Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Threats to Biodiversity

Threats to Biodiversity

There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.

What is Conservation Biology?

What is Conservation Biology?

Conservation biology is a scientific field that focuses on the preservation of biodiversity in order to protect ecosystems while meeting the needs of the human population. Humans require properly functioning ecosystems to maintain our supply of natural resources, including food, medicines, and building materials.

What is Biodiversity?

What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.

Conservation of Small Populations

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...

What is an Ecosystem?

What is an Ecosystem?

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Reply to: Overestimating outsourced biodiversity loss may misguide policy.

Nature·2026

Same author

Assessing the effectiveness of riparian buffers in protecting biodiversity: a meta-analysis.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Extent of threats to marine fish from the online aquarium trade in the United States.

Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·2025

Same author

Direct mortality due to humans threatens migratory shorebirds.

Nature ecology & evolution·2025

Same author

Trajectories of biodiversity loss and extinction from trade globalization.

Current biology : CB·2025

Same author

Assessing the Corn Belt as an anthropogenic barrier to migrating landbirds in the United States.

Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·2025

Same journal

Daily briefing: How cooperation built the world.

Nature·2026

Same journal

Deep-sea oddities and boatloads of other new species - June's best science images.

Nature·2026

Same journal

From cloning to gene-editing: the enduring legacy of Dolly the sheep.

Nature·2026

Same journal

Time to give hydration breaks the red card? What science says about keeping cool.

Nature·2026

Same journal

Universities are relying on AI-detection software to catch cheating. How well do the programs work?

Nature·2026

Same journal

Daily briefing: 'Cyborg' cockroaches breathe underwater with printed suit.

Nature·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2025

Quantification of the Potential Impact of Glyphosate-Based Products on Microbiomes

Quantification of the Potential Impact of Glyphosate-Based Products on Microbiomes

Published on: January 10, 2022

Global biodiversity loss from outsourced deforestation.

R Alex Wiebe¹, David S Wilcove^2,3,4

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. rwiebe@princeton.edu.

|February 12, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Developed countries cause significant forest vertebrate range loss abroad through consumption. This study maps global biodiversity hotspots impacted by outsourced deforestation, revealing concentrated, often regional, impacts.

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Entomopathogenic Fungi in Wild Monochamus alternatus Populations for Biocontrol Applications in Forest Wood Borers

Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Entomopathogenic Fungi in Wild Monochamus alternatus Populations for Biocontrol Applications in Forest Wood Borers

Published on: September 29, 2023

Cortisol Measurement in Koala Phascolarctos cinereus Fur

Cortisol Measurement in Koala Phascolarctos cinereus Fur

Published on: August 23, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 28, 2025

Quantification of the Potential Impact of Glyphosate-Based Products on Microbiomes

Quantification of the Potential Impact of Glyphosate-Based Products on Microbiomes

Published on: January 10, 2022

Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Entomopathogenic Fungi in Wild Monochamus alternatus Populations for Biocontrol Applications in Forest Wood Borers

Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Entomopathogenic Fungi in Wild Monochamus alternatus Populations for Biocontrol Applications in Forest Wood Borers

Published on: September 29, 2023

Cortisol Measurement in Koala Phascolarctos cinereus Fur

Cortisol Measurement in Koala Phascolarctos cinereus Fur

Published on: August 23, 2019

Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Conservation Biology
Global Ecology

Background:

Globalization enables countries to externalize environmental costs, such as biodiversity loss, through land use.
Understanding the impact of consumption on biodiversity loss in other countries is incomplete.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify global range losses of forest vertebrates from 2001 to 2015.
To attribute these losses to deforestation caused by the consumption patterns of 24 developed countries.
To identify global hotspots of biodiversity loss outsourced through international supply chains.

Main Methods:

Quantified global range losses for forest vertebrates.
Attributed deforestation-driven biodiversity loss to consumption in 24 developed countries.
Mapped geographical concentrations of these international impacts.

Main Results:

Driver countries caused greater cumulative species range loss outside their borders than within.
International biodiversity impacts were geographically concentrated, creating global hotspots of outsourced loss.
External impacts were greatest on species in nearby regions, with some distant impacts noted.

Conclusions:

Developed countries significantly outsource biodiversity loss through their consumption of agricultural and forestry products.
Mapping these outsourced losses is crucial for understanding and mitigating global conservation challenges.
Consumption-driven deforestation poses a significant threat to forest vertebrates worldwide, particularly in regions supplying global supply chains.