Biodiversity Conservation Goals Research Articles

Gaps in legislation and communication identified as stakeholders reflect on 30×30 policy in Icelandic waters

Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs) recognize that various forms of management actions can contribute to biodiversity conservation. OECMs have been criticized for ambiguity, lack of criteria for evaluation and, thereby, inconsistent implementation. Nevertheless, many coastal states aim to evaluate current management actions as candidates for OECMs and count them toward numerical biodiversity conservation goals. Successful implementation requires careful examination of biodiversity benefits and estimation of the social impacts of such actions. There are numerous fisheries restricted areas within the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone, some with designated biodiversity conservation goals, whereas the Icelandic Act of Nature Conservation (60/2913) has rarely been used in marine waters. In the current study, complementary methods are used to broadly examine stakeholder views on the efficiency of current legislation, and future policy, to achieve numerical goals on biodiversity conservation. Despite documenting broad willingness of stakeholders to protect ocean space, gaps in legislation and communication are identified both through survey responses and in interviews with key informants. As a first study to document stakeholder perceptions on using fisheries legislation for the purpose of biodiversity conservation, the results have relevance for future policy on reporting fisheries legislation as OECMs, understanding stakeholder perceptions on different actions and, finally, to inform policy on stakeholder involvement, and outreach campaigns, as governments move forward to meet marine conservation goals.

Saving India’s freshwater biodiversity

ABSTRACT Freshwater biodiversity faces a critical situation globally. Current efforts to protect and conserve India’s freshwater biodiversity have been insufficient in light of emerging challenges. To address this, we propose 14 science-based and policy-backed recommendations aimed at achieving long-term protection of Indian freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity conservation goals. Managers of India’s nodal agencies have expressed support for implementing these recommendations. The Wildlife Institute of India has recently launched a pioneering master’s degree programme in freshwater ecology and instituted scholarships for local citizens known as ‘Guardians of the Ganga’, who are actively engaged in conserving biodiversity along the Ganga River under the auspices of the ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation’ project sponsored by the National Mission for Clean Ganga. These initiatives align closely with our proposed recommendations. Implementing these timely recommendations by policymakers is crucial to safeguarding India’s freshwater biodiversity.

Applying landscape ecological principles in comprehensive landscape protection: Šumava National Park as a case study

In the face of ongoing anthropogenic pressure and biodiversity loss, there is a need to protect nature more effectively. Therefore, we propose a comprehensive and consecutive approach utilising landscape ecological principles and methods for effective landscape protection and spatial nature conservation. Methods applicable in various conditions are exemplified through case studies from the Šumava National Park, the largest NP in Czechia. Using a set of spatial environmental, landscape ecological and geographical data we can: Characterise the area of interest from the physical-geographical, socioeconomic, and management point of view to create the concept´s framework and review important background information for analysis of the area. Therefore, the key factors for landscape protection and biodiversity conservation are defined. Analyse trends and processes of landscape dynamics in terms of land cover, landscape structure and habitat fragmentation and connectivity, which helps us to set main objectives of landscape protection and nature conservation. Use data about environment conditions and key species and habitat occurrence to model habitat suitability, identify their suitable areas, and thus improve their protection. As a result, areas of high conservation value are distinguished. Synthetize outputs of the above-mentioned steps and prioritise the target goals of landscape protection and biodiversity conservation in the area of interest. This leads to the effective zonation, which is a necessary condition for the application of appropriate management measures.

Assessment and mapping of priority areas for transboundary ecological conservation: Suggestions for the protection of the Altai Mountains in Central Asia

Political boundaries often do not coincide with ecological boundaries, and it is common for the same physical geographical unit to span multiple countries. Exploring establishing transboundary protected areas and ecological networks can effectively protect the integrity of natural ecosystems separated by political boundaries. Based on the integrated evaluation of ecosystem services function, ecological vulnerability, and ecosystem integrity, this study explored a methodological system for evaluating ecological protection priority areas in transboundary areas and selected the Altai Mountains, which span four countries, contain China, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia, as a typical case to conduct empirical research. The study found that the extremely important areas of ecosystem services function, ecological vulnerability, and ecosystem integrity showed transboundary contiguous characteristics. Furthermore, weighted overlay analysis identified the spatial distribution pattern of ecological protection priority areas in the Altai Mountains. We suggested establishing transboundary protected areas in the four countries’ transboundary areas, building the identified ecological protection priority areas and existing protected areas into a transboundary protected area network, and deepening a multi-party transboundary protection cooperation mechanism. This study can provide a theoretical and practical reference to achieve the 2030 biodiversity conservation goals.

