Impacts of urban expansion on natural habitats in global drylands
Play all audios:
ABSTRACT Urban regions across the world have expanded rapidly in recent decades, affecting fragile natural habitats, including in drylands, and threatening the achievement of the UN
Sustainable Development Goal 15, ‘life on land’. Yet, few studies have comprehensively investigated impacts of urban expansion on natural dryland habitats globally even though these cover
40% of global land area and provide habitats for 28% of endangered species. Here, we quantify at multiple scales the loss of habitat quality directly and indirectly caused by dryland urban
expansion. Direct impacts are conversions of natural habitats to urban land. We define indirect impacts as proximate impacts within 10 km around the expanded urban land footprint. We found
that although urban expansion from 1992 to 2016 resulted in an average 0.8% loss of dryland habitat quality, the indirect impacts were 10–15 times greater. By considering the coincidence of
habitat-quality loss and threatened species ranges, we found that, globally, nearly 60% of threatened species were affected by such indirect impacts of dryland urban expansion. Our findings
suggest that strategic management is imperative to mitigate the substantial impacts of dryland urban expansion on biodiversity. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a
preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value
online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles $119.00 per year only $9.92 per issue
Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL
ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS GLOBAL IMPACTS OF FUTURE URBAN EXPANSION
ON TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATE DIVERSITY Article Open access 25 March 2022 MIXED EFFECTIVENESS OF GLOBAL PROTECTED AREAS IN RESISTING HABITAT LOSS Article Open access 27 September 2024 CLIMATE
AND LAND-USE CHANGES REDUCE THE BENEFITS OF TERRESTRIAL PROTECTED AREAS Article 25 November 2021 DATA AVAILABILITY The datasets generated during and/or analysed in this study are publicly
available as referenced within the article. All data and scripts are also available from the corresponding author on request. CODE AVAILABILITY Code used is available at
https://github.com/Qiang-Ren/habitat-quality.git. REFERENCES * _Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis_ (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). * Huang, J. et al. Dryland climate
change: recent progress and challenges. _Rev. Geophys._ 55, 719–778 (2017). Article Google Scholar * Fu, B. et al. The Global-DEP conceptual framework — research on dryland ecosystems to
promote sustainability. _Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain._ 48, 17–28 (2021). Article Google Scholar * He, C. et al. Detecting global urban expansion over the last three decades using a fully
convolutional network. _Environ. Res. Lett._ 14, 034008 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Güneralp, B., Reba, M., Hales, B. U., Wentz, E. A. & Seto, K. C. Trends in urban land
expansion, density, and land transitions from 1970 to 2010: a global synthesis. _Environ. Res. Lett._ 15, 044015 (2020). Article Google Scholar * McDonald, R. I. et al. Research gaps in
knowledge of the impact of urban growth on biodiversity. _Nat. Sustain._ 3, 16–24 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Liu, X. et al. High-spatiotemporal-resolution mapping of global urban
change from 1985 to 2015. _Nat. Sustain._ 3, 564–570 (2020). Article Google Scholar * Güneralp, B. & Seto, K. C. Futures of global urban expansion: uncertainties and implications for
biodiversity conservation. _Environ. Res. Lett._ 8, 014025 (2013). Article Google Scholar * McDonald, R. I., Kareiva, P. & Forman, R. T. T. The implications of current and future
urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation. _Biol. Conserv._ 141, 1695–1703 (2008). Article Google Scholar * McDonald, R. I., Marcotullio, P. J. & Güneralp,
B. _Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities_ (Springer, 2013). * van Vliet, J. Direct and indirect loss of natural area from urban expansion. _Nat.
Sustain._ 2, 755–763 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Sharp, R. et al. _InVEST 3.2.0 User’s Guide_ (The Natural Capital Project, Stanford Univ., Univ. Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy and
World Wildlife Fund, 2015). * Terrado, M. et al. Model development for the assessment of terrestrial and aquatic habitat quality in conservation planning. _Sci. Total Environ._ 540, 63–70
(2016). Article CAS Google Scholar * Bai, Y. et al. Developing China’s Ecological Redline Policy using ecosystem services assessments for land use planning. _Nat. Commun._ 9, 3034 (2018).
Article Google Scholar * McDonald, R. I. et al. Urban effects, distance, and protected areas in an urbanizing world. _Landsc. Urban Plan._ 93, 63–75 (2009). Article Google Scholar *
Mirzabaev, A. et al. in _Climate Change and Land_ (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) 249–343 (IPCC, 2019). * Friis, C. & Nielsen, J. _Telecoupling. Exploring Land-use Change in a Globalised
World_ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). * Maestre, F. et al. Structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems in a changing world. _Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst._ 47, 215–237 (2016). Article
Google Scholar * Leh, M. D. K., Matlock, M. D., Cummings, E. C. & Nalley, L. L. Quantifying and mapping multiple ecosystem services change in West Africa. _Agric. Ecosyst. Environ._
165, 6–18 (2013). Article Google Scholar * Xie, W., Huang, Q., He, C. & Zhao, X. Projecting the impacts of urban expansion on simultaneous losses of ecosystem services: a case study in
Beijing, China. _Ecol. Indic._ 84, 183–193 (2018). Article Google Scholar * Whitford, W. & Wade, E. L. _Ecology of Desert Systems_ (Academic Press, 2002). * Brito, J. C. et al.
