Climate change and land use causing loss of animals’ habitats worldwide
Climate change and changes of land use have caused mammals, birds and amphibians to lose on average 18 per cent of their habitat worldwide since 1700, research indicates.
This could rise to a 23 per cent loss in the next 80 years in a worst- case scenario, according to the Cambridge University study.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, analysed changes in the geographical range of 16,919 species from 1700 to the present day.
The study's first author Dr Robert Beyer, of Cambridge's department of zoology, said: "The habitat size of almost all known birds, mammals and amphibians is shrinking, primarily because of land conversion by humans as we continue to expand our agricultural and urban areas."
Species' geographical ranges were found to have recently shrunk most significantly in tropical areas, where for instance rainforest has been cleared for oil palm plantations in south- east Asia and for pasture land in South America.
Many species there live in smaller geographical areas to begin with.
"The tropics are biodiversity hotspots with lots of smallrange species," said Dr Beyer. "If one hectare of tropical forest i s converted to agricultural land, a lot more species lose larger proportions of their home than in places like Europe."
The research suggests that climate change will have an increasing impact on species' geographical ranges.
Rising t emperatures and changing rainfall patterns will alter habitats significantly, for example.
Other studies have predicted that, without climate action, large parts of the Amazon may change from canopy rainforest to a savannah- like mix of woodland and open grassland in the next 100 years.
"Species in the Amazon have adapted to living in a tropical rainforest," said Dr Beyer.
"If climate change causes this
ecosystem to change, many of those species won't be able to survive – or they will at least be pushed into smaller areas of remaining rainforest."
Reducing t he amount of agricultural land around the world by i ntroducing new policy measures could help, the research suggests. These
could include encouraging people to eat less meat, and stabilising population growth.