Open AccessA method for quantifying biodiversity loss and its application to a 50‐year record of deforestation across Madagascar
Author(s) -
Allnutt Thomas F.,
Ferrier Simon,
Manion Glenn,
Powell George V. N.,
Ricketts Taylor H.,
Fisher Brian L.,
Harper Grady J.,
Irwin Michael E.,
Kremen Claire,
Labat JeanNoël,
Lees David C.,
Pearce Timothy A.,
Rakotondrainibe France
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
conservation letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.153
H-Index - 79
ISSN - 1755-263X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-263x.2008.00027.x
Subject(s) - deforestation (computer science) , biodiversity , extinction (optical mineralogy) , geography , agroforestry , environmental science , endemism , land use , tropics , environmental resource management , ecology , biology , paleontology , computer science , programming language
Madagascar is a top global conservation priority for high rates of deforestation and endemism. Deforestation has been extensive, but impacts of forest loss on biodiversity have not been well quantified, especially for nonvertebrates. We use generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM) as a basis for estimating forest biodiversity remaining at different points in time. We predict that 9.1% of species in Madagascar have been committed to extinction from deforestation between 1950 and 2000. This quantity is higher than losses expected from random deforestation of the same total area, indicating that deforestation has been biased towards environmentally and biologically distinct areas. In contrast to traditional area‐based methods, these techniques allow one to estimate biodiversity loss based on the location of deforestation and thus can inform land‐use policies that aim to minimize biodiversity impacts of deforestation or development.