Role of protected areas in mitigating range loss and local extinctions of terrestrial mammals.

ABSTRACT: Protected areas (PAs) are a major tool in biodiversity conservation, but the extent to which they mitigate species declines is often unclear. We evaluated the effectiveness of PAs in mitigating range contraction and local extinction for 483 terrestrial mammal species. We used expert-based species range maps from the 1970s and compared them with current distributions to estimate changes in range area and PA coverage over the last 5 decades. We used generalized boosted models and propensity score matching to assess the effectiveness of PAs in mitigating species declines in landscape units sharing environmental features but differing in protection status. On average, mammal species were extirpated across one third of their ranges from 1970 to 2015, and 86% of this range contraction occurred o

SUBMITTER: Cristiano A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12658939 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature