Temporal biodiversity change in transformed landscapes: a southern African perspective

摘要

Landscape transformation by humans is virtually ubiquitous, with several suggestions being madenthat the world’s biomes should now be classified according to the extent and nature of this trans-nformation. Even those areas that are thought to have a relatively limited human footprint havenexperienced substantial biodiversity change. This is true of both marine and terrestrial systems ofnsouthern Africa, a region of high biodiversity and including several large conservation areas.nGlobal change drivers have had substantial effects across many levels of the biological hierarchynas is demonstrated in this review, which focuses on terrestrial systems. Interactions among drivers,nsuch as between climate change and invasion, and between changing fire regimes and invasion, arencomplicating attribution of change effects and management thereof. Likewise CO2 fertilization isnhaving a much larger impact on terrestrial systems than perhaps commonly acknowledged. Tem-nporal changes in biodiversity, and the seeming failure of institutional attempts to address them,nunderline a growing polarization of world views, which is hampering efforts to address urgentnconservation needs.