Understanding the extent to which people and wildlife overlap in space and time is critical for the conservation of biodiversity and ecological services. Yet, how global change will reshape the future of human-wildlife overlap has not been assessed. We show that the potential spatial overlap of global human populations and 22,374 terrestrial vertebrate species will increase across ~56.6% and decrease across only ~11.8% of the Earth's terrestrial surface by 2070. Increases are driven primarily by intensification of human population densities, not change in wildlife distributions caused by climate change. The strong spatial heterogeneity of future human-wildlife overlap found in our study makes it clear that local context is imperative to consider, and more targeted area-based land-use planning should be integrated into systematic conservation planning.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11338222 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adp7706 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Evidence of repeated zoonotic pathogen spillover events at ecological boundaries.
Front Public Health
November 2024
Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States.
Article Synopsis
- - Anthropogenic changes to landscapes are creating new ecological boundaries that are linked to increased outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, yet the reasons for these new emergence events are not well understood.
- - The study investigates how two types of ecosystem boundaries—biotic transition zones and land use transition zones—affect the risk of disease spillover, using ebolavirus and its reservoir (bats) and accidental host (primates) as a model.
- - Findings reveal that areas where species ranges overlap and where habitat diversity is high increase the risk of ebolavirus outbreaks, while gradual transition zones with rangelands may actually help reduce this risk.
Habitat suitability and protected area coverage for an expanding cougar population in Canada.
Ecol Evol
September 2024
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK.
Successful conservation of expanding large carnivore populations and management of human-wildlife conflict to promote coexistence requires sufficient spatiotemporal knowledge to inform appropriate action. In Canada, cougars () are expanding their range eastwards and little research is available for use in decision making by land managers and conservation planners. To inform proactive management regarding expanding populations of cougars in Canada, we utilized open-source cougar presence and land-cover data in a maximum entropy habitat suitability model to determine potentially suitable habitat for cougars across the country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlobal expansion of human-wildlife overlap in the 21st century.
Sci Adv
August 2024
Institute for Global Change Biology, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Understanding the extent to which people and wildlife overlap in space and time is critical for the conservation of biodiversity and ecological services. Yet, how global change will reshape the future of human-wildlife overlap has not been assessed. We show that the potential spatial overlap of global human populations and 22,374 terrestrial vertebrate species will increase across ~56.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPredicting the effects of global environmental changes on species distribution is a top conservation priority, particularly for large carnivores, that contribute to regulating and maintaining ecosystems. As the most widespread and adaptable large felid, ranging across Africa and Asia, leopards are crucial to many ecosystems as both keystone and umbrella species, yet they are threatened across their ranges. We used intraspecific species distribution models (SDMs) to predict changes in range suitability for leopards under future climate and land-use change and identify conservation gaps and opportunities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnseen overlap between fishing vessels and top predators in the northeast Pacific.
Sci Adv
March 2024
Institute of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Article Synopsis
- Accurate assessments of human-wildlife risk in industrial fishing are essential for conserving marine predators, as gaps in Automatic Identification System (AIS) data can obscure true vessel activity.
- Research found that up to 24% of total predator overlap with fishing vessels in the northeast Pacific was not captured by AIS, and some species, like sharks, had even higher unseen overlap.
- Recognizing these gaps highlights the hidden risks to wildlife and the need for improved transparency in data reporting for sustainable fishing practices.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!