Abstract
There have been numerous attempts to synthesize the results of local‐scale biodiversity change studies, yet several geographic data gaps exist. These data gaps have hindered ecologist's ability to make strong conclusions about how local‐scale species richness is changing around the globe. Research on four of the major drivers of global change is unevenly distributed across the Earth's biomes. Here, we use a dataset of 638 anthropogenically driven species richness change studies to identify where data gaps exist across the Earth's terrestrial biomes based on land area, future change in drivers, and the impact of drivers on biodiversity, and make recommendations for where future studies should focus their efforts. Across all drivers of change, the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and the tropical moist broadleaf forests are the best studied. The biome–driver combinations we have identified as most critical in terms of where local‐scale species richness change studies are lacking include the following: land‐use change studies in tropical and temperate coniferous forests, species invasion and nutrient addition studies in the boreal forest, and warming studies in the boreal forest and tropics. Gaining more information on the local‐scale effects of the specific human drivers of change in these biomes will allow for better predictions of how human activity impacts species richness around the globe.
Highlights
It is well recognized that the Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing significant change resulting from various types of human activity (Vitousek et al 1997; Chapin et al 2000; Sala et al 2000; Butchart et al 2010; Barnosky et al 2011)
We examine how the geographic biases differ for these drivers across the Earth’s terrestrial biomes and determine the data gaps that exist based on three circumstances: (1) the land area that the biome covers; (2) the future change that the drivers are projected to have in each biome; and (3) the impact that the drivers have on the biodiversity of each biome
By comparing the data gaps in local-scale species richness change studies with estimates of which biomes will be most and least affected by global change drivers, we aim to identify the most critical data gaps and make suggestions as to where future local-scale species richness change studies need to be conducted to fill in these gaps
Summary
It is well recognized that the Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing significant change resulting from various types of human activity (Vitousek et al 1997; Chapin et al 2000; Sala et al 2000; Butchart et al 2010; Barnosky et al 2011). The significant changes that have been found in local-scale species richness resulting from human activity highlight the need to further examine where on Earth these changes are occurring and if there are consistent patterns of change in certain biomes resulting from specific drivers. Each of these syntheses has highlighted similar biases in terms of where local-scale species richness change studies are being conducted, with the majority of studies taking place in North America and Europe. These data gaps severely limit ecologist’s ability to make predictions about where and why localscale biodiversity change is occurring around the globe
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