Protected areas facilitate species' range expansions

Protected areas facilitate species' range expansions.

The benefits of protected areas (PAs) for biodiversity have been questioned in the context of climate change because PAs are static, whereas the distributions of species are dynamic. Current PAs may, however, continue to be important if they provide suitable locations for species to colonize at their leading-edge range boundaries, thereby enabling spread into new regions. Here, we present an em...

Protected areas – protected species?

Wild life: The elusive fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the top predator in the dry deciduous forests of Madagascar, but very little was known about its biology until the 1990s. The presence of volunteer groups studying its role in the forest’s ecology has also helped to protect its habitat. (Photo: Earthwatch/ Luke Dollar.) The world’s latest national park has just been created in the east of Russ...

Climate Change and Species Range Dynamics in Protected Areas

Protected Areas and Endemic Species

The extinction of plant and animal species has become an issue in the news, and the media have gradually become interested in the fate of the most endangered taxa. International organizations, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and others, are making tremendous efforts to safeguard hundreds of species. Their actions have already mad...

Marine protected areas facilitate parasite populations among four fished host species of central Chile.

1. Parasites comprise a substantial proportion of global biodiversity and exert important ecological influences on hosts, communities and ecosystems, but our knowledge of how parasite populations respond to human impacts is in its infancy. 2. Here, we present the results of a natural experiment in which we used a system of highly successful marine protected areas and matched open-access areas i...