Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Tropical forest disruption is a primary threat to global biodiversity.
• Protected areas are crucial refuges but face encroachment and environmental stress.
• Assessing the long-term biodiversity-sustaining capacity of these reserves is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of tropical protected areas in conserving biodiversity over 20-30 years.
• To identify key drivers of biodiversity change within and around these reserves.
• To understand the ecological linkages between protected areas and their surrounding landscapes.

Main Methods:

• Compiled a comprehensive dataset on 31 species functional groups and 21 environmental drivers.
• Analyzed changes over 20-30 years across 60 protected areas globally.
• Correlated reserve health with internal and external environmental changes.

Main Results:

• Significant variation in protected area 'health' observed; approximately half are effective, while others show widespread biodiversity erosion.
• Habitat disruption, hunting, and forest-product exploitation are key predictors of declining reserve health.
• Environmental changes outside reserves significantly impact their ecological fate, mirroring internal changes.

Conclusions:

• Tropical protected areas are ecologically intertwined with surrounding habitats.
• Effective conservation requires addressing threats both inside and immediately outside reserve boundaries.
• Failure to protect surrounding landscapes will likely exacerbate biodiversity declines in protected areas.