Mediterranean and tropical biodiversity most vulnerable to human pressures

Animals in tropical and Mediterranean areas are the most sensitive to climate change and land use pressures, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The findings, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution , show how extinction risks are not evenly distributed worldwide, and suggest that large declines in tropical biodiversity are likely to occur imminently. Lead author Dr Tim Newbold (UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research) said: "Tropical areas are expected to see the greatest expansions of agriculture in the coming decades, and are already seeing new temperature extremes. "Coupled with the fact that data on biodiversity are often biased towards more temperate regions, our findings suggest that global biodiversity declines may be even worse than leading experts are predicting. Urgent action is needed to prevent biodiversity losses and extinctions, particularly in tropical and Mediterranean areas which have some of the most diverse ecological communities on the planet." The research team analysed data on 47,044 species of animals, plants and fungi at thousands of sites in 91 countries to measure the number of different species living in more disturbed environments such as cities and intensive agricultural areas, or in moderately disturbed or wild spaces. The team also compared data on where species are able to survive against regional climate modelling data to predict responses to climate change. The researchers found substantially lower biodiversity in more disturbed environments, especially in Mediterranean and tropical regions.