Through history, People have had interaction with the environment and other species to meet our needsFrom obtaining food to the construction of infrastructure and the development of technologies.
However, The accelerated rhythm of economic and industrial growth in recent decades has transformed this relationship deeplyFrom a relatively balanced coexistence to an excessive exploitation of natural resources.
The Urban expansion, intensive use of fossil fuels and industrialization They have caused unprecedented changes in ecosystems and in the climate of the earth. What was previously considered inexhaustible means, such as forests, oceans and biodiversity, are now in danger because of our actions.
Is Transformations not only influence fauna and flora, but also directly directly on human lifeSet health, food security and the availability of vital sources such as water and clean air in danger.
Confronted with this reality, Understanding the impact of our nature activities is more important than ever. Only because of this conscience can we start reversing the damage and working on a more sustainable development model that guarantees the preservation of the planet for future generations.
Man: predatory species par excellence
The concept Dark diversityThis can be translated as dark or absent diversity, is how the identification of the Potential species That could live in a certain place, but that is absent. It is a new way to measure the impact of human activity, whose most complete work has been published so far in the magazine Nature.
The study analyzed Vegetation -records of 5,500 places in 119 regions worldwide And brought an impact of human activities on natural vegetation that would not have been detected with traditional methods.
The results show that, in regions with little human impact, ecosystems more than a third of the kind potentially sufficient, while others kind They remain absent for natural reasons, such as a limited dispersion. On the other hand, in regions that are very affected by human activities, Ecosystems contain only one in five potential species.
Traditional biodiversity measurements, such as the simple count of the number of registered species, have not detected this impact because the natural variation of biodiversity between regions and ecosystems hide the true scope of the activities of the human speciesAccording to researchers.
The data obtained are Fruit of the work done worldwide, coordinated by the University of Tartu Via the DarkDivnet International Collaborative Network.
‘We had introduced the theory of Dark diversity and developed methods to study it, but to make global comparisons We need a sample that consists of many regions. It seemed like an impossible mission, but many colleagues from different continents came to us, “recalls Meelis Pärtel, University of Tartu (Estonia) and the main author of the study.
With the participation of more than 200 researchers, the study of plants analyzed in more than 5,000 places in a hundred regions around the world. Local researchers have recorded everything on every site kind Vegetables E They identified the dark diversity, that is, the indigenous species that could live there, but that were absent.
This allowed them to know the potential for plant diversity that there could be any place and to measure how much of that potential diversity was really present. This way to measure biodiversity that the human disruption in every region through Human Footprint IndexUnveiled the hidden impact of anthropogenic activities on natural vegetation.
Human Footprint Index to measure the impact
This way to measure the impact of human activity includes Factors such as population density, changes in land use (such as urban development and agriculture) and infrastructure (roads and railways). The study discovered that the plant diversity of a place is negatively influenced by the level of the human footprint index and most of its components in an environment, up to hundreds of kilometers away.
“We also discovered that the negative influence of human activity was less pronounced when at least one third of the surrounding region remained unspoilt, what the World objective to protect 30% of the earth “he adds.
Human activity and vegetation in Spain
Between Those who are analyzed worldwide, there are different locations of the Valencian community, The data was collected thanks to the contribution of the desertification research center (CIDE).
“Our results, based on samples Compiled in around 40 sampling points of the Valencian community, you illustrate the effects described in the article«, Francesco de Bello, CSIC researcher explains at Cide.
In Andalusia the data was collected by teams from the CSIC and the University of Jaén (Uja). “We show Azufaifar, Palmitar and Spartales from the Nature Park of Cabo de Gata, both in preserved areas and in others more demolished by agricultural and livestock use, what who emphasize the high and unique biodiversity, sometimes vulnerable, who inhabit the park«, The scientist Rubén Tarifa and his team expresses.
In addition, in the northeast of France, in Forêts National Park: “We clearly observe the persistence of anthropic effects. The interesting thing about this work is that that It really enables us to see the human effect on the level of different beamsNot only to know the causes, but to explore solutions of solutions, “explains the IBB-CSIC PEP Serra researcher.