Habitat fragmentation causes immediate and time-delayed biodiversity loss at different trophic levels

By Jochen Krauss, R. Bommarco, M. Guardiola, Risto Heikkinen, A. Helm, M. Kuussaari, R. Lindborg, Erik Öckinger, M. Pärtel, Joan Pino and 7 more. Ecology Letters, 2010

813 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Intensification or abandonment of agricultural land use has led to a severe decline of semi-natural habitats across Europe. This can cause immediate loss of species but also time-delayed extinctions, known as the extinction debt. In a pan-European study of 147 fragmented grassland remnants, we found differences in the extinction debt of species from different trophic levels. Present-day species richness of long-lived vascular plant specialists was better explained by past than current landscape patterns, indicating an extinction debt. In contrast, short-lived butterfly specialists showed no evidence for an extinction debt at a time scale of c. 40 years. Our results indicate that management strategies maintaining the status quo of fragmented habitats are insufficient, as time-delayed extinctions and associated co-extinctions will lead to further biodiversity loss in the future.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9771e31a6ac52af7124bd73ca468a227fe347b2d

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Global and Planetary Change

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Native Pollinators in Anthropogenic Habitats (2011, background): “A pan-European study of 147 fragmented grassland remnants found support for the extinction debt hypothesis for vascular plants, but not for specialist butterflies (Krauss et al. 2010).”
Extinction debt for plants and flower‐visiting insects in landscapes with contrasting land use history (2014, background): “(2014) 20, 591–599 A J ou rn al o f Co ns er va y D iv er si ty a nd D is tr ib ut io ns primarily for long-lived species such as plants, birds and mammals, indicating delayed extinctions in response to habitat loss (Kuussaari et al., 2009; Krauss et al., 2010).”
Habitat fragmentation and the species–area relationship: a focus on total species richness obscures the impact of habitat loss on habitat specialists (2014, background): “For instance, Krauss et al. (2010) found evidence of an extinction debt in grassland vascular plant specialists, but not for non-specialized species, in a study of 147 European grasslands.”
Which plant traits predict species loss in calcareous grasslands with extinction debt? (2012, background): “Thus, many characteristic species can be on a deterministic path to extinction without any further habitat loss (Krauss et al., 2010).”
Biodiversity, species interactions and ecological networks in a fragmented world (2012, background): “In pollination networks, plants are generally longer-lived than their pollinators, resulting in an accumulation of time-delayed plant extinctions (Krauss et al., 2010).”
Historical legacies accumulate to shape future biodiversity in an era of rapid global change (2015, background): “…example, degree of specialization, longevity, dispersal capacity, and trophic position for species (Allendorf & Hard, 2009; Kuussaari et al., 2009; Krauss et al., 2010; Cousins & Vanhoenacker, 2011; Ledger et al., 2013); generation time, population size and mating system for genetic diversity (B…”
Configurational landscape heterogeneity shapes functional community composition of grassland butterflies (2015, background): “In central Europe, calcareous grasslands are often small and isolated patches which are managed mainly for conservation purposes (via low-intensity grazing and mowing) (Krauss et al. 2010).”
Beyond the Fragmentation Threshold Hypothesis: Regime Shifts in Biodiversity Across Fragmented Landscapes (2010, background): “Given the time lag between landscape and biodiversity change [39,59], however, opportunities for avoiding regime-shifts through management and restoration activities are likely to exist for a period of time after the initial human impact, and before extinctions occur.”
Freshwater eels: A symbol of the effects of global change (2018, background): “Fragmentation and habitat loss increase the risk of extinction cascades (Terborgh et al. 2001; Fischer and Lindenmayer 2007; Krauss et al. 2010; Junge et al. 2014; Haddad et al. 2015; van Leeuwen et al. 2016).”
Traits related to species persistence and dispersal explain changes in plant communities subjected to habitat loss (2012, result): “…in this study only regions for which we assume that a high proportion of an extinction debt has been paid, that is, where previous studies testing for extinction debt in the regions included in this study demonstrated null or low extinction debt (see Adriaens et al., 2006; Krauss et al., 2010).”
The added complications of climate change: understanding and managing biodiversity and ecosystems (2013, positive): “Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation are leading causes of terrestrial biodiversity loss, impairment of ecosystem functioning, and associated declines in ecosystem services (IPCC 2007; Krauss et al. 2010).”