Biodiversity trends are as bad as expected

Excerpt

In a recent work published in Science, Dornelas et al. (2014) analyzed a large sample of local biodiversity time series, involving more than 35,000 terrestrial and aquatic species from biomes across Earth. Their analysis revealed a systematic change in local community composition and a net biodiversity loss at the global scale. However, the authors were surprised by the absence of negative trend of biodiversity at local scale. We think that Dornelas et al.’s work is very important to the field of biodiversity conservation, not because their last result is contrary to expectations (as stated by the authors), but because their combined results confirm that the scientific community has an accurate understanding of the effects of ongoing anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity processes and patterns. …