Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity

Title data

Pärtel, Meelis ; Tamme, Riin ; Carmona, Carlos P. ; Riibak, Kersti ; Moora, Mari ; Bennett, Jonathan A. ; Chiarucci, Alessandro ; Chytrý, Milan ; de Bello, Francesco ; Eriksson, Ove ; Harrison, Susan ; Lewis, Robert John ; Moles, Angela T. ; Öpik, Maarja ; Price, Jodi N. ; Amputu, Vistorina ; Askarizadeh, Diana ; Atashgahi, Zohreh ; Aubin, Isabelle ; Azcárate, Francisco M. ; Barrett, Matthew D. ; Bashirzadeh, Maral ; Bátori, Zoltán ; Beenaerts, Natalie ; Bergholz, Kolja ; Birkeli, Kristine ; Biurrun, Idoia ; Blanco-Moreno, José M. ; Bloodworth, Kathryn J. ; Boisvert-Marsh, Laura ; Boldgiv, Bazartseren ; Brancalion, Pedro H. S. ; Brearley, Francis Q. ; Brown, Charlotte ; Bueno, C. Guillermo ; Buffa, Gabriella ; Cahill, James F. ; Campos, Juan A. ; Cangelmi, Giacomo ; Carbognani, Michele ; Carcaillet, Christopher ; Cerabolini, Bruno E. L. ; Chevalier, Richard ; Clavel, Jan S. ; Costa, José M. ; Cousins, Sara A. O. ; Čuda, Jan ; Dairel, Mariana ; Dalle Fratte, Michele ; Danilova, Alena ; Davison, John ; Deák, Balázs ; Del Vecchio, Silvia ; Dembicz, Iwona ; Dengler, Jürgen ; Dolezal, Jiri ; Domene, Xavier ; Dvorsky, Miroslav ; Ejtehadi, Hamid ; Enrico, Lucas ; Epikhin, Dmitrii ; Eskelinen, Anu ; Essl, Franz ; Fan, Gaohua ; Fantinato, Edy ; Fazlioglu, Fatih ; Fernández-Pascual, Eduardo ; Ferrara, Arianna ; Fidelis, Alessandra ; Fischer, Markus ; Flagmeier, Maren ; Forte, T’ai G. W. ; Fraser, Lauchlan H. ; Fujinuma, Junichi ; Furquim, Fernando F. ; Garris, Berle ; Garris, Heath W. ; Giorgis, Melisa A. ; Giusso del Galdo, Gianpietro ; González-Robles, Ana ; Good, Megan K. ; Guardiola, Moisès ; Guarino, Riccardo ; Guerrero, Irene ; Guillemot, Joannès ; Güler, Behlül ; Guo, Yinjie ; Haesen, Stef ; Hejda, Martin ; Heleno, Ruben H. ; Høye, Toke T. ; Hrivnák, Richard ; Huang, Yingxin ; Hunter, John T. ; Iakushenko, Dmytro ; Ibáñez, Ricardo ; Ingerpuu, Nele ; Irl, Severin D. H. ; Janíková, Eva ; Jansen, Florian ; Jeltsch, Florian ; Jentsch, Anke ; Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja ; Jõks, Madli ; Jouri, Mohammad H. ; Karami, Sahar ; Katal, Negin ; Kelemen, András ; Khairullin, Bulat I. ; Khuroo, Anzar A. ; Komatsu, Kimberly J. ; Konečná, Marie ; Kook, Ene ; Korell, Lotte ; Koroleva, Natalia ; Korznikov, Kirill A. ; Kozhevnikova, Maria V. ; Kozub, Łukasz ; Laanisto, Lauri ; Lager, Helena ; Lanta, Vojtech ; Lasagno, Romina G. ; Lembrechts, Jonas J. ; Li, Liping ; Lisner, Aleš ; Liu, Houjia ; Liu, Kun ; Liu, Xuhe ; Lucas-Borja, Manuel Esteban ; Ludewig, Kristin ; Lukács, Katalin ; Luther-Mosebach, Jona ; Macek, Petr ; Marignani, Michela ; Michalet, Richard ; Miglécz, Tamás ; Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold ; Moeys, Karlien ; Montesinos, Daniel ; Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo ; Moysiyenko, Ivan ; Mucina, Ladislav ; Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam ; Murillo, Raytha A. ; Nambahu, Sylvia M. ; Neuenkamp, Lena ; Normand, Signe ; Nowak, Arkadiusz ; Nuche, Paloma ; Oja, Tatjana ; Onipchenko, Vladimir G. ; Pachedjieva, Kalina L. ; Paganeli, Bruno ; Peco, Begoña ; Peralta, Ana M. L. ; Pérez-Haase, Aaron ; Peri, Pablo L. ; Petraglia, Alessandro ; Peyre, Gwendolyn ; Plaza-Álvarez, Pedro Antonio ; Plue, Jan ; Prentice, Honor C. ; Prokhorov, Vadim E. ; Radujković, Dajana ; Rahmanian, Soroor ; Reitalu, Triin ; Ristow, Michael ; Robin, Agnès