Jaguar in Brazil. A new study finds that apex predators, like the
jaguar, are some of the
most sensitive to environmental degradation both inside
and outside tropical forest parks.
Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
(July 25,
2012) Governments
have set up protected areas, in part, to act as reservoirs for our Earth's
stunning biodiversity; no where is this more true than in the world's tropical
forests, which contain around half of our planet's species. However a new study in Nature
finds that wildlife in many of the world’s rainforest parks remains imperiled
by human pressures both inside and outside the reserves, threatening to
undercut global conservation efforts. Looking at a representative 60 protected
areas across 36 tropical nations, the scientists found that about half the
parks suffered an “erosion of biodiversity” over the last 20-30 years.
“These reserves are like
arks for biodiversity. But some of the arks are in danger of sinking,” said
lead author, William Laurance, from James Cook University and the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute, in a press release. “Even though they are our best
hope to sustain tropical forests and their amazing biodiversity in perpetuity.”