An introduction to the species-people correlation

An introduction to the species-people correlation

Marco Pautasso,Division of Biology,

Imperial College London, Silwood Campus, UK

8 July 2008

from: Lonsdale et al. (2008) European Journal of Forest Research

Random sample of 100 papers per year on ‘species richness’ in WOS (1991-2004)

Global biodiversity patterns: vascular plants

from Barthlott et al. (2007) Erdkunde

Global human population density patterns

from Small & Cohen (2004) Current Anthropology

Map of the world by Abraham Ortelius, ~1570

From: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:1572_Typus_Orbis_Terrarum_Ortelius.jpg

Orbis terrarum, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, ~27 a.C.

from http://www.arqweb.com/vitrum/orbis22.asp

Species-people correlation in Europe

from Araujo (2003) Global Ecology & Biogeography

plants birds

people

spp

n = 2877, r2 = 0.18, y = 1.75+ 0.22x, p < 0.0001

1

2

3

4

2 3 4 5 6 7

log10 human population size (n)

log1

0 vas

cula

r pla

nt s

pp ri

chne

ss (n

)

A positive species-people correlation for vascular plants in US counties

Data from the Synthesis of the North American Flora, Ohio and Virginia not included

1. Sampling bias?

from: Pautasso & McKinney (2007) Conservation Biology

US counties with (•) or without (o) Universities and/or Botanical Gardens

from: Pautasso & McKinney (2007) Conservation Biology

• N = 692, r2 = 0.13, y = 2.15 (SE = 0.08) + 0.15 (SE = 0.01) x, p < 0.0001

o N = 2187, r2 = 0.10, y = 2.18 (SE = 0.05) + 0.15 (SE = 0.01) x, p < 0.0001

from: Hufnagel, Brockmann & Geisel (2004) PNAS

number of passengers per day

2. Active conservation?

Photos of veteran trees courtesy of G. Bortolotti; Map of human population density from Swiss Federal Statistical Office

Celtis australis, San Gimignano

Quercus robur, Udine

Castanea sativa,St. Alfio, Sicily

Quercus cerris,Amatrice, Latium

Cupressussempervirens, Forli

people / km2

no information

(c)y = -2.03 + 0.49x, r2 = 0.15, p < 0.0001

0

1

2

4 5 6 7log10 province human population size

log1

0 vet

eran

tree

spec

ies

(c)

y = -1.70 + 0.47x, r2 = 0.69, p < 0.0001

0

1

2

4 5 6 7 8

log10 region human population size

log1

0 vet

eran

tree

spec

ies

(b)y = -2.98 + 0.68x, r2 = 0.13, p < 0.0001

0

1

2

4 5 6 7log10 province human population size

log 1

0 vet

eran

tree

indi

vidu

als

(b)

y = -1.99 + 0.58x, r2 = 0.56, p < 0.00010

1

2

3

4 5 6 7 8

log10 region human population size

log1

0 vet

eran

tree

indi

vidu

als

(c)(a)

(b)

a & b: abundance, c & d: spp richness, a & c: regions; b & d: provinces; from: Pautasso & Chiarucci (2008) Annals of Botany

(d)

Monumental trees in Italy’s regions and provinces

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, 2004Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine

Trace forward/back zipcode

Positive (Phytophthora ramorum) site

Hold released

3. Species introductions?

from: Cushman & Meentemeyer (2008) Journal of Ecology

Multi-scale correlation of human presence and Phytophthora ramorum disease incidence

Sudden Oak Death in California

from Desprez-Loustau et al. (2007) Trends in Ecology & Evolution

b from: http://www.worldmapper.org/

a, c & d: from: Pautasso & Parmentier (2007) Botanica Helvetica

(c)

(d)

(a) (c)

log 1

0sp

pri

chne

ss (n

)

(b) Size of countries reflects n of botanic gardens

Living collections of the world’s botanical gardens

(d)

(yr)

From (all et al.): (a) Kreft (2008) Ecology Letters, (b) Cramer (1999) Global Change Biology, (c) Imhoff (2004) Nature

(b)(a)

4. Both species and people correlate with productivity?

(c)

NPP (g C yr-1 m-2)

vascular plant species richness terrestrial net primary productivity

human-appropriated net primary productivity

from: Marini, Prosser, Klimek & Marrs (in press) J Biogeography

Both species and people correlate with productivity

Altitude Plant species richness in Trentino, Italy

Source: European Academy, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy (EURAC)

Excursus: human population density across the Alps

Source: European Academy, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy (EURAC)

Excursus (2): human pop. dens. change across the Alps

Air pollution due to urbanization: NO2

source: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/EarthObservation/pollution_europe_hires.jpg

[1015 mol/cm2; Jan 2003- Jun 2004]

Some recent studies of the spp-people correlation

World wilderness map from: UNEP-WCMC World Atlas of Biodiversity, GIS analysis by R. Lesslie (ANU), method developed for the Australian Heritage Commission

Balmfordet al. (2001) ScienceReal et al.

