Preserving 40% forest cover is a valuable and well-supported
conservation guideline: reply to Banks-Leite et al.
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez1,2*, Lenore
Fahrig3, James I. Watling4, Justin
Nowakowski5, Marcelo Tabarelli6,
Lutz Tischendorf7, Felipe P. L.
Melo6, Bráulio A. Santos8, Maíra
Benchimol9, Jose Carlos
Morante-Filho9, J. W. Ferry Slik10,
Ima C. G. Vieira11, and Teja
Tscharntke12
1Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y
Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190,
Michoacán, Mexico
2Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Mérida 97357, Yucatán, Mexico
3Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Laboratory,
Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa K1S 4B6, Canada
4John Carroll University, University Heights, OH
44118, USA
5Working Land and Seascapes, Conservation Commons,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
6Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de
Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco 50670-901, Brazil
7ELUTIS Modelling and Consulting Inc., Ottawa, ON K2A
1X4, Canada
8Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade
Federal da Paraiba, Campus I, João Pessoa, Paraiba 58051-900, Brazil
9Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação,
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa
Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia 45662-900, Brazil.
10Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science,
Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
11Coordenação de Botânica, Museu Paraense Emilio
Goeldi, CP 399, Belém, Pará 66040-170, Brazil
12Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use
(CBL), University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
E-mails : VAR (victorarroyo_rodriguez@hotmail.com), LF
(lenorefahrig@cunet.carleton.ca), JIW (jwatling@jcu.edu), JN
(nowakowskia@si.edu), MT (mtrelli@ufpe.br), LT
(lutz.tischendorf@gmx.net), FPLM (fplmelo@gmail.com), BAS
(braulio@dse.ufpb.br), MB (mairabs02@gmail.com), JCMF
(zemorante@gmail.com), JWFS (ferryslik@hotmail.com), ICGV
(ima@museu-goeldi.br), TT (ttschar@gwdg.de)
*Corresponding author : Current address: Escuela Nacional de
Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tablaje
Catastral no. 6998, Carretera Mérida-Tetiz Km. 4.5, Municipio de Ucú,
C.P. 97357, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. Phone: +52 (443) 2240894. **ORCID:
0000-0002-0858-0324. ***E-mail: victorarroyo_rodriguez@hotmail.com
Authorship: All authors proposed key points for the response.
VAR synthesized them and wrote the first draft, with subsequent changes
by all co-authors.
Article type : Technical Comment
Word count : (Abstract: 50) (Main text: 799)
Number of references : 13
Keywords: extinction threshold, general principles, habitat
amount, landscape structure, planetary emergency, habitat restoration.
Data accessibility statement : No new data were used.
Novelty statement : Preserving at least 40% of landscape forest
cover is a valuable and useful general principle for biodiversity
conservation with enough empirical support. Advocating for using
regional-specific thresholds is unuseful and unfeasible given the
current planetary emergency.