Biodiversity of tropical forests in decline
A study has suggested that, despite having protected status, the biodiversity in a large number of tropical forests is continuing to decline. The authors believe the findings should cause concern as the areas have been seen as a final refuge for a number of threatened species.
The findings have been published in the science journal Nature, and describe habitat disruption, hunting and timber exploitations as some of the signs which may threaten future decline. It was suggested that "protecting biodiversity involved more than just safeguarding the reserves themselves".
Tropical forests are considered to be the biologically richest areas on the planet and in order to assess the state of the world's protected areas, the team considered data from 60 areas. The study covered 36 nations across the tropics in Africa, Asia and South America. Hunting has been identified as one of the main threats to biodiversity in protected areas.
The team wrote: "Our study was motivated by three broad issues: whether tropical reserves will function as 'arks' for biodiversity and natural ecosystem processes. Whether observed changes are mainly concordant or idiosyncratic among different protected areas; and what are the principal predictors of reserve success or failure."
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