Pfeifer, M. and Lefebvre, V. and Peres, C. A. and Banks-Leite, C. and Wearn, O. R. and Marsh, C. J. and Butchart, S. H. M. and Arroyo-Rodriguez, V. and Barlow, Jos and Cerezo, A. and Cisneros, L. and D'Cruze, N. and Faria, D. and Hadley, A. and Harris, S. M. and Klingbeil, B. T. and Kormann, U. and Lens, L. and Medina-Rangel, G. F. and Morante-Filho, J. C. and Olivier, P. and Peters, S. L. and Pidgeon, A. and Ribeiro, D. B. and Scherber, C. and Schneider-Maunoury, L. and Struebig, M. and Urbina-Cardona, N. and Watling, J. I. and Willig, M. R. and Wood, E. M. and Ewers, R. M. (2017) Creation of forest edges has a global impact on forest vertebrates. Nature, 551 (7679). pp. 187-191. ISSN 0028-0836
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Abstract
Forest edges influence more than half of the world's forests and contribute to worldwide declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, predicting these declines is challenging in heterogeneous fragmented landscapes. Here we assembled a global dataset on species responses to fragmentation and developed a statistical approach for quantifying edge impacts in heterogeneous landscapes to quantify edge-determined changes in abundance of 1,673 vertebrate species. We show that the abundances of 85% of species are affected, either positively or negatively, by forest edges. Species that live in the centre of the forest (forest core), that were more likely to be listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reached peak abundances only at sites farther than 200-400 m from sharp high-contrast forest edges. Smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized non-volant mammals experienced a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest-core species. Our results highlight the pervasive ability of forest edges to restructure ecological communities on a global scale.