Figure - available from: Scientific Data
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Overview of the structured expert elicitation process, based on the IDEA protocol (Investigate, Discuss, Estimate, Aggregate). This process was run for each broad taxonomic group (Table 1), between November 2020 and January 2022, to elicit from 200 experts the estimated impact of nine major African land uses (Table 2) on the relative population abundances of terrestrial vertebrates and vascular plants.
Source publication
Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of...
Citations
... and under-reported, especially in tropical regions such as Africa 4,5 . Furthermore, many researchers have highlighted the underrepresentation of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular in global biodiversity research 6,7 . ...
Accurate knowledge of species distributions is foundational for effective conservation efforts. Bats are a diverse group of mammals, with important roles in ecosystem functioning. However, our understanding of bats and their ecological importance is hindered by poorly defined ranges, mostly as a result of under-recording. This issue is exacerbated in Africa by the ongoing rapid discovery of new species, both de novo and splits of existing species, and by inaccessibility to museum specimens that are mostly hosted outside of the continent. Here we present the African bat database – a curated set of 17,285 unique locality records of all 266 species of bats from sub-Saharan Africa, vouched for by specimens and/or genetic sequencing, and aligned with current taxonomy. Based on these records, we also present Maxent-based distribution models and calculate the IUCN Red List metrics for Extent of Occurrence and Area of Occupancy. This database and online visualization tool provide an important open-source resource and is expected to significantly advance studies in ecology, and aid in bat conservation.
... They also show similar species richness to, and greater functional diversity than, intact forests nearby, although the abandoned elds lack the forest specialist species R. swinnyi. Forest specialist clutter foragers, particularly cave and crevice roosting bats, appear to be notably vulnerable to alternative forms of land-use (Clement et al. 2024). The results of our study suggest former elds in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa can provide suitable habitat for high species richness and functional diversity of insectivorous bats and could contribute signi cantly to mitigating extinction debts. ...
Deagrarianisation (cropland, field abandonment) is a widespread global phenomenon with high potential for carbon sequestration and for reversing biodiversity extinction debt thus promoting environmental sustainability and conservation. To date, much work on this topic has focused on plant succession and associated plant diversity, but few studies have considered faunal communities, particularly in Africa. Here we used passive acoustic monitoring to record insectivorous bat communities within forest fragments and former fields under communal land tenure in the Transkei region (Eastern Cape) of South Africa. Insectivorous bat diversity of fields, abandoned in the 1960s to 1980s, resembling late stages of succession, were compared to fragments of Transkei Coastal Scarp forest embedded within the landscape. We found that former fields hosted 14 species from 11 genera, comprising greater species richness, activity, Shannon-Weiner diversity, and functional diversity, irrespective of age, as compared to the forest fragments. Furthermore, the former fields exhibited comparable species richness to, and higher functional diversity than, three large neighbouring intact Transkei Scarp forests. Interestingly, the time since cultivation had ceased (35—64 years ago) had no measurable effect on species and functional diversity. Former fields are dominated by the invasive alien shrub Lantana camara and the indigenous pioneer tree Vachellia karoo , but nonetheless in terms of insectivorous bats, these landscapes have a conservation value as they are diverse both in terms of species and function. Mutual mechanisms to enhance both biodiversity conservation and the utility of the land to local communities should be further considered.
... To more accurately assess the ecological effectiveness of CBCMS, it is beneficial to compare wildlife densities across multiple management units, including positive reference points such as national parks (while keeping in mind that they are not entirely pristine 31,32 ), and areas with minimal conservation efforts. The fragmented Tarangire Ecosystem of northern Tanzania (Fig. 1) maintains one of the last remaining long-distance migrations of large herbivores in Africa 1,33 . ...
In East Africa, community-based conservation models (CBCMs) have been established to support the conservation of wildlife in fragmented landscapes like the Tarangire Ecosystem, Tanzania. To assess how different management approaches maintained large herbivore populations, we conducted line distance surveys and estimated seasonal densities of elephant, giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest in six management units, including three CBCMs, two national parks (positive controls), and one area with little conservation interventions (negative control). Using a Monte-Carlo approach to propagate uncertainties from the density estimates and trend analysis, we analyzed the resulting time series (2011–2019). Densities of the target species were consistently low in the site with little conservation interventions. In contrast, densities of zebra and wildebeest in CBCMs were similar to national parks, providing evidence that CBCMs contributed to the stabilization of these migratory populations in the central part of the ecosystem. CBCMs also supported giraffe and elephant densities similar to those found in national parks. In contrast, the functional connectivity of Lake Manyara National Park has not been augmented by CBCMs. Our analysis suggests that CBCMs can effectively conserve large herbivores, and that maintaining connectivity through CBCMs should be prioritized.
