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. 2022 Jun;36(3):e13852.
doi: 10.1111/cobi.13852. Epub 2021 Dec 14.

A global ecological signal of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates

Maya J Munstermann  1   2 , Noel A Heim  3 , Douglas J McCauley  4 , Jonathan L Payne  5 , Nathan S Upham  6 , Steve C Wang  7 , Matthew L Knope  1   2
Affiliations

A global ecological signal of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates

Maya J Munstermann et al. Conserv Biol. 2022 Jun.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

To determine the distribution and causes of extinction threat across functional groups of terrestrial vertebrates, we assembled an ecological trait data set for 18,016 species of terrestrial vertebrates and utilized phylogenetic comparative methods to test which categories of habitat association, mode of locomotion, and feeding mode best predicted extinction risk. We also examined the individual categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List extinction drivers (e.g., agriculture and logging) threatening each species and determined the greatest threats for each of the four terrestrial vertebrate groups. We then quantified the sum of extinction drivers threatening each species to provide a multistressor perspective on threat. Cave dwelling amphibians (p < 0.01), arboreal quadrupedal mammals (all of which are primates) (p < 0.01), aerial and scavenging birds (p < 0.01), and pedal (i.e., walking) squamates (p < 0.01) were all disproportionately threatened with extinction in comparison with the other assessed ecological traits. Across all threatened vertebrate species in the study, the most common risk factors were agriculture, threatening 4491 species, followed by logging, threatening 3187 species, and then invasive species and disease, threatening 2053 species. Species at higher risk of extinction were simultaneously at risk from a greater number of threat types. If left unabated, the disproportionate loss of species with certain functional traits and increasing anthropogenic pressures are likely to disrupt ecosystem functions globally. A shift in focus from species- to trait-centric conservation practices will allow for protection of at-risk functional diversity from regional to global scales.

Una Señal Ecológica Mundial del Riesgo de Extinción de los Vertebrados Terrestres Resumen Construimos un conjunto de datos de atributos ecológicos de 18,016 especies de vertebrados terrestres y utilizamos métodos de comparación filogenética para analizar cuáles categorías de asociación de hábitat, modo de locomoción y modo de alimentación predicen de mejor manera el riesgo de extinción. Lo anterior lo hicimos para determinar la distribución y las causas de las amenazas de extinción a lo largo de los grupos funcionales de vertebrados terrestres. También examinamos las categorías individuales de los factores de extinción (p. ej.: agricultura, tala de árboles) de la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza que amenazan a cada especie y determinamos las principales amenazas para cada uno de los cuatro grupos de vertebrados terrestres. Después cuantificamos la suma de los factores de extinción que amenazan a cada especie para proporcionar una perspectiva de estresores múltiples sobre la amenaza. Los anfibios cavernícolas (p < 0.01), mamíferos arbóreos cuadrúpedos (todos son primates) (p < 0.01), aves aéreas y carroñeras (p < 0.01) y los escamados caminantes (p < 0.01) tuvieron una amenaza de extinción desproporcionada en comparación con los otros atributos ecológicos analizados. En todas las especies de vertebrados que estudiamos, los factores de riesgo más comunes fueron la agricultura, que amenaza a 4,491 especies, y la deforestación, que amenaza a 3,187 especies; le siguen las especies invasoras y las enfermedades, que juntas amenazan a 2,053 especies. Las especies con el mayor riesgo de extinción también se encontraban simultáneamente en riesgo por un mayor número de tipos de amenazas. Si esto se mantiene constante, la pérdida desproporcionada de especies con ciertos atributos funcionales y la creciente presión antropogénica probablemente alteren las funciones ecosistémicas a nivel mundial. Un cambio en el enfoque de las prácticas de conservación, de estar centradas en la especie a estar centradas en los atributos, permitirá la protección de la diversidad funcional en riesgo desde la escala regional hasta la global.

Keywords: extinction drivers; factores de extinción; feeding mode; habitat; hábitat; locomoción; locomotion; modo de alimentación; nivel de riesgo; risk level.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Percentage of threatened (red) and nonthreatened (yellow) species for all terrestrial vertebrate species in the study together and separately by terrestrial vertebrate group and ecological niche (order is descending) (*, ecological trait in each ecological niche with the lowest percentage of threatened species set as the reference level in the phyloglm analysis)
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Model support from phyloglm analyses of corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc) values across the 100 phylogenetic trees for (a) amphibians, (b) squamates, (c) mammals, and (d) birds (white dot, median; thick black line, interquartile range; thin black line, 1.5 × interquartile range)
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Ecological category coefficients from 100 trees for top phyloglm model for amphibians, squamates, mammals, and birds. Ecological categories with coefficient values >0 for all 100 trees are significantly associated with an elevated risk of extinction
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The primary extinction drivers and the sum of extinction drivers for (a) all 18,016 terrestrial vertebrate species together and separately by terrestrial vertebrate group: (b) amphibians, (c) reptiles, (d) mammals, and (e) birds. The total number of species threatened by each extinction driver for those classified as near threatened or worse by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is shown in decreasing order for all terrestrial vertebrates. Threat order is the same (from the all‐species analysis) in all graphs to facilitate direct comparisons between groups (y‐axes values vary in range based on the number of species)
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Number of nonthreatened (NT) and vulnerable (VU) and endangered (EN) and critically endangered (CR) terrestrial vertebrate species threatened by various extinction drivers (e.g., agriculture, logging, invasive species native species and disease) (white dot, median; thick black line, interquartile range; thin black line, 1.5 × interquartile range). The number of extinction drivers for each species is the total number of primary threat types as listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for taxa that are near threatened or worse. The sum of extinction drivers for near threatened and vulnerable species and for the sum of extinction drivers for endangered and critically endangered species were grouped together
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