Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity

Pärtel, Meelis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5874-0138, Tamme, Riin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4998-1394, Carmona, Carlos P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6935-4913, Riibak, Kersti, Moora, Mari ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-7506, Bennett, Jonathan A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5617-7524, Chiarucci, Alessandro ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1160-235X, Chytrý, Milan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8122-3075, de Bello, Francesco ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9202-8198, Eriksson, Ove, Harrison, Susan, Lewis, Robert John, Moles, Angela T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2041-7762, Öpik, Maarja, Price, Jodi N ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-7693, Amputu, Vistorina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8166-5714, Askarizadeh, Diana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7719-9378, Atashgahi, Zohreh, Aubin, Isabelle, Azcárate, Francisco M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6517-6395, Barrett, Matthew D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-4291, Bashirzadeh, Maral, Bátori, Zoltán ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9915-5309, Beenaerts, Natalie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5655-5943, Bergholz, Kolja, Birkeli, Kristine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3980-4420, Biurrun, Idoia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1454-0433, Blanco-Moreno, José M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1038-3941, Bloodworth, Kathryn J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5830-2712, Boisvert-Marsh, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0939-8196, Boldgiv, Bazartseren ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0015-8142, Brancalion, Pedro H S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8245-4062, Brearley, Francis Q ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5053-5693, Brown, Charlotte, Bueno, C Guillermo, Buffa, Gabriella ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0862-637X, Cahill, James F, Campos, Juan A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5992-2753, Cangelmi, Giacomo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8411-4175, Carbognani, Michele ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7701-9859, Carcaillet, Christopher ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6632-1507, Cerabolini, Bruno E L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3793-0733, Chevalier, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3340-1954, Clavel, Jan S, Costa, José M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4991-7122, Cousins, Sara A O, Čuda, Jan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2370-2051, Dairel, Mariana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2008-0170, Dalle Fratte, Michele ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7907-1586, Danilova, Alena, Davison, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0161-6195, Deák, Balázs ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6938-1997, Del Vecchio, Silvia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8458-0433, Dembicz, Iwona ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6162-1519, Dengler, Jürgen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3221-660X, Dolezal, Jiri ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5829-4051, Domene, Xavier ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2951-1491, Dvorsky, Miroslav, Ejtehadi, Hamid ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6128-2481, Enrico, Lucas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8932-0144, Epikhin, Dmitrii ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3585-5303, Eskelinen, Anu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1707-5263, Essl, Franz, Fan, Gaohua, Fantinato, Edy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0114-4738, Fazlioglu, Fatih ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4723-3640, Fernández-Pascual, Eduardo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4743-9577, Ferrara, Arianna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8178-3910, Fidelis, Alessandra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9545-2285, Fischer, Markus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5589-5900, Flagmeier, Maren, Forte, T'ai G W ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-5872, Fraser, Lauchlan H ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3998-5540, Fujinuma, Junichi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9004-4709, Furquim, Fernando F ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2293-267X, Garris, Berle, Garris, Heath W ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0416-4128, Giorgis, Melisa A, Giusso Del Galdo, Gianpietro, González-Robles, Ana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3135-8905, Good, Megan K ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6908-1633, Guardiola, Moisès ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5572-540X, Guarino, Riccardo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0106-9416, Guerrero, Irene, Guillemot, Joannès, Güler, Behlül, Guo, Yinjie, Haesen, Stef ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4491-4213, Hejda, Martin, Heleno, Ruben H, Høye, Toke T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5387-3284, Hrivnák, Richard, Huang, Yingxin, Hunter, John T, Iakushenko, Dmytro ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3463-7785, Ibáñez, Ricardo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1772-4473, Ingerpuu, Nele, Irl, Severin D H ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1734-8607, Janíková, Eva ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1649-9435, Jansen, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0331-5185, Jeltsch, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4670-6469, Jentsch, Anke ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2345-8300, Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja, Jõks, Madli, Jouri, Mohammad H ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7571-2596, Karami, Sahar ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0381-2787, Katal, Negin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0225-7243, Kelemen, András, Khairullin, Bulat I, Khuroo, Anzar A, Komatsu, Kimberly J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7056-4547, Konečná, Marie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9195-4576, Kook, Ene, Korell, Lotte ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7051-8903, Koroleva, Natalia, Korznikov, Kirill A, Kozhevnikova, Maria V ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8771-5679, Kozub, Łukasz, Laanisto, Lauri ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2215-7298, Lager, Helena, Lanta, Vojtech, Lasagno, Romina G, Lembrechts, Jonas J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1933-0750, Li, Liping ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5550-1932, Lisner, Aleš ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4881-7362, Liu, Houjia, Liu, Kun, Liu, Xuhe, Lucas-Borja, Manuel Esteban ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6270-8408, Ludewig, Kristin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2665-2712, Lukács, Katalin, Luther-Mosebach, Jona ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9565-997X, Macek, Petr ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4792-9461, Marignani, Michela, Michalet, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6617-4789, Miglécz, Tamás, Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8591-7149, Moeys, Karlien ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7404-6034, Montesinos, Daniel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2893-0878, Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2125-1197, Moysiyenko, Ivan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0689-6392, Mucina, Ladislav ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0317-8886, Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9746-5191, Murillo, Raytha A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7121-6990, Nambahu, Sylvia M, Neuenkamp, Lena, Normand, Signe, Nowak, Arkadiusz, Nuche, Paloma, Oja, Tatjana, Onipchenko, Vladimir G ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1626-1171, Pachedjieva, Kalina L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5638-3467, Paganeli, Bruno ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8660-0511, Peco, Begoña, Peralta, Ana M L, Pérez-Haase, Aaron ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5974-7374, Peri, Pablo L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5398-4408, Petraglia, Alessandro ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4632-2251, Peyre, Gwendolyn, Plaza-Álvarez, Pedro Antonio, Plue, Jan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6999-669X, Prentice, Honor C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2548-0525, Prokhorov, Vadim E, Radujković, Dajana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4981-5879, Rahmanian, Soroor, Reitalu, Triin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6555-3066, Ristow, Michael, Robin, Agnès A, Robles, Ana Belén, Rodríguez Ginart, Daniel A, Román, Raúl, Roos, Ruben E ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1580-6424, Rosati, Leonardo, Sádlo, Jiří, Salimbayeva, Karina, Sánchez de Dios, Rut ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1296-8604, Sanchir, Khaliun ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8964-1642, Sattler, Cornelia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5779-2641, Scasta, John D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-7492, Schmiedel, Ute ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4059-6585, Schrader, Julian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8392-211X, Schultz, Nick L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6760-9481, Sellan, Giacomo, Serra-Diaz, Josep M, Silan, Giulia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2022-7769, Skálová, Hana, Skobel, Nadiia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4354-2881, Sonkoly, Judit ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4301-5240, Štajerová, Kateřina, Svitková, Ivana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5671-0330, Świerszcz, Sebastian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2035-0035, Tanentzap, Andrew J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-1901, Tanentzap, Fallon M, Tarifa, Rubén ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0288-1978, Tejero, Pablo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6735-3423, Tekeev, Dzhamal K, Tholin, Michael, Thormodsæter, Ruben S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3142-2651, Tian, Yichen, Tokaryuk, Alla ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6049-0158, Tölgyesi, Csaba ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0770-2107, Tomaselli, Marcello, Tordoni, Enrico ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9722-6692, Török, Péter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4428-3327, Tóthmérész, Béla ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4766-7668, Toussaint, Aurèle ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5738-4637, Touzard, Blaise, Trindade, Diego P F ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3732-9999, Tsakalos, James L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5067-196X, Türkiş, Sevda, Valencia, Enrique ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3359-0759, Valerio, Mercedes ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3945-5187, Valkó, Orsolya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7919-6293, Van Meerbeek, Koenraad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9260-3815, Vandvik, Vigdis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4651-4798, Villellas, Jesus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7805-5683, Virtanen, Risto ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8295-8217, Vítková, Michaela ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2848-7725, Vojík, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9735-5120, von Hessberg, Andreas, von Oppen, Jonathan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6346-2964, Wagner, Viktoria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2665-9888, Wan, Ji-Zhong ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6438-251X, Wang, Chun-Jing, Wani, Sajad A, Weiss, Lina, Wevill, Tricia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5242-3505, Xiao, Sa, Zárate Martínez, Oscar and Zobel, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-6704 (2025) Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity. Nature. ISSN 0028-0836

Preview

Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (10MB) | Preview

Abstract

Anthropogenic biodiversity decline threatens the functioning of ecosystems and the many benefits they provide to humanity . As well as causing species losses in directly affected locations, human influence might also reduce biodiversity in relatively unmodified vegetation if far-reaching anthropogenic effects trigger local extinctions and hinder recolonization. Here we show that local plant diversity is globally negatively related to the level of anthropogenic activity in the surrounding region. Impoverishment of natural vegetation was evident only when we considered community completeness: the proportion of all suitable species in the region that are present at a site. To estimate community completeness, we compared the number of recorded species with the dark diversity-ecologically suitable species that are absent from a site but present in the surrounding region . In the sampled regions with a minimal human footprint index, an average of 35% of suitable plant species were present locally, compared with less than 20% in highly affected regions. Besides having the potential to uncover overlooked threats to biodiversity, dark diversity also provides guidance for nature conservation. Species in the dark diversity remain regionally present, and their local populations might be restored through measures that improve connectivity between natural vegetation fragments and reduce threats to population persistence. [Abstract copyright: © 2025. The Author(s).]