New global study reveals link between local-scale species changes and global extinction risk

New research from the University of St Andrews has shown that higher extinction risk is associated with higher frequency of decreasing local prevalence of species, in an analysis of one of the most comprehensive long-term databases ever created, BioTIME – a major tool to study biodiversity change also developed at the University of St Andrews. Researchers from the School of Biology alongside a team of international partners, analysed over 60 000 populations of 2362 species across 978 marine and terrestrial assemblages. These populations have been sampled comprehensively over at least 20 years. The picture that emerged was of complex links between the two factors, but a clear signal also emerged that decreasing temporal trends were associated with higher extinction risk compared to the other trends. Overall, fewer than 10% of populations showed either increasing or decreasing prevalence over time

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