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80 percent of 'irreplaceable' habitats in Andes unprotected
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/du-8po012712.php[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif]Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
Contact: Tim Lucas
tdlucas@duke.edu
919-613-8084
Duke University
[font size=5]80 percent of 'irreplaceable' habitats in Andes unprotected[/font]
[font size=3]DURHAM, N.C. – Hundreds of rare, endemic species in the Central Andes remain unprotected and are increasingly under threat from development and climate change, according to a Duke University-led international study.
"These species require unique ecological conditions and are particularly vulnerable to changes in the environment or climate. Yet our analysis shows that region-wide, about 80 percent of the areas with high numbers of these species lack any protection," said Jennifer Swenson, assistant professor of the practice of geospatial analysis at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
The study, published today in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal BMC Ecology, identifies and maps the geographic ranges of hundreds of species of plants and animals – including mammals, birds and amphibians – that are found nowhere in the world outside the Andes-Amazon basin in Peru and Bolivia.
The threat to these species has become especially severe in recent years, Swenson said, as oil and gold mining, infrastructure projects, agriculture and other human activities encroach farther into the region's biologically rich landscapes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-12-1Contact: Tim Lucas
tdlucas@duke.edu
919-613-8084
Duke University
[font size=5]80 percent of 'irreplaceable' habitats in Andes unprotected[/font]
[font size=3]DURHAM, N.C. – Hundreds of rare, endemic species in the Central Andes remain unprotected and are increasingly under threat from development and climate change, according to a Duke University-led international study.
"These species require unique ecological conditions and are particularly vulnerable to changes in the environment or climate. Yet our analysis shows that region-wide, about 80 percent of the areas with high numbers of these species lack any protection," said Jennifer Swenson, assistant professor of the practice of geospatial analysis at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
The study, published today in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal BMC Ecology, identifies and maps the geographic ranges of hundreds of species of plants and animals – including mammals, birds and amphibians – that are found nowhere in the world outside the Andes-Amazon basin in Peru and Bolivia.
The threat to these species has become especially severe in recent years, Swenson said, as oil and gold mining, infrastructure projects, agriculture and other human activities encroach farther into the region's biologically rich landscapes.
…[/font][/font]
