The decline of mammal functional and evolutionary diversity worldwide.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity is declining worldwide. Because species interact with one another and with their environment, losses of particular organisms alter the function of ecosystems. Our understanding of the global rates and specific causes of functional decline remains limited, however. Species losses also reduce the cumulative amount of extant evolutionary history ("phylogenetic diversity" [PD]) in communities-our biodiversity heritage. Here we provide a global assessment of how each known anthropogenic threat is driving declines in functional diversity (FD) and PD, using terrestrial mammals as a case study. We find that habitat loss and harvest (e.g., legal hunting, poaching, snaring) are by far the biggest drivers of ongoing FD and PD loss. Declines in FD in high-biodiversity countries, particula

SUBMITTER: Brodie JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7826328 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature