Mecenero Silvia, Altwegg Res, Colville Jonathan F, Beale Colin M
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Claremont, South Africa; Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape, Belville, South Africa.
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Claremont, South Africa; Statistics in Ecology, Environment and Conservation, Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 27;10(4):e0124327. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124327. eCollection 2015.
Wildlife and humans tend to prefer the same productive environments, yet high human densities often lead to reduced biodiversity. Species richness is often positively correlated with human population density at broad scales, but this correlation could also be caused by unequal sampling effort leading to higher species tallies in areas of dense human activity. We examined the relationships between butterfly species richness and human population density at five spatial resolutions ranging from 2' to 60' across South Africa. We used atlas-type data and spatial interpolation techniques aimed at reducing the effect of unequal spatial sampling. Our results confirm the general positive correlation between total species richness and human population density. Contrary to our expectations, the strength of this positive correlation did not weaken at finer spatial resolutions. The patterns observed using total species richness were driven mostly by common species. The richness of threatened and restricted range species was not correlated to human population density. None of the correlations we examined were particularly strong, with much unexplained variance remaining, suggesting that the overlap between butterflies and humans is not strong compared to other factors not accounted for in our analyses. Special consideration needs to be made regarding conservation goals and variables used when investigating the overlap between species and humans for biodiversity conservation.
野生动物和人类往往偏好相同的高产环境，但高人口密度常常导致生物多样性降低。在大尺度上，物种丰富度通常与人口密度呈正相关，但这种相关性也可能是由于采样力度不均导致人类活动密集地区的物种记录更多。我们在南非从2'到60'的五个空间分辨率下，研究了蝴蝶物种丰富度与人口密度之间的关系。我们使用了地图集类型的数据和空间插值技术，旨在减少空间采样不均的影响。我们的结果证实了总物种丰富度与人口密度之间普遍存在的正相关。与我们的预期相反，这种正相关的强度在更精细的空间分辨率下并未减弱。使用总物种丰富度观察到的模式主要由常见物种驱动。受威胁物种和分布范围受限物种的丰富度与人口密度无关。我们研究的所有相关性都不是特别强，仍有许多无法解释的变异，这表明与我们分析中未考虑的其他因素相比，蝴蝶与人类的重叠并不强烈。在调查物种与人类的重叠以进行生物多样性保护时，需要特别考虑保护目标和所使用的变量。
