Local biodiversity erosion in south Brazilian grasslands under moderate levels of landscape habitat loss.

Published online
21 Nov 2018
Content type
Journal article
Journal title
Journal of Applied Ecology
DOI
10.1111/1365-2664.13067

Author(s)
Staude, I. R. & Vélez-Martin, E. & Andrade, B. O. & Podgaiski, L. R. & Boldrini, I. I. & Mendonça Júnior, M. & Pillar, V. D. & Overbeck, G. E.
Contact email(s)
staudeingmar@gmail.com

Publication language
English
Location
Brazil

Abstract

Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, exerting negative effects on the ecological viability of natural vegetation remnants. The south Brazilian grasslands belong to one of the largest temperate grassland regions in the world, but have lost 50% of their natural extent in the past 35 years. To date, there is no empirical evidence for the effects of habitat loss on these grasslands' biological diversity, undermining their conservation. Using data from a large-scale biodiversity survey, we asked if local plant communities respond to levels of habitat loss representative of the entire region (≤50%). Vegetation in grassland remnants was sampled in 24 landscapes at three localities each, using nine plots per locality. To investigate whether species losses were a consequence of stochastic or nonrandom local extinctions and whether plant communities became more homogenized, we evaluated species richness, beta-diversity components (spatial turnover and nestedness), and phylogenetic diversity, in respect to landscape change. In part of the landscapes, arthropods were sampled to investigate if loss of plant diversity had a cascading effect on other trophic levels. We evaluated generic richness of ants, an omnivore group with high levels of plant associations, in respect to a plant community's phylogenetic diversity. Local plant communities in landscapes with less grassland cover had fewer species, less spatial turnover, increased nestedness and lower phylogenetic diversity. Our results suggest that the observed species loss can be linked to taxonomic homogenization and is nonrandom, decreasing evolutionary diversity within the community. Furthermore, ant richness declined by 50% in plant communities with the lowest phylogenetic diversity, suggesting that effects of habitat loss propagate to higher trophic levels. Policy implications. We conclude that the biological diversity of south Brazilian grasslands, at the producer and consumer level, is at risk under the current rate of land-use conversion, even at habitat losses below 50%. To avoid substantial biodiversity loss, conservation and more restrictive policies for conversion of native grasslands to different land uses in South Brazil are urgently needed.

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