RT Journal Article
T1 Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity
A1 Pärtel, Meelis
A1 Tamme, Riin
A1 Carmona, Carlos P.
A1 Riibak, Kersti
A1 Moora, Mari
A1 Bennett, Jonathan A.
A1 Chiarucci, Alessandro
A1 Chytrý, Milan
A1 de Bello, Francesco
A1 Eriksson, Ove
A1 Harrison, Susan
A1 Lewis, Robert John
A1 Moles, Angela T.
A1 Öpik, Maarja
A1 Price, Jodi N.
A1 Amputu, Vistorina
A1 Askarizadeh, Diana
A1 Atashgahi, Zohreh
A1 Aubin, Isabelle
A1 Azcárate, Francisco M.
A1 Barrett, Matthew D.
A1 Bashirzadeh, Maral
A1 Bátori, Zoltán
A1 Beenaerts, Natalie
A1 Bergholz, Kolja
A1 Birkeli, Kristine
A1 Biurrun, Idoia
A1 Blanco-Moreno, José M.
A1 Bloodworth, Kathryn J.
A1 Boisvert-Marsh, Laura
A1 Boldgiv, Bazartseren
A1 Brancalion, Pedro H. S.
A1 Brearley, Francis Q.
A1 Brown, Charlotte
A1 Bueno, C. Guillermo
A1 Buffa, Gabriella
A1 Cahill, James F.
A1 Campos, Juan A.
A1 Cangelmi, Giacomo
A1 Carbognani, Michele
A1 Carcaillet, Christopher
A1 Cerabolini, Bruno E. L.
A1 Chevalier, Richard
A1 Clavel, Jan S.
A1 Costa, José M.
A1 Cousins, Sara A. O.
A1 Čuda, Jan
A1 Dairel, Mariana
A1 Dalle Fratte, Michele
A1 Danilova, Alena
A1 Davison, John
A1 Deák, Balázs
A1 Del Vecchio, Silvia
A1 Dembicz, Iwona
A1 Dengler, Jürgen
A1 Dolezal, Jiri
A1 Domene, Xavier
A1 Dvorsky, Miroslav
A1 Ejtehadi, Hamid
A1 Enrico, Lucas
A1 Epikhin, Dmitrii
A1 Eskelinen, Anu
A1 Essl, Franz
A1 Fan, Gaohua
A1 Fantinato, Edy
A1 Fazlioglu, Fatih
A1 Fernández-Pascual, Eduardo
A1 Ferrara, Arianna
A1 Fidelis, Alessandra
A1 Fischer, Markus
A1 Flagmeier, Maren
A1 Forte, T’ai G. W.
A1 Fraser, Lauchlan H.
A1 Fujinuma, Junichi
A1 Furquim, Fernando F.
A1 Garris, Berle
A1 Garris, Heath W.
A1 Giorgis, Melisa A.
A1 Giusso del Galdo, Gianpietro
A1 González-Robles, Ana
A1 Good, Megan K.
A1 Guardiola, Moisès
A1 Guarino, Riccardo
A1 Guerrero, Irene
A1 Guillemot, Joannès
A1 Güler, Behlül
A1 Guo, Yinjie
A1 Haesen, Stef
A1 Hejda, Martin
A1 Heleno, Ruben H.
A1 Høye, Toke T.
A1 Hrivnák, Richard
A1 Huang, Yingxin
A1 Hunter, John T.
A1 Iakushenko, Dmytro
A1 Ibáñez, Ricardo
A1 Ingerpuu, Nele
A1 Irl, Severin D. H.
A1 Janíková, Eva
A1 Jansen, Florian
A1 Jeltsch, Florian
A1 Jentsch, Anke
A1 Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja
A1 Jõks, Madli
A1 Jouri, Mohammad H.
A1 Karami, Sahar
A1 Katal, Negin
A1 Kelemen, András
A1 Khairullin, Bulat I.
A1 Khuroo, Anzar A.
A1 Komatsu, Kimberly J.
A1 Konečná, Marie
A1 Kook, Ene
A1 Korell, Lotte
A1 Koroleva, Natalia
A1 Korznikov, Kirill A.
A1 Kozhevnikova, Maria V.
A1 Kozub, Łukasz
A1 Laanisto, Lauri
A1 Lager, Helena
A1 Lanta, Vojtech
A1 Lasagno, Romina G.
A1 Lembrechts, Jonas J.
A1 Li, Liping
A1 Lisner, Aleš
A1 Liu, Houjia
A1 Liu, Kun
A1 Liu, Xuhe
A1 Lucas-Borja, Manuel Esteban
A1 Ludewig, Kristin
A1 Lukács, Katalin
A1 Luther-Mosebach, Jona
A1 Macek, Petr
A1 Marignani, Michela
A1 Michalet, Richard
A1 Miglécz, Tamás
A1 Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold
A1 Moeys, Karlien
A1 Montesinos, Daniel
A1 Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo
A1 Moysiyenko, Ivan
A1 Mucina, Ladislav
A1 Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam
A1 Murillo, Raytha A.
A1 Nambahu, Sylvia M.
A1 Neuenkamp, Lena
A1 Normand, Signe
A1 Nowak, Arkadiusz
A1 Nuche, Paloma
A1 Oja, Tatjana
A1 Onipchenko, Vladimir G.
A1 Pachedjieva, Kalina L.
A1 Paganeli, Bruno
A1 Peco, Begoña
A1 Peralta, Ana M. L.
A1 Pérez-Haase, Aaron
A1 Peri, Pablo L.
A1 Petraglia, Alessandro
A1 Peyre, Gwendolyn
A1 Plaza-Álvarez, Pedro Antonio
A1 Plue, Jan
A1 Prentice, Honor C.
A1 Prokhorov, Vadim E.
A1 Radujković, Dajana
A1 Rahmanian, Soroor
A1 Reitalu, Triin
A1 Ristow, Michael
A1 Robin, Agnès A.
A1 Robles, Ana Belén
A1 Rodríguez Ginart, Daniel A.
A1 Román, Raúl
A1 Roos, Ruben E.
A1 Rosati, Leonardo
A1 Sádlo, Jiří
A1 Salimbayeva, Karina
A1 Sánchez De Dios, Rut
A1 Sanchir, Khaliun
A1 Sattler, Cornelia
A1 Scasta, John D.
A1 Schmiedel, Ute
A1 Schrader, Julian
A1 Schultz, Nick L.
A1 Sellan, Giacomo
A1 Serra-Diaz, Josep M.
A1 Silan, Giulia
A1 Skálová, Hana
A1 Skobel, Nadiia
A1 Sonkoly, Judit
A1 Štajerová, Kateřina
A1 Svitková, Ivana
A1 Świerszcz, Sebastian
A1 Tanentzap, Andrew J.
A1 Tanentzap, Fallon M.
A1 Tarifa, Rubén
A1 Tejero, Pablo
A1 Tekeev, Dzhamal K.
A1 Tholin, Michael
A1 Thormodsæter, Ruben S.
A1 Tian, Yichen
A1 Tokaryuk, Alla
A1 Tölgyesi, Csaba
A1 Tomaselli, Marcello
A1 Tordoni, Enrico
A1 Török, Péter
A1 Tóthmérész, Béla
A1 Toussaint, Aurèle
A1 Touzard, Blaise
A1 Trindade, Diego P. F.
A1 Tsakalos, James L.
A1 Türkiş, Sevda
A1 Valencia, Enrique
A1 Valerio, Mercedes
A1 Valkó, Orsolya
A1 Van Meerbeek, Koenraad
A1 Vandvik, Vigdis
A1 Villellas, Jesus
A1 Virtanen, Risto
A1 Vítková, Michaela
A1 Vojík, Martin
A1 von Hessberg, Andreas
A1 von Oppen, Jonathan
A1 Wagner, Viktoria
A1 Wan, Ji-Zhong
A1 Wang, Chun-Jing
A1 Wani, Sajad A.
A1 Weiss, Lina
A1 Wevill, Tricia
A1 Xiao, Sa
A1 Zárate Martínez, Oscar
A1 Zobel, Martin
AB Anthropogenic biodiversity decline threatens the functioning of ecosystems and the many benefits they provide to humanity1. 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 region2. 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.
PB Springer Nature
SN 0028-0836
YR 2025
FD 2025-04-02
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122590
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/122590
LA eng
NO Pärtel, M., Tamme, R., Carmona, C.P. et al. Global impoverishment of natural vegetation revealed by dark diversity. Nature 641, 917–924 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08814-5
NO AcknowledgementsWe thank the Estonian Research Council (PRG609, PRG1065, PSG293 and PRG2142) and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (Centre of Excellence AgroCropFuture, TK200) for funding the DarkDivNet steering committee, and we thank the many students and volunteers who helped with the fieldwork. Acknowledgements related to specific authors can be found in the Supplementary Notes:Additional acknowledgements• Jonathan A. Bennett: NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2018-04952)• Alessandro Chiarucci: National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Project "National Biodiversity FutureCenter—NBFC" (CUP J33C22001190001)• Maarja Öpik: Estonian Research Council (1789 FUNFARM)• Vistorina Amputu: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; FKZ 01LC1821B)• Isabelle Aubin: K. Good, C. Zimmerman• Francisco M. Azcárate: Project REMEDINAL (TE-CM S2018/EMT-4338)• Zoltán Bátori: National Research Development and Innovation Office (FK142428), János Bolyai ResearchScholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00298/21/8), New National Excellence Program of theMinistry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund(ÚNKP-23-5-SZTE-697)• Natalie Beenaerts: Ann Cuypers, Anne Habets, Siebe Indestege• Idoia Biurrun: Basque Government (IT1487-22)• Bazartseren Boldgiv: Taylor Family-Asia Foundation Endowed Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology• Francis Q. Brearley: Manchester Metropolitan University, Percy Sladen Memorial Fund• C. Guillermo Bueno: Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (RYC2021-032533-I), consolidator grant "Mycolegium" from theSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University (CNS2023-143989)• James F. Cahill: NSERC Discovery Grant• Juan A. Campos: Basque Government (IT1487-22)• Christopher Carcaillet: Olivier Blarquez• Jan Čuda: Czech Academy of Sciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939)• Mariana Dairel: FAPESP (2019/09659-1)• John Davison: Estonian Research Council (PRG2584)• Balázs Deák: Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH FK 135329, NKFIH KKP144096)• Jiri Dolezal: Czech Science Foundation (24-11954S), MSMT INTER-ACTION (LUAUS24258)• Anu Eskelinen: Research Council of Finland (project no 351089)• Franz Essl: Austrian Science Foundation FWF (I 5825-B)• Fatih Fazlioglu: Ordu University Research Council (A-2028)• Arianna Ferrara: Ente Parco Nazionale Foreste Casentinesi (PhD project "Conservation of natural vegetationdynamics within the National Park of Casentinesi Forests")• Alessandra Fidelis: São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 2015/06743-0), National Council for Scientific andTechnological Development (CNPq 312689/2021-7), permit COTEC nº 480/2018 D67/2018 PH (SMA/SP), HeloizaZirondi, Vagner Zanzarini, Cassy Anne Rodrigues• Markus Fischer: German Research Foundation (DFG Priority Programme 1374, "Biodiversity Exploratories")• Lauchlan H. Fraser: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Chair inEcosystem Reclamation• Fernando F. Furquim: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brasil (Financecode 001)• Heath W. Garris: Covenant College• Ana González-Robles: Junta de Andalucía (Delegación Territorial de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y DesarrolloSostenible en Almería), Parque Natural Cabo de Gata-Níjar and 'Playas y Cortijos family' for facilitating permits todo the field samplings, J.L. González Rebollar• Stef Haesen: FLOF fellowship (3E190655) of the KU Leuven• Martin Hejda: Czech Academy of Sciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939)• Ruben H. Heleno: Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (UIDB/04004/2020,10.54499/LA/P/0092/2020)• Toke T. Høye: Independent Research Fund Denmark (8021-00423B)• Yingxin Huang: Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA28110202), projectsupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42471071 ), China Jilin Provincial Major Scienceand Technology Project (20230303008SF)• John T. Hunter: Vanessa Hunter• Ricardo Ibáñez: University of Navarra (project “Red de Observatorios de la Biodiversidad de Navarra (ROBIN)”)• Borja Jiménez-Alfaro: Spanish Research Agency (PID2019-108636GA-100)• András Kelemen: János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00713/19)12• Kimberly J. Komatsu: Smithsonian Institution• Natalia Koroleva: Ekaterina Kopeina• Lauri Laanisto: Estonian Academy of Sciences (research professorship for Arctic studies), Adam MickiewiczUniversity Polar Station (Petuniabukta)• Vojtech Lanta: Czech Science Foundation (23-07533S)• Jonas J. Lembrechts: Research Foundation Flanders (G018919N, 12P1819N), BiodivERsA+ (The ASICS Project)• Liping Li: National Natural