Abstract
Abstract Mountain areas are of great importance to biodiversity conservation. Also, they have long been reputed as the last remnants of virgin, unspoiled nature. In this paper, we assess the degree of human impact on mountain ecosystems through the Human Influence Index (HII), using it as a proxy to estimate the degree of threat to mountain biodiversity. We also measured how well the least human-influenced mountain areas are protected (HII ≤ 10). Our results show that still-large proportions of mountain areas are under low or moderate human influence, as assessed by the HII. However, these results should be considered carefully, because the HII does not include some important human-made influences affecting mountain ecosystems globally, such as climate change. Finally, 34.7% of the mountain area under low human influence (HII ≤ 10) is currently covered by nationally designated protected areas.
Highlights
Human influence on ecosystems has been increasing worldwide due to rapid population growth, increasingly resource-consuming life styles, and technological breakthroughs (McNeill 2000; Macchi 2010)
We identified, quantified, and mapped the mountain areas most and least affected by direct human disturbance and measured to what degree the least influenced mountain areas are covered by protected areas, because such areas could be considered cost-effective options for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services (Sanderson et al 2002)
We used the 1-km2-pixel Human Influence Index (HII) raster map provided by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC 2005b) and intersected it with the widely used global mountain map developed by the United Nations Environment Programme—World Conservation Monitoring System (UNEP-WCMC 2002) to assess the degree of direct human influence on mountain areas
Summary
Human influence on ecosystems has been increasing worldwide due to rapid population growth, increasingly resource-consuming life styles, and technological breakthroughs (McNeill 2000; Macchi 2010) This influence has become so important that mankind is and in the years to come the main global driver of ecological change (Vitousek et al 1997; Sala et al 2000). The idea underlying mountain protection has shifted to safeguarding the wide number of ecological services these areas provide (Kollmair et al 2005) These services include water provision, supply of natural resources, air purification, agricultural diversity, minimization of natural hazards, cultural diversity, leisure, landscape and spiritual values, income sources for local populations, research and early warning systems, and biodiversity (UNEP-WCMC 2002; EEA 2010a, 2010b; Macchi 2010). Mountains are especially important for biodiversity conservation, because they harbor half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots on only about one quarter of the global terrestrial surface (Price and Butt 2000; Kollmair et al 2005; Kohler and Maselli 2009)
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