A new study, published in Science, which focuses on mapping biodiversity change in marine and land ecosystems shows that loss of biodiversity is most prevalent in the tropic, with changes in marine ecosystems outpacing those on land.
A new study, published in Science, which focuses on mapping biodiversity change in marine and land ecosystems shows that loss of biodiversity is most prevalent in the tropic, with changes in marine ecosystems outpacing those on land. The research, led by scientists from the University of St Andrews, in collaboration with leading universities across Europe, the USA and Canada, including McGill, aimed at reaching a consensus about variation in biodiversity change. It found that there were both negative and positive changes in ecosystems across the world and that although on average the numbers of species that live in each place are not changing, many regions were either gaining or losing species.
A longitudinal look at changes in biodiversity
The international team of scientists examined longitudinal variation in species richness and composition by piecing together and mapping over 50,000 biodiversity time series from studies across the planet using the biodiversity database BioTIME, hosted at the University of St Andrews, to establish clear geographic variation in biodiversity change.
Read more at McGill University
Image by Joaquín Enríquez from Pixabay
