Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Barnes, Megan D.
• Craigie, Ian D.
• Harrison, Luke B.
• Geldmann, Jonas
• Collen, Ben
• Whitmee, Sarah
• Balmford, Andrew
• Burgess, Neil D.
• Brooks, Thomas
• Hockings, Marc
• Woodley, Stephen

Titel

Wildlife population trends in protected areas predicted by national socio-economic metrics and body size

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2016-09, Vol.7 (1), p.12747-12747, Article 12747

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Ensuring that protected areas (PAs) maintain the biodiversity within their boundaries is fundamental in achieving global conservation goals. Despite this objective, wildlife abundance changes in PAs are patchily documented and poorly understood. Here, we use linear mixed effect models to explore correlates of population change in 1,902 populations of birds and mammals from 447 PAs globally. On an average, we find PAs are maintaining populations of monitored birds and mammals within their boundaries. Wildlife population trends are more positive in PAs located in countries with higher development scores, and for larger-bodied species. These results suggest that active management can consistently overcome disadvantages of lower reproductive rates and more severe threats experienced by larger species of birds and mammals. The link between wildlife trends and national development shows that the social and economic conditions supporting PAs are critical for the successful maintenance of their wildlife populations. Protected areas are intended to safeguard wildlife, but their effectiveness has at times been questioned. Barnes, Craigie, and colleagues show that protected areas do offer refuge—maintaining their bird and mammal abundances—but with greater success for larger-bodied species and in more developed nations.