(2003) J Biogeog

McKinney (2003) Biol Cons

Vazquez & Gaston (2006) Biodiv & Cons

Chown et al. (2003) Ecol Appl

Luck (2007)J Biogeog

Araujo(2003) GEB

Hunter & Jonzon(1993) CB

Ding et al. (2006) J Biogeog

Moreno-Rueda &

Pizarro (2008) Ecol Res

Diniz-Filho et al. (2006) Acta Oecol.

What about invertebrates? (1) Ants

from Schlick-Steiner et al. (in press) Journal of Biogeography

(a)y = -0.19 + 0.29x, s.s.e. = 0.03, r2 = 0.42, p < 0.0001

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0

log10 human population size (n)

log 1

0 ant

spec

ies r

ichn

ess (

n)

(b)y = 0.67 + 0.22x, s.s.e = 0.02, r2 = 0.30, p < 0.0001

1.0

2.0

3.0

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0

log10 country area (km2)

log 1

0 ant

spec

ies r

ichn

ess (

n)

(c)y = -1.00 + 0.87x, s.s.e. = 0.13, r2 = 0.56, p < 0.0001

1.0

2.0

3.0

2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

log10 plant species richness (n)

log 1

0 ant

spec

ies r

ichn

ess (

n)

(d)y = 0.65 - 0.27x, s.s.e. = 0.64, r2 = 0.02, p = 0.67

1.0

2.0

3.0

-4.6 -4.5 -4.4 -4.3 -4.2

Boltzmann transformed temperature (1/kT)

log 1

0 ant

spe

cies

rich

ness

(n)

What about invertebrates? (2) Grasshoppers

from Steck & Pautasso (in press) Acta Oecologica

What about invertebrates? (3) May-, stone- & caddis-flies

from Pautasso & Fontaneto (in press) Ecological Applications

Pict

ures

from

http

://bi

okey

s.be

rkel

ey.e

du

from: Lonsdale et al. (2008) European Journal of Forest Research

Random sample of 100 papers per year on ‘species richness’ in WOS (1991-2004)

Conclusions

1) the scale-dependence of the species-people correlation has implications for conservation,

2) a positive spp-people correlation could be due to i) sampling bias, (ii) active

conservation, and (iii) species introductions,

3) but its most plausible/frequent explanation is a correlation of both people and spp

richness with environmental productivity

Acknowledgements

Claude Steck, WSL, CH

Mike Jeger, Wye & Silwood

Ingrid Parmentier,

Univ. of Bruxelles, Belgium

Kevin Gaston, Univ. of

Sheffield

Diego Fontaneto,Silwood

Birgit & FlorianSchlick-Steiner, Univ. of Queensland, Australia

Mike McKinney, Univ. of Tennessee, US

Lorenzo Marini, Univ. of Padua, Italy

Alessandro Chiarucci,

Univ. of Siena, Italy

References Barbosa AM, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) Positive regional species–people correlations: a sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development? Animal Conservation 13: 446-447Barbosa AM, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) Is the human population a large-scale indicator of the species richness of ground beetles? Animal Conservation 13: 432-441Cantarello E, Steck CE, Fontana P, Fontaneto D, Marini L & Pautasso M (2010) A multi-scale study of Orthoptera species richness and human population size controlling for sampling effort. Naturwissenschaften 97: 265-271Chiari C, Dinetti M, Licciardello C, Licitra G & Pautasso M (2010) Urbanization and the more-individuals hypothesis. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 366-371Golding J, Güsewell S, Kreft H, Kuzevanov VY, Lehvävirta S, Parmentier I & Pautasso M (2010) Species-richness patterns of the living collections of the world's botanic gardens: a matter of socio-economics? Annals of Botany 105: 689-696Pautasso M (2009) Geographical genetics and the conservation of forest trees. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Systematics and Evolution 11: 157-189Pautasso M & Dinetti M (2009) Avian species richness, human population and protected areas across Italy’s regions. Environmental Conservation 36: 22-31Pautasso M & Powell G (2009) Aphid biodiversity is correlated with human population in European countries. Oecologia160: 839-846Pautasso M & Zotti M (2009) Macrofungal taxa and human population in Italy's regions. Biodiversity & Conservation 18: 473-485Pautasso M & Parmentier I (2007) Are the living collections of the world’s botanical gardens following species-richness patterns observed in natural ecosystems? Botanica Helvetica 117: 15-28Pecher C, Fritz S, Marini L, Fontaneto D & Pautasso M (2010) Scale-dependence of the correlation between human population and the species richness of stream macroinvertebrates. Basic Applied Ecology 11: 272-280