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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Marion PfeiferORCiD
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by American Association for the Advancemnet of Science, 2019.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Habitat loss is the primary driver of biodiversity decline worldwide, but the effects of fragmentation(the spatial arrangement of remaining habitat) are debated. We tested the hypothesis that forestfragmentation sensitivity—affected by avoidance of habitat edges—should be driven by historicalexposure to, and therefore species’ evolutionary responses to, disturbance. Using a database containing73 datasets collected worldwide (encompassing 4489 animal species), we found that the proportionof fragmentation-sensitive species was nearly three times as high in regions with low rates of historicaldisturbance compared with regions with high rates of disturbance (i.e., fires, glaciation, hurricanes,and deforestation). These disturbances coincide with a latitudinal gradient in which sensitivity increasessixfold at low versus high latitudes. We conclude that conservation efforts to limit edges created byfragmentation will be most important in the world’s tropical forests.
Author(s): Betts MG, Wolf C, Pfeifer M, Banks-Leite C, Arroyo-Rodriguez V, Bandini Ribeiro D, Barlow J, Eigenbrod F, Faria D, Fletcher Jr. RJ, Hadley AS, Hawes JE, Holt RD, Klingbeil B, Kormann U, Lens L, Levi T, Medina-Rangel GF, Melles SL, Mezger D, Morante-Filho JC, Orme CDL, Peres CA, Phalan BT, Pidgeon A, Possingham H, Ripple WJ, Slade EM, Somarriba E, Tobias JA, Tylianakis JM, Urbina-Cardona JN, Valente JJ, Watling JI, Wells K, Wearn OR, Wood E, Young R, Ewers RM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Science
Year: 2019
Volume: 366
Issue: 6470
Pages: 1236-1239
Online publication date: 06/12/2019
Acceptance date: 23/10/2019
Date deposited: 26/11/2019
ISSN (print): 0036-8075
ISSN (electronic): 1095-9203
Publisher: American Association for the Advancemnet of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9387
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9387
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