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Threatened terrestrial vertebrates are exposed to human pressures across 94% of Europe’s protected land

View ORCID ProfileDobrochna M. Delsen, View ORCID ProfileW. Daniel Kissling, View ORCID ProfileJames R. Allan
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.25.266379
Dobrochna M. Delsen
1Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94240, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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  • For correspondence: dobrochna.m.d@gmail.com
W. Daniel Kissling
1Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94240, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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James R. Allan
1Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94240, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) are the last refuges for wild biodiversity, yet human pressures (or threats) are increasingly prevalent within their boundaries. Human pressures have the potential to negatively impact species and undermine their conservation, but their overlap with sensitive threatened species in PAs remains rarely quantified. Here, we analyse the co-occurrence of nineteen threatening human activities within the distributions of 146 threatened terrestrial vertebrates in the European Union (EU), accounting for species-specific sensitivities to each pressure and thereby mapping potential human impacts on species within EU PAs. We find that human pressures extend across > 1.022 million km2 (94.5%) of EU protected land, with potential negative impacts on threatened species across 1.015 million km2 (93.8%). A total of 122 out of 146 species (84%) have > 50% of their EU protected ranges potentially impacted, and 83 out of 146 species (57%) more than 90% of their protected range. More species have a smaller proportion of their protected range potentially impacted in Natura2000 sites than in non-Natura2000 sites, and the same is true for species in nature reserves and wilderness areas compared to less strictly managed PAs. Our results show that threatened species in Europe’s PAs are exposed to immense human pressures, and suggest that areas designated for species conservation are ineffective for halting biodiversity decline. We recommend that the EU Biodiversity Strategy develops and enforces a comprehensive PA threat management program to reduce the negative impacts of human activities on wildlife in European protected lands.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted August 25, 2020.
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Threatened terrestrial vertebrates are exposed to human pressures across 94% of Europe’s protected land
Dobrochna M. Delsen, W. Daniel Kissling, James R. Allan
bioRxiv 2020.08.25.266379; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.25.266379
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Threatened terrestrial vertebrates are exposed to human pressures across 94% of Europe’s protected land
Dobrochna M. Delsen, W. Daniel Kissling, James R. Allan
bioRxiv 2020.08.25.266379; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.25.266379

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