Conservation biogeography of the Sahara‐Sahel: additional protected areas are needed to secure unique biodiversity. _Divers. Distrib._ 22, 371–384 (2016). Article Google Scholar * Jenkins,
C. N., Pimm, S. L. & Joppa, L. N. Global patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and conservation. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 110, E2602–E2610 (2013). Article CAS Google Scholar
* Salafsky, N. et al. A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: unified classifications of threats and actions. _Conserv. Biol._ 22, 897–911 (2008). Article Google Scholar *
Oliver, T. H. et al. Declining resilience of ecosystem functions under biodiversity loss. _Nat. Commun._ 6, 10122 (2015). Article Google Scholar * Powers, R. P. & Jetz, W. Global
habitat loss and extinction risk of terrestrial vertebrates under future land-use-change scenarios. _Nat. Clim. Change_ 9, 323–329 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Díaz, S. M. et al. _The
Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Summary for Policy Makers_ (IPBES, 2019). * Seto, K. C., Guneralp, B. & Hutyra, L. R. Global forecasts of urban expansion
to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 109, 16083–16088 (2012). Article CAS Google Scholar * Pautasso, M. Scale dependence of the
correlation between human population presence and vertebrate and plant species richness. _Ecol. Lett._ 10, 16–24 (2007). Article Google Scholar * Luck, G. W. A review of the relationships
between human population density and biodiversity. _Biol. Rev. Camb. Phil. Soc._ 82, 607–645 (2007). Article Google Scholar * McDonald, R. I., Güneralp, B., Huang, C.-W., Seto, K. C. &
You, M. Conservation priorities to protect vertebrate endemics from global urban expansion. _Biol. Conserv._ 224, 290–299 (2018). Article Google Scholar * _The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species_ Version 2017-3 (IUCN, 2017); https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/spatial-data-download * Tucker, M. A. et al. Moving in the Anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial
mammalian movements. _Science_ 359, 466–469 (2018). Article CAS Google Scholar * Howard, C., Flather, C. H. & Stephens, P. A. A global assessment of the drivers of threatened
terrestrial species richness. _Nat. Commun._ 11, 993 (2020). Article CAS Google Scholar * _Guidelines for Geoconservation in Protected and Conserved Areas_ (IUCN, 2020). * Gao, J. How
China will protect one-quarter of its land. _Nature_ 569, 457 (2019). Article CAS Google Scholar * Chen, C. et al. China and India lead in greening of the world through land-use
management. _Nat. Sustain._ 2, 122–129 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Gao, B., Huang, Q., He, C., Sun, Z. & Zhang, D. How does sprawl differ across cities in China? A multi-scale
investigation using nighttime light and census data. _Landsc. Urban Plan._ 148, 89–98 (2016). Article Google Scholar * Mace, G. M. et al. Aiming higher to bend the curve of biodiversity
loss. _Nat. Sustain._ 1, 448–451 (2018). Article Google Scholar * Lambin, E. A. & Meyfroidt, P. Global land use change, economic globalization, and the looming land scarcity. _Proc.
Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 108, 3465–3472 (2011). Article CAS Google Scholar * Arlidge, W. et al. A global mitigation hierarchy for nature conservation. _Bioscience_ 68, 336–347 (2018). Article
Google Scholar * Moallemi, E. A., Kwakkel, J., de Haan, F. J. & Bryan, B. A. Exploratory modeling for analyzing coupled human-natural systems under uncertainty. _Glob. Environ.
Change_ 65, 102186 (2020). Article Google Scholar * Luck, M. A., Jenerette, G. D., Wu, J. & Grimm, N. B. The urban funnel model and the spatially heterogeneous ecological footprint.
_Ecosystems_ 4, 782–796 (2001). Article Google Scholar * Ramaswami, A. et al. A social‐ecological‐infrastructural systems framework for interdisciplinary study of sustainable city systems.