A. ; Robles, Ana Belén ; Rodríguez Ginart, Daniel A. ; Román, Raúl ; Roos, Ruben E. ; Rosati, Leonardo ; Sádlo, Jiří ; Salimbayeva, Karina ; Sánchez de Dios, Rut ; Sanchir, Khaliun ; Sattler, Cornelia ; Scasta, John D. ; Schmiedel, Ute ; Schrader, Julian ; Schultz, Nick L. ; Sellan, Giacomo ; Serra-Diaz, Josep M. ; Silan, Giulia ; Skálová, Hana ; Skobel, Nadiia ; Sonkoly, Judit ; Štajerová, Kateřina ; Svitková, Ivana ; Świerszcz, Sebastian ; Tanentzap, Andrew J. ; Tanentzap, Fallon M. ; Tarifa, Rubén ; Tejero, Pablo ; Tekeev, Dzhamal K. ; Tholin, Michael ; Thormodsæter, Ruben S. ; Tian, Yichen ; Tokaryuk, Alla ; Tölgyesi, Csaba ; Tomaselli, Marcello ; Tordoni, Enrico ; Török, Péter ; Tóthmérész, Béla ; Toussaint, Aurèle ; Touzard, Blaise ; Trindade, Diego P. F. ; Tsakalos, James L. ; Türkiş, Sevda ; Valencia, Enrique ; Valerio, Mercedes ; Valkó, Orsolya ; Van Meerbeek, Koenraad ; Vandvik, Vigdis ; Villellas, Jesus ; Virtanen, Risto ; Vítková, Michaela ; Vojík, Martin ; von Heßberg, Andreas ; von Oppen, Jonathan ; Wagner, Viktoria ; Wan, Ji-Zhong ; Wang, Chun-Jing ; Wani, Sajad A. ; Weiss, Lina ; Wevill, Tricia ; Xiao, Sa ; Zárate Martínez, Oscar ; Zobel, Martin:
Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity.
In: Nature. Vol. 641 (2025) . - pp. 917-924.
ISSN 1476-4687
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Anthropogenic biodiversity decline threatens the functioning of ecosystems and the many benefits they provide to humanity1. As well as causing species losses in directly affected locations, human influence might also reduce biodiversity in relatively unmodified vegetation if far-reaching anthropogenic effects trigger local extinctions and hinder recolonization. Here we show that local plant diversity is globally negatively related to the level of anthropogenic activity in the surrounding region. Impoverishment of natural vegetation was evident only when we considered community completeness: the proportion of all suitable species in the region that are present at a site. To estimate community completeness, we compared the number of recorded species with the dark diversity—ecologically suitable species that are absent from a site but present in the surrounding region2. In the sampled regions with a minimal human footprint index, an average of 35% of suitable plant species were present locally, compared with less than 20% in highly affected regions. Besides having the potential to uncover overlooked threats to biodiversity, dark diversity also provides guidance for nature conservation. Species in the dark diversity remain regionally present, and their local populations might be restored through measures that improve connectivity between natural vegetation fragments and reduce threats to population persistence.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology > Chair Plant Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Steven Ian Higgins Research Institutions > Central research institutes > Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research- BayCEER Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Plant Ecology Research Institutions Research Institutions > Central research institutes
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	500 Science 500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2025 05:33
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2025 05:33
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/94525