The impact of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity in global protected areas

Protected areas (PAs) serve as effective means for biodiversity conservation but face threats from habitat loss and fragmentation. Current research on the impact of habitat loss or habitat fragmentation on biodiversity in PAs mostly focuses on individual PA or regional scales. At the global scale, the extent of habitat loss and fragmentation in PAs and their effects on biodiversity remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the degree of habitat loss and fragmentation in global PAs from 2000 to 2020, analyzed the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity in PAs, identified hotspot PAs of severe habitat loss or fragmentation, and highlighted critically endangered species within these PAs. Our study reveals that, between 2000 and 2020, 19 % of global PAs experienced habitat loss, and 34 % experienced habitat fragmentation, with large PAs and South American tropical PAs exhibiting the most severe levels of habitat loss and fragmentation. The impact of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity was most significant in small PAs and African tropical PAs. There are 10 global hotspot PAs of habitat loss or fragmentation, posing a serious threat to the survival of endangered species within PAs. Biodiversity conservation remains a prominent research focus globally, and the issues of habitat loss and fragmentation in PAs may impact the achievement of the COP15 biodiversity conservation goals. Therefore, this study aims to provide data support and scientific guidance for the management and development of global PAs.

Need for structured conservation inputs: a geospatial approach for habitat prioritization to restrict disturbance regime in the protected areas of the Western Himalayan region

AbstractThe population boom increases land-use requirements, and shrinking regions are available to preserve natural biodiversity. Unfortunately, scientific knowledge does not seem to have and might never get a correct solution to how much territory will be sufficient for satisfying the various biodiversity conservation goals. Prioritization of habitat, primarily for threatened species, is a critical management challenge. Habitat management efforts are gradually being performed over broader geographic regions, emphasizing the necessity of spatial and strategic prioritization. Habitat prioritization is a technique popular for identifying critical areas needing conservation initiatives. To develop a strategic conservation framework, key issues must be identified based on the ground knowledge and present land use status, which are difficult to gather for highly rough terrain areas. Incorporating spatial data sets thus helps to get the desired knowledge of the site on a large scale. This study used a grid-based multicriteria approach to create a spatial conservation management framework for the Rajaji-Corbett landscape (RCL) in Northern India. A grid-based prioritization assessment was conducted to identify priority areas for the RCL, keeping invasive species and fire as significant threats. The indicators or criteria were selected by looking at present vital concerns in the landscape. We took 20 indicators for our multicriteria assessment for landscape prioritization of RCL using 2 × 2 km grids for the evaluation and classified them according to low, medium, and high priority areas using Arc GIS Pro. The results identified 931 sq. km area of this landscape needs immediate management interventions where frequent fire incidents and presence of invasive species are high. RCL is well known for its biodiversity wealth and assemblage of various wildlife populations.

Trade‐offs among management objectives in mature Douglas‐fir forests of the Pacific Northwest

AbstractMature conifer‐dominated forests are an important component of the Pacific Northwest landscape, and the conservation of species associated with late‐successional forests has been a primary management focus in these forests for decades. Increasingly, these forests are also valued as carbon stores, with considerable climate change mitigation potential. However, there are also increasing concerns about the effects of climate change, particularly drought, on late‐successional forests. Despite the complexity of balancing these diverse management concerns, few studies have examined the compatibility of biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and drought adaptation. We used a spatially and temporally synchronous empirical dataset from mature Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands representing three alternative management strategies, passive management (“unmanaged”), thinning, and retention harvest, to examine trade‐offs among management objectives related to drought adaptation, carbon storage, and the conservation of early‐successional and late‐successional forest songbirds. Although previous studies have evaluated drought adaptation in Douglas‐fir, none have focused on mature stands. Therefore, we also examined tree resistance and resilience to the 2001 drought. Trees in retention harvest stands displayed significantly higher drought resistance and resilience than trees in thinned or unmanaged stands, but no differences were observed between trees in the latter two management conditions, potentially due to the long (average of 22 years) period between treatment and drought in our thinned stands. Despite this, thinned stands provided a better multiobjective compromise than unmanaged or retention harvest stands in our trade‐off analysis. Across all mature stands, trade‐offs were largest for objective combinations that involved early‐ or late‐successional forest birds. While our analysis supports the consistency of managing late‐successional forest birds and carbon storage, trade‐offs between early‐successional birds and carbon storage were much larger. Given projected changes in climate, the substantial trade‐offs that we observed between drought adaptation and late‐successional forest birds are notable and imply that achieving these two objectives will be challenging at the stand scale. Our results suggest that a diversity of management approaches, incorporating both active management and reserve‐based strategies, may be necessary to foster a combination of drought adaptation, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation goals in these forests.

