Affiliations 

  • 1 Bioversity International, Rome, Italy
  • 2 Division of Forest, Nature and Landscape, KU Leuven, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium
  • 3 Bioversity International, Universiti Putra Malaysia Off Lebuh Silikon, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Bioversity International, La Molina, Peru
  • 5 UMR Silva, AgroParisTech, Universite de Lorraine, INRA, Paris, France
  • 6 Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
  • 7 Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam
  • 8 Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 9 Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 10 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore, India
  • 11 Forest Department Sarawak, Bangunan Baitul Makmur II, Kuching, Malaysia
  • 12 School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia
  • 13 ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Los Baños, Philippines
  • 14 World Agroforestry Centre, Los Baños, Philippines
  • 15 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 16 Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
  • 17 Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark
  • 18 University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K, Denmark
  • 19 Sri Lanka Forestry Institute, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
  • 20 Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Chatuchak, Thailand
  • 21 Forest Research and Development Center (FRDC), Bogor, Indonesia
  • 22 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  • 23 Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science, Bac Tu Liem, Vietnam
  • 24 Forest Restoration Research Unit, Biology Department and Environmental Science Research Centre, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • 25 Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
  • 26 Forest Research Center, National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Xaythany District, Lao P.D.R
  • 27 Faculty of Forestry & Environment, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Malaysia
  • 28 Bangladesh Forest Department, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 29 Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Jalan Frim, Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 30 Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 31 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn, Germany
  • 32 Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre (TRCRC), Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
  • 33 Institute of Forest and Wildlife Research and Development, Khan Sen Sokh, Cambodia
  • 34 Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
  • 35 Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, Kasetsart University Kamphaengsaen Campus, Mu6 Malaimaen Rd, Kamphaengsaen Nakhonpathom 73140, Thailand, Lat Yao, Thailand
  • 36 Fauna and Flora International, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
  • 37 University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • 38 University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna 4031, Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines
  • 39 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
  • 40 Forest Department Myanmar, Mon State, Myanmar
  • 41 Climate Forestry Limited, Kensington Gardens, Labuan, Malaysia
  • 42 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
  • 43 Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, Quy hoạch Rừng, Vietnam
  • 44 Institute of Agricultural Genetics (AGI), Forest Genetics and Conservation, Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 45 University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
  • 46 Department of Forest Conservation, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • 47 Department of Forest Conservation, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka
  • 48 University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 49 IPB University Bogor, West Java, Indonesia
  • 50 Forest Bioinformation Division, National Institute of Forest Science (NIFOS), Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 51 Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  • 52 Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, UK
  • 53 Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Conserv Biol, 2021 Dec 05.
PMID: 34865262 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13873

Abstract

Tree diversity in Asia's tropical and subtropical forests is central to nature-based solutions. Species vulnerability to multiple threats, which affect provision of ecosystem services, is poorly understood. We conducted a region-wide, spatially explicit assessment of the vulnerability of 63 socioeconomically important tree species to overexploitation, fire, overgrazing, habitat conversion, and climate change. Trees were selected for assessment from national priority lists, and selections were validated by an expert network representing 20 countries. We used Maxent suitability modeling to predict species distribution ranges, freely accessible spatial data sets to map threat exposures, and functional traits to estimate threat sensitivities. Species-specific vulnerability maps were created as the product of exposure maps and sensitivity estimates. Based on vulnerability to current threats and climate change, we identified priority areas for conservation and restoration. Overall, 74% of the most important areas for conservation of these trees fell outside protected areas, and all species were severely threatened across an average of 47% of their native ranges. The most imminent threats were overexploitation and habitat conversion; populations were severely threatened by these factors in an average of 24% and 16% of their ranges, respectively. Our model predicted limited overall climate change impacts, although some study species were likely to lose over 15% of their habitat by 2050 due to climate change. We pinpointed specific natural areas in Borneo rain forests as hotspots for in situ conservation of forest genetic resources, more than 82% of which fell outside designated protected areas. We also identified degraded areas in Western Ghats, Indochina dry forests, and Sumatran rain forests as hotspots for restoration, where planting or assisted natural regeneration will help conserve these species, and croplands in southern India and Thailand as potentially important agroforestry options. Our results highlight the need for regionally coordinated action for effective conservation and restoration.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.