... Efforts to curb biodiversity loss typically aim to reduce land conversion rates, encourage land restoration efforts, and promote the expansion of protected area networks (Dinerstein et al., 2020). These strategies are premised on the idea that there are important reservoirs of biodiversity remaining in rangelands (used for livestock) or near-natural lands outside of current protected area networks, which are defined as lands with minor levels of transformation, low population densities and limited impacts from livestock or crop-based agriculture (Clements et al., 2024). These rangelands and near-natural landscapes outside of current protected areas will become increasingly important if we are to reduce biodiversity loss and achieve the restoration and conservation targets set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD, 2022). ...
... Although grassy ecosystems are subject to high rates of land conversion for crop-based agriculture and forestry (Newbold et al., 2016;Potapov et al., 2022), large moderate intensity rangelands and near-natural areas do still remain outside of protected area networks, particularly in Africa (Clements et al., 2024;Stevens et al., 2022). These areas host a rich biodiversity and support an array of valuable ecosystem services (Bardgett et al., 2021;Murphy et al., 2016;Pärtel et al., 2005). ...
Grassy ecosystems cover more than 40% of the world's terrestrial surface, supporting crucial ecosystem services and unique biodiversity. These ecosystems have experienced major losses from conversion to agriculture with the remaining fragments threatened by global change. Woody plant encroachment, the increase in woody cover threatening grassy ecosystems, is a major global change symptom, shifting the composition, structure, and function of plant communities with concomitant effects on all biodiversity. To identify generalisable impacts of encroachment on biodiversity, we urgently need broad‐scale studies on how species respond to woody cover change. Here, we make use of bird atlas, woody cover change data (between 2007 and 2016) and species traits, to assess: (1) population trends and woody cover responses using dynamic occupancy models; (2) how outcomes relate to habitat, diet and nesting traits; and (3) predictions of future occupancy trends, for 191 abundant, southern African bird species. We found that: (1) 63% (121) of species showed a decline in occupancy, with 18% (34) of species' declines correlated with increasing woody cover (i.e. losers). Only 2% (4) of species showed increasing population trends linked with increased woody cover (i.e. winners); (2) Open habitat specialist, invertivorous, ground nesting birds were the most frequent losers, however, we found no definitive evidence that the selected traits could predict outcomes; and (3) We predict open habitat loser species will take on average 52 years to experience 50% population declines with current rates of encroachment. Our results bring attention to concerning region‐wide declining bird population trends and highlight woody plant encroachment as an important driver of bird population dynamics. Importantly, these findings should encourage improved management and restoration of our remaining grassy ecosystems. Furthermore, our findings show the importance of lands beyond protected areas for biodiversity, and the urgent need to mitigate the impacts of woody plant encroachment on bird biodiversity.
... To track species abundances (a prerequisite for measuring functional changes) conservationists have developed biodiversity intactness indices (BII) 19,20 . These indices estimate how human activity has changed species populations relative to remaining highly intact landscapes such as wilderness areas, with these intact areas assumed to be representative of historic animal abundances, nominally in the precolonial/pre-industrial period. ...
... Here, we focus on Sub-Saharan Africa as a case study, a region with a striking range of ecosystems and large gradients in ecological intactness, including megafaunal abundance, and anthropogenic pressure. We take advantage of new datasets that (i) model population densities of bird and mammal species 24,25 and (ii) estimate BII, or the impacts of land use changes on species abundances, across Sub-Saharan Africa 19,26 . The BII estimates are derived from a new dataset aggregating 30,000 expert estimates of how African species abundances respond to land use change. ...
... To calculate the average energy consumption of sub-Saharan Africa's ~3,000 bird and mammal species, we used published allometric equations 32 and datasets on species traits, diets, and food assimilation e ciencies (Supplementary Tables 1-3; Supplementary Data 2). We quanti ed current energy ows according to the remaining abundance of each species in each cell estimated by the BII 19,26 . To calculate the energetic intactness of ecosystem functions, de ned as the percentage of historical animal energy ows remaining in an ecosystem, we grouped species into trophic guilds and functional groups, based on their diets, lifestyles, body sizes, and, for mammals, social group sizes. ...
A key challenge for ecological science is to understand how biodiversity loss is changing ecosystem structure and function at scales relevant for policy1. Almost all biodiversity metrics are challenging to disaggregate into ecosystem functions, in particular animal-mediated functions such as pollination, seed and nutrient dispersal, and predation. Here, we adopt an ecosystem energetics approach2 as a physically meaningful method of translating animal species composition into a suite of ecosystem functions. We quantify historical changes to energy flows through mammal- and bird-mediated ecosystem functions across sub-Saharan Africa. In total, trophic energy flows have decreased by over one-third, with functions performed by megafauna in particular collapsing outside protected areas. The pattern of decreasing function varies by biome, driven by arboreal birds and primates in forests, terrestrial herbivores in grassy systems, and burrowing mammals in arid systems. Compared to other biodiversity metrics, an energetics approach highlights the ecological importance of smaller animals and keystone species. The results can help practitioners conserve and restore functionally diverse, energetically intact ecosystems across land uses and biomes. By relating biodiversity intactness to energy and material flows, ecosystem energetics can also advance efforts to set local, regional or planetary boundaries3 for biodiversity loss.
