A balance of winners and losers in the Anthropocene
Dornelas, M.; Gotelli, N.J.; Shimadzu, H.; Moyes, F.; Magurran, A.E.; McGill, B.J. (2019). A balance of winners and losers in the Anthropocene. Ecol. Lett. 22(5): 847-854. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.13242
In: Ecology Letters. Blackwell: Oxford. ISSN 1461-023X; e-ISSN 1461-0248, more
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| Keywords |
Biodiversity
Colonisation
Extinction
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| Author keywords |
Anthropogenic, population change |
| Authors | | Top |
- Dornelas, M.
- Gotelli, N.J.
- Shimadzu, H.
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- Moyes, F.
- Magurran, A.E.
- McGill, B.J.
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| Abstract |
Scientists disagree about the nature of biodiversity change. While there is evidence for widespread declines from population surveys, assemblage surveys reveal a mix of declines and increases. These conflicting conclusions may be caused by the use of different metrics: assemblage metrics may average out drastic changes in individual populations. Alternatively, differences may arise from data sources: populations monitored individually, versus whole‐assemblage monitoring. To test these hypotheses, we estimated population change metrics using assemblage data. For a set of 23 241 populations, 16 009 species, in 158 assemblages, we detected significantly accelerating extinction and colonisation rates, with both rates being approximately balanced. Most populations (85%) did not show significant trends in abundance, and those that did were balanced between winners (8%) and losers (7%). Thus, population metrics estimated with assemblage data are commensurate with assemblage metrics and reveal sustained and increasing species turnover. |
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