The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

In the humid tropics, the rapid rate of deforestation has resulted in a race to protect remaining forest patches that are increasingly isolated within a rapidly expanding agricultural matrix. In these landscapes, a significant area consists of complex agro-forestry systems with high structural and functional plant diversity, providing critical resources for biodiversity conservation, such as food and habitat. Although not a substitute for natural forests, these anthropogenic habitats are gaining increasing conservation value as deforestation progresses. Shaded tree crops, such as cocoa, provide habitats for numerous forest dependent species of high conservation value and play a largely undocumented role in providing other ecological services. Following previous work on the botanical composition and structural complexity of cocoa agroforests in Talamanca (Costa Rica), we assessed if differences in the vegetation composition and structure of 36 cocoa agroforests could affect the wild diversity of small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, soil and litter macro-invertebrates and epiphytes found on cocoa trees and associated plants. Results show that Alpha-diversity is not affected by changes in vegetation structure and composition, except for amphibians and epiphytes found on cocoa trees. However, five taxa among eight showed distinct species composition patterns when compared among cocoa-based agroforestry clusters and with forest control. We showed that beta-diversity assessment enhances our understanding of the effect of management intensification on species composition and on habitat quality. The proper design of the shade component in these AFS will certainly play a key role in segregating wild species hosted in these systems and will open a new field of research for the intensification of both cocoa and associated productions in these highly diverse systems. (Résumé d'auteur

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