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The human dimension of biodiversity changes on islands

Nogué, Sandra ; Santos, Ana M.C. ; John, H. ; Björck, Svante LU ; Castilla-Beltrán, Alvaro ; Connor, Simon ; de Boer, Erik J. ; de Nascimento, Lea ; Felde, Vivian A. and Fernández-Palacios, José María , et al. (2021) In Science 372(6541). p.488-491
Abstract

Islands are among the last regions on Earth settled and transformed by human activities, and they provide replicated model systems for analysis of how people affect ecological functions. By analyzing 27 representative fossil pollen sequences encompassing the past 5000 years from islands globally, we quantified the rates of vegetation compositional change before and after human arrival. After human arrival, rates of turnover accelerate by a median factor of 11, with faster rates on islands colonized in the past 1500 years than for those colonized earlier. This global anthropogenic acceleration in turnover suggests that islands are on trajectories of continuing change. Strategies for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration... (More)

Islands are among the last regions on Earth settled and transformed by human activities, and they provide replicated model systems for analysis of how people affect ecological functions. By analyzing 27 representative fossil pollen sequences encompassing the past 5000 years from islands globally, we quantified the rates of vegetation compositional change before and after human arrival. After human arrival, rates of turnover accelerate by a median factor of 11, with faster rates on islands colonized in the past 1500 years than for those colonized earlier. This global anthropogenic acceleration in turnover suggests that islands are on trajectories of continuing change. Strategies for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration must acknowledge the long duration of human impacts and the degree to which ecological changes today differ from prehuman dynamics.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Science
volume
372
issue
6541
pages
4 pages
publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105225844
  • pmid:33926949
ISSN
0036-8075
DOI
10.1126/science.abd6706
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a1339d79-c1ac-4be4-b193-4724a8a7fd0c
date added to LUP
2021-05-20 09:20:31
date last changed
2024-05-05 06:19:40
@article{a1339d79-c1ac-4be4-b193-4724a8a7fd0c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Islands are among the last regions on Earth settled and transformed by human activities, and they provide replicated model systems for analysis of how people affect ecological functions. By analyzing 27 representative fossil pollen sequences encompassing the past 5000 years from islands globally, we quantified the rates of vegetation compositional change before and after human arrival. After human arrival, rates of turnover accelerate by a median factor of 11, with faster rates on islands colonized in the past 1500 years than for those colonized earlier. This global anthropogenic acceleration in turnover suggests that islands are on trajectories of continuing change. Strategies for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration must acknowledge the long duration of human impacts and the degree to which ecological changes today differ from prehuman dynamics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nogué, Sandra and Santos, Ana M.C. and John, H. and Björck, Svante and Castilla-Beltrán, Alvaro and Connor, Simon and de Boer, Erik J. and de Nascimento, Lea and Felde, Vivian A. and Fernández-Palacios, José María and Froyd, Cynthia A. and Haberle, Simon G. and Hooghiemstra, Henry and Ljung, Karl and Norder, Sietze J. and Peñuelas, Josep and Prebble, Matthew and Stevenson, Janelle and Whittaker, Robert J. and Willis, Kathy J. and Wilmshurst, Janet M. and Steinbauer, Manuel J.}},
  issn         = {{0036-8075}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{6541}},
  pages        = {{488--491}},
  publisher    = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
  series       = {{Science}},
  title        = {{The human dimension of biodiversity changes on islands}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abd6706}},
  doi          = {{10.1126/science.abd6706}},
  volume       = {{372}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}