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Land use matters

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A meta-analysis at a local scale reveals that land-use change has caused species richness to decline by approximately 8.1% on average globally, mainly as a result of large increases in croplands and pastures. See Article p.45

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Figure 1: Land conversions reduce species richness.

Frans Lanting/Robert Harding Picture Library

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brian McGill is in the School of Biology and Ecology, and the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA.,

    Brian McGill

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  1. Brian McGill
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Correspondence to Brian McGill.

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McGill, B. Land use matters. Nature 520, 38–39 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/520038a

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