Chinanews.com, Chengdu, December 20th (Reporter He Shaoqing) The reporter learned from the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 20th that researchers at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences compiled the most comprehensive biological, physical geography, and ecological data sets to date, using historical evidence. It shows that the global forest-dwelling vertebrate extinction debt began in the middle of the 19th century, that is, the beginning of the second industrial revolution.

Relevant scientific research results were recently published in the top biological journal "Communications Biology".

  Extinction debt is understood to be the decades or even centuries delay that exists between humans destroying an ecosystem and causing the extinction of the species that live within it.

Forests are an important pillar of biodiversity, maintaining nearly 80% of biodiversity even though they cover only 30% of the global land surface.

The global biodiversity crisis is closely linked to the shrinking and fragmentation of forest habitats.

  In response to the crisis, governments and organizations have established a large number of protected areas around the world over the past two centuries.

However, lack of data on habitat change over centuries makes it impossible to determine how strong the signal of extinction debt is, and when these debts began.

In addition, it is unclear whether established protected areas around the world play a positive role in alleviating the accumulation of extinction debt.

  In order to better formulate species extinction prevention measures in the context of global change and efficiently carry out biodiversity conservation work, Chinese researchers compiled the most comprehensive biological (6,120 species of reptiles and 4,278 species of mammals with forests as their main habitats) so far. and natural ranges of 6,047 species of amphibians), physical geography (annual global forest cover dataset from 1500 BC to 1992), and ecology (more than 250,000 protected areas, 867 ecoregions, and 14 biomes) data set, using historical evidence to show that the global forest-dwelling vertebrate extinction debt began at the beginning of the second industrial revolution.

  The correlation between forest-dwelling vertebrate richness and forest cover was relatively stable until the mid-19th century.

However, from then until modern times, the correlation between the two has declined rapidly.

Stronger extinction debt signals were also detected in vertebrate taxa with higher extinction risk (Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered).

Regionally, except for tropical and subtropical broad-leaved forests, most of the correlation patterns of the rest of the forest biomes follow similar global trends.

  Research reveals the onset of the second industrial revolution as the earliest signal of a global forest-dwelling vertebrate extinction debt, suggesting that habitat changes associated with human activities are beginning to bring delayed biodiversity loss.

More importantly, the mitigating effect of global protected areas on the accumulation of forest-dwelling vertebrate extinction debt is not as immediate as that of slowing forest cover, but has a significant time-lag effect.

  This phenomenon is particularly pronounced for vertebrate taxa that inhabit taiga and temperate coniferous forests, suggesting that protected areas established globally over the past two centuries still need at least several decades to effectively slow biodiversity loss.

  As the non-equilibrium state of forest-dwelling vertebrate abundance and forest habitats continues to occur, preventive measures should be actively taken to find a good balance between promoting forest restoration, building protected areas and biodiversity conservation strategies, To reduce the high price paid for the accumulation of global forest-dwelling vertebrate debt.

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