Science Foundation of China (82274041)• Kristin Ludewig: Harry Stöckmann, Jutta Krüger• Petr Macek: Czech Science Foundation (GA17-20839S)• Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund: Aage V. Jensen Naturfond ("Dark diversity in nature management")• Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez: Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-116578RB-I00)• Ladislav Mucina: Iluka Chair at the Murdoch University, Perth, Australia• Miriam Muñoz-Rojas: Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (RYC2020-029255-I, TED2021-132332A-C22,PID2021-123097OA-I00)• Lena Neuenkamp: German Science Foundation (DFG Priority Programme 1374 "Biodiversity Exploratories")• Signe Normand: Independent Research Fund Denmark (7027-00133B ), Novo Nordisk Foundation ChallengeProgram, Matilde Mikkeline Holst Stoltze• Arkadiusz Nowak: National Science Centre, Poland (2019/35/B/NZ8/03358)• Begoña Peco: Helios Sainz• Alessandro Petraglia: COMP-HUB and COMP-R Initiatives, funded by the ‘Departments of Excellence’ program ofthe Italian Ministry for University and Research (MIUR, 2018-2022 and MUR, 2023-2027)• Pedro Antonio Plaza Álvarez: Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha and the European Social Fund Plus(ESF+)• Jan Plue: Future Research Leader grant by FORMAS (2018-00961)• Triin Reitalu: Estonian Research Council (PRG874), Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, Centre ofExcellence for Sustainable Land Use (TK232)• Michael Ristow: Merlin Schäfer, Marieke Bittner• Ana Belén Robles: Project Research on Forage Flora of Baetica (Ref. 201640E002) Spanish Council for ScientificResearch (CSIC) Agency• Raúl Román: European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkłodowskaCurie IF-GF Actions (MICROBIOCLIM, GA nr. 101028323)• Jiří Sádlo: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, project DivLand (TACR SS02030018), Czech Academy ofSciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939)• Khaliun Sanchir: Taylor Family-Asia Foundation Endowed Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology• Ute Schmiedel: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01LC0024, 01LC0024A, 01LC0624A2,01LG1201A, 01LG1201N), the Soebatsfontein community (that gave permission to work on their farmland), JonaLuther-Mosebach, Inga U. Röwer, Reginald Christiaan• Josep M. Serra-Diaz: Agence Nationale de la Recherche programme Jeune Chercheur (ANR-21-CE32-0003), RemyJoly, Anna Schmidt• Hana Skálová: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, project DivLand (TACR SS02030018), Technology Agencyof the Czech Republic, BiodivClim Call 2019, project ASICS (TACR SS70010001), Czech Academy of Sciences, longterm research development project (RVO 67985939)• Judit Sonkoly: National Research, Development and Innovation Office (PD 137747), Bolyai János Scholarship ofthe Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00587/23/8)• Kateřina Štajerová: Czech Academy of Sciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939), AnnaLučanová• Ivana Svitková: Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the SlovakRepublic and Slovak Academy of Sciences (VEGA 2/0031/17)• Andrew J. Tanentzap: Canada Research Chairs Program and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ofCanada (NSERC; RGPIN-2023-03977)• Pablo Tejero: JACA Herbarium (IPE-CSIC)• Csaba Tölgyesi: National Research Development and Innovation Office (K146137)• Enrico Tordoni: Estonian Research Council (PSG1021)• Péter Török: National Research Found of Hungary (KKP 144068)• Diego P. F. Trindade: Estonian Research Council, Estonian Research Council (PUTJD1228)• Enrique Valencia: Community of Madrid in the framework of the Multiannual Agreement with the Rey JuanCarlos University in line of action 1, “Encouragement of Young Phd students investigation” (M2165, INTRANESTI)• Mercedes Valerio: Departamento de Educación, Gobierno de Navarra (Ayudas predoctorales para la realizaciónde programas de doctorado de interés para Navarra; Plan de Formación y de I + D 2018)• Orsolya Valkó: Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (KKP 144096)13• Michaela Vítková: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, project DivLand (TACR SS02030018), TechnologyAgency of the Czech Republic, BiodivClim Call 2019, project ASICS (TACR SS70010001), Czech Academy ofSciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939)• Martin Vojík: Czech Academy of Sciences, long-term research development project (RVO 67985939), TechnologyAgency of the Czech Republic, project DivLand (TACR SS02030018)• Jonathan von Oppen: The Independent Research Fund of Denmark (7027-00133B)• Viktoria Wagner: Discovery Grant from the Canadian Natural Science and Engineering Research Council(RES0043426), Competitive Grant from the University of Alberta Rangeland Research Institute (RES0045021),Startup Grant from the University of Alberta• Ji-Zhong Wan: Hundred Talent Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. E4K2150150)• Sajad A. Wani: University Grants Commission (UGC; 916/CSIRNET JUNE-2019)
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RD 18 jul 2025