Age–area scaling of extinction debt within isolated terrestrial vertebrate assemblages. (16th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hugueny, Bernard
• Editors: He, Fangliang
• Is Part Of: Ecology letters. Volume 20:Number 5(2017)
• Page Start: 591
• Page End: 598
• Publication Date: 2017-03-16
• Subjects: Amphibians -- birds -- conservation biology -- diversity dependence -- habitat fragmentation -- insular biogeography -- mammals -- relaxation -- reptiles; Ecology -- Periodicals; 577
• DOI: 10.1111/ele.12756
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-023X

Abstract

Abstract: A new model of delayed species loss (extinction debt) within isolated communities is applied to a large data set of terrestrial vertebrate assemblages ( n = 188) occupying habitat fragments or islands varying greatly in size and age. The model encapsulates previous approaches based on diversity‐dependent (DD) extinction rates while allowing for a more flexible treatment of temporal dynamics. Three important results emerge. First, species loss rate slows down with the age of the isolate, a strong and general pattern largely unnoticed so far. Secondly, while being good candidates in the light of previous works, DD models fail to account for this pattern, a result that necessitates a search for other mechanisms. Thirdly, a simple diversity‐independent model based on area (converted into population size) and age explains 97% of the variability in species loss rate and appears to be a promising predictive tool to handle extinction debt following habitat loss.