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.