New publish article by our researchers analyzes the influence of climate change on the effectiveness of protected areas in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. The study compares the biodiversity of plants and arthropods, as well as productivity (tree growth), in protected and non-protected areas along a latitudinal gradient in Sweden. The authors observed that plant and arthropod species richness increased with latitude but was not higher in protected areas compared to non-protected ones. Tree growth was also not associated with latitude or protection status. These results suggest that current conservation strategies may be insufficient to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the face of climate change, highlighting the need for more climate-adapted strategies.
Anders Forsman, Johanna Sunde, Romana Salis, Markus Franzén. Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity and ecosystem services in protected and non-protected oak forest areas can inform climate smart conservation, Geography and Sustainability. 2024, 5 (4): 647-659
ISSN 2666-6839,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geosus.2024.09.002.
