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Global effects of land-use intensity on local pollinator biodiversity

Millard, J; Outhwaite, CL; Kinnersley, R; Freeman, R; Gregory, RD; Adedoja, O; Gavini, S; ... Newbold, T; + view all (2021) Global effects of land-use intensity on local pollinator biodiversity. Nature Communications , 12 , Article 2902. 10.1038/s41467-021-23228-3. Green open access

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Abstract

Pollinating species are in decline globally, with land use an important driver. However, most of the evidence on which these claims are made is patchy, based on studies with low taxonomic and geographic representativeness. Here, we model the effect of land-use type and intensity on global pollinator biodiversity, using a local-scale database covering 303 studies, 12,170 sites, and 4502 pollinating species. Relative to a primary vegetation baseline, we show that low levels of intensity can have beneficial effects on pollinator biodiversity. Within most anthropogenic land-use types however, increasing intensity is associated with significant reductions, particularly in urban (43% richness and 62% abundance reduction compared to the least intensive urban sites), and pasture (75% abundance reduction) areas. We further show that on cropland, the strongly negative response to intensity is restricted to tropical areas, and that the direction and magnitude of response differs among taxonomic groups. Our findings confirm widespread effects of land-use intensity on pollinators, most significantly in the tropics, where land use is predicted to change rapidly.

Type: Article
Title: Global effects of land-use intensity on local pollinator biodiversity
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23228-3
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23228-3
Language: English
Additional information: © 2021 Springer Nature Limited.This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Biodiversity, Conservation biology, Ecological modelling
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126019
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