Online citizen dialogue for SDGs: a Finland-Japan cross-cultural deliberation

This study explores the potential of cross-border citizen dialogues on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for uncovering cultural barriers and catalysts in sustainability transformations. We utilised a form adapted from the Open Dialogue approach, originally developed in Finnish mental health care, now refined for broader applications in facilitating open citizen dialogues on gender equality (Goal 5) and biodiversity conservation (Goals 14 and 15). Indicators were developed and used to assess attitudinal shifts post-dialogue. The dialogues increased the sense of urgency and importance of gender equality and biodiversity conservation, particularly among the Japanese participants, who initially displayed less engagement than their Finnish counterparts. The dialogue also expanded the scope of collaboration among the Japanese participants, reflected in a heightened sense of global citizenship, as measured by trust scores. Both Finnish and Japanese participants showed a moderate increase in recognising cultural influences on sustainability. Further research is necessary to understand how cross-cultural dialogues can enhance reflection on sustainability at the group level. Additionally, integrating such dialogues into decision-making processes may bolster collective reflexivity.

Bringing the forest back: Restoration priorities in Colombia

AbstractAimColombia has committed to ambitious forest restoration targets which include a 1 million ha Bonn Challenge commitment and 6.47–8.31 million ha (rehabilitation and restoration, respectively) under the National Restoration Plan. Determining where and how to implement programs to achieve these targets remains a significant challenge.LocationColombia.MethodsWe adopt a multi‐objective optimisation framework for restoration planning and apply it to Colombia. We explore cost‐effective solutions that leverage the potential for assisted natural regeneration benefits while accounting for opportunity and establishment costs of restoration and maximising biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation benefits. We explore four politically relevant restoration area‐based targets (1, 6, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha) and identify minimum cost, and suites of maximum benefit and cost‐effective solutions.ResultsWe identify solutions that simultaneously perform well across biodiversity and carbon objectives, despite trade‐offs between these objectives. We find that cost‐effective solutions can achieve on average 91.1%, 90.8%, 90.5% and 90.1% of maximum carbon benefit and 100% of the maximum biodiversity benefit while significantly reducing costs. On average, the cost‐effective solutions reduce the cost by 87.5%, 56.8%, 59.6% and 46.2% compared to the maximum benefit solutions considering one, six, 6.47 and 8.31 million ha restoration targets, respectively.Main ConclusionsColombia has committed to bold restoration and conservation targets, such as those under the new 2030 Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework. Strategic forest restoration planning will play an important role in achieving Colombia's biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation goals. We provide quantitative evidence to inform planning for environmentally and economically sensible restoration policy and practice in the country. Our framework and results can help guide Colombia towards meeting its ambitious forest restoration targets cost‐effectively.

Another essential dimension of priorities: Spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability of climate refugia

Prioritization analysis with climate dynamics has become a critical, complex, and popular topic for conservation planning, providing opportunities for achieving co-benefits of climate stabilization, biodiversity conservation, and other goals. Here, we constructed a prioritization framework to inform the development of conservation policies or actions, further including the spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability characteristics of climate refugia. We then used China as a study area to identify priorities and assess the effectiveness of existing protected areas. Compared with the classical spatial prioritization approach, the priorities incorporating climatic characteristics cover, on average, 0.88 and 2.79 times more areas with low climatic velocities and high heterogeneity, respectively. By analyzing the proportion of various types of land use in the priorities, we found that grasslands play an essential role in species protection and climate regulation. Specifically, the percentage of grasslands in the priorities is about 30 %, ranking second to forests. Similarly, we identified prominent conservation gaps in China's protected area network, as evidenced by the insufficient emphasis on grassland and inadequate coverage of climate refugia. Our approach emphasizes the importance of integrating climate planning into conservation priorities and guiding conservation management and policy to achieve conservation goals in a climate-smart way.

