Underlying and proximate drivers of biodiversity changes in Mesoamerican biosphere reserves

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2024 Vol.121, Issue. 6

Auliz-Ortiz, Daniel Martín; Benítez-Malvido, Julieta; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Dirzo, Rodolfo; Pérez-Farrera, Miguel Ángel; Luna-Reyes, Roberto; Mendoza, Eduardo; Álvarez-Añorve, Mariana Yólotl; Álvarez-Sánchez, Javier; Arias-Ataide, Dulce María; Ávila-Cabadilla, Luis Daniel; Botello, Francisco; Braasch, Marco; Casas, Alejandro; Campos-Villanueva, Delfino Álvaro; Cedeño-Vázquez, José Rogelio; Chávez-Tovar, José Cuauhtémo; Coates, Rosamond; Dechnik-Vázquez, Yanus; Arizmendi, María del Coro; Dias, Pedro Américo; Dorado, Oscar; Enríquez, Paula; Escalona-Segura, Griselda; Farías-González, Verónica; Favila, Mario E.; García, Andrés; García-Morales, Leccinum Jesús; Gavito-Pérez, Fernando; Gómez-Domínguez, Héctor; González-García, Fernando; González-Zamora, Arturo; Cuevas-Guzmán, Ramón; Haro-Belchez, Enrique; Hernández-Huerta, Arturo Heriberto; Hernández-Ordoñez, Omar; Horváth, Anna; Ibarra-Manríquez, Guillermo; Lavín-Murcio, Pablo Antonio; Lira-Saade, Rafael; López-Díaz, Karime; MacSwiney, Cristina M.G.; Mandujano, Salvador; Martínez-Camilo, Rubén; Martínez-Ávalos, José Guadalupe; Martínez-Meléndez, Nayely; Monroy-Ojeda, Alan; Mora, Francisco; Mora-Olivo, Arturo; Muench, Carlos; Peña-Mondragón, Juan L.; Percino-Daniel, Ruth; Ramírez-Marcial, Neptalí; Reyna-Hurtado, Rafael; Rodríguez-Ruíz, Erick Rubén; Sánchez-Cordero, Víctor; Suazo-Ortuño, Ireri; Terán-Juárez, Sergio Alejandro; Valdivieso-Pérez, Ingrid Abril; Valencia, Vivian; Valenzuela-Galván, David; Vargas-Contreras, Jorge Albino; Vázquez-Pérez, José Raúl; Vega-Rivera, Jorge Humberto; Venegas-Barrera, Crystian Sadiel; Martínez-Ramos, Miguel

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108746

Abstract

Protected areas are of paramount relevance to conserving wildlife and ecosystem contributions to people. Yet, their conservation success is increasingly threatened by human activities including habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and species overexploitation. Thus, understanding the underlying and proximate drivers of anthropogenic threats is urgently needed to improve protected areas’ effectiveness, especially in the biodiversity-rich tropics. We addressed this issue by analyzing expert-provided data on long-term biodiversity change (last three decades) over 14 biosphere reserves from the Mesoamerican Biodiversity Hotspot. Using multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling, we tested the influence of major socioeconomic drivers (demographic, economic, and political factors), spatial indicators of human activities (agriculture expansion and road extension), and forest landscape modifications (forest loss and isolation) as drivers of biodiversity change. We uncovered a significant proliferation of disturbance-tolerant guilds and the loss or decline of disturbance-sensitive guilds within reserves causing a “winner and loser” species replacement over time. Guild change was directly related to forest spatial changes promoted by the expansion of agriculture and roads within reserves. High human population density and low nonfarming occupation were identified as the main underlying drivers of biodiversity change. Our findings suggest that to mitigate anthropogenic threats to biodiversity within biosphere reserves, fostering human population well-being via sustainable, nonfarming livelihood opportunities around reserves is imperative. Copyright © 2024 the Author(s).

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