanization as a major cause of biotic homogenization
TL;DR: In this paper, a basic conservation challenge is that urban biota is often quite diverse and very abundant, and that, because so many urban species are immigrants adapting to city habitats, urbanites of all income levels become increasingly disconnected from local indigenous species and their natural ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants
Arnold B. Erickson,Charles Elton +1 more
TL;DR: Elton's "The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants" as mentioned in this paper is one of the most cited books on invasion biology, and it provides an accessible, engaging introduction to the most important environmental crises of our time.
Journal ArticleDOI
No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide.
Hanno Seebens,Hanno Seebens,Tim M. Blackburn,Ellie E. Dyer,Ellie E. Dyer,Piero Genovesi,Philip E. Hulme,Jonathan M. Jeschke,Jonathan M. Jeschke,Shyama Pagad,Petr Pyšek,Petr Pyšek,Petr Pyšek,Marten Winter,Margarita Arianoutsou,Sven Bacher,Bernd Blasius,Giuseppe Brundu,César Capinha,Laura Celesti-Grapow,Wayne Dawson,Wayne Dawson,Stefan Dullinger,Nicol Fuentes,Heinke Jäger,John Kartesz,Marc Kenis,Holger Kreft,Ingolf Kühn,Ingolf Kühn,Bernd Lenzner,Andrew M. Liebhold,Alexander Mosena,Dietmar Moser,Misako Nishino,David Pearman,Jan Pergl,Wolfgang Rabitsch,Julissa Rojas-Sandoval,Alain Roques,Stephanie L. Rorke,Silvia Rossinelli,Helen E. Roy,Riccardo Scalera,Stefan Schindler,Kateřina Štajerová,Kateřina Štajerová,Barbara Tokarska-Guzik,Mark van Kleunen,Kevin J. Walker,Patrick Weigelt,Takehiko Yamanaka,Franz Essl,Franz Essl +53 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a database of 45,813 first records of 16,926 established alien species and showed that the annual rate of first records worldwide has increased during the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1970-2014).
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants.
P. W. Richards,Charles Elton +1 more
Journal ArticleDOI
Quantifying threats to imperiled species in the united states
TL;DR: Surprisingly, there have been surprisingly few analyses of the extent to which each of these factors-much less the more specific deeds encomDavid S. Wilcove is a senior ecologist at the Environmental Defense Fund and David Rothstein re ceived his J.D. in 1997 from Northeastern
Book
The Diversity of Life
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the processes that produce new species, explain the importance of biodiversity, and recommend steps to help preserve diversity and improve the general quality of life of humans.
Journal ArticleDOI
Habitat destruction and the extinction debt
TL;DR: A model is described that explains multispecies coexistence in patchy habitats and which predicts that their abundance may be fleeting, a future ecological cost of current habitat destruction.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biotic homogenization: a few winners replacing many losers in the next mass extinction
TL;DR: Emerging evidence shows that most species are declining and are being replaced by a much smaller number of expanding species that thrive in human-altered environments, leading to a more homogenized biosphere with lower diversity at regional and global scales.
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