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Fiddling in biodiversity hotspots while deserts burn? Collapse of the Sahara's megafauna

Durant, SM; Woodroffe, R; Belbachir, F; Cornforth, WA; Jacobson, A; Pettorelli, N; Purchase, G; ... Soultan, AE; + view all (2014) Fiddling in biodiversity hotspots while deserts burn? Collapse of the Sahara's megafauna. Diversity and Distributions , 20 (1) 114 - 122. 10.1111/ddi.12157. Green open access

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Abstract

Biodiversity hotspots understandably attract considerable conservation attention. However, deserts are rarely viewed as conservation priority areas, due to their relatively low productivity, yet these systems are home to unique species, adapted to harsh and highly variable environments. While global attention has been focused on hotspots, the world's largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic decline in megafauna. Of 14 large vertebrates that have historically occurred in the region, four are now extinct in the wild, including the iconic scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah). The majority has disappeared from more than 90% of their Saharan range, including addax (Addax nasomaculatus), dama gazelle (Nanger dama) and Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) - all now on the brink of extinction. Greater conservation support and scientific attention for the region might have helped to avert these catastrophic declines. The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them. The scientific community can make an important contribution to conservation in deserts by establishing baseline information on biodiversity and developing new approaches to sustainable management of desert species and ecosystems. Such approaches must accommodate mobility of both people and wildlife so that they can use resources most efficiently in the face of low and unpredictable rainfall. This is needed to enable governments to deliver on their commitments to halt further degradation of deserts and to improve their status for both biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Only by so-doing will deserts be able to support resilient ecosystems and communities that are best able to adapt to climate change. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Type: Article
Title: Fiddling in biodiversity hotspots while deserts burn? Collapse of the Sahara's megafauna
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12157
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12157
Language: English
Additional information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Durant, SM; Woodroffe, R; Belbachir, F; Cornforth, WA; Jacobson, A; Pettorelli, N; Purchase, G; (2014) Fiddling in biodiversity hotspots while deserts burn? Collapse of the Sahara's megafauna. Diversity and Distributions , 20 (1) 114 - 122., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12157. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
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/1422713
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