1. Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves.
- Author
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Auliz-Ortiz DM, Benítez-Malvido J, Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Dirzo R, Pérez-Farrera MÁ, Luna-Reyes R, Mendoza E, Álvarez-Añorve MY, Álvarez-Sánchez J, Arias-Ataide DM, Ávila-Cabadilla LD, Botello F, Braasch M, Casas A, Campos-Villanueva DÁ, Cedeño-Vázquez JR, Chávez-Tovar JC, Coates R, Dechnik-Vázquez Y, Del Coro Arizmendi M, Dias PA, Dorado O, Enríquez P, Escalona-Segura G, Farías-González V, Favila ME, García A, García-Morales LJ, Gavito-Pérez F, Gómez-Domínguez H, González-García F, González-Zamora A, Cuevas-Guzmán R, Haro-Belchez E, Hernández-Huerta AH, Hernández-Ordoñez O, Horváth A, Ibarra-Manríquez G, Lavín-Murcio PA, Lira-Saade R, López-Díaz K, MacSwiney G MC, Mandujano S, Martínez-Camilo R, Martínez-Ávalos JG, Martínez-Meléndez N, Monroy-Ojeda A, Mora F, Mora-Olivo A, Muench C, Peña-Mondragón JL, Percino-Daniel R, Ramírez-Marcial N, Reyna-Hurtado R, Rodríguez-Ruíz ER, Sánchez-Cordero V, Suazo-Ortuño I, Terán-Juárez SA, Valdivieso-Pérez IA, Valencia V, Valenzuela-Galván D, Vargas-Contreras JA, Vázquez-Pérez JR, Vega-Rivera JH, Venegas-Barrera CS, and Martínez-Ramos M
- Subjects
- Humans, Animals, Agriculture, Animals, Wild, Climate Change, Ecosystem, Biodiversity
- Abstract
Protected areas are of paramount relevance to conserving wildlife and ecosystem contributions to people. Yet, their conservation success is increasingly threatened by human activities including habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and species overexploitation. Thus, understanding the underlying and proximate drivers of anthropogenic threats is urgently needed to improve protected areas' effectiveness, especially in the biodiversity-rich tropics. We addressed this issue by analyzing expert-provided data on long-term biodiversity change (last three decades) over 14 biosphere reserves from the Mesoamerican Biodiversity Hotspot. Using multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling, we tested the influence of major socioeconomic drivers (demographic, economic, and political factors), spatial indicators of human activities (agriculture expansion and road extension), and forest landscape modifications (forest loss and isolation) as drivers of biodiversity change. We uncovered a significant proliferation of disturbance-tolerant guilds and the loss or decline of disturbance-sensitive guilds within reserves causing a "winner and loser" species replacement over time. Guild change was directly related to forest spatial changes promoted by the expansion of agriculture and roads within reserves. High human population density and low nonfarming occupation were identified as the main underlying drivers of biodiversity change. Our findings suggest that to mitigate anthropogenic threats to biodiversity within biosphere reserves, fostering human population well-being via sustainable, nonfarming livelihood opportunities around reserves is imperative., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.
- Published
- 2024
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