Luca Santini

Sapienza University of Rome

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Ana Benítez‐López

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Mark A. J. Huijbregts

Radboud University Nijmegen

Carlo Rondinini

Sapienza University of Rome

Moreno Di Marco

Sapienza University of Rome

Aafke M. Schipper

Radboud University Nijmegen

Luigi Maiorano

Sapienza University of Rome

Wilfried Thuiller

Université Savoie Mont Blanc

Pedro Cardoso

Finnish Museum of Natural History

Jelle P. Hilbers

Radboud University Nijmegen

Piero Visconti

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Cooperative Institutions

John Wiley & Sons (United States)

358

Hudson Institute

198

International Union for Conservation of Nature

156

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Ecological Society of America

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research

Sapienza University of Rome

University of Oxford

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

University of California, Davis

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Global patterns fo population density in birds

Figshare (2023)

Luca Santini

Training dataset and Population density predictions for 9089 species (Appendix S2) Reference: Santini L., Tobias J., Callaghan C., Gallego-Zamorano J., Benítez López A. 2023. Global patterns and predictors of avian population density. Global Ecology and Biogeography

Population density

10.6084/m9.figshare.20237184.v1

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Code to reproduce analyses from "The influence of stochasticity, landscape structure, and species traits on abundant-centre relationships"

Figshare (2020)

Tad Dallas Luca Santini

Code to reproduce simulation analyses from
> Dallas, TA, and L Santini. 2020. "The influence of stochasticity, landscape structure, and species traits on abundant-centre relationships"

Code (set theory)

10.6084/m9.figshare.11553534

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Review for "Scale of population synchrony confirms macroecological estimates of minimum viable range size"

Luca Santini

Macroecology

10.1111/ele.14152/v2/review1

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The interface between Macroecology and Conservation: existing links and untapped opportunities

Frontiers of Biogeography (2021)

Luca Santini Laura H. Antão Martin Jung Ana Benítez‐López Giovanni Rapacciuolo

Human activities are altering the structure of ecosystems, compromising the benefits they provide to nature and people. Effective conservation actions and management under ongoing global change rely on a better understanding of socio-ecological patterns and processes across broad spatiotemporal scales. Both macroecology and conservation science contribute to this improved understanding and, while they have different scopes, these disciplines have become increasingly interconnected over time. Here we describe examples of how macroecology has contributed to conservation science, and how conservation science can motivate further macroecological developments and applications. We identify challenges and untapped potential to further strengthen the links between these two disciplines. Major macroecological contributions include developing ecological theory, providing methodologies useful for biodiversity assessments and projections, making data more accessible and addressing knowledge gaps. These contributions have played a major role in the development of conservation science, and have supported outreach to policy makers, media, and the public. Nonetheless, a pure macroecological lens is limited to inform conservation decisions, particularly in local contexts, which frequently leads to the misuse of macroecological analyses for conservation applications, misunderstandings of research outputs, and skepticism among conservation practitioners and scientists. We propose possible solutions to overcome these challenges and strengthen links between macroecology and conservation science, including a stronger focus on ecological mechanisms and predictive approaches, and the creation of hybrid journals and meetings. Finally, we suggest new avenues for macroecological research that would further benefit conservation science.

Macroecology

Conservation Biology

Conservation science

Outreach

Citizen Science

10.21425/f5fbg53025

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Citations (26)

A comprehensive framework to assess multi‐species landscape connectivity

Methods in Ecology and Evolution (2024)

