Biodiversité

Expansive development for urbanization, agriculture, and resource extraction has resulted in much of the Earth’s vegetation existing as fragmented, isolated patches. Conservation planning typically deprioritizes small, isolated patches, as they are assumed to be of relatively little ecological value, instead focusing attention on conserving large, highly connected areas. Yet, our global analysis shows that, if we gave up on small patches of vegetation, we would stand to lose many species that are confined to those environments, and biodiversity would decline as a result. We should rethink the way we prioritize conservation to recognize the critical role that small, isolated patches play in conserving the world’s biodiversity. Restoring and reconnecting small isolated vegetation patches should be an immediate conservation priority.

Le trombinoscope des espèces patrimoniales du Pays de Rennes a pour objectif de faire connaître la richesse de la biodiversité du territoire et de la donner à voir au travers de photos des espèces animales et végétales identifiées comme présentant un enjeu de conservation. Il répond à la demande des élus qui ont souhaité prendre en compte un des enjeux environnementaux majeurs du 21e siècle : l’érosion de la biodiversité

Terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems are connected via multiple biophysical and ecological processes. Identifying and quantifying links among ecosystems is necessary for the uptake of integrated conservation actions across realms. Such actions are particularly important for species using habitats in more than one realm during their daily or life cycle. We reviewed information on the habitats of 2,408 species of European conservation concern and found that 30% of the species use habitats in multiple realms. Transportation and service corridors, which fragment species habitats, were identified as the most important threat impacting ∼70% of the species. We examined information on 1,567 European Union (EU) conservation projects funded over the past 25 years, to assess the adequacy of efforts toward the conservation of “multi‐realm” species at a continental scale. We discovered that less than a third of multi‐realm species benefited from projects that included conservation actions across multiple realms. To achieve the EU's conservation target of halting biodiversity loss by 2020 and effectively protect multi‐realm species, integrated conservation efforts across realms should be reinforced by: (1) recognizing the need for integrated management at a policy level, (2) revising conservation funding priorities across realms, and (3) implementing integrated land‐freshwater‐sea conservation planning and management.