Vulnerability and resilience of tropical forest species to land-use change

N E Stork; J A Coddington; R K Colwell; Robin L Chazdon; C W Dick; C A Peres; S Sloan; K Willis

doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01335.x

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Vulnerability and resilience of tropical forest species to land-use change

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Vulnerability and resilience of tropical forest species to land-use change

N E Stork, J A Coddington, R K Colwell, Robin L Chazdon, C W Dick, C A Peres, S Sloan and K Willis

Conservation Biology, Vol.23(6), pp.1438-1447

2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01335.x

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Abstract

extinction vulnerability

range shifts

species traits

tropical forest species

We provide a cross-taxon and historical analysis of what makes tropical forest species vulnerable to extinction. Several traits have been important for species survival in the recent and distant geological past, including seed dormancy and vegetative growth in plants, small body size in mammals, and vagility in insects. For major past catastrophes, such as the five mass extinction events, large range size and vagility or dispersal were key to species survival. Traits that make some species more vulnerable to extinction are consistent across time scales. Terrestrial organisms, particularly animals, are more extinction prone than marine organisms. Plants that persist through dramatic changes often reproduce vegetatively and possess mechanisms of die back. Synergistic interactions between current anthropogenic threats, such as logging, fire, hunting, pests and diseases, and climate change are frequent. Rising temperatures threaten all organisms, perhaps particularly tropical organisms adapted to small temperature ranges and isolated by distance from suitable future climates. Mutualist species and trophic specialists may also be more threatened because of such range-shift gaps. Phylogenetically specialized groups may be collectively more prone to extinction than generalists. Characterization of tropical forest species' vulnerability to anthropogenic change is constrained by complex interactions among threats and by both taxonomic and ecological impediments, including gross undersampling of biotas and poor understanding of the spatial patterns of taxa at all scales. © 2009 Society for Conservation Biology.

Details

Title: Vulnerability and resilience of tropical forest species to land-use change
Authors: N E Stork (Author) - University of Melbourne
J A Coddington (Author) - Smithsonian Institution, United States
R K Colwell (Author) - University of Connecticut, United States
Robin L Chazdon (Author) - University of Connecticut, United States
C W Dick (Author) - University of Michigan, United States
C A Peres (Author) - University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
S Sloan (Author) - University of Melbourne
K Willis (Author) - Oxford University Centre for the Environment, United Kingdom
Publication details: Conservation Biology, Vol.23(6), pp.1438-1447
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Date published: 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01335.x
ISSN: 0888-8892
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451029402621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences

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