Conserving carbon-rich regions could also benefit biodiversity

Journal Watch Online 29 Dec 09;

Regions with high carbon storage tend to be species-rich, according to a paper accepted for publication in Conservation Letters. Efforts to preserve carbon stocks, therefore, may also support biodiversity.

A team came to this conclusion after analyzing global data on 20,697 species of mammals, amphibians, and birds, as well as a recently published assessment of the world’s carbon storage. When the researchers compared the datasets, they found significant overlap between carbon and species richness. That’s not entirely surprising, they note, since one would expect tropical forests to have plenty of both, while neither are found in abundance in deserts or at the poles.

But not all regions with high biodiversity will be covered under purely carbon-focused conservation, the authors say. Species-rich areas with low carbon storage could “suffer from a double conservation jeopardy,” they write. Money may flow to the preservation of high-carbon regions instead, and development efforts might become concentrated in the low-carbon zones. These areas should get special attention, the team says, so they don’t fall through the cracks. – Roberta Kwok

Source: Strassburg, B., Kelly, A., Balmford, A., Davies, R., Gibbs, H., Lovett, A., Miles, L., Orme, C., Price, J., Turner, R., & Rodrigues, A. (2009). Global congruence of carbon storage and biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems Conservation Letters Accepted Article DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00092.x