Threatened fauna protections compromised by agricultural interests in Australia
Engert, Jayden E., Pressey, Robert L., and Adams, Vanessa M. (2023) Threatened fauna protections compromised by agricultural interests in Australia. Conservation Letters, 16 (5). e12975.
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Abstract
Australia is a global leader in land clearing and biodiversity loss. The overwhelming majority of land clearing within Australia and, globally, is driven by agricultural conversion. The importance of agricultural lands also leads to the concentration of habitat protection in landscapes that do not support productive land uses, which might contribute to species conservation in marginal habitat. Using an integrated agricultural capability map and threatened vertebrate fauna range maps, we show that observed biases in protected area location have varied impacts at the species level. Specifically, threatened vertebrate fauna with habitat capable of supporting high-value productive lands received less protection and experienced greater habitat loss. Similarly, almost all species assessed received protection in the portions of their ranges less conducive to productive land uses. Finally, we identify regions of Australia at risk of future land clearing and the species likely to bear the brunt of the impacts. Our results demonstrate the importance of protecting land capable of supporting productive uses to conserve the most affected threatened species.
Item ID: | 80373 |
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Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 1755-263X |
Keywords: | biodiversity conservation, conservation planning, habitat loss, land clearing, land use, productive land, protected-area management |
Copyright Information: | © 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Date Deposited: | 16 Feb 2024 06:02 |
FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310308 Terrestrial ecology @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 50% |
SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1806 Terrestrial systems and management > 180606 Terrestrial biodiversity @ 100% |
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