Many studies are documenting positive large-scale species–
people correlations (Luck, 2007; Schuldt & Assmann, 2010).
The issue is scale dependent: the local association of species
richness and people is in many cases a negative one (Pautasso,
2007; Pecher et al., 2010). This biogeographical
pattern is thus important for conservation. If species-rich
regions are also densely populated, preserving biodiversity
becomes more difficult, ceteris paribus, than if species-rich
regions were sparsely populated. At the same time, positive,
regional species–people correlations are an opportunity for
the biodiversity education of the majority of the human
population and underline the importance of conservation in
human-modified landscapes (e.g. Sheil & Meijaard, 2010;
Ward, 2010)

Barbosa, A. Márcia

Fontaneto, D.

Marini, L.

Pautasso, M.

Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora

R E S PONS EPositive regional species–people correlations: a samplingartefact or a key issue for sustainable development?A. M. Barbosa1,2, D. Fontaneto3, L. Marini4 & M. Pautasso21 ‘Rui Nabeiro’ Biodiversity Chair, CIBIO – University of E´vora, E´vora, Portugal2 Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK3 Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden4 Department of Environmental Agronomy and Crop Production, University of Padova, Padova, ItalyCorrespondenceMarco Pautasso, Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Campus, Buckhurst Rd, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK. Tel:+44 020 759 42533Email: m.pautasso@ic.ac.ukdoi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00402.xMany studies are documenting positive large-scale species–people correlations (Luck, 2007; Schuldt & Assmann, 2010).The issue is scale dependent: the local association of speciesrichness and people is in many cases a negative one (Pau-tasso, 2007; Pecher et al., 2010). This biogeographicalpattern is thus important for conservation. If species-richregions are also densely populated, preserving biodiversitybecomes more difﬁcult, ceteris paribus, than if species-richregions were sparsely populated. At the same time, positive,regional species–people correlations are an opportunity forthe biodiversity education of the majority of the humanpopulation and underline the importance of conservation inhuman-modiﬁed landscapes (e.g. Sheil & Meijaard, 2010;Ward, 2010).In our study (Barbosa et al., 2010), we tested whether asampling artefact applies to the species–people correlationfor carabids in Italy at three spatial grains of analysis. As thecommentaries by Luck (2010) and McKinney (2010) pointout, there has been little consideration of variation insampling effort in previous regional studies of the co-existence of biodiversity and people. If sampling effort ispositively associated with both species richness and humanpopulation, it could explain the correlation between the two(Cantarello et al., 2010).We agree with Luck (2010) that there is a need to furtherstudy the correlation of biodiversity and people for taxaother than vertebrates and plants, as this pattern is nowwell-documented for such well-studied taxa (recently, e.g.Fjeldsa˚, 2007; Pidgeon et al., 2007; Fjeldsa˚ & Burgess, 2008;Lepczyk et al., 2008; Moreno-Rueda & Pizarro, 2009). Atthe level of European countries, a positive species–peoplecorrelation was found for ants, aphids, grasshoppers andstream macro-invertebrates (Pautasso & Fontaneto, 2008;Schlick-Steiner et al., 2008; Steck & Pautasso, 2008; Pautas-so & Powell, 2009), but the data did not allow the inclusionof sampling effort in those studies. Apart from inverte-brates, species-rich groups such as bacteria and fungi havebeen almost completely neglected from the point of view ofthe large-scale correlation with people (Pautasso & Zotti,2009; Nemergut et al., 2010).We concur with Luck (2010) andMcKinney (2010) that itis important not just to document whether or not regionalspecies–people correlations are present and artefactual, butalso to investigate potential mechanisms and to study howthe issue ﬁts with the spatial distribution of protected areas.Unfortunately, protected areas have tended to be locatedfar away from human settlements, thus ending up dispro-portionately located in relatively species-poor regions(e.g. Pautasso & Dinetti 2009). Regardless of the mechan-isms underlying such three-way relationships among biodi-versity, people and parks, positive regional species–peoplecorrelations imply that biodiversity conservation hasto happen over the entire landscape, not just in wildernessareas. At the same time, the few existing protectedareas in urbanized landscapes need to be defended as amatter of priority, not swapped with cheaper land awayfrom civilization.In addition, research priorities related to the large-scalecorrelation of species and people include moving fromspecies richness to other measures of biodiversity (e.g.abundance, genetic and phylogenetic diversity; Knappet al., 2008; Pautasso & Chiarucci, 2008; Noe¨l & Lapointe,2010). Further, we need to know how the pattern is likely todevelop over the next decades under various demographical,climate change and assisted migration (both for species andpeople) scenarios (Hoymann, 2010; Pautasso et al., 2010).Ultimately, if the large-scale correlation of biodiversity andpeople will be generally found not to be artefactual and to bepresent also for biodiversity measures other than speciesrichness, we will have to make sure that news about thisAnimal Conservation 13 (2010) 446–447 c 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation c 2010 The Zoological Society of London446Animal Conservation. Print ISSN 1367-9430applied conservation issue reaches land-use policy makers,stakeholders and NGOs. Ecosystem services, particularlythose delivered to the exploding megalopolis in (sub) tropi-cal countries, are essential for a transition to a sustainablehumanity (Alberti, 2010). We thus need to preserve theremaining biodiversity within and around urbanizing land-scapes.ReferencesAlberti, M. (2010). Maintaining ecological integrity andsustaining ecosystem function in urban areas. Curr. Opin.Environ. Sustainabil., in press (Online DOI:10.1016/j.cosust.2010.07.002).Barbosa, A.M., Fontaneto, D., Marini, L. & Pautasso, M.(2010). Is human population a large-scale indicatorof the species richness of ground beetles? Anim.Conserv. 13, 432–441.Cantarello, E., Steck, C.E., Fontana, P., Fontaneto, D.,Marini, L. & Pautasso, M. (2010). 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Positive regional species-people correlations: A sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development?

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Positive regional species-people correlations: A sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development?

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