Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity
Status Publisher Language English Country England, Great Britain Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article
PubMed
40175550
DOI
10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5
PII: 10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Anthropogenic biodiversity decline threatens the functioning of ecosystems and the many benefits they provide to humanity1. As well as causing species losses in directly affected locations, human influence might also reduce biodiversity in relatively unmodified vegetation if far-reaching anthropogenic effects trigger local extinctions and hinder recolonization. Here we show that local plant diversity is globally negatively related to the level of anthropogenic activity in the surrounding region. Impoverishment of natural vegetation was evident only when we considered community completeness: the proportion of all suitable species in the region that are present at a site. To estimate community completeness, we compared the number of recorded species with the dark diversity-ecologically suitable species that are absent from a site but present in the surrounding region2. In the sampled regions with a minimal human footprint index, an average of 35% of suitable plant species were present locally, compared with less than 20% in highly affected regions. Besides having the potential to uncover overlooked threats to biodiversity, dark diversity also provides guidance for nature conservation. Species in the dark diversity remain regionally present, and their local populations might be restored through measures that improve connectivity between natural vegetation fragments and reduce threats to population persistence.
Aerospace Information Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Arctic Research Centre Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark
Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies Mancelona MI USA
Australian Tropical Herbarium James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia
Australian Tropical Herbarium James Cook University Smithfield Queensland Australia
Biodiversity Research Institute Universitat de Barcelona Barcelona Spain
Biodiversity Research Institute University of Oviedo CSIC Principality of Asturias Mieres Spain
Biology Education Dokuz Eylül University Buca Turkey
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research University of Bergen Bergen Norway
Botanical Institute of Barcelona Barcelona Spain
Centre for Biodiversity and Taxonomy Department of Botany University of Kashmir Srinagar India
Centre for Ecosystem Science UNSW Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
Centre for Environmental Sciences Hasselt University Hasselt Belgium
Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain
Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu Estonia
Chair of Plant Ecology University of Bayreuth Bayreuth Germany
CIDE CSIC UV GVA Valencia Spain
CIRAD UMR Eco and Sols Montpellier France
CIRAD UMR EcoFoG Kourou French Guiana
College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia
Conservatoire d'espaces naturels Centre Val de Loire Orléans France
Deakin University Burwood Victoria Australia
Departamento de Biología Ambiental Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Navarra Pamplona Spain
Departamento de Biología Animal Biología Vegetal y Ecología Universidad de Jaén Jaén Spain
Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida Universidad de Alcalá Alcalá de Henares Spain
Département de biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Quebec Canada
Department of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain
Department of Agronomy University of Almería Almería Spain
Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada
Department of Biological Sciences University of Bergen Bergen Norway
Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark
Department of Biology Faculty of Science Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad Iran
Department of Biology Lund University Lund Sweden
Department of Biology National University of Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mongolia
Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro NC USA
Department of Biotechnology and Life Science University of Insubria Varese Italy
Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic
Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic
Department of Botany Kherson State University Kherson Ukraine
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of the Andes Bogotá Colombia
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
Department of Ecology and Genetics University of Oulu Oulu Finland
Department of Ecology Environment and Plant Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
Department of Ecology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
Department of Ecology University of Szeged Szeged Hungary
Department of Ecoscience Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark
Department of Environmental Science and Policy University of California Davis Davis CA USA
Department of Environmental Sciences University of Basel Basel Switzerland
Department of Functional Ecology Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Třeboň Czech Republic
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa
Department of Geological Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Catania Catania Italy
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Cagliari Cagliari Italy
Department of Life Health and Environmental Science University of L'Aquila Coppito L'Aquila Italy
Department of Mathematics and Science Education Faculty of Education Ordu University Ordu Turkey
Department of Natural Resource Sciences Thompson Rivers University Kamloops British Columbia Canada
Department of Natural Sciences Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester UK
Department of Organismal and Systems Biology University of Ovidedo Oviedo Spain
Department of Physical Geography Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
Department of Plant Biology and Ecology University of the Basque Country UPV EHU Bilbao Spain
Department of Plant Sciences University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
Department of Plant Sciences University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada
Department of Reclamation of Arid and Mountainous Regions University of Tehran Tehran Iran
Division of BioInvasions Global Change and Macroecology University of Vienna Vienna Austria
Eco and Sols University Montpellier CIRAD INRAE Institut Agro IRD Montpellier France
École Pratique des Hautes Études Paris Sciences Lettres University Paris France
Ecology and Biodiversity Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas Almería Spain
Estación Experimental del Zaidín Granada Spain
F Falz Fein Biosphere Reserve Askania Nova Kyiv Ukraine
Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences University of Rostock Rostock Germany
FCEFyN Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba Argentina
Future Regions Research Centre Federation University Australia Ballarat Victoria Australia
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany
Graduate Program in Botany Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Brazil
Greenpeace España Madrid Spain
Gulbali Institute Charles Sturt University Albury New South Wales Australia
Harry Butler Institute Murdoch University Perth Western Australia Australia
Independent reseacher Teberda Russia
Independent researcher Kazan Russia
Independent researcher Kirovsk Russia
Independent researcher Mancelona MI USA
Independent researcher Moscow Russia
Independent researcher Tehran Iran
Institute for Advanced Research in Chemical Sciences Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain
Institute of Biological Sciences University of Zielona Góra Zielona Góra Poland
Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Průhonice Czech Republic
Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences University of Tartu Tartu Estonia
Institute of Environmental Biology Faculty of Biology University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland
Institute of Geology Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia
Institute of Landscape Ecology University of Münster Münster Germany
Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology University of Hamburg Hamburg Germany
Institute of Plant Sciences University of Bern Bern Switzerland
Instituto de Biociências Lab of Vegetation Ecology Universidade Estadual Paulista Rio Claro Brazil
Instituto Interuniversitario del Sistema Tierra de Andalucía Universidad de Jaén Jaén Spain
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal Córdoba Argentina
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria Río Gallegos Argentina
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecologia CSIC Jaca Spain
Kalmar County Administrative Board Färjestaden Sweden
KU Leuven Plant Institute KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
National Monitoring Centre for Biodiversity Germany Leipzig Germany
Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
Netzwerk für Angewandte Ökologie Hamburg Germany
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Bergen Norway
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Oslo Norway
ÖMKi Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Budapest Hungary
Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany
Plant Ecology Group Institute of Evolution and Ecology University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany
Re green Rio de Janeiro Brazil
Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research Leipzig University Leipzig Germany
Research Group Plants and Ecosystems University of Antwerp Wilrijk Belgium
School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine University of Camerino Camerino Italy
School of Grassland Science Beijing Forestry University Beijing China
School of Natural Sciences Macquarie University Sydney New South Wales Australia
Shenzhen MSU BIT University Shenzhen China
Sichuan Academy of Forestry Chengdu China
Terrestrial Ecology Group Department of Ecology Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain
Univ Bordeaux CNRS Bordeaux INP EPOC UMR 5805 Pessac France
Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral CONICET Río Gallegos Argentina
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Bellaterra Spain
University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 LEHNA UMR5023 CNRS ENTPE Villeurbanne France
Vegetation Ecology Research Group Institute of Natural Resource Sciences Wädenswil Switzerland
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University Chernivtsi Ukraine
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