Improving estimates of land protection costs in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Accurate estimates of the costs of land protection are useful for understanding where biodiversity conservation goals can be achieved at the lowest cost to society. However, because of the scarcity of high‐quality cost maps for tropical countries, conservation planning studies often ignore cost or rely on untested proxies, such as agricultural rent or land‐use intensity. Here, we show how analysts can estimate land protection costs using original data of public land acquisitions, global predictor datasets, and simple machine‐learning models. For the Colombian Andes, a global biodiversity hotspot, we found that the principal driver of the cost of land protection is urban proximity, not agricultural rent. We derived cost estimates that predict public land protection costs more accurately than available cost proxies and identified new protection priorities for 143 threatened bird species. A more systematic collection of cost records of land protection will help inform public decisions on national and global biodiversity protection priorities.

Most (Un)wanted: Explaining Emerging Relationships Between “Invasive Alien” Species and Animal Governance

Abstract Invasive alien species (IAS) contribute to biodiversity loss, yet animals deemed invasive are both part of biodiversity and individuals themselves. This poses a challenge for global environmental politics, as governance system goals for biodiversity conservation and animal protection can conflict. Using an integrative governance (IG) framework, we map global and European Union IAS and animal governance instruments and systems, and relationships between them. Relationships are explained by actors’ unequal power dynamics, prioritization of human and environmental health, hegemonic anthropocentric discourses, and trade globalization. These factors encourage valuing certain animals—native and domestic—above others. Relationships between the governance systems have been limited. However, integration is deepening because of the transnational and interlinked nature of biodiversity loss and other issues, such as climate change and biosecurity. Nevertheless, as engagement with nonhuman entities brings new challenges, practicing greater IG could go further than this, as acknowledgment of animals’ interests is lacking in IAS governance.

Strengthening a resilient protected area workforce to advance the 30x30 goal: the case of Madagascar

Protected areas depend on a reliable and strong workforce to achieve biodiversity conservation goals. The Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted a target to protect at least 30 per cent of the planet’s land and seas by 2030, also known as 30x30. To reach and maintain this ambitious goal, an expanded conservation workforce is indispensable. Despite this, most protected areas are currently critically understaffed. This study examines staffing in shared governance protected areas in Madagascar - a biodiversity hotspot that has significantly expanded its protected area network since 2015. We explore factors that attract and retain protected area workers in order to suggest recommendations for workforce development. We employ a qualitative approach utilising face-to-face interviews and a survey of protected area staff and local communities in Madagascar. We obtained data from 62 individuals across 10 protected areas, under IUCN management categories II, V and VI. Findings indicate that understaffing is a dynamic rather than a static phenomenon. A key motivation for working in the protected area sector is place attachment. Non-monetary work practices including place-based empowerment of community groups and gender-inclusive approaches can improve organisational culture to meet growing human resource needs in protected areas. By charting a new path for workforce development, protected areas may be able to address long standing human resources issues and contribute to community empowerment and sustainable livelihood.

Temporal changes in boreal vegetation under 70 years of conservation

Biodiversity conservation through protected areas (PAs) is often based on the idea that biodiversity is relatively static. This assumption is increasingly being challenged as species and communities shift their distributions in response to changing environmental conditions. Empirical evidence on the performance of PAs over decades is still sparse or lacking from several environments, although it is needed to understand species dynamics, support modelling of PA performance, assist PA management and ultimately, to achieve global biodiversity conservation goals. In 2021, we resurveyed vegetation of five boreal habitat types (heath forests, paludified forests, sun-exposed sites, mires and eulittoral sites) in Rokua National Park in Finland, where one of the conservation targets is to preserve the flora characteristic of the area. The study sites were originally surveyed in 1945-49, just before the National Park was established. Study sites have also remained free from the disturbances (forest fires and reindeer grazing) typical of boreal regions. We show that the compositional similarity of plant communities between habitat types has increased over time and is associated with the increase of forest species in several habitat types and the loss of many habitat-specific species. Drivers of change were most often linked to ongoing succession (understory closure) and changes in moisture conditions. Our results suggest that without natural disturbance or appropriate management efforts, the original conservation targets may be compromised over the decades. Our study demonstrates that resurvey of historical vegetation data can be effectively used to estimate long-term PA performance, helping to fill in missing temporal evidence.

