Conservation of birds in fragmented landscapes requires protected areas

• Published in: Frontiers in ecology and the environment Vol. 20; no. 6; pp. 361 - 369
• Main Authors: Timmers, Robert, Kuijk, Marijke, Verweij, Pita A, Ghazoul, Jaboury, Hautier, Yann, Laurance, William F, Arriaga‐Weiss, Stefan L, Askins, Robert A, Battisti, Corrado, Berg, Åke, Daily, Gretchen C, Estades, Cristián F, Frank, Beatrice, Kurosawa, Reiko, Pojar, Rosamund A, Woinarski, John CZ, Soons, Merel B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Ecological Society of America 01-08-2022
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Birds; Conservation; Ecology; Ekologi; Fragments; Habitat fragmentation; Landscape; Nature conservation; Protected areas; Protected species; Threatened species; Wildlife conservation
• ISSN: 1540-9295; 1540-9309; 1540-9309
• DOI: 10.1002/fee.2485

For successful conservation of biodiversity, it is vital to know whether protected areas in increasingly fragmented landscapes effectively safeguard species. However, how large habitat fragments must be, and what level of protection is required to sustain species, remains poorly known. We compiled a global dataset on almost 2000 bird species in 741 forest fragments varying in size and protection status, and show that protection is associated with higher bird occurrence, especially for threatened species. Protection becomes increasingly effective with increasing size of forest fragments. For forest fragments >50 ha our results show that strict protection (International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] categories I–IV) is strongly associated with higher bird occurrence, whereas fragments had to be at least 175 ha for moderate protection (IUCN categories V and VI) to have a positive effect. This meta‐analysis quantifies the importance of fragment size, protection status, and their interaction for the conservation of bird species communities, and stresses that protection should not be limited to large pristine areas.