Pillay Rajeev, Venter Michelle, Aragon-Osejo Jose, González-Del-Pliego Pamela, Hansen Andrew J, Watson James Em, Venter Oscar
Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute University of Northern British Columbia Prince George Canada.
Rui Nabeiro Biodiversity Chair MED Institute Universidade de Évora Évora Portugal.
Front Ecol Environ. 2022 Feb;20(1):10-15. doi: 10.1002/fee.2420. Epub 2021 Oct 7.
Tropical forests are renowned for their astonishing diversity of life, but the fundamental question of how many species occur in tropical forests remains unanswered. Using geographic range maps and data on species habitat associations, we determined that tropical forests harbor 62% of global terrestrial vertebrate species, more than twice the number found in any other terrestrial biome on Earth. Up to 29% of global vertebrate species are endemic to tropical forests, with more than 20% of these species at risk of extinction. Humid tropical forests (also known as tropical rainforests) and the Neotropics dominate as centers of species diversity, harboring more than 90% and nearly half of all tropical forest vertebrates, respectively. To maintain the biodiversity that underpins the ecosystem functions and services essential for human well-being, we emphasize the critical importance of environmental policies aimed at reducing tropical deforestation and mitigating deleterious anthropogenic pressures on these imperiled ecosystems.
热带森林以其惊人的生物多样性而闻名，但热带森林中究竟有多少物种这一基本问题仍未得到解答。利用地理分布范围图和物种栖息地关联数据，我们确定热带森林中栖息着全球62%的陆地脊椎动物物种，这一数量是地球上任何其他陆地生物群落中发现的物种数量的两倍多。全球高达29%的脊椎动物物种是热带森林所特有的，其中超过20%的物种面临灭绝风险。潮湿的热带森林（也称为热带雨林）和新热带地区作为物种多样性中心占据主导地位，分别容纳了超过90%和近一半的所有热带森林脊椎动物。为了维护支撑着对人类福祉至关重要的生态系统功能和服务的生物多样性，我们强调旨在减少热带森林砍伐并减轻对这些濒危生态系统的有害人为压力的环境政策的至关重要性。
