Mismatch between bird species sensitivity and the protection of intact habitats across the Americas
2021
Cazalis, Victor | Barnes, Megan, D. | Johnston, Alison | Watson, James, E.M. | Sekercioglu, Cagan H. | Rodrigues, Ana S.L. | Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) ; Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Occitanie])-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) | Leipzig University / Universität Leipzig | Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy ; The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology ; Cornell University [New York] | Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science ; The University of Queensland (UQ [All campuses : Brisbane, Dutton Park Gatton, Herston, St Lucia and other locations]) | Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics ; Koç University | University of Utah
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. Protected areas are highly heterogeneous in their effectiveness at buffering human pressure, which may hamper their ability to conserve species highly sensitive to human activities. Here, we use 60 million bird observations from eBird to estimate the sensitivity to human pressure of each bird species breeding in the Americas. Concerningly, we find that ecoregions hosting large proportions of high-sensitivity species, concentrated in tropical biomes, do not have more intact protected habitat. Moreover, 266 high-sensitivity species have little or no intact protected habitat within their distributions. Finally, we show that protected area intactness is decreasing faster where high-sensitivity species concentrate. Our results highlight a major mismatch between species conservation needs and the coverage of intact protected habitats, which likely hampers the long-term effectiveness of protected areas at retaining species. We highlight ecoregions where protection and management of intact habitats, complemented by restoration, is urgently needed.
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