Marie‐Caroline Prima Julien Renaud Isabelle Witté Léa Suarez Paul Rouveyrol

Abstract Due to the central role of landscape connectivity in many ecological processes, evaluating and accounting for it has gained attention in both theoretical and applied ecological sciences. To address this challenge, researchers often use generic species to simplify multi‐species connectivity assessments. Yet, this approach tends to oversimplify movement behaviour, likely reducing realism and precision of connectivity model outputs. Also, the most widely used methods and theories for assessing landscape connectivity, namely circuit and network theories, have strong limitations. Finally, uncertainty or robustness estimates are rarely integrated in connectivity assessments. Here, we propose a versatile framework, which, instead of using arbitrary defined generic species, first identifies species groups based on species' environmental niches and morphological, biological, and ecological traits. Second, it combines circuit and network theories to take the best of the two methods to assess landscape connectivity for those groups, while integrating uncertainties in modelling choices. Specifically, ecological continuities (i.e. landscape elements contributing to connectivity) are calculated for these groups and used together with group dispersal capacities to derive network‐based connectivity metrics for conservation areas. We detailed our framework through a case study where we assess the connectivity of 1619 protected areas in metropolitan France for 193 vertebrate species. Our study revealed that both the protection of ecological continuities and the connectivity of protected areas for 11 mammal and 19 bird groups, respectively, were quite low, with variations among groups. Different protection types (i.e. national parks, reserves or prefectural orders) contributed unequally to the overall connectivity of group‐specific suitable habitats. Considering uncertainty propagation was crucial, as many connectivity metrics varied among repetitions. The proposed framework combines different connectivity tools to provide a more relevant and comprehensive assessment of landscape connectivity. It can be used to inform the decision‐making process for spatial planning, particularly in the context of connectivity conservation and management, or support theoretical studies to better understand the ecological role of landscape connectivity. Its flexibility allows easy application under various environmental conditions, including future scenarios.

Landscape connectivity

Ecological network

Robustness

Wildlife corridor

10.1111/2041-210x.14444

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Citations (1)

Data from: Prioritizing global land protection for population persistence can double the efficiency of habitat protection for reducing mammal extinction risk

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2023)

Nicholas H. Wolff Piero Visconti Heini Kujala Luca Santini Jelle P. Hilbers

Halting the alarming rate of species extinction, driven primarily by habitat destruction, motivated the international community to adopt (2022) the Global Biodiversity Framework and it’s 23 targets aimed at reversing habitat and species loss. Due to urgency and resource constraints, a key challenge is meeting targets effectively and efficiently. Here we conduct a global prioritization linking 70,492 unique population maps and life history characteristics for 861 threatened terrestrial mammal species. Incorporating individual population data boosted viability for 84% more populations compared to using a more typical approach that uses species distributions alone, nearly doubling the security of long-term species persistence. We map and rank global mammal persistence priority areas and assess how well the current protected areas (PA) system captures these important regions. Our results will provide conservation actors a more direct and quantifiable linkage between conservation action and extinction risk than has previously been possible at a global scale.

Persistence (discontinuity)

Extinction (optical mineralogy)

Mammal

10.5281/zenodo.8290611

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Prioritizing the reassessment of data‐deficient species on the IUCN Red List

Conservation Biology (2023)

Victor Cazalis Luca Santini Pablo M. Lucas Manuela González‐Suárez Michael Hoffmann

Abstract Despite being central to the implementation of conservation policies, the usefulness of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is hampered by the 14% of species classified as data‐deficient (DD) because information to evaluate these species’ extinction risk was lacking when they were last assessed or because assessors did not appropriately account for uncertainty. Robust methods are needed to identify which DD species are more likely to be reclassified in one of the data‐sufficient IUCN Red List categories. We devised a reproducible method to help red‐list assessors prioritize reassessment of DD species and tested it with 6887 DD species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). For each DD species in these groups, we calculated its probability of being classified in a data‐sufficient category if reassessed today from covariates measuring available knowledge (e.g., number of occurrence records or published articles available), knowledge proxies (e.g., remoteness of the range), and species characteristics (e.g., nocturnality); calculated change in such probability since last assessment from the increase in available knowledge (e.g., new occurrence records); and determined whether the species might qualify as threatened based on recent rate of habitat loss determined from global land‐cover maps. We identified 1907 species with a probability of being reassessed in a data‐sufficient category of >0.5; 624 species for which this probability increased by >0.25 since last assessment; and 77 species that could be reassessed as near threatened or threatened based on habitat loss. Combining these 3 elements, our results provided a list of species likely to be data‐sufficient such that the comprehensiveness and representativeness of the IUCN Red List can be improved.

Data deficient

Extinction (optical mineralogy)

Conservation-dependent species

Global biodiversity

10.1111/cobi.14139

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Citations (21)

Burrow entrance-hole orientation and first emergence time in the crested porcupine Hystrix cristata L.: Space-time dependence on sunset

Antonio Felicioli Luca Santini

Burrow

Sunset

Porcupine

Hystrix

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Do functional traits offset the effects of fragmentation? The case of large‐bodied diurnal lemur species

American Journal of Primatology (2020)

Timothy M. Eppley Luca Santini Jen Tinsman Giuseppe Donati

Abstract Primates worldwide are faced with increasing threats making them more vulnerable to extinction. Anthropogenic disturbances, such as habitat degradation and fragmentation, are among the main concerns, and in Madagascar, these issues have become widespread. As this situation continues to worsen, we sought to understand how fragmentation affects primate distribution throughout the island. Further, because species may exhibit different sensitivity to fragmentation, we also aimed to estimate the role of functional traits in mitigating their response. We collated data from 32 large‐bodied lemur species ranges, consisting of species from the families Lemuridae (five genera) and Indriidae (two genera). We fitted Generalized Linear Models to determine the role of habitat fragmentation characteristics, for example, forest cover, patch size, edge density, and landscape configuration, as well as the protected area (PA) network, on the species relative probability of presence. We then assessed how the influence of functional traits (dietary guild, home range size) mitigate the response of species to these habitat metrics. Habitat area had a strong positive effect for many species, and there were significantly negative effects of fragmentation on the distribution of many lemur species. In addition, there was a positive influence of PAs on many lemur species’ distribution. Functional trait classifications showed that lemurs of all dietary guilds are negatively affected by fragmentation; however, folivore‐frugivores show greater flexibility/variability in terms of habitat area and landscape complexity compared to nearly exclusive folivores and frugivores. Furthermore, species of all home range sizes showed a negative response to fragmentation, while habitat area had an increasingly positive effect as home range increased in size. Overall, the general trends for the majority of lemur species are dire and point to the need for immediate actions on a multitude of fronts, most importantly landscape‐level reforestation efforts.

Guild

Frugivore

Habitat Fragmentation

Fragmentation

10.1002/ajp.23104

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Citations (40)

Shifting baseline in macroecology? Unravelling the influence of human impact on mammalian body mass

Diversity and Distributions (2017)

Luca Santini Manuela González‐Suárez Carlo Rondinini Moreno Di Marco

Abstract Aim Human activities have led to hundreds of species extinctions and have narrowed the distribution of many of the remaining species. These changes influence our understanding of global macroecological patterns, but their effects have been rarely explored. One of these patterns, the Bergmann's rule, has been largely investigated in macroecology, but often under the assumption that observed patterns reflect “natural” processes. We assessed the extent to which humans have re‐shaped the observable patterns of body mass distribution in terrestrial mammals, and how this has altered the macroecological baseline. Location Global. Methods Using a comprehensive set of ecological, climatic and anthropogenic variables, we tested several alternative hypotheses to explain the body mass pattern observed in terrestrial mammals’ assemblages at a one‐degree resolution. We then explored how model predictions and the Bergmann's latitudinal pattern are affected by the inclusion of human impact variables and identified areas where predicted body mass differs from the expected due to human impact. Results Our model suggests that median and maximum body mass predicted in grid cells would be higher, and skewness in local mass distributions reduced, if human impacts were minimal, especially in areas that are highly accessible to humans and where natural land cover has been converted for human activities. Main conclusions Our study provides evidence of the pervasive effects of anthropogenic impact on nature and shows human‐induced distortion of global macroecological patterns. This extends the notion of “shifting baseline”, suggesting that when the first macroecological investigations started, our understanding of global geographic patterns was based on a situation which was already compromised. While in the short term human impact is causing species decline and extinction, in the long term, it is causing a broad re‐shaping of animal communities with yet unpredicted ecological implications.

Macroecology

Bergmann's rule

Baseline (sea)

10.1111/ddi.12555

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Citations (41)