Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem

Threats to the Serengeti Protected areas are an important tool for conserving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. But how well do these areas withstand pressure from human activity in surrounding landscapes? Veldhuis et al. studied long-term data from the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in East Africa. Human activities at boundary regions cause animals to concentrate in the core of the protected area, which eventually reduces soil carbon storage and nitrogen fixation rates and increases vulnerability to extreme droughts. Similar patterns are likely for many, if not all, large protected areas. Science , this issue p. 1424