The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

Abstract

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.

Land-use effects on local biodiversity in tropical forests vary between continents

“…The PREDICTS database, described in full by (Hudson et al , 2016, is a large-but inevitably far from comprehensive-collation of data from published studies worldwide that have compared biodiversity (typically the abundances or occurrences of sets of species, but sometimes simply species richness) of community assemblages at multiple sites differing in the nature and/or intensity of the human pressure faced. Data used here were contributed to the PREDICTS project by many researchers and collated into the database by the project team between March 2012 and December 2015 following many structured and opportunistic literature searches (see Supplementary Material Appendix A and Supplementary Fig.…”

“…Because of the need for geographic and taxonomic breadth, we used data from the PREDICTS database (Hudson et al , 2016, a large compilation of data from published spatial comparisons of ecological assemblages at sites facing different anthropogenic pressures. We used a range of measures of biodiversity to capture effects on beta as well as alpha diversity, focusing on three main questions; (1) How do secondary vegetation age and plantation intensity mediate the response of biodiversity to land use change?…”

Local species assemblages are influenced more by past than current dissimilarities in photosynthetic activity

“…Furthermore, it is likely that species with specific traits, such as certain body size and/or trophic level, may be differentially affected by past changes in vegetation cover because of differences in their metabolic rate (for animals), longevity or dispersal abilities (Sutherland et al 2000, Brown et al 2004, Speakman 2005, Thomson et al 2011, De Palma et al 2015. However, a recently published globally representative dataset on species assemblages of broad taxonomic coverage (Hudson et al 2017) and globally available satellite-derived data enable us to consider explicitly both current and past differences in land-surface attributes. Until now, our understanding of the influence of past differences in vegetation cover on species assemblages has been limited to case studies focused on specific regions or certain taxonomic and functional groups.…”

“…photosynthetic activity of vegetation, among spatial pairs of sites in the projecting responses of ecological diversity in changing terrestrial systems (PREDICTS) dataset (Hudson et al 2017). photosynthetic activity of vegetation, among spatial pairs of sites in the projecting responses of ecological diversity in changing terrestrial systems (PREDICTS) dataset (Hudson et al 2017).…”

Soil polychemical contamination on Beliy Island as key background and reference plot for Yamal region

“…At the same time, pronounced climatic changes have occurred and affected the environmental quality of vast areas in the Russian Arctic. Increased human impact through intensive intentional or unintentional modification of terrestrial, freshwater, or marine environments, and predicted climatic changes are likely to result in a substantial and largely irreversible loss of biodiversity in the Arctic (ACIA 2005;Hudson et al 2014Hudson et al , 2017. Ecosystems degradation may result in substantial diminishing benefits that future generations could derive from these ecosystems.…”