Locating Kadu in Adivasi portrayals of protected forest areas in Southern India

Globally, Indigenous Peoples are the stewards of a large portion of the global land base, and their interactions and associations with the land have shaped and sustained it for centuries. Yet conservation studies and land management practices still struggle to understand or use Indigenous interpretations of the natural world. In many cases, this perpetuates a colonial sensibility across land use policies, which also dangerously misrepresents Indigenous relationships with that land. This paper focuses on Kattunayakans, a hunter-forager Adivasi (Indigenous) community living within the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, India. Our focus is how they characterize kadu (‘forest’ in Kattunayakan language), both what it is constituted of and what it means from an Adivasi point of view. Using open-ended interviews, transect walks, and spatial mapping we find that for Kattunayakans, the forest is seen as an entity with agency; and a body of discrete biocultural landscape units classified as: a convergence of good places and God people; and a realm of spaces populated by kinfolk with fluid human-and-nonhuman identities that do not follow any physical boundaries of protected areas. This understanding of what a protected area forest is and is comprised of is neither adequately represented and discussed in the history of India's protected areas nor addressed in forest and wildlife management policies and approaches. This is highly consequential for Adivasi communities such as Kattunayakans, who do not have written or material evidence of their productive and historical relationship to forest land. We argue, as well, that when engaged appropriately, Adivasi portrayals of the kadu can bolster equity in land management and strengthen collaborative governance that more broadly advances human rights alongside the goals of biodiversity conservation.

Bridging gaps in the Indian freshwater biodiversity conservation through science-based and policy-backed recommendations

India's freshwater biological resources are threatened by multiple stressors and ongoing conservation efforts are insufficient to tackle these challenges. We therefore propose 14 recommendations to halt India's freshwater biodiversity loss. i) Set up a separate ministry on biodiversity to develop and monitor policies. ii) Collection of comprehensive ecological data and sharing with the global scientific community for better assessment. iii) Assessment of data reliability and relevance towards conservation and sustainable management. iv) Integrating terrestrial-freshwater ecosystem management to effectively conserve freshwater biota. v) Implementation of environmental flow regulations for maintaining hydrological connectivity. vi) Augmentation of Protected Areas to protect freshwater biota. vii) Implementation of regulatory frameworks for trade in exotic species to reduce invasiveness. viii) Avoiding fish seed ranching programs in rivers to evade contamination of natural stocks and disease outbreaks from aquaculture. ix) Increasing collaboration between neighboring states and countries on shared freshwater ecosystem for global and regional sustainability. x) Inclusion of compulsory curriculum on biodiversity at different educational stages for developing responsibility towards protecting biodiversity. xi) Building trust among all stakeholders for better management plans through their active participation. xii) Providing alternative livelihood options to improve the socio-economic status of local people to reduce their direct dependency on freshwater ecosystems. xiii) Promotion of citizen science approach on remuneration basis in conserving freshwater biodiversity. xiv) Enabling better use of digital technologies for freshwater biodiversity monitoring. Inclusion of these timely science-based and policy-backed aquatic ecosystems protection guidelines will therefore help to achieve freshwater biodiversity conservation goals successfully in India.

Readjusting observational grids in dragonfly field guides.

Wildlife field guide books present salient features of species, from colour and form to behaviour, and give their readers a vocabulary to express what these features look like. Such structures for observation, or observational grids, allow users to identify wildlife species through what Law and Lynch have called 'the difference that makes the difference'. In this article, we show how these grids, and the characteristics that distinguish species, change over time in response to wider concerns in the community that use and make the field guides. We use the development of Dutch field guides for dragonflies to show how the ethics of observing wildlife, the recreational value of dragonfly observation, the affordances of observational tools, and biodiversity monitoring and conservation goals all have repercussions for how dragonflies are to be identified. Ultimately, this affects not only how dragonflies are to be observed and identified, but also what is taken to be 'out there'. The article is based on a transdisciplinary cooperation between a dragonfly enthusiast with emic knowledge and access, and an STS researcher. We hope the articulation of our approach might inspire analyses of other observational practices and communities.

Patterns of species diversity in a network of artificial islands

AbstractAimArtificial island habitats such as human‐made wetlands are emerging novel ecosystems. Understanding the drivers of diversity in such artificial systems is essential for balancing the goals of biodiversity conservation and human socio‐economic needs.LocationTelangana state, India.MethodsWe surveyed water birds in a network of 57 artificial wetlands and assessed four macroecological biodiversity patterns: spatial betadiversity, temporal betadiversity, species‐abundance distributions (SADs), and the species–area relationship (SAR). We employed a mix of phenomenological and mechanistic models to examine the four macroecological patterns. We hypothesized that the wetland bird communities are primarily structured by immigration–extinction dynamics and thus that spatial and temporal betadiversity would be high, the within‐wetland SADs would exhibit a large number of rare species and a monotonically declining overall shape, and that the SAR across wetlands would be strongly increasing.ResultsSpatial and temporal betadiversity were both high and mostly attributable to turnover rather than nestedness. While the pooled SAD exhibited an interior mode, the SAD for individual wetlands was generally log‐series distributed, consistent with a model in which immigration among wetlands is high. The SAR exhibited an increasing trend, with the ‘small‐island effect’, which reflects constraints on immigration and is often observed for true island archipelagos, being absent.Main ConclusionsWe tentatively conclude that bird diversity in this network of artificial wetlands is mainly structured by immigration–extinction dynamics, although we acknowledge that some of the patterns are also consistent with niche dynamics and future research should measure relevant biotic and abiotic variables in these wetlands. We encourage future work in which our rich dataset is used to fit dynamic models that permit more‐detailed quantitative inferences about mechanisms structuring diversity in this novel ecosystem, which can ultimately also inform conservation management.

The high climate vulnerability of western Mediterranean forests

Understanding the effects of climate change is one of the most challenging goals for biodiversity conservation. The forests of Andalusia, in Southern Spain, are part of an important Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot. However, great changes in climate are expected to occur in this region, and there is an increasing need to assess the vulnerability of its vegetation.We assess the vulnerability of twelve forest types in the region that are included in the European Directive 92/43/EEC as Habitats of Community Interest (HCI). HCI are natural habitat types which are in danger, have a small natural range, or present an outstanding example of a biogeographical regions in the European Union. We assessed vulnerability by analyzing the climate exposure level of each forest type under two global climate models (MRI-CGCM3, which predicts warmer and wetter conditions, and MIROC-ESM which predicts hotter and drier conditions), two emission scenarios (RCP4.5, a representative concentration pathway that predicts stable emissions of CO2, and RCP8.5, that predicts the highest CO2 emissions) by the mid- and end-century time periods. The vulnerability analysis also includes the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the dominant tree species which compose each forest type. An overall vulnerability score was calculated for each forest type, model, scenario and time period.High-elevation forest types and those with high moisture requirements were more vulnerable to climate change, while forest types dominated by more thermophilic species were less vulnerable and more resilient. The worst climate impacts were predicted in the MIROC-ESM model and RCP8.5 scenario by the end of the century (2070–2100), while the least climatic stress was obtained in the MRI-CGCM3 model and RCP4.5 scenario by the mid-century (2040–2070), which still shows high potential stress for most forest types. By the end of the century, the climate exposure of the entire forest domain will range between 32 % in the least stressful situation (MRI-CGCM3 and RCP4.5), and 98 % in the most climatically stressful situation (MIROC-ESM and RCP8.5). However, the effects of climate change will be perceptible by the mid-century, with most of the HCI forest types suffering climate stress.The “Andalusian oak forest” and the “Corylus wet forest” types were the most vulnerable to climate change, while the “Mediterranean pine forest”, the “Olea and Ceratonia forests” and the “oak forests” were the least vulnerable.This assessment identifies the vulnerable forest types to climate change in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, and provides context for natural resource managers in making decisions about how to adapt forests to the impacts of climate change.

Metrics matter: Multiple diversity metrics at different spatial scales are needed to understand species diversity in urban environments

Worldwide, natural habitats are being replaced by artificial structures due to urbanisation. Planning of such modifications should strive for environmental net gain that benefits biodiversity and ecosystems. Alpha (α) and gamma (γ) diversity are often used to assess ‘impact’ but are insensitive metrics. We test several diversity measures across two spatial scales to compare species diversity in natural and artificial habitats. We show γ-diversity indicates equivalency in biodiversity between natural and artificial habitats, but natural habitats support greater taxon (α) and functional richness. Within-site β-diversity was also greater in natural habitats, but among-site β-diversity was greater in artificial habitats, contradicting the commonly held view that urban ecosystems are more biologically homogenous than natural ecosystems. This study suggests artificial habitats may in fact provide novel habitat for biodiversity, challenges the applicability of the urban homogenisation concept and highlights a significant limitation of using just α-diversity (i.e., multiple metrics are needed and recommended) for assessing environmental net gain and attaining biodiversity conservation goals.