_J. Ind. Ecol._ 16, 801–813 (2012). Article Google Scholar * Boerema, A. et al. Soybean trade: balancing environmental and socio-economic impacts of an intercontinental market. _PLoS ONE_
11, e0155222 (2016). Article Google Scholar * Garrett, R. D., Lambin, E. F. & Naylor, R. L. Land institutions and supply chain configurations as determinants of soybean planted area
and yields in Brazil. _Land Use Policy_ 31, 385–396 (2013). Article Google Scholar * Friess, D. A., Rogers, K., Lovelock, C. E., Krauss, K. W. & Shi, S. The state of the world’s
mangrove forests: past, present, and future. _Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour._ 44, 89–115 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Ferreira, A. C. & Lacerda, L. D. Degradation and conservation of
Brazilian mangroves, status and perspectives. _Ocean Coast. Manage._ 125, 38–46 (2016). Article Google Scholar * Richards, D. R. & Friess, D. A. Rates and drivers of mangrove
deforestation in Southeast Asia, 2000–2012. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 113, 201510272 (2016). Article Google Scholar * García-Vega, D. & Newbold, T. Assessing the effects of land use
on biodiversity in the world’s drylands and Mediterranean environments. _Biodivers. Conserv._ 29, 393–408 (2020). Article Google Scholar * Martínez-Valderrama, J., Guirado, E. &
Maestre, F. Desertifying deserts. _Nat. Sustain._ 3, 572–575 (2020). Article Google Scholar * Maestre, F. et al. Biogeography of global drylands. _New Phytol._ 231, 540–558 (2021). Article
Google Scholar * United Nations Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre. World dryland areas according to UNCCD and CBD definitions.
https://resources.unep-wcmc.org/products/789fcac8959943ab9ed7a225e5316f08 (2022). * Olson, D. M. et al. Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on Earth. _Bioscience_ 51,
933–938 (2001). Article Google Scholar * Goldewijk, K. K., Beusen, A., Doelman, J. & Stehfest, E. Anthropogenic land use estimates for the Holocene – HYDE 3.2. _Earth Syst. Sci. Data_
9, 927–953 (2017). Article Google Scholar * _Revision of World Urbanization Prospects_ (United Nations, 2018); https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup * _Land Cover CCI—Product User Guide_ Version
2.0. (European Space Agency, 2017); http://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/index.php * Grekousis, G., Mountrakis, G. & Kavouras, M. An overview of 21 global and 43 regional land-cover
mapping products. _Int. J. Remote Sens._ 36, 5309–5335 (2015). Article Google Scholar * Xu, X., Jain, A. K. & Calvin, K. V. Quantifying the biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of
changes in forest and agricultural land in South and Southeast Asia. _Glob. Change Biol._ 25, 2137–2151 (2019). Article Google Scholar * Gong, P. et al. Annual maps of global artificial
impervious area (GAIA) between 1985 and 2018. _Remote Sens. Environ._ 236, 111510 (2020). Article Google Scholar * Huang, Q. et al. The occupation of cropland by global urban expansion
from 1992 to 2016 and its implications. _Environ. Res. Lett._ 15, 084037 (2020). Article Google Scholar * He, C., Liu, Z., Tian, J. & Ma, Q. Urban expansion dynamics and natural
habitat loss in China: a multiscale landscape perspective. _Glob. Change Biol._ 20, 2886–2902 (2014). Article Google Scholar * Di Febbraro, M. et al. Expert-based and correlative models to
map habitat quality: which gives better support to conservation planning? _Glob. Ecol. Conserv._ 16, e00513 (2018). Article Google Scholar * Anselin, L. Local Indicators of Spatial
Association—LISA. _Geogr. Anal._ 27, 93–115 (2010). Article Google Scholar Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank R. McDonald (The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA) for his
insightful comments, which have improved the quality of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41971270, 41971225 &
41801184) and the 111 project (BP0820003). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters, Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal
University, Beijing, China Qiang Ren & Chunyang He * State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Qiang Ren,
Chunyang He, Qingxu Huang & Peijun Shi * Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Ministry of Emergency Management and Ministry of Education, Beijing, China Qiang Ren
& Chunyang He * Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Qiang Ren & Qingxu Huang * Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, People’s
Government of Qinghai Province and Beijing Normal University, Xining, China Chunyang He & Peijun Shi * College of Geography and Ocean Sciences, Yanbian University, Yanji, China Da Zhang
* Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Burak Güneralp Authors * Qiang Ren View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google
Scholar * Chunyang He View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Qingxu Huang View author publications You can also search for this author
inPubMed Google Scholar * Peijun Shi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Da Zhang View author publications You can also search for this
author inPubMed Google Scholar * Burak Güneralp View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS C.H., Q.H. and Q.R. designed the study and
planned the analysis. Q.R. performed the experiments and analysed the data. Q.R. and Q.H. drafted the manuscript. P.S., D.Z. and B.G. contributed to revising the manuscript. All authors
contributed to the interpretation of findings, provided revisions to the manuscript and approved the final manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Chunyang He. ETHICS DECLARATIONS
COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Sustainability_ thanks Mark Goddard, Stefanie Herrmann, Fernando Maestre and the
other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Figs. 1–11, Table 1 and Materials 1–3. REPORTING SUMMARY RIGHTS AND
PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Ren, Q., He, C., Huang, Q. _et al._ Impacts of urban expansion on natural habitats in global drylands. _Nat
Sustain_ 5, 869–878 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00930-8 Download citation * Received: 22 December 2020 * Accepted: 15 June 2022 * Published: 25 July 2022 * Issue Date: October
2022 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00930-8 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable
link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative