<html>
<body>
<dl>
<dd>Carvalheiro, L. G., W. E. Kunin, et al. (2013). "Species
richness declines and biotic homogenisation have slowed down for
NW-European pollinators and plants." <u>Ecology Letters</u>
<b>16</b>(7): 870-878.<br><br>
<dd><x-tab> </x-tab>
Concern about biodiversity loss has led to increased public investment in
conservation. Whereas there is a widespread perception that such
initiatives have been unsuccessful, there are few quantitative tests of
this perception. Here, we evaluate whether rates of biodiversity change
have altered in recent decades in three European countries (Great
Britain, Netherlands and Belgium) for plants and flower visiting insects.
We compared four 20-year periods, comparing periods of rapid land-use
intensification and natural habitat loss (1930 with a period of increased
conservation investment (post-1990). We found that extensive species
richness loss and biotic homogenisation occurred before 1990, whereas
these negative trends became substantially less accentuated during recent
decades, being partially reversed for certain taxa (e.g. bees in Great
Britain and Netherlands). These results highlight the potential to
maintain or even restore current species assemblages (which despite past
extinctions are still of great conservation value), at least in regions
where large-scale land-use intensification and natural habitat loss has
ceased.<br><br>
